by Ramona Gray
She stepped out of his office and thanking God there wasn’t anyone in the hallway, she ran back to the desk and sank into her chair. She stared blankly at her computer screen before touching her swollen mouth.
Holy fuck, she’d made out with Cooper in his office and she’d… she’d liked it.
Chapter Eight
“You still want me in the meeting?” Wes stuck his head into Cooper’s office. His nostrils flared and while the expression on his face didn’t change, Cooper knew he could smell his and Daisy’s mutual lust.
He cleared his throat, thankful it was Wes and not Boone. He loved Boone, but the guy didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. Wes, on the other hand, barely said two words on a good day.
“Yeah. The client should be here any minute. I’ll meet you and Grayson in the boardroom, I’m gonna grab a coffee.”
“Sure.” Wes left and Cooper took a deep breath. Jesus, he needed to concentrate on his upcoming meeting and not how fucking great Daisy’s ass felt in his hands. If he didn’t stop thinking about her sweet moans and how good she tasted, his fucking erection would never go away.
He adjusted his dick before heading toward the kitchen. He really did want a coffee, he told himself. He wasn’t going to the kitchen because he’d have to go through reception and it would give him the opportunity to smell Daisy’s lust again. Nope that wasn’t it at all. He had some fucking self-control.
The so-called self-control didn’t stop him from inhaling or slowing down as he stepped into the reception area. He glanced at Daisy. She was staring studiously at her computer screen, but her cheeks were bright red and even under the overpowering scent of him that covered her, he could smell her lingering arousal.
His lion purred happily. Daisy being covered in his scent had calmed the beast for the first time in months and Cooper was feeling almost giddy about it.
The door to the office opened and a male human stepped inside, followed by a teenager. He was tall and dark haired, wearing a business suit that Cooper suspected cost more than his entire wardrobe combined, and he radiated confidence. The teenager with him wore skinny jeans and a t-shirt. Her dark hair hung halfway down her back and she wore thick makeup. She gave Cooper a look of bored disinterest as she shifted her backpack on her shoulder.
“Have a seat and finish your math homework, Anna,” the man said.
She rolled her eyes but walked over to one of the chairs and sunk into it. She pulled a binder out of her backpack and stared morosely at it as the man in the suit walked up to Cooper.
Cooper held out his hand. “Mr. Landon?”
“Yes.” The man shook his hand.
“Cooper Brooks, we spoke on the phone. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You as well. Call me David. This is my daughter Anna.”
“Hello, Anna,” Cooper said.
Anna made a little wave without taking her gaze off her binder.
Cooper turned to Daisy who had stood up behind the receptionist desk. “This is our admin person Daisy.”
“Hello,” Daisy said. “Cooper, I’ll bring water to the boardroom.”
“Thank you, Daisy.” Cooper turned to David. “We’re meeting with my associates in the boardroom if you’d like to follow me.”
“Sure.” David followed Cooper to the boardroom. Wes and Grayson were already in the room and they stood, shaking hands with David as Cooper made introductions. He nodded his thanks to Daisy when she brought glasses and a pitcher of water into the boardroom and set them on the table before she left.
“So,” Cooper settled into his chair, “why don’t you give us a little background on why you’re looking at personal security options.”
David took a sip of water before pulling at the knot on his tie and loosening it a little. “Eight years ago, my wife and I divorced. She moved to Colorado shortly after the divorce, taking our daughter Anna with her. We have joint custody, so Anna spends some holidays with me, and I fly her out once a month for the weekend.”
He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers idly on the table. “Last year, Anna got a part time job in retail. She met a cheetah shifter who also worked at the store and became romantically involved with him. He is not a good man.”
“In what way?” Cooper said.
“He’s twenty-two years old. Anna is sixteen.”
“Jesus Christ,” Grayson said. “What’s the age of consent in Colorado?”
“Seventeen,” David said. “Only, Colorado has a Romeo and Juliet law.”
“What is that?” Cooper said.
“It’s a close-in-age exception,” Wes said. “A minor who is at least fifteen can have consensual sex with a person within ten years of their age.”
“Are you kidding?” Grayson said.
“No,” David said. “Anna’s mother is a lawyer and Anna is… well, let’s say she’s very clever and will probably follow in her mother’s footsteps when it comes to a career. When Maria threatened to have Xander arrested for statutory rape, Anna immediately brought up the Romeo and Juliet law. She had,” David closed his eyes for a second, “done her research before she slept with him.”
Cooper studied his notes in front of him. “You said you were looking for a security system for your home to keep your daughter safe. Anna is living with you now?”
“Yes.” David pinched the bridge of his nose. “About four months ago, Anna confessed to her mother that she had broken up with Xander, but he was refusing to accept it and was, in fact, scaring her. He was insistent that Anna and he would be married, and he wanted her to quit school and move in with him. Maria went to the police who spoke with Xander but because he hadn’t technically broken any laws, they couldn’t arrest him. When Xander kept showing up at Anna’s school, Maria had a temporary restraining order put out against him. It was only for a couple of weeks and once it ended, he went right back to stalking her.”
David’s face had paled and when he reached for his water glass, there was the slightest tremor in his hand. “He sent her flowers and gifts and constantly texted her. Maria got Anna a new phone number but somehow Xander found out her new number and continued to text her. He sends her messages through all of her social media. Anna had to basically stop using social media of any kind which made her a bit of an outcast with her peers.”
He set his water glass down on the table. “Maria had a new permanent restraining order put out against him. We thought that might help but,” he took a deep breath, “one evening while Maria was at a client function and Anna was home alone, Xander broke into the house.”
“Jesus,” Cooper said.
“He told Anna that she was leaving with him and made her pack a bag. As they were walking to his car, Anna managed to escape and run to the neighbour’s house. They called the police but by the time they arrived, Xander was gone. When they went to his house, his roommate said that Xander had sold most of his stuff earlier in the month and told him that he and Anna were getting married and moving to Montana. Xander had loaded his car with what was left of his personal things and moved out that morning.”
“I take it the police didn’t find him?” Grayson said.
“No.” David tapped at the table again. “He has a warrant out for violating the restraining order and for attempted kidnapping, but he’s so far avoided being arrested. The police suspect that he has several different aliases. We hoped that with the warrants out, that might be the end of his obsession with her. But not even two weeks later, he was sending gifts to Anna again, contacting her through social media to say she belonged with him and he’d forgiven her for running away from him.”
David pushed his chair back and stood. He paced the small room, staring blankly out the row of windows on the far wall. “Maria and I decided it would be in Anna’s best interest to move to California and live with me. She didn’t want to, all of her friends are in Colorado, but we didn’t give her a choice. She’s been living with me for two months. It hasn’t been easy. She misses her mom and her friends, she’
s sad and feeling lonely, and on top of that she’s having some trouble with her schoolwork, but there’s been no contact from Xander. Until last week.”
He paused by the windows, glancing at Cooper and the others before turning his gaze back to the street. “Flowers arrived at the house for Anna. No name attached to them. A day later, an envelope with a letter from Xander showed up on the front porch.”
“Do you still have the letter?” Cooper said.
“The police have it,” David said. “I contacted them immediately. They’ve let the Colorado state police know that Xander is probably here in California and they advised me to get a restraining order as well, which I did, but…”
“There isn’t much else they can do,” Wes said.
David huffed out an angry laugh. “Not really. It’s ridiculous. One of the officers assigned to the case actually gave me your name, Mr. Brooks. He said you were one of the best for providing home security systems and personal security as well.”
He returned to his seat, sitting down and rubbing at his forehead. Cooper could smell his weariness and his fear. “I am afraid for my child, Mr. Brooks. This shifter is crazy, and I believe he’ll stop at nothing to have Anna.”
“Based on what you’ve told us,” Cooper said, “I’d recommend not only the security system installed, but a private security detail for Anna as well whenever she leaves your home.”
David nodded. “Whatever you think is best. I just want to keep my Anna safe. She’s what matters. Nothing else.”
* * *
“Would you like some water or juice?” Daisy smiled at Anna.
The teenager shrugged. “Yeah, sure, I’ll take a glass of water if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t.” She walked to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water as Anna muttered a curse and tossed her binder on the chair next to her.
She picked at the eraser on her pencil as Daisy handed the glass of water to her. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” Anna sipped at the water.
As Daisy turned to go, she said, “You like working here?”
“I do,” Daisy said. “It’s a good place to work.”
“They’re all shifters, huh? Are you one too?”
“No, I’m human.” Daisy hesitated. “Are you, um, a shifter?”
“Nah. Human.” Anna picked at her pencil eraser again. “I’m Anna.”
“Daisy. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
Daisy turned to leave, and Anna said, “How long have you worked here?”
Smiling, Daisy sat in the chair next to her. “About three months.”
“You from California?”
“No. I grew up in Connecticut. How about you?”
“I was born here but when my mom and dad got divorced, I moved to Colorado with her. Still came back to California every month though to see my dad and I spend, like, every other holiday with him.”
“That’s good that you could see him on a regular basis.”
“Yeah. My parents had what they refer to as an amicable divorce. They’re friends but it still kind of sucks they don’t love each other anymore. Your parents still together?”
“I grew up in foster care,” Daisy said.
“Shitty.” Anna picked up her binder, flipping it open to where Daisy could see an equation written out. Anna poked at the page with the tip of her pencil. “I hate math. I wanna be a lawyer like my mom and she says math is important, but I don’t see how it’s that important. It’s not like I’m going to be doing equations in front of a judge or something.”
She glanced up at Daisy, a shy conspiratorial glance with a hint of anxiety that Daisy recognized well. “I’m failing math. My dad’s gonna have a shit fit when he finds out. He knows I’m having trouble, but I haven’t, like, showed him my grades or anything.”
She drew across the equation with an angry slash of her pencil. “It doesn’t make sense to me, you know? I’ve been working on this same stupid equation for days. It’s a PD day for teachers today but if I don’t have my math homework done by Monday, I’m screwed. But I can’t even get past the first dumb equation.”
She made doodles in the side margin, big looping flowers and smiley faces. “My dad said he would help me, but I get more confused when he tries to explain it to me.”
“Well, I’m pretty good at math, maybe I can help?” Daisy said.
Anna glanced at her. “Yeah? You’d do that?”
“Sure,” Daisy said. “Show me the first question.”
* * *
“It was good to meet you, David.” Cooper led the human back out to reception. “As I mentioned, Lusa will be in charge of installing the security system. We’ll be at your place Monday at nine to take a look at your house, go over options, and discuss which system will work best for you.”
“Thank you,” David said.
“You’re welcome. I know we went over how the personal security detail works already, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the office. Wes will be taking the weekend shift. Please remember to email your daughter’s weekend schedule to the office this afternoon so that Wes can contact you with any questions he may have ahead of time.”
“There won’t be much this weekend. I’m home all weekend and Anna is behind on some math homework and will be staying in until she finishes it. But I’ll send over the schedule and…”
David trailed off as they entered the reception area. Daisy was sitting next to Anna and the two of them were bent over her binder. Anna wrote something on the paper and Daisy’s face broke out into a grin.
“Perfect! That’s the answer.”
“You’re kidding.” Anna stared at her in disbelief.
“I’m not. You did it,” Daisy said.
“Holy shit!” Anna said before dropping her pencil and binder in the empty chair beside her and hugging Daisy. “I did it! You’re a friggin miracle worker, Daisy.”
Daisy laughed. “You solved the equation, not me.”
“Yeah, but you explained it in a way that I, like, actually understood,” Anna said.
She glanced up, a grin crossing her face when she saw her father. “Dad, I actually understood math for a change.”
“That’s great, honey,” David said.
“It’s because of Daisy,” Anna said. “She, like, explains math so much better than you.”
Daisy flushed and stood up, clearing her throat awkwardly as David walked toward her. He held his hand out and Cooper’s lion growled angrily when Daisy shook it. His lion didn’t like the way David was looking at Daisy and, to be honest, Cooper didn’t like it either.
His lion surged forward, taking control just enough to make Cooper stride jerkily across the reception area. She had already dropped David’s hand, but Cooper took Daisy’s arm, tugging her up against him before putting his arm around her waist in a clear ‘the woman belongs to me’ gesture.
Daisy tried to step discreetly away, and Cooper held her closer before holding his hand out to David. “Good to meet you, Mr. Landon. Remember to email the information to the office this afternoon.”
“I will.” David shook his hand. With a look of amusement on his face, he nodded to Daisy before turning and ushering Anna toward the door.
“It was nice to meet you, Daisy,” Anna said. “Thank you for your help.”
“You’re welcome, Anna,” Daisy replied.
When the door closed behind them and the rival for his mate was gone, his lion relinquished control. Cooper stared blankly at the way his hand gripped Daisy’s hip. Daisy tugged at his hand and he released her and stepped back.
“Sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done that. My lion, uh… sorry.”
She rubbed at the scar on her forearm. “That’s okay. But I think we need to talk about -”
“Hey, Coop?” Lusa walked into reception. “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”
“Can you give me five minutes?” Cooper said.
“I’m leavin
g in seven,” Lusa said with a glance at her watch.
“It’s fine,” Daisy said. “We can talk later.”
Cooper frowned. “I’m out of the office all afternoon and -”
“We can talk on Monday.” Daisy walked back to her desk and cursing inwardly at his stupidity, Cooper followed Lusa to his office.
Chapter Nine
“Daisy! Over here!”
Daisy turned and smiled at Ryan before threading her way through the busy coffee shop, holding her hot coffee carefully. A few people, their noses wrinkling, immediately stepped out of her way or made a wide berth around her, and a tiny thrill went through her.
She thought she’d gotten pretty good at figuring out who was a shifter but being marked by Cooper made it incredibly easy to know for certain. Last night while grocery shopping, the number of shifters who actively avoided her had both surprised her and made her jittery with excitement. For the first time in years, she hadn’t been afraid while out in public.
She’d felt strong and a little invincible, and definitely awed by the power that Cooper’s scent seemed to have. A couple of the shifters had even looked distinctly nervous when she walked by them.
Worried that Cooper’s scent might have worn off by now, her nervousness reappeared when she walked into the coffee shop. But it was quickly apparent that Cooper’s scent still covered her, and her newfound confidence returned.
She sat down in the chair across from Ryan. “Hi, Ryan.”
She was feeling nervous for an entirely different reason now. Not only was Ryan drop dead gorgeous, but she was a celebrity. The sci-fi show she’d starred in as a teenager was a cult classic, and Daisy had no doubt that Ryan was still asked for autographs on a daily basis.
“Hi.” Ryan smiled at her. “You look… different.”
“Do I?” Daisy said. Ryan may have only seen her a couple of times before at the office, but Daisy had no trouble believing that she looked different to her. She felt different. All because of Cooper marking her.
“Yeah.” Ryan sipped at her drink. “Thank you for meeting me for coffee.”