Scarlet's Dilemma Read online

  She sighed. “My mother is a red panda.”

  Hiro nodded. “That makes sense.”

  “My father is a sasquatch.”

  Hiro froze in time for a moment and then slowly blinked back to attention. “Sasquatch?”

  “Yup. Wild man of the woods, seven to eight feet tall depending on the seasons and part of a large community that walks the woods. He opened a coffee shop, and I work there. We serve coffee and rescue hikers on a regular basis.”

  “Wow. What is your beast?”

  She grinned. “Red panda, but I can use the strength of the sasquatch when I need to. It is accessible in my human form, so I am never really left undefended.”

  “So that suitor found out.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t stand for being grabbed. It is my least favourite physical contact.”

  “Ah.”

  “So, what is your occupation?” She guessed that his father was some kind of engineer.

  “I am an architect with a minor in civil engineering. My father always told me that architects can design a way to the moon, but if they didn’t know where to put the ladder, they would be stuck. So, it is not only my job to design buildings, but also to make sure that all aspects of them work.”

  “That is neat. So, are you here to find a mate?” She tried not to sound coy.

  “No.”

  It was like a splash of water on her face. “What?”

  He smiled. “I am a contractor working for the Crossroads. There are hot springs around here that I would love to turn into a bathhouse. A destination for those who want to socialize. Once it is built, Dira can move it closer to the main population.”

  “How would that work? The stones and the water are in the soil.”

  He chuckled. “She is the dragon who made the Crossroads. She can shift the very fabric of the ground under our feet to make things more convenient.”

  That was a lot of power. Scarlet looked at the lightly steaming water next to her. “Do you mind if I take a dip? I just woke up.”

  He waved his hand toward the water. “Be my guest. Let me know if it is a good soaking temperature.”

  Scarlet cleared her throat. “If you are building an onsen, would you care to join me?”

  “Well, we don’t have showers here.” He frowned.

  She snorted. “I am aware, but I think that shedding fur for skin should count as some kind of cleansing.”

  He nodded. “Of course.”

  Scarlet grabbed her hair and wrangled it into a top knot. It amused her to see Hiro doing the same. “Have you always had long hair?”

  “No. I started growing it during university. It certainly helps with my dating options. Human women seem drawn to it.”

  Scarlet twisted her lips as she lowered herself into the pool. “Not just humans.”

  He flashed her a grin and gestured to her hair. “That is an impressive statement as well.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I was named for it.”

  He laughed and eased into the water. She watched the rigid abs of his belly distort as they disappeared beneath the water, and her gaze trailed upward as he lowered himself into the pool.

  “Seriously. I was apparently rather gold and crimson at birth. My hair was a shock of red that still looks ridiculous in photos. It fluffs up and gets out of control in a stiff wind.”

  He chuckled and moved through the pool. He paused. “I found some large stones here. They make passable natural seats.”

  She drifted over and found that he was right. The level of the stone meant that her neck was almost completely underwater, but as long as there wasn’t a wave, she was safe.

  Hiro settled next to her, and his shoulders were out of the water. “It is a good natural setup.”

  “Are you looking for something else?”

  “Of course, I am looking for the perfect starting point.”

  “But you will settle for okay.”

  He chuckled. “Definitely. So, do you have a middle name?”

  She sighed, “Ling-lin. In theory, it means spiritual being from the woods. I think it translates into I got picked on at school.”

  “Scarlet Ling-lin Wilson? It is a lovely name.”

  “Thank you, do you have a middle name?”

  He grinned. “Liam. Hiro Liam McCreary. A lyrical name of Japan and North Irish ancestry. It is funny that both of our middle names begin with L.”

  She smiled and leaned back, trying to find the wall. She found an outcropping and used it as a balance point.

  “So, you appear familiar with the use of an onsen.” Hiro sighed and shifted to lean back against the edge of the pool.

  “There is a hot spring near my home. They have theme weekends for the locals. My mom helps organize it. She is all about embracing other cultures, so I have been to winter steams and whipped with branches before diving into the snow, and I have gotten to bathe carefully and with floating cups of tea in the onsen, sometimes weeks apart.”

  “That sounds both perversely fun and very hard core.” He chuckled.

  “It is. Do you travel often?”

  “Sure. I do it all the time. It is my seventh time here at the Crossroads. I design some of the new buildings and give them to Dira; she helps the Crossroads bring them to life.”

  “So, you are here on behalf of your guild.”

  “Yes, subcontracted to the Crossroads.” He sighed, his face showed the sheen of sweat. “It is a lucrative job, and I get to travel to all the developing lands for just this kind of thing.”

  “It is still expanding?”

  Hiro nodded, “Our world is changing. Finding partners within a single species is no longer as feasible. Blending the magic will make for stronger shifters down the line. Keeping one type of beast in a bubble isn’t the way forward.”

  “What about the fey being added to the mix?”

  He quirked his lips. “The fey are fading. Joining with the shifters is the only way that they are going to be able to retain a level of magic that will allow them to survive. I have met a few fey internationally, and they are all in the same state of decay. Their bloodlines are so tangled on top of each other, no magic can come in to create new generations. I am only surprised that they waited this long.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.”

  “And yet, you didn’t want to mate with one? I have heard they are exceptionally lovely.”

  “I don’t doubt that, but there is enough weird magic in me already.”

  His shoulders shook. “I know you are being serious, but if you were flirting, it would be quite the line.”

  She played her sentence back in her head and fought the urge to submerge. “Yeah, it would be. Didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know.”

  Scarlet glanced at the sun and noted the reddening aura. “I think I should get out of here before I get all pruney. The sun is setting, and I am in search of a more favourable site for my debates.”

  “More favourable than this one?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I need more mountain, less hill, to be comfortable. I am trying to work things out.”

  He nodded wisely. “I saw you interviewing your meal.”

  She blushed and hoped it was covered by the warmth from the water. “Yes, well. My beast drove me here, but the human in me doesn’t know what I am supposed to be doing.”

  “Don’t you socialize as a human?”

  She gave him a calm glance. “I could, but I don’t. My strength is a little too intense for most humans, so I don’t play with them. They break.”

  “Have you broken any?”

  “One of the girls on my volleyball team in high school. She was a ball hog, and I put everything into getting there first. When my arms went up, she crossed hers over them, and I snapped her limbs. I can still hear the sound.” She shivered.

  “You have power from both parents?”

  “I try not to use the sasquatch effects. I wanted nothing more than to follow that side of the f
amily, but I am stuck as a small red puff ball.” She sighed once again and shifted to move through the water. “Time to dry off, I think.”

  “You don’t like your beast?”

  She didn’t need to look behind her to see that he was following her to the edge. The rush of water as he stood started waves that battered against her shoulders was unmistakable.

  She left the water, the cool breezes dried the warm damp from her skin.

  Hiro stretched, his thick hair unravelled in a silky wave down his spine.

  Scarlet tried not to look, but there wasn’t an inch of him that wasn’t encased in lean muscle. She had been raised with shifters that were built like steroid-scarfing lumberjacks, and none of them got her attention like this.

  She blinked and stared for a moment. “Where is your bracelet?”

  He grinned. “I don’t wear one. I am not here as a guest, so I am not tagged as they are.”

  “Oh.”

  “Well, if you are interested in finding something along the lines of foothills, we should get going.”

  “Wait, we?”

  He smiled. “I am scouting a perfect location, just as you are. Let’s find it, and then, you can make your decisions regarding how you are going about beginning your steps into courtship.”

  Scarlet cocked her head, “If you have work to do, why are you hanging around with me?”

  “We are in search of the same thing, inner peace. I am accomplishing my goals by joining you in yours.” He smiled. “Two successes for the price of conversation.”

  Scarlet turned to her clothing, and she got dressed with only a little bit of tugging of dry fabric on damp skin.

  “I have my clothing a little further back. Follow me, and we can get underway as soon as my boots are on.”

  She grinned at the thought of the elegant man in hiking boots, but she didn’t think too hard as the sight of him walking away was breathtaking. His hair nearly covered his butt. Nearly.

  She finished lacing her shoes. “That is gonna haunt me.”

  If she wasn’t mistaken, she heard a laugh coming from the woods.

  Chapter Five

  As she walked, she brushed her hair and pulled it into a thick braid. It would pop out when she shifted, but until then, it would keep the branches from tugging at her locks.

  Scarlet followed Hiro’s scent deep into the forest where she found him lacing up hiking boots next to a large pack.

  “Wow. I thought I packed heavy.”

  “I have to bring my instruments and a sketch pad. The kind of tech I would normally use doesn’t play nicely with the Crossroads.” He finished knotting his boot, and he got to his feet. Dressed in jeans and a tight black shirt, he looked like a bouncer at a strip club.

  The light was fading fast, but she could still see enough of him to appreciate his genetics. He was truly lovely.

  She sighed and put attractive on her mental list. It may make her shallow, but it would make dealing with a mate easier if she enjoyed looking at him.

  Scarlet waited while he grabbed his pack, and she cocked her head. “Do you have a direction in mind?”

  “Yes, standard directions don’t apply, but walking away from the setting sun will take us where we want to go.”

  “How long?”

  “Four hours. Are you up for it?”

  “Of course. Lead the way.” She settled her pack on her shoulders, and he gestured for her to step beside him.

  “We are not in a forced march. You can be here, and we can talk.”

  She stepped toward him until they were even. “My night vision is pretty good, but if I am heading off a cliff, let me know.”

  He grinned. “I promise to keep an eye out for you. My night vision is excellent.”

  With that promise, they walked into the dimming woods in search of a mountain and a hot spring.

  “Can you smell that?” Hiro lifted his head, and his chin jerked in profile.

  “I can. The humidity and minerals are unmistakable.”

  “Excellent. We will head into the caverns, and I will start a fire. Perhaps I can rig up a shower, and we can have a proper soak.”

  “That sounds great.” Scarlet stretched and shifted the burden of her pack. The scent of the hot springs wasn’t pungent, just a little mineral. It made it very easy to hike across the stone in order to find the source.

  When they reached the cave, she removed her shoes out of reflex. Her mother had been strict on it. No shoes in her home. Now, she had to fight the urge to remove her sneakers when she entered a shop. It was a hard habit to break, and since she didn’t have to worry about it, she didn’t.

  Hiro was bending over, and he removed his shoes just as she did.

  She laughed. “That is kinda funny.”

  “My mom would kill me for wearing hiking boots into a spring. Her obsession with nature is all consuming, and nothing is more natural than bare skin touching the world.”

  “Oh, wow. Sounds like my dad. The whole family would fur out and just spend whole weekends in the woods. It was easier for my dad though, he got to keep his thumbs.”

  “It sounds like fun.”

  “It was. We would see how high he could throw me.” She removed her pack and slipped it over one shoulder for easy access, walking inside through the dim light that seemed to emanate from deep in the cavern.

  The source of light was around several deep pools. Moonlight streamed in from a hole in the cavern above, and the light refracted and spread on the thick coils of steam above the water.

  “Oh, wow. This is lovely.”

  Hiro walked up behind her. “It truly is. Now, let’s see what Teebie packed for dinner. She has a knack for knowing what is required.”

  He set his pack on the floor and opened it. A box twice as wide as the one Scarlet had opened, emerged. He set it on the ground and removed the lid. The moment that it was open, it expanded until it was nearly the size of a basket.

  “That is odd. It is all strips of meat.”

  Hiro chuckled. “Not all.” He pulled out a long and wide tin and shook it. “She sent us a portable charcoal grill.”

  “Us? She knew that I would be here?”

  He crouched and started a fire before setting the charcoal on top of it. The entire mass was within the wide tin and wouldn’t leave any trace in the cavern.

  “I might have said that I was interested in speaking with you after seeing you at the bar. She also knows that I was headed into the woods and you were headed into the woods.”

  “Ah, so a logical extrapolation.”

  He blew on the charcoal for a moment before looking at her and smiling. “Exactly. There, that will be ready in a few minutes, so that leaves me time to work up a shower.”

  Scarlet sat next to the pools and watched with amusement as he pulled a folded black bag with an attached hose and sprinkler out of his pack.

  “All you need is a hook, and you could hang it on the wall.”

  He set the bag aside and fished around in the bottom of the pack. She heard a zipper, and then, he pulled out a six-inch hook that appeared designed to be pounded into wood.

  Hiro gave her a slight smile. “Could you set this in stone?”

  “Sure, but you have to pick the spot.”

  “I will. Follow me.” He placed his hand in the smallest of the pools, nodded and walked toward a shadowed corner that sloped down and away from the pools. He patted the wall and nodded. “As high as you can get it.”

  She smiled and held out her hand for the hook. “You might want to stand back for this.”

  He handed her the hook and took two long steps back. “I am out of the way.”

  Scarlet nodded, arranged the hook in her grip, and looked at the wall. She took a step back, channelled her strength and jumped, fist first.

  When she dropped to the ground, the hook was seven feet up, and only the curve was sticking out of the rock. “There you go.”

  Hiro grinned and went to the hottest of the pools. He filled the fiv
e-gallon bag and carried it back to where she was standing. “Technically this is for hanging in the sun, but with the hot springs, the sun isn’t necessary.”

  He reached up and put the bag up on the hook. “Would you like the first shower?”

  The charcoal was beginning to glow, so she nodded. “Yeah, it sounds like a good idea. I didn’t pack any soap, though.”

  “I have some. I can scrub your back for you if you like.” He smiled slightly, enthusiasm in his gaze.

  She laughed. “You want me to return the favour.”

  “Would you? It has been ages since I have been given a good scrubbing.”

  Scarlet chuckled. “Sure. I warn you, my mom trained me to scrub Korean bathhouse style. This isn’t going to be fun.”

  She took her pack to the far side of the coolest pool and removed her clothing. When she was naked, she walked back to the wall with the water bag, and she removed the nozzle that was hanging just over her head.

  “Here is the soap, and here is the scrubber. Let me know when you want me to work on your back.” Hiro handed her the implements, and she triggered the spray, quickly rinsing her body.

  The soap didn’t foam up, but it smelled pleasant and herbal as she worked it over her damp skin. Another quick spray slicked the soap up, and she wetted the scrubbing puff. Humming, she worked the soap on her skin into a lather before she turned her back to Hiro. “Please.”

  His hands were confident as he scrubbed the puff over her back. He wasn’t nearly as rough as she was used to, and he lingered over the curve of her hip a little longer than was necessary, but she felt better for having the dead skin sloughed away when he finished scrubbing, and she rinsed off.

  She was squeaky clean except for her hair and that she would take care of later.

  With great ceremony, she handed the soap and scrubber to Hiro. “Your turn. I will be standing by.”

  He nodded and started his shower. Her gaze found the startling information that she hadn’t really considered. Just scrubbing her back had aroused him.

  She watched as he stretched, soaped, and scrubbed in the same manner that she had, with allowances made for the difference in gender. It took him three minutes before he handed her the soap and scrubber. Now, it was time for her to attack.