Adams, Cara - Calling Doctor Wolf [Shape-Shifter Clinic 1] Read online

  * * * *

  Instead of riding back to her apartment, Ambrielle turned the motorbike toward the mountains and headed out on one of her absolutely favorite rides. The higher up the mountain she went, the narrower and windier the road became, until it stopped at a parking lot and there was just a walking trail ahead. Ambrielle ignored the signs, throttled the bike right down until it was barely moving, then eased between the fence posts and rode slowly and cautiously up the fire track.

  Higher and higher she went, until finally she was at the very top of the mountain, with a stunning view out over the city to the north, and over the endless forests of the national park to the south. She switched the engine off, pulled her helmet from her head, and shook her hair free. Then she stood, breathing the fresh, crisp, clean air deep into her lungs, and just looked at the endless green view. Fantastic. It washed away all the endless hours of drudgery and dealing with idiots at work and refreshed her body, her mind, and her soul.

  Ambrielle walked over to a huge flat rock, climbed on it, and sat cross-legged, her head thrown back so the sun shone full on her face as she absorbed the peace and silence and clean, tangy scent of the trees. Ah, it smelled so good. Dirt, trees, leaves, and pure air.

  When she was ready, Ambrielle let her gaze rest on the far distant skyline, and thought about the interview. It’d gone well, she thought. She’d recognized that big red dog as a shape-shifter instantly. Spending a week every summer of her childhood with her aunt Kitty had taught her to recognize shape-shifters quite fast.

  As a little child she’d simply accepted that, just as animals in movies could talk, so the animals at Aunt Kitty’s farm changed into people. By the time she was old enough to ask why and how it happened, and why she couldn’t turn into a cat, too, acceptance of the paranormal was ingrained in her. Although there was that summer when she was nine when she’d cried herself to sleep two nights in a row with disappointment that she’d never be able to turn into a cat and play with the other big cats who were now her friends.

  Although there was one other little girl she’d met there a few times, a child the same age as her, who was another human among the many shape-shifters.

  Ambrielle blinked her eyes and focused on the interview she’d just had. She’d been able to answer every question and knew she’d be able to do the work. She liked the clinic and now understood SS was likely code for shape-shifter or something along those lines. And Dr. Thorne was as totally delicious and beddable as his photograph and so was the other man, Mr. Davies. Oh yeah, working with them would be pure pleasure indeed. Although the likelihood that two such completely yummy men were unattached was not high. Their wives would likely stab her with a scalpel if she so much as looked at either of them.

  Unfortunately the job wasn’t hers yet. They still had someone else to interview. But she could hope. And the rest of the day was hers. She’d lost a day’s pay, so she might as well enjoy her freedom. Ambrielle jumped up and decided to hike around the top of the mountain since she was here.

  Besides, this time tomorrow she might be free to tell her useless manager exactly what she thought of his abilities. Right after she packed her things ready to leave that job forever. Oh, I so hope I get this job.

  * * * *

  “Hi, Ambrielle, it’s Oscar, Oscar Thorne.”

  “Hi, Dr. Thorne.”

  Her voice was sweet and musical and made his cock sit up and dance. He could picture her dark eyes sparkling and her luscious red lips smiling, just from hearing her voice over his cell phone. Oscar got a grip on himself and said, “I’d like to offer you the position of office administrator here at the clinic. Are you available to accept the job?”

  “Yes, thank you. I’d love to work at the clinic.”

  “Good, good. Are you still able to start on Monday?”

  “I am.”

  “Shall we say eight thirty then? I’ll show you around, introduce you to the other staff, things like that.” Oscar’s cock wanted to be introduced to her, too, very intimately introduced to her, but he tried to force his mind to be cold and professional. She was his employee. Almost his employee. It’d be sexual harassment if he so much as looked at her.

  “I’ll be there,” she said.

  He thought he heard a note of excitement in her voice, but wasn’t sure whether or not it was just his imagination. He hadn’t thought of it until now, but how was he supposed to keep his hands off her once she was working for him? Her curves called to him in the most lustful way possible and all he could think of was fucking her.

  For years he and Danny had talked about maybe sharing a woman, and Ambrielle could be that woman. She aroused both of them, he knew that. Maybe if they had a brief affair with her and got her out of his system? Ah no, that wouldn’t work. He’d have to see her sad eyes in his office every day, maybe put up with her tears and evil looks once it was all over. And how could he hurt her? She was going to leave her current employer and come to him. There was no way he could put her in the awkward position of not having a job or having to leave the clinic just because he couldn’t be a man and keep his pants zipped.

  Likely once he saw her every day she wouldn’t turn him on as much anyway.

  Chapter Three

  Ambrielle carefully typed up her resignation, checked that she’d gotten the amount of annual leave owing to her correct, and requested it in cash, then copied the e-mail to the human resources manager as well as to her manager. Then she hit Send. She knew His Royal Idiotness was in his office right now, but whether he was online or not was anyone’s guess. He was usually very good at ignoring e-mails from all the staff, but one with “Resignation” in the subject line might attract his attention. Meanwhile she went down to the mail room and asked for a sturdy cardboard box which she took back to her office.

  Her desk drawers were scrupulously neat, and she didn’t keep anything personal at work anyway, so the box was only half-full when she was finished packing her things. She draped her blazer across the top of it, and made a mental note to pack her shoes when she put her motorcycle boots on, then she was done.

  Next she painstakingly deleted her browsing history and made sure no personal files were left on her computer, but she was very careful to delete those regularly, too, so that only filled in another few minutes.

  Her office door slammed open and her boss was standing in the doorway, his face red. “You can’t resign!” he shouted.

  “Yes, sir, I can. I just did.”

  “Your contract says you have to give me two weeks’ notice.”

  “But we aren’t abiding by my contract, are we? It also says I’m entitled to four weeks’ annual leave and you haven’t approved more than one week of all the leave I’ve requested in the last two years.”

  “But you…you…”

  “Are leaving at five today and require the money owed to me to be in my bank account by then,” she finished firmly.

  “We’ll see about that!” he said, storming out, her door swinging behind him.

  She shook her head. She might not get her money today, but she would get it. The company wouldn’t care for the bad publicity her screaming about not being reimbursed for being refused annual leave would cause. And it was all so silly. There was no reason not to permit her to take the leave owed to her. They weren’t very busy at all anymore. It was just his way of proving he was in charge of them all.

  At four thirty she left her office and went around the department saying good-bye to everyone. Some asked what she was planning to do and she just smiled. She didn’t really want anyone to know she already had a job to go to. She would tell people only after she’d actually begun working at the clinic. When she returned to her own office for the last time and checked her e-mail, there was a note from the human resources manager to say her bank account had been credited with the salary owing to her, plus cash to replace her annual leave, and also a bonus she’d been entitled to but that her boss had never signed off on. “That goatish, fly-bitten maggot pie. How dar
e he hide that from me? I wonder how many other people he’s prevented from getting bonuses!”

  She sent back a quick thank-you note, logged off the computer for the last time, and changed into her leathers and boots, then picked up her cardboard box and her purse and left. She’d miss her friends, but not the company and most definitely not her boss.

  It was time to start thinking about her new boss, the panty-drenchingly delicious Dr. Oscar Thorne, and his equally hunky associate, Mr. Danny Davies. Just looking at their fine physiques was going to be enough to keep her happy for the foreseeable future.

  * * * *

  Ambrielle looked up when she sensed someone in the doorway to her little office. It had taken her a few days to sort out the mess the paperwork was in, but now she was starting to feel relaxed here, and she knew most people’s names and their positions in the clinic.

  Her heart almost missed a beat when she saw it was the oh-so-yummy carpenter.

  “Hi, Danny. Have you run out of lumber again?” Almost she’d wanted to ask him if he had enough screws, but that was too close to what her body would like to do with his.

  His shoulder-length brown hair was tied back with a piece of leather, and his brown eyes sparkled at her. She wanted to think he liked the look of her as much as she appreciated his lean, stringy, runner’s build, but much more likely was that he was just glad she ordered his building supplies on time.

  Oh how she’d like to supply a few other things for him. Once again her naughty mind was linking words like hammer and nailed. She refused to dwell on thoughts below her waist and kept her gaze on his face.

  His eyes seemed approving somehow, and kind and thoughtful, but there was lust in them as well, she was sure. It was such a shame nothing could happen since they worked together.

  “I just dropped in to tell you I’m off to town to pick up more paint. I watched Valentino Rossi training for the MotoGP season on the TV last night. Have you ever considered racing your motorcycle?”

  Now that was interesting. She’d never expected him to ask her that kind of question. Still she was happy to answer honestly.

  “When I was seventeen or eighteen I rode in a few races. But if you look at the crowds watching, most of the bikers have broken legs and arms, or have suffered even worse injuries. I decided I like my bones just the way they are, so I stick to regular riding.”

  “It’s still more dangerous than driving a car, though.”

  “Sure, but you can get run over by a bus just crossing the road.”

  Danny laughed.

  “Are you keeping my office administrator from her work again?” Oscar had appeared in the doorway behind Danny.

  “Nope. Just saying I’m off to pick up some more paint.”

  Ambrielle decided she knew these two men well enough to tease them just a little bit. “Danny, you really need to buy Tickle-Me Pink or Cherry Blossom Pink. All this cream and pale blue is boring.”

  “Tickle-Me Pink? That’s a color?” asked Oscar.

  “It’s a genuine shade of pink,” answered Ambrielle. Then she sat back and watched as the men exchanged glances before looking back to her. She kept a straight face but was unsurprised when they both pulled out their cell phones to check.

  “Holy shit! There’s even Barbie Pink!” The loathing in Oscar’s voice was so obvious Ambrielle laughed.

  Danny looked at her and she laughed harder. “You’re teasing us.”

  “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help it.”

  “Well you’d better watch out or I’ll paint your office gray,” replied Danny.

  This time they all laughed. Suddenly Ambrielle felt at home. Content. And she knew she belonged here, in this job, with these people. Especially with these two men.

  * * * *

  The first two weeks with Ambrielle as the office manager went past in a blur for Danny. Every time he saw her his dick went wild with joy, but his head—his other head—was also happy because she was relieving Oscar of so many jobs he just hadn’t had time to do. Not only were the accounts all paid on time, they never ran out of toilet paper, or coffee, or anything anymore. People almost immediately got in the habit of telling her what they wanted, instead of telling Oscar or leaving notes on his desk, and like magic, whatever was needed appeared.

  There were other changes, too, and all of them were good. Vases of flowers on the reception desk to welcome patients and families into the building. Neat spreadsheets for everything from who had booked the lounge room for a rehabilitation session, to whose turn it was to wash the dishes in the staff lunchroom.

  He found himself smiling every time he thought of her and grateful that Shaun had never shown up nor apologized for not coming to his interview. She was perfect. Smart, neat, efficient, and easygoing, fun to talk to, and always willing to lend a hand with the chores. Not to mention so beautiful he had a permanent hard-on and ever-aching dick. A dick he didn’t know what to do with. Well, apart from the usual, that was. How could he say to her, “Can I fuck you?” when he knew that’s what Oscar wanted as well? Plus it’d be all kinds of stupid to bed the staff just to scratch an itch. Besides she was damn good staff, not just any staff, and a thoroughly nice person as well. But she was also sexy, and dammit, he wanted her so bad his dick was in agony almost all day long.

  There was only one solution. He was going to have to talk to Oscar about her. Them.

  * * * *

  Some days Oscar could hardly concentrate on what he should be doing. All he wanted to do was stand and watch Ambrielle. To touch her shiny black hair flowing free down her back or tied up in a French pleat or a simple ponytail that made him crazy with the desire to undo it and run his fingers through her tresses.

  Her voice was never harsh, but always friendly and pleasing. In fact, every inch of her was pleasing, from her sharp brain, all the way down to her solid biker boots. Just this morning he was watching her change out of her leathers and he longed to pick up her foot and kiss each toe before she shoved them into her plain black pumps. He wanted to undress her and kiss every inch of her from head to toe and then turn her over and do it again. She was a drug in his blood, a fever in his brain, an itch under his skin. He wanted her so much he hurt all over, not just in his cock, which kept trying to force its way out of his pants and into her pants.

  In two short weeks she’d made his office, hell the entire clinic, run smoothly. There were no more crises of things missing, or not purchased, of people not knowing where they should be and when and what for. Every day flowed smoothly under her guiding hand. It’d never occurred to him before, but the office manager was just as important as the doctor in a clinic. He couldn’t do his job unless she did hers. It was a revelation. All these years and he’d never known that until now.

  All of which meant…Ah hell, he was falling in love with her. He wanted her for himself, but he knew Danny felt exactly the same. Well, over the years we’ve talked about sharing a woman. I guess now is the time to stop talking and start doing. Can two Doms share a woman? Is it possible? Especially when we both want her and love her? Well, possibly love her. No, it’s much too soon to talk of love. That’s crazy talk. It’s just lust. She’s as sexy as hell and we both want her.

  Oscar waited until Ambrielle had ridden off home to her apartment on her motorcycle. He waited until he’d done his evening rounds and checked on all his patients, taking the time to talk to each one personally and check on how they felt about their progress. He waited until he was sure Danny would have completed his evening ritual of showering and changing and flinging himself in front of his television. Only then did he fill his insulated mug with coffee and climb the stairs and knock on Danny’s door.

  “’S open.”

  Oscar pushed the door wide then quietly closed it behind himself. They were both very aware of the patients on this floor and of the need to not be too noisy in case they were already asleep. Or trying to sleep. That was something else they needed to talk about. Starting construction upst
airs on their own apartment or apartments. Actually that was a damn fine idea. Once they had their own apartment upstairs, where they could make a bit of noise, they’d be able to invite Ambrielle for a sleepover.

  Danny turned the sound right down on the television, just leaving the picture so they could watch the ball game as they talked. “’S up, dude?”

  Oscar dropped down into a chair and said, “We really need to talk about Ambrielle. We both want her, but it’s going to be a challenge to get her. But just as I got here I thought maybe we should move ahead and build our apartment upstairs first, because then we’d have somewhere private to take her. I mean, our rooms are no good. We can’t be noisy and we don’t want to have to go to a hotel just to talk.”

  “We both want to do a whole lot more than just talk to her, but we don’t know what she wants. You’re her boss. We want her, but does she want us?”

  “You mean she may just be acting nice to keep her job? I don’t think that’s right. She’s nice to everyone. I think she’s a genuinely considerate sort of person. She shows her true character. She isn’t just playing a role. I know she can be quite definite and firm as well. A couple of times I’ve wondered if I’ve been a bit too forceful, a bit too Dom-ish if you like, because she’s given me a very straight look that’s said quite clearly I’m moving into her space, but she’s always polite and helpful, never rude or dismissive,” objected Oscar. He was sure of that. He knew she wasn’t just pretending. She was invariably polite at any time of day, even when she was interrupted in the middle of something or seemed to think he was interfering in her work.

  “I’m not disagreeing with you. I’ve seen how patient she is when people on the phone say stupid things. I was meaning more that she might not be prepared to tell us to get lost because you’re her boss. She likes her job but doesn’t want a relationship with you or me.”