Read Online Sheer Bliss by Leigh Ellwood - Free Book Online

a generous amount
in her cupped palm before splashing it across her opposite
shoulder. She repeated the process over the rest of her body and
took her time rubbing down her arms, legs, back and torso to silky
smoothness. Satisfied, she quickly toweled dry and padded into her
bedroom for an outfit to wear to the ball.
    Pausing just inside her
walk-in closet, Calla let out a sad sigh and backed away. While the
Indian Summer Ball represented an engagement party of sorts for
select shifters of Bliss, local non-shifters attended as well to
revel in the joyous occasion. Calla hadn’t attended every party,
but when she did she knew not to expect anything to influence her
love life. Tonight posed a problem.
    Matings between shifters
were arranged early, sometimes when the prospective marrieds still
wore diapers. The ball served mainly to present couples in a formal
setting, not unlike a coming-out party. Nonetheless, it occurred to
Calla that Caleb might use the event to coerce her into a
commitment of sorts. Seeing Sheila when she dropped Caleb off at
the house reminded her of the lady panther’s not-so-subtle
encouragement—the woman wanted her at the ball tonight. Wanted her
with Caleb, though she hadn’t said that out loud.
    She didn’t put Caleb up to
taking Trisha to the salon today, did she?
    Calla shook away her
suspicions. With Bliss being such a small town, she expected to run
into Caleb often. Perhaps with her nephew on the market again,
Sheila sought to pair him with anybody halfway acceptable just to
get him out of the house. With three growing kids running around,
the woman no doubt had enough headaches.
    Calla, on the other hand,
had no kids and nothing new to wear. Choosing to let fashion
inspiration strike on its own, she remained nude and went
downstairs for a glass of wine. She saw no need to be at the ball
right when it started. Let Caleb stew a bit , she thought
with a smile.
    Glass of Chardonnay in
hand, she drifted over to the back glass doors and gazed with awe
at the cloud-streaked sky. Cirrus strips cut soft swaths into deep
shades of red and magenta—a true sailor’s delight, if Calla
remembered her nautical lore. In the distance, gentle waves lapped
against the empty shore, reminding Calla again how lucky she was to
live in such a lovely part of the Garden State. Normally she’d see
a die-hard beachcomber or two at this time of night, waving a metal
detector over the sand, but not a soul occupied the area now.
Everybody was probably getting ready for the ball or already
there.
    A nice opportunity for
fresh air, she realized, and took her wine out into her enclosed
back yard. She relished the breeze coming in from the ocean as it
washed over her bare skin. One thing she liked about living in this
non-touristy part of the shore was the freedom to walk out in her
altogether and not worry about attracting an audience. Her
immediate neighbors rarely appeared outdoors on the beachside—and
Calla often questioned why anybody would buy an oceanfront home and
not take advantage of it—but if they saw her they kept
quiet.
    Perhaps, she wondered, if
they said something she’d put clothes on next time. Calla laughed
aloud at the thought and drained her wineglass.
    Stepping closer to the
brick wall, she recalled when Maya trotted up to her home in wolf
form. Thinking about what she’d gleaned from shifter friends about
how they lived and how shifting affected them physically and
mentally, Calla nonetheless fantasized on occasion of transforming
easily into a sleek, jungle cat and tearing down the shore. She
loved to jog on the beach and did so early each morning, but
imagined the added feline strength could propel her a greater
distance, to the point where she felt she could soar.
    What is it like, Caleb?
Maya? Once in a while, if she got up early enough, she’d spot a
panther or wolf racing across her line of vision. Many of them
worked out the kinks of living as a shifter in an urban area here,
and Calla