“Stubborn Attraction” blurb:
Laid off for ramming her knee into a co-worker's balls after he
tries to feel her up, lesbian Jaelle heads to her father's cabin in the
mountains. There, she takes the form of a mountain goat and climbs, free and
uninhibited.
So, what happens when she finds a very attractive interloper on
her favorite rock ledge?
Chapter One
"Damn it, damn it, damn it to fucking goddamn
hell!" Jaelle packed her suitcase by the simple means of upending her
underwear drawer into the open case, then threw jeans and sweaters on top of
the lingerie.
She stomped into the bathroom, still swearing loudly, and
tipped the contents of her make-up and medications drawer into a plastic bag,
which she tied shut, then threw across the room into the suitcase, before
stomping into the kitchen.
Grabbing two big, black trash bags, she placed one inside
the other then took her few items of food out of the refrigerator, collected
the dozen packets and cans of food from the pantry, slung everything into the
trash bag, and placed it by the back door.
Her purse, her laptop, a handful of paperback romances off
the shelf, and the photo of her family from beside her bed, and she was packed.
"Why can't men understand some women are happy without
a man in their life? Wait on a man hand and foot after a hard day at work? Hell
no! I’ve never wanted and never needed a man." Jaelle kicked the door
open, laptop and purse over her shoulder, suitcase in one hand and trash bag in
the other.
The suitcase fit in the trunk of her small car, the laptop
and purse she put on the passenger seat beside her, and the food bag in the
backseat. "Thank God I travel light," she murmured as she pulled out
of the parking lot and headed for the interstate and the hill country.
Only an hour out of town, up a winding dirt road in the
hills, was the tiny cabin her father had owned. She made sure all the utilities
and other charges were always paid on this place because it was the closest
thing she had to a real home now. She'd loved her dad, and knew he loved her,
but he was totally incapable of remaining faithful to any one woman, not even
the one he'd married -- her mother.
"He's a randy old goat, your father," Mom had
always said, with a secret smile. Jaelle hadn't really understood what she'd
meant until the day her teenaged self and her mom had gotten into a flaming
row, and in the middle of screaming her chest had tightened intolerably, her
vision had gone blurry, her head had pounded -- and she'd turned into a
mountain goat.
She'd been standing there, shivering, wobbling on four thin
legs, and staring down at her long brownish-blonde fur, when her mom had
wrapped warm arms around her and said, "Oh dear! You are truly your
father's daughter. I'll phone him straight away, honey, so he can help you
through this."
Jaelle smiled as she drove. Yeah, maybe Dad hadn't been the
most faithful of men, but he sure as hell was a wonderful father for a girl
struggling with the knowledge that she was a shapeshifter. And not something
cool and trendy like a wolf or a big cat, but a freaking mountain goat. Goats
ran fast, were highly intelligent, adapted quickly to changes, and had a mighty
fine sex life. Jaelle snorted. Her folks hadn't even blinked when she'd told
them she was gay. I guess once they'd
accepted their child really was a "kid" in every sense of the word,
sexual orientation was a pretty minor attribute. Whatever, they'd just
continued to love her for herself.
This story was previously published in the “Lusty Wenches”
anthology.
Berengaria Brown
