by April Zyon
He gave her another look that confused her and stood. “Yeah, in the employee area. Come on,” he said, holding out a hand to her. Ali was torn between taking it and ignoring it. She couldn’t seem to get a solid read on Harley, and everything he did only made it worse.
She placed her hand in his and felt a shiver go up and down her body from her toes to her hair and back down again. Holy shit, this man was potent. She couldn’t speak. Heck, she couldn’t even move. For a moment, she just stood there looking at him.
Tugging on her hand, he led her through the offices and a door marked employees only. He pushed another door open and she saw a row of lockers. “Through there.” He waved to an open door. “I’m going to go unlock the door for the sheriff. Are you okay on your own for a couple minutes?”
“I am, thank you again.” She looked back at him, then turned back to the bathroom. “Go, I’ll be okay. I seriously doubt that anyone could get in here to get to me.” At least, she hoped not. Most businesses were warded against mages to keep them from popping in and out and stealing from them.
“Not without going through me,” he said quietly. “Even if they did, unless they know where they are going in here they’ll end up making one hell of a racket. You’d hear them coming from a mile off. When you’re done, meet us in the reception area. Hopefully, he didn’t think I was kidding about the coffee. Fucker dragged me outta bed and I haven’t even had any yet. I cannot function without coffee,” he mumbled, leaving her to clean up.
A few minutes later, when she walked into the reception area, she saw Harley from behind and the sheriff as well. She waved. “Hello, Sheriff.” Moving to Harley’s side, she accepted the coffee that the sheriff passed her. She took the only seat that was there between the sheriff and Harley. Alaska had to walk away from the Kodiak because he was affecting her on a cellular level and if she didn’t walk away now, she might not be able to walk away from him later, and that would be embarrassing. She didn’t beg. Even if it meant being alone, she refused to beg.
“Harley here says you’ve had some trouble. Care to expand on his apparently limited word selection this morning?”
She heard a growl from her other side but when she threw Harley a look he was nursing his coffee like it was a lifeline. He glanced up to catch her eye and winked while taking another sip.
“I had just finished baking the muffins for the kids’ class trip this morning and was in the kitchen, playing around with a new recipe.” She then felt herself blushing by how hot her cheeks got. “I was kind of dancing around singing into my spatula with my earbuds in, so I didn’t even hear them coming in. Next thing I know, there are iron cuffs on me and a black silk bag over my head. I couldn’t fight with magic, so instead I head-butted him since he was behind me. He had a scruffy beard, because it tugged the silk off. After that, I started to run as fast as I could to get away from there. Then I plowed into Harley here. Sorry again about that. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
The sheriff coughed, dribbling coffee on himself.
“I think I can handle a little ball of fluff like yourself running into me. You’re the one that landed ass first on the pavement and without your hands able to break your fall. You definitely should get looked over.”
She snorted. “I have more than enough padding to be okay,” she told him. She took another sip of the coffee, then sighed. “I was hoping that I ran into a shifter so that I could get you to smell me and maybe catch a scent of whoever it was that grabbed me.”
“There was no scent but your own,” Harley told her. “Woman and baked goods, nothing else. Well, there was something else, but being an occasional gentleman I decided not to mention it. Took me a while to figure it out since the situation didn’t seem to call for that particular aroma.”
Alaska’s mouth dropped open, and she squirmed as the full impact of Harley’s words sank in. He could smell her arousal. Well, she figured, forcing herself to meet his gaze and refusing to feel embarrassed, he was a bear—of course he could scent her.
“I don’t even want to know what you two are babbling about,” the sheriff said. He was staring down at his phone. “Sorry to tell you this, Alaska. I had one of my deputies head over to your shop after Harley gave me his extremely short rundown. I just got word that the shop is in one hell of a mess. We’re going to need you to go through and give us an inventory of damages and cost to add to the file.”
“Damn,” she muttered. “Toss out the muffins for the kids. I don’t want them to be hurt in any way at all. Can I borrow someone’s phone so that I can call the teachers and let them know that they will have to stop at the store and buy muffins from a box?” She cringed at that thought, but oh well, such was life. “I guess I’m ready to go over there and get this done if you are, Sheriff.” She looked at Harley and smiled. “Thank you for saving my ass.”
“It’s a cute ass that deserved to be saved, so you’re welcome.” He handed her his phone while the sheriff got on his cell to talk with the deputy at her shop. Getting up, Harley drained his cup, then tossed it into the garbage bin at the end of the reception desk.
She looked at him and didn’t move an inch. “You think my ass is cute? Seriously?” She couldn’t have heard that correctly. No way in hell could she have heard him right. He had been acting as if he couldn’t stand her.
“Course it is,” he told her. Leaning back against the counter, he tipped his head and met her gaze. “Like the rest of you is damn hot. You’re built like a woman should be and the fact you’re happy with your body shows in everything you do. You own it.”
“What?” Her mouth was hanging open. “Me?” Oh hell, she sounded like a mouse when she said that. “I.” She shook her head. “Am I dreaming right now?”
“Sorry to interrupt this, whatever this is,” the sheriff butted in. “We should head over to your shop, Alaska. Did you make the call to the teachers or do I need to have a deputy alert them?”
“No, shoot. Sorry, I didn’t call them.” She called the school, then looked back up at Harley once more. “I guess I have to go.” She didn’t really want to leave him, which was weird for her. Alaska wasn’t a woman to cling, ever, but she wanted to with him. She wanted to reach out and touch him and ask him to touch her.
Pushing off of the counter, he walked toward her and took the phone she still had in her hand. “I’ll swing by your place later and check up on you. I have a customer coming by to pick up his truck. Otherwise I’d go with you. Be safe and watch out for large, immovable objects.”
She nodded at him just a bit dumbly. “Do you know where the shop is?” When he nodded, she smiled, giving him a wave and walking away so that she could get to her shop and figure out just how much damage was done.
Chapter Three
After checking in with the sheriff and finding out the man hadn’t actually had any reason to call him that morning besides a gut feeling, Harley got down to work. It was a relatively busy day, mostly tourists with quick fixes, but there were the usual check-ups and the like. In between all those interruptions, Harley kept working on the shop’s ongoing project, an old Barracuda a local had had in his garage. His grandson had asked them to fix it up, no particular rush, but when it was finished he planned to sell it and the majority of the funds would go to the school. Something he and the other guys could get behind. But even working on the old Cuda couldn’t keep his thoughts off Alaska.
He worried about her but knew that the sheriff would have at least one or two deputies keeping an eye on her. And later he planned to check in with her to make sure she was okay. No lasting problems from her tumble this morning. At least, that’s what he kept trying to tell himself. In reality, he wanted to see her.
There was something there, real and elusive, between them. He planned to explore it more and get to know her better. He only knew what he’d heard around town and what had come through the pack grapevines. It wasn’t much, and it definitely wasn’t complimentary. Which meant he took it with a grain of salt. Information co
uld easily get skewed by a person’s perception on the subject. If they felt strongly about whatever it was, they were likely to put their own spin on the info passed along.
He would get it from her directly. Not that he figured it would change how he felt about her, or more importantly how his bear felt about her. He, like every other shifter around, didn’t naturally like witches but he didn’t intend to hold it against her. Like shifters, witches had been unfairly persecuted through the years. They’d really gotten the shaft not too many centuries past, while the shifters had managed to skate under the radar. His kind had learned early on to hide their true natures except around those they trusted fully. Even then sometimes it came back to bite them in the ass.
Straightening up, he checked the clock. If he left in the next ten minutes, he could meet Alaska at her shop and they could walk to her place together. With that goal in mind, he took the quickest shower on record and jogged the entire way to her place of business. He gave a nod to the deputy he found sipping coffee at a table and pointed to the back. The man tipped his head and Harley took it as the indication that she was back there, so he headed on through to the kitchen.
What he found had him coming to a halt in the doorway to stare at the vision before him. Her hair was desperately trying to escape the messy knot she’d tied up, and her hips were swaying to the soft music he heard coming through the speakers overhead. She was dancing and holy shit was it fucking sexy. So damn sexy he had to press a hand to his cock to try to keep from coming in his jeans right then and there.
She began to sing along with a song that he didn’t know, and he could tell that she didn’t know he was there, yet. She was holding the broom in her hand and singing into it. He was a little saddened, however, when she whipped around with it and stopped dead in her tracks. “Oh shit.” She was looking at him with wide eyes. “Uhm, hi?” she asked instead of said. She brushed one of her sweat-drenched curls back behind her ear so she could look up at him. “I could lie and say I don’t do this often, but I don’t lie. This is every day, twice a day. When I’m cleaning, I find it goes faster if I’m singing and dancing.”
“I like it,” he told her. Moving closer, he put a hand on the broom in her hands and cupped her cheek gently. “You’re damn sexy doing it, too. But why don’t you let me do the sweeping. If you keep it up, I’m going to make a mess in my jeans that is going to be difficult and awkward to explain to anyone that notices.”
Her gaze drifted down and to his cock that was barely being restrained by the jeans. Fucking hell, when had a woman’s look become something that would make him even harder? “Oh,” was all she said, her attention still on the front of his jeans. He watched her as she lifted her eyes quickly. Her cheeks were completely red. “Thank you?” There she was with the question again. She passed him the broom and gave him a grin once more. “So, how are you doing today?”
“It’s only been a few hours, Alaska. Not much really happened in that time.” Moving to the corner, he began to work his way methodically through the kitchen with the broom. “The better question is how are you doing since your exciting morning of nearly being kidnapped, running into me, and subsequent full shift at work?”
She shrugged. “I would be feeling much better if they had any idea who it was that tried to kidnap me. I’m just glad I had cops here all day, because I swear I felt like I’ve been watched all day long. Hate that feeling, hate it even more because someone wants me and knows what I am. I’ve kept fairly under the radar on what I am, so for someone to know kind of freaks me out. Ya know?”
“In this town, everyone knows who’s who. It’s not that hard to find out the information if you know where to go to eavesdrop on the busybodies. Any other town or city you wouldn’t have that issue, but this is Shifter Falls. The name kind of lends to the concept, though our ancestors did work on downplaying it a bit.” Looking around, he spotted the dustpan and quickly got his pile into the garbage bin. After stowing the broom where she indicated, he quickly washed his hands and rejoined her. “The sheriff will find who’s after you, Alaska. Until then, consider me your after-hours bodyguard. I am honored to offer you my services of guarding this fine body you have.”
She began to snicker, then full-out laughed. Damn, she laughed a real laugh, one that was from her gut. He fucking loved it. “Ah, so I get to have you for my own during our nights? Does that mean you are coming to my home or am I coming to yours?” Why was she going so easily with this? He wondered briefly. From all he had heard, she hated bears, deeply.
“Well, I was thinking yours. You’d be more comfortable in familiar surroundings, but then I considered that if the guy that tried to grab you knew who and what you were he might know where you live. Which then led me to think you should stay at my place. The only problem with that is I’m a guy, and a bachelor, and I’m not big on decorating. I have all the essentials, but not a lot of creature comforts.” Maybe she’d give him a clue as to why she was easily accepting his plan to stay glued to her side.
“Well, considering that the sheriff has already told me that my house has been broken into, not messed around with but broken into, I’d say that yours would be the best place to be. I think I can handle your Spartan messiness.” He heard the fear in her voice when she spoke and that pissed his bear off. He liked her teasing and laughing instead. “So I guess your place. Maybe stop by mine and grab some clothes? Or do you think that would just give them a way to follow us to your place?”
“They could try but they won’t find it easily, and even if they did we’d see them coming. We’ll go to your place first. No way in hell am I denying a woman her clothing and whatever other mystical items she needs to prepare for each day.” Stepping closer, Harley slowly put his hands on her hips and took another step into her space when she seemed to relax. “We’ll stop for groceries and take-out after your place to help make sure no one is following. Sound good?”
She placed her hands on his chest, then looked up at him with a nod. Fucking hell, that trust on her face shocked him to his core. “Why are you doing this? Why are you so willing to protect me? Most people would be running the other way.” She licked her lips. Damn, he wanted to do that. “So why do you want to help me? And … what is this between us? I know you feel it, too. It’s like electricity and I like it, weirdly enough.”
Stroking his hands around to the small of her back, Harley pulled her in closer to him. “I know this may come as a shock given how I was this morning, but I do like you, Alaska.” He lowered his head to brush her nose with his own and breathed in the scent that was uniquely hers. Pure heaven. “You’re in trouble. I don’t know what kind, but I can’t stand aside and do nothing. I’m more than willing to look after you until this is resolved. Then we can decide where to go moving forward. Don’t ask me to do nothing, Alaska. I can’t do that.”
After a moment, she looked up at him. “Do you have room for me at your place?” She mimicked his earlier move and rubbed her nose against his. “I won’t ask you to do nothing. I just hope that I don’t ask for too much from you.”
Right, the bedroom situation. “Uh, I do have more than one bedroom. But I only have one bed. The other bedrooms are currently storage space in one and my office combined with a gym in the other. I’ve been meaning to get the gym down in the basement but haven’t bothered. Don’t worry, there’s a pull-out couch that I can sleep on while you take the bed.” His custom, king-sized cloud. He would mourn not sleeping on it, but she needed it more.
“I’m not going to make you give your bed up. I’m a big girl—I promise I can handle a couch.” There was another option but he hesitated to offer it to her because he wasn’t sure how she would feel about it.
“Nuh-uh, my momma always taught me to be a gentleman. Most days I even remember what she said. You are taking the bed, period. No arguments, Alaska. You won’t win with me, I promise. Now, if you’re done we should head out so the deputy can head back to the station.” And maybe along the way, he might bring up s
haring the bed.
She pulled back from him and grabbed her purse. “I wouldn’t feel right stealing your bed from you.” He heard her sigh and had to stop walking fast when she stopped dead in her tracks. “Maybe we should share it? The bed, that is? That way I don’t feel horrible for taking your bed, and your momma wouldn’t have your head.”
Now he didn’t have to bring it up. This woman might well be after his heart. The way she was going, he’d hand it to her on a silver platter. “Only if that wouldn’t make you uncomfortable,” he said. He had to say it. It was the right thing to say in the situation. “Think about it while we hit your house, the store, and get food. You might change your mind before we get out to my place.” Please don’t change your mind; please don’t change your mind.
“As long as you don’t steal the covers I think you and I will get along smashingly. Oh, and I talk in my sleep, sometimes walk, just ignore me. I will eventually find my way back to bed, I’m sure.” There was that smile again. Goddamn, that smile lit up parts of him he’d forgotten he had.
“I’m sure you will,” he muttered. Not that his bear would let her out of the bed. At least, that was his gut feeling on the subject. Waving her to precede him from the kitchen, he went to let the deputy know the plan for the night while she turned lights off.
He stepped out onto the sidewalk and watched her while she locked the shop up. Then he slipped his arm around her waist and led her up the street to the sheriff’s office. It was where he’d left his truck that morning when things hadn’t exactly gone according to plan.