by Flora Dare
That drop dead gorgeous fox had sent his hormones into overdrive, making him feel like a randy teenager again. Saying no to everyone else had been easy. But her? It shocked him how hard circling that no ended up being.
But no woman who looked like that would ever let him put his mother first. And once you were mated, that was who should come first, your mate. He wouldn’t ask that of anyone, because he wanted to take care of his mother. He needed to. If the end was coming, he’d be there. They all would.
He settled into the truck’s bucket seat and turned the key.
Click. Click. Click.
He sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes. He’d been meaning to replace the battery and his luck had finally run out. He was going to have to call one of his brothers for a jump and they would literally never let him hear the end of it. Ever.
Just in case, he leaned forward and tried again.
Click. Click. Click.
He swore and reached for his phone as a delicate scent filled the truck cab. God, he could almost taste that sweet fox. His mind went directly to the lush swell of her breasts as she’d grinned at him over a glass of wine. He wanted to drizzle that sweet white wine over her flesh and follow each drip with his tongue, teasing her until her composure fled and her nails raked his back.
Click. Click. Click.
The scent got stronger as he dialed his brother and he looked up to see her walking towards him. He dropped his phone as his wolf howled in need. His vision blurred around the edges as her scent damn near overpowered him. Keep walking, fox, keep walking. Please. Josh’s wolf was furious that he wasn’t claiming her right that moment.
That would be a hell of a way to get arrested. Wolf and fox caught in a tryst over the hood of a truck.
He couldn’t handle the distraction she would bring into his life. He had to keep his family together. Family was everything. This time, the car will start, and I’ll drive away and forget about her sparkling eyes and full, kissable lips.
Click. Click. Click.
Her laugh wafted into the cab of his truck and he looked up. Of course, of freaking course, she’s parked right next to me. He smiled weakly at her. Even if he wasn’t trying to get away from the entanglement the vixen represented, he’d be pretty damn embarrassed to have car trouble in front of her. Yup, can’t start my truck. Totally manly man right here.
Her hips rocked back and forth like a metronome and his wolf howled in delight. Her voice wrapped around his cock and squeezed, “Need a hand?”
Josh gave in, he had to have her. Just one night. He could give himself one night.
Zane’s vixen noticed him sitting in the truck and set her hips swaying as she walked to her car before she realized it was the smoking hot wolf. Was he waiting for her? Sexy but also kind of potentially creepy. And then she heard the distinctive click of a solenoid and relaxed. It was just a sexy coincidence that she was parked next to him.
“Need a hand?” Her voice came out huskier than she intended.
Josh gave her a half smile that made her insides twist with need. He said, “I guess I don’t get to make my mysterious getaway, leaving you wanting for me.”
The fluttering grew inside Zane. The words slipped out before she could stop them. “Need a lift somewhere?” Girl, you in danger. Even though she’d promised Jolie she really was looking to settle down, perhaps one last delicious fling was just what she needed.
His lips curved up as he said, “If you don’t mind. Sounds like the starter is bad. I’ll have it picked up tomorrow.”
Her lungs suddenly stopped working and there was an intense fluttering in her chest, like her heart was going to fly out of her chest. Her vixen just yowled with pure lust. She pressed her remote, unlocking all the doors. “Hop in, I’ll give you a ride.”
His wolfish grin did nothing to diminish her raging lust as she slid into the driver’s seat.
The sultry words echoed in Josh’s brain and set his wolf panting. He sternly tried to remind it that her words were not a promise, and that most likely he wouldn’t be able to see all her delicious curves writhing above him. He slid into the passenger seat and tried to calm his fevered body. As Josh folded his long legs up he was actually glad, for once, that he was getting into a small car because the contortions to make himself fit also shielded his raging erection from her eyes.
The doors closed and he realized it didn’t matter, the pheromones both of them were pumping out filled the small car and he started to wonder if it would actually be possible for them to have sex in the enclosed space.
Zanea was staring at him, with a tilt to her head. He realized she’d asked him a question. Directions. To his house. Filled with his family. He almost groaned out loud. He couldn’t bear to see the passion fizzle out in her eyes when she had to run the family gauntlet.
Then his phone buzzed, and he glanced down at it while telling her the directions. It was Jensen, his big brother. We are all out of the house. Good luck and don’t you dare use this as an excuse.
“Exciting news?” Zanea’s voice interrupted Josh’s scattered thoughts.
He cleared his throat. “Just my brother teasing me…” His voice trailed off, he didn’t want to bring up the speed dating aspect. He didn’t want her to realize what a terrible idea it was to take him home and he really didn’t want her to decide she’d rather not spend a night under him. And especially not on top of him.
“I don’t have a sister, but I do have some best friends who are the ones who hounded me into this.” Her voice was light and happy, and her enthusiasm was catching. “And they definitely have filled my phone with teasing texts, which is why I turned it off.”
Josh realized they’d pulled up to the house as the car slowed and Zanea put it in park.
She turned to him and said, “So please don’t be a serial killer, okay?”
He held his fingers up, “Scout’s honor.” She leaned towards him and the musky smell of her arousal pushed him close to the edge of control. He reached his hand out and, with a finger, lifted her chin and stared into her eyes.
“May I kiss you?”
Josh saw Zanea’s lower lip tremble and her eyes dilated. She whispered, “Yes, please.” The air sizzled between their lips as he lowered his head to meet her mouth. The lightest touch of her skin against his was enough to set his wolf yowling to take her, to bend her over the car and satisfy his need for her.
Getting her into the house, into his room, was a blur of limbs and lust. Searing hot kisses that went on for days. He finally just lifted her into his arms and strode into his room, kicking the door behind him.
She was his and he was going to claim every inch of her.
He set her gently on her feet, and slid the zipper down the back of her dress. Josh buried his hands in her hair and kissed her neck, whispering, “Is this what you want? Tell me.”
Zanea melted against him as her loosened dress slithered down her body. She sighed breathily and said, “Yes, please.”
Four
It wasn't quite a walk of shame because Zane had zero negative feelings about her amazing night. But despite all the teasing from her friends, it had actually been a very long time since she'd acted so recklessly and gone home with a man she didn't really know. Sneaking out of his bed and his house made her feel like a stupid teenager again.
The warmth of his body pressed against hers had also made it incredibly difficult to want to leave. His hand cradled her belly and lit a fire inside of her as she wiggled out from under him. It would have been so much easier to just fall back into his arms and spend the morning the same way they'd spent the night. Jolie would kill me.
It wasn't a bad choice, but it wasn't a good one either. If her goal was to find someone to love who wanted to build a family as much as she did, she wasn't going to find it with him. Plus, Zane was already cringing at how awkward the date that Mate in A Minute would set up was going to be. He's going to think I'm easy. Nothing to do but to soldier on.
Jolie sat on t
he steps of the house as Zane pulled up.
Hoping out of her truck, she said, "Dammit, Jolie. This does not count as you beating me here. You live here now."
"It's not like that big old bear likes it when I roll out of bed early." Jolie handed her friend a mug. "But at least you know there is lots and lots of good coffee waiting for you. And when Des realized just how early we get up, she bought, I think, every single donut and pastry in town."
"I guess it's good that the new crew is showing up today. I've never known a work crew that didn't live and die by its stomach."
"Hard work earns all the pastries. Speaking of hard work, how was last night? Meet anyone amazing?"
Zane glanced down at her watch. "Oh my, we better get going, they'll be here any minute."
"Don't think for one second you can avoid talking to me about this. I'll happily embarrass you in front of them if you don't give me at least a quick round-up."
"Fine." Zane wouldn't meet her friend's eyes. "I said yes to all of them, although they were mostly pretty boring. There was one guy who was not boring."
"Ohhh, that sounds interesting."
"Well, like you said before, interesting doesn't make someone fit to be a partner. But he was interesting enough that when we ran into each other in the parking lot after, well, we left together."
Jolie sat up and smacked her friend's arm. "Girl, that is more than just interesting."
"So, yes, fine, sparks didn't fly so much as they engulfed the whole planet and I wasn't thinking very much about his suitability to raise children."
Jolie waggled her eyebrows and said, "Just making a few."
"So vulgar." Zane lightly smacked her friend’s arm.
"And you said yes to him on the form?"
Zane nodded.
"So that's gonna be an awkward second date, isn't it?"
"The awkwardest."
"Lucky for you, I see the crew coming down the road. I'll be grilling you later."
"Saved by the bell!"
Zane waved at the lead truck, which pulled in beside her. The window rolled down and a handsome man smiled at her. "Howdy, ma'am. I'm looking for Zane."
She stuck her hand out, smiling. "That's me!"
It was a little bit of a test. If he couldn't handle doing his research or that she was a woman, she would send him toodling along. She didn't need that kind of drama.
"Hi Zane, I'm Jensen of the Quatre Loups Brothers. Glad to put a face to the name. Is this a good place to park?"
"Sure is. I'll take you round back where we are set up. Owner's sister found out how early we started our day and bought tons of donuts. I wish I could promise that's how every day will be."
Jensen followed her as the other men parked and said, "I can't pretend I'm not a little jealous that we didn't get to bid on this job."
"Well, it's kind of a complicated thing, but since it's going to be Jolie's house, it's not like anyone else was going to be doing the design."
His laugh was oddly familiar and gave her the slightest tingle deep inside.
Five
Josh pulled his truck up behind his brothers.
It was for the best. If she’d still been there, he would still be in bed. And his brothers would have definitely interrupted and he would have had to kill them. And they needed this job and needed him not to fuck it up for them.
Tension wrapped around his body. He wished he’d never gone through with the stupid speed dating thing. He couldn’t get Zanea out of his mind. He’d reached for her even before he’d fully awoken, cursing when he discovered she wasn’t there.
Some of his epic grumpiness was from a lack of coffee or breakfast. He didn’t begrudge a moment of last night’s pleasure, but did wish he’d thought to set the coffee pot up before he’d dragged the lush bombshell into his bed last night.
He smacked the steering wheel. Get in the game, Josh. This job is important. This job pays for another round of chemo. Even if it should have been ours.
His hat pushed down, Josh got out of the truck and trailed behind his brothers. His older brother, Jensen, glanced back at him and shook his head.
He bumbled along behind his brother. He kept catching her scent. It made no sense, he’d run through the shower but he kept being drawn toward her. Now he was going balls deep into a project while he was having to hunt down a woman.
Not just any woman, his mate. Who was gonna be really, really pissed at him if he didn’t find her before Mate in a Minute called her. She hadn’t asked him what he did for a living last night, they’d been entirely too focused on getting naked, but he’d dated beautiful women before. Nails like those took a lot of maintenance.
He thought of his mom. Josh loved the hell out of her, but she was a girly girl and that was a lot of work. What kind of woman who could saunter in stilettos like that would be willing to have a man roll home stinking of an honest day's work?
He’d figure it out, his body and his wolf screamed to claim her.
Why did he keep smelling her? Was his wolf trying to mess with him? Josh put the bombshell out of his mind and stretched his legs, catching up to his brothers.
As they rounded the corner, he finally got a good look at the grounds. He hesitated to even call them ‘grounds,’ as they were an overgrown nightmare. No wonder they’d called in another crew. Other than the patio leading to the backyard, it was basically a jungle.
A soft, lilting laugh caught him like a punch in the gut. Zanea? He pushed his way past his brothers, catching up to the eldest, Jensen, who was looking down at a curvy woman dressed much like him. Jeans, tank top with button down, work boots. Her hair was pulled into a wild ponytail, curls everywhere, and his mouth went dry.
Gone were the nails, the heels, the pouting red lips. Instead, she handed Jensen a set of plans and stood with her hands on her hips. He had to shut his wolf up as it howled in his ear to throw her over his shoulder and take her home.
The bombshell last night would have squealed with glee. The woman in front of him? He was pretty sure if he tried that, he’d get an armful of raging fox and Josh liked his guts on the inside.
Just as he was collecting his thoughts, his brother said, “And these are my brothers. We have a few other guys, they’ll be here later. But you said you wanted to be able to tackle a bunch of different projects, so they’ll be leading each of the teams.”
She spun around and time stood still as their eyes met. Any doubts that this was his Zanea vanished when her eyes went wide and her cheeks went pink. He expected a coy smile, some sort of recognition, but instead her face went blank and she nodded at him, looking to his brothers for introductions.
“Guys, this is Zane, Jolie will be out shortly. This is their project and Jolie has a hell of a design worked out.”
Before he could react, she’d passed over him, nodding at each of his brothers before turning her back on him. He had to bite back a growl. This was work, she wasn’t denying him.
Another curvy woman came out of the house, pushing a cart heaped high with pastries and what looked to be coffee. She said, “I’m Jolie. I’m going to pretend this monster pile of food and coffee was my idea, but it wasn’t.”
The men crowded around the cart while Josh tried to edge closer to the clean-scrubbed woman he barely recognized. He looked down on her and smiled. “Zanea?”
She shook her head. “On site, I’m Zane.” There was a tension in her body and it dawned on him that she thought he might make trouble.
He nodded and said, “Zane, thanks for bringing our crew on for this job. You could have knocked Jensen over with a feather when you emailed him.”
He felt her relax a smidge. “Yeah, as you can see, it’s a hell of a job. Jolie and Gabe want that house done as soon as possible.”
Six
Zane's stomach did endless flip flops as Josh stared down at her. Since the only makeup she was wearing was sunscreen, she was honestly surprised that he recognized her at all. Not to mention, the last thing she needed was a work
crew that thought she was an easy target.
Shoulders back, she surveyed them. Damn, they are a fine-looking group. And she would fire them all if he acted anything less than professional.
She wanted to shrink into the ground, thinking about if he'd already gossiped to his brothers. But if he had, they were all being very professional.
It wasn't uncommon for crews to be wildly impolite to her and Jolie. But only ever once.
She shook her head. Get back in the game, ignore the drop-dead hunk who licked every inch of you only a few hours ago. They could talk after work.
He grabbed a cream-filled puff pastry and ran his tongue along it. Zane's legs quivered and she wondered if she'd be able to hold herself upright. His eyes locked with hers as he slowly ate the filling.
Zane swallowed hard, her mouth dry as the desert, when he said, "We'll talk tonight." All she could do was nod and turn away. She wasn't sure how her legs managed to get her to Jolie's side, but she found herself standing beside her best friend.
Her voice low, she said, "I'm going to walk the deck area, it's not cleared yet and I think I want to do something different than we talked about earlier."
She had to get the hell away from Josh so she could think clearly. Her fox was being a randy little vixen and saw no problem with dragging him into the bushes and wrapping itself around him.
Zane grabbed her initial set of plans and wiggled through the brush. She stopped and stared up at the edge of the house. She did manage to put her thoughts of Josh in a box, as she lost herself in the structure and the lay of the land.
She scribbled notes all over the margins and finally headed back to the house. The men sat on the patio, around a cooler, pulling sandwiches out.