by Renee Rose
She swiveled her gaze to him, something akin to awe shining in her eyes. “Really? You restore the Old North End houses?”
He tried to ignore the fierce pleasure her admiring tone stirred. It must be his inner wolf, still angling to get laid by the leggy human. “Yeah.”
“Wow. What’s it like? Does he direct the vision and his workers execute? Or is there a formula… like a stylebook you use? How long have you worked for him?”
Annoyance over the fact that she assumed he was some menial laborer on the projects warred with appreciation for her excitement. He thought his company did good work, and the market seemed to think so, as well, but the reverential way she spoke made him feel like a goddamn hero.
“I’ve been with the company pretty much since the start.” He held the door open for her, mainly because he knew she didn’t think he had it in him. “Steele directs it all, I guess.”
He walked around and sat in the driver’s seat.
“My first deal as an agent was with CJ Steele.” She sounded rueful. “I got my ass handed to me.”
Her uncharacteristic humility fascinated him and he watched her flush at the memory while he started the truck. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I lost the deal. A huge one—a half a million dollar home. It was horrible—I’d been so proud of getting my license and thought I was finally going to make something out of myself and then I totally screwed it up.”
He didn’t like hearing her talk that way about herself. Finally going to make something of herself? She didn’t strike him as a fuck-up like he’d been. Apart from her poor choice in a boyfriend, that is.
He struggled to remember a deal falling through, but there’d been so many and he didn’t know the time frame.
“I missed the inspection and Steele yanked it from us. He probably had a better offer and was just waiting for me to mess up.” Again, she sounded rueful, rather than bitter. He definitely didn’t remember yanking a house from a buyer because he had a better offer, but a deal had fallen through six or seven months ago due to an inspection.
“Steele yanked it?”
She shrugged. “That’s the tough thing about real estate. You can never tell if it’s the agent who’s the hard-ass or the guy behind him. I like to think it was the agent.”
His lips twitched. “Why’s that?”
“I love Steele’s work. I admire the hell out of him and what he’s done in this town in just a few short years.”
“Huh.” Irrational pleasure spiked through him.
“I’m dying to own a CJ Steele home—they’re so beautiful.” The respect and awe in her voice made his chest ache, which didn’t make any damn sense. It couldn’t be because he wanted her to feel that admiration for him, Cody, instead of the Steele she’d put on some pedestal.
He parked at the Promenade Shops at Briargate and looked balefully out at the scene. He’d rather have tacks shoved under his fingernails than go clothes shopping. He wished he could just hand Melissa a wad of cash and wait in the car for her, but that wouldn’t be safe. He glanced at the clock on the dash.
“You have forty-five minutes to find what you need.”
Her eyes widened as if shopping that quickly was an impossibility. “Why? What’s the rush?”
“That’s when my patience for this,” he made an irritated gesture toward the shops, “expires. And believe me, you don’t want to find out what happens when I expire.” He figured he sounded like a grumpy asshole, but Melissa giggled.
Seeing the brightness of her smile nearly took his breath away. Angelic. It made him want to make her laugh again, but he couldn’t think of anything funny to say. Instead his lips surprised him by stretching into a matching smile.
Their gazes tangled, lingering too long until he forced himself to shove the truck door open and tumble out.
Melissa headed straight for the Anthropologie store, her walk brisk. Apparently she’d taken the time limit as a challenge. He grinned and followed her, eyes on her heart-shaped ass.
She worked efficiently, seeming to know what she wanted, and plucking clothes from the rack with a determined air. He stayed by the doorway, arms folded across his chest. Based on the looks people threw him, he stood out. Well, he was used to that. The tattoos and rough appearance drew wary glances wherever he went. Still, it seemed to underscore the differences between him and Melissa, which for some reason pissed him off.
He had no interest in Melissa. No interest apart from prying those creamy white thighs open and fucking her hard and fast until she begged to come. Why should he give a rat’s ass if they were compatible? It wasn’t like they were entering into a relationship.
Except he knew most of that was a lie. His wolf wanted her, for a need beyond sex.
Mate.
He swore softly under his breath, catching another nervous glance from a customer.
He wasn’t going to mate a human. Especially not a stuck-up brat like this one. But the memory of her face lit up by that smile flashed in his mind and he felt himself softening again. That smile had been genuine, the real Melissa. The girl who’d let him hold her the night before after he’d made her cry. That girl… he needed.
* * *
Melissa tried to make quick mental notes of the basic clothing she might need. A couple of casual things, something suitable for work, just in case. Underclothes. Sleepwear. She didn’t want to spend too much money—she didn’t have much in her bank account to use to reimburse Cody, which is why she would have preferred using her credit card.
She kept her eye on the time, not because she was worried about Cody ‘expiring’ but because she loved a challenge. Eighteen minutes. She took the clothes she’d found and headed out, catching Cody’s eye. She hated him having to cover this. She didn’t know how much he had, but being a burden on him didn’t sit well with her.
He started toward her, his movement far more fluid and graceful than she’d expect on such a large, muscled man. But he wasn’t just a man. She remembered the silver wolf sniffing outside for her the night before—huge, threatening. Magnificent.
He stuck his hand in his pocket and withdrew a wad of bills, just as she’d expect from a guy like him. No wallet. No credit cards. Just a huge wad of cash. Kinda like Jeremy. Did that mean he was into illegal things like Jeremy? Why was he carrying so much cash?
He grabbed a purse from a nearby rack and tossed it on the counter.
She lifted a brow and he shrugged. “You need one, right?”
She bit her tongue to keep from saying, yeah, but not that one. He already thought she was a picky bitch. Scanning the others on the rack, she quickly traded it out before the cashier rang it up.
Cody paid for it all—gulp—two hundred and eighty dollars’ worth of stuff. He dropped a hand on her nape as they walked out. “It’s okay, baby. Are you worried you have to pay me back?”
Had it shown on her face? She didn’t like being dependent on him like this. She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “No, I can afford it. I just need to get access to my stuff.” Her voice came out slightly higher pitched than usual.
He contemplated her for a moment and she felt stripped bare, like he saw right past her lie. He stopped, the hand at her neck holding her back as he pulled her around to face him. Tilting her chin up, he rumbled in his deep voice, “I’m taking care of it.” A wicked light gleamed in his eyes. “But you’re welcome to show your appreciation for your sugar daddy any way you please.”
Irritation washed through her, but it was just as quickly erased by the raw hunger in his expression. Remembering the power she’d felt at tempting him that afternoon, she ran her fingers across his chest, tracing the lines of his chiseled muscles. “Is that so?” she purred, using a honeyed voice and lowering her lids to half-mast. “Right here? In the mall?”
His eyes changed to light blue. “Careful,” he rasped, his voice two octaves deeper than normal. He burrowed his fingers into her hair and wound it around his fist, tugging her head
back at the same time he yanked her flush against his body. The insistent bulge of his erection pressed against her belly. “You think I won’t find a way to fuck you raw, right here, in the mall?” He laughed harshly. “I’m a very resourceful wolf when I’m offered a challenge.”
Her mouth went dry, heat descending from her core down her inner thighs. When she moistened her lips with her tongue, his eyes fastened on it, body stiffening.
“Cody.” Her voice sounded shaky. “People are looking.”
Some of the wildness left his face and he relaxed, but still held her in position against him. “You should’ve thought of that before you pulled a cock tease.” His eyes changed back to gray. She wanted to push him away and step back to regain her sovereignty, but some instinct told her to remain still, not to challenge his authority.
He bent his head and to her shock, kissed her. Not a sweet, gentle kiss, but a marauding, violent one.
She held still for it, her insides fluttering, as his tongue swept between her lips and he bit and sucked at them, repositioned his angle and did it again.
When he released her, it was all at once—the hand from her hair let go, he lifted his head from hers and stepped back.
She swayed on her feet, dizzy from the kiss, breathless. Trembling.
“I’ll have to punish you for that,” he muttered and this time there was no mistaking the excitement his words produced. Her pussy clenched, liquid heat poured down her legs.
God, yes.
Cody’s nostrils flared and his head whipped around, his gaze on a tense, worried-looking mother and her two children who hurried past them. The little girl, who appeared around seven or eight, craned her neck to look back at Cody until her mom tugged her arm, rushing her on.
“Do you know them?”
Cody frowned. “No.”
She waited, because no was not a sufficient enough explanation for the way both he and the girl had stared at each other.
“They’re shifters. I’ve never seen them before.”
“Oh.” She blinked in surprise. “You could… smell them?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it unusual? Are you supposed to say hi or something?”
He flashed an uncharacteristic grin at her, as if he found her amusing, or cute. “Yeah. This is my town, I’m alpha. If she lives here, she should’ve sought me out to introduce herself.”
“Maybe she just hasn’t had a chance?” But even as she said it, she realized the woman gave the distinct impression she was trying to get away from Cody before he noticed her.
Cody shrugged, but appeared troubled. “We’ll see.” He pulled out his phone and glanced at it. “You have nine minutes left.”
“What?” she cried indignantly. “You can’t count that time we were…”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Can’t I?”
With a wild glance up and down the row of stores, she took off briskly for the Ann Taylor Loft, where she planned to get a business outfit.
“Damn, I was hoping you were going to go there,” Cody muttered, lifting his chin toward the Victoria’s Secret.
“Yeah, I’ll bet.” She didn’t break her stride. “You probably thought I’d give you a show.”
“Hey, you think it’s fun to rouse the wolf. You’re the one who will be sorry when she’s spread-eagle on her back in the middle of the mall.”
This time, she knew he didn’t mean it, he was just getting a rise out of her. The man—wolf—was so incredibly crude. She ought to hate the filthy way he talked to her, but the words sent flames of desire licking up her core. And while everything he said was dominant and demeaning, the idea that she sparked such desire in him made her feel powerful.
He slapped her ass, his long legs making it easy for him to keep up with the brisk pace she’d set. She rushed in and picked out two blouses and a skirt. Cody stepped forward and paid for them.
“Ready?”
She’d been hoping to buy some shoes, because she only had her dress shoes and the sneakers Cody picked up at Walmart, but she’d spent enough money already. “Yeah. Thanks.” She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek, which again, he seemed to find cute.
Chapter Six
Cody let Mark Ruhl, the burly DEA agent from Denver, into his place that evening.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it sooner, we had a big bust go down last night and it took all day to wrap up the paperwork.” He shook Cody’s hand and stepped inside. “Hi, you must be Melissa.” He shook her hand, as well. “We met at Ben and Ashley’s wedding but you probably don’t—”
“I remember you,” she chirped, flashing that megawatt smile that made his insides rattle.
Cody’s fingers closed into fists at his sides. She’d better not remember him with any particular fondness or he’d… He closed his eyes and attempted to rein in the snarling beast within.
She’s not your mate.
Except that assertion only made him want to smash the friendly DEA agent’s face even more. His inner wolf raged to mark her, not paying any attention to the fact that Cody didn’t even like the girl, and would never in a million years mate a human.
“Can I get you a beer?”
“Sure. Okay if I sit?” Mark headed to the sofa and Melissa trailed behind, too close for his sanity.
He walked to the refrigerator to get three Budweiser bottles out.
Maybe he should just have sex with her and get her out of his system. The chemistry was there, whether they liked each other or not. Her body responded every time he touched her, almost like she couldn’t help herself. Maybe that was why she’d cried the night before after he’d pleasured her. She hadn’t wanted to give him that.
That idea made him gnash his teeth and want to put his fist through a wall. He would never force himself on a female and the idea that she hadn’t enjoyed what he’d done—But no. There was no mistaking her satisfaction. Why had she cried then? The spanking? But the tears had come later.
His reaction to the scent of her tears had been instantaneous, almost a physical pain. It provoked twin, seemingly opposing physiological responses in him. Hyper focus—his body alert, ready to shift to protect her from whatever danger, but also a calm, as if to enable him to properly soothe her. He tried to remember if he’d ever felt that with a female before. Had one ever cried near him? He feared this reaction was also particular to a mate.
He flipped the caps off the beers and carried them by their necks to the sofa.
Melissa turned up her nose and refused it.
“Sorry, I don’t have any microbrews for you, princess.”
She rolled her eyes, blushing as if it embarrassed her to be called out in front of Mark. That only made him want to stuff the wolf headfirst down his toilet.
Mark was in the middle of telling Melissa something—probably something he should’ve been listening to. “The dispensary where Jeremy works got knocked over a few nights ago. Jeremy was the one who reported it to the police.”
Melissa nodded, as if she already knew this information.
“I’m guessing that he robbed it himself, or was in on the deal and that’s why Rabago is after him.”
Melissa paled.
“Do you know anything about it?”
She blinked rapidly, like she was holding back tears. “No,” she said, her voice wobbly. “I think you must be right. He came home that night and told me about the holdup. I thought he’d seemed excited and had written it off to the adrenaline of the drama, but this makes more sense.”
Mark nodded. “Who do you think he’d be working with?”
She swallowed, then shook her head. “I don’t know. Could be any one of his buddies. They’re all shit-for-brains.”
Cody didn’t mind her bitterness toward Jeremy, but what bothered him was how much emotion the fuck-up elicited from her. Why was that? Did she still care about him, despite it all?
“And you haven’t heard from Jeremy since yesterday? When did you see him last?”
> “When I left for work in the morning.”
“Did he go to work that day?”
“I don’t know.” She brushed a strand of her auburn hair from her face. The haunted dullness in her eyes made him want to wring her bastard ex-boyfriend’s neck.
“And you’ve tried to contact him?”
“Yes, I texted him and warned him not to come home. He never responded.”
“Well, I’d like to get my hands on him before Rabago does. We could offer him protection in exchange for testimony against the kingpin. Barring that, Ben has offered to pay Rabago whatever it is Jeremy owes him in order to get you free and clear of the threat. That’s my second choice, though. I’d rather get this asshole off the streets.”
Melissa’s head wobbled as she nodded. “I don’t want Ben to have to pay off Jeremy’s debt, either.”
“So what happens if Rabago finds Jeremy first?” Cody asked. Personally, he preferred the second option. The sooner Melissa was out of the line of fire, the better. Then he could be done with all this mess. Except that didn’t feel right, either. He wasn’t done exploring this physical attraction he had for her.
Yeah, he just needed to fuck her and get it out of his system.
“Then Jeremy’s probably a dead man. But they’ll want the money back before they kill him, so keeping Melissa safely off the grid would be even more important. If they catch Jeremy, they’re going to torture him and they definitely would dangle the threat of Melissa’s death over his head to get him to sing.”
Melissa had gone pale. “You need to find Jeremy before he does, then.” She stared at her hands, and some itchy instinct told him she might know where to find the guy.
“Right,” Mark agreed.
“If Ben paid Rabago off, who would broker that deal?” he asked.
Mark’s lips tightened to a thin line. “I don’t know. It can’t be me or anyone on my team. Ben would kill me if I let Melissa do it, although she’s the most likely candidate.”