Penelope froze. Male clients were in short supply. She couldn't afford to let her first male client go. She gritted her teeth and bit down a curse.
“That's blackmail,” she hissed, glaring daggers at him. “What makes you think I can be blackmailed into a date?”
If looks could kill, Damien Ken would be dead in his chair.
Damien let out a breath slowly. He looked pissed and impressed at the same time.
“You're right. I'm being a dick. That's no way to ask a girl out. I'm sorry. Okay, you win.” He threw up his hands. “Go ahead. Match me up. Set up a date for me. I'll be a good client. Really.” He gave her his best puppy-dog eyes.
Penelope couldn't help laughing. “You're a really nice guy, Damien,” she said as she walked him to the door. “I'll make sure I find you a great match and a wonderful mate.”
He opened his mouth but she pointed to the sign on her front door and asked, “Why do you think my agency is called 'Miss Hatfield's Dating Agency'?”
When he shrugged, she explained softly, “Because I think I will remain Miss Hatfield for a long, long time.”
“Penelope...”
She shook her head. “I've had enough of relationships that go nowhere. It's exhausting. I can spot the perfect match for others, but I'm just hopeless when it comes to myself. So, I'll just be happy doing what I'm good at.”
Thrusting out her hand, she smiled and said quickly, “Thank you for signing up with my agency! I guarantee...”
Damien grabbed her hand and yanked her to him. Penelope lost her balance and collided into his chest.
Immediately, Damien's arms closed around her waist and caged her in. Penelope began to squirm and struggle, but he only held her tighter.
They were so close she could see the stubble on his jaw and smell his masculine sweat and scent. Damien's body felt hot and hard against hers, and she saw his eyes turn feral for an instant.
Her brother, Graham, was a bear shifter. He had inherited the shifter gene from their grandfather. The gene had skipped a generation, so although their mom was half bear, she couldn't shift and simply lived her life as a human woman. Graham's bear only emerged when he was out of his teens. Penelope couldn't shift at all. And she was perfectly happy with her non-shifter status.
Damien growled low, and the sound seemed to ignite all her nerve endings. Her breasts suddenly felt full and heavy, and her nipples tightened and pebbled as she pressed up against Damien's broad, solid chest.
Penelope could feel his erection pushing and pulsing against her, and she gasped as moisture pooled in her panties. She quivered when she felt his hot breath on her cheeks and neck. “Damien...” she rasped, turning feverishly from side to side.
She was fast losing her mind. What was she doing, getting all hot and horny in Damien's arms? They were standing in the middle of her office, caught in a maelstrom of lust and conflicting desires and emotions.
She should be working. She shouldn't be craving more. She shouldn't be digging her nails into Damien's shoulders and silently, wordlessly begging him to kiss her.
CHAPTER TEN
Damien loved the way Penelope writhed and panted in his arms. Her ample breasts pushed against his chest, and her hands clawed at his biceps. He could smell her lush feminine scent, and the intoxicating scent of her fierce arousal was fraying his restraint.
“Hold still,” he growled. He was going to lose his fucking mind if she didn't stop rubbing her soft, delicious curves against him.
Damien groaned. He should have known. This was a woman who wasn't going to roll over and play dead. Telling her to hold still was a sure-fire way of getting her to resist and struggle even more vehemently.
He could feel her pebbled nipples through her bra, and scent her sweet, sticky juices between her legs. Her scent, her body and the heat between them was driving him wild.
Tightening his hold on her, Damien pressed her against the wall and stared into her blazing, brown eyes. Plucking her glasses off her nose, he threw them on her desk and crushed his mouth to hers.
She opened her mouth to yell at him, and he took the chance to slip his tongue past her lips. She let out a moan as he tasted her thoroughly. His kiss was deep, hard and hungry. Her tongue moved to touch his, and she began to kiss him back with equal hunger.
Damien cupped one heavy breast in his hand and tugged at her erect nipple through her blouse and bra. Penelope cried out and buried her hands in his hair. Damien unbuttoned her top buttons and pushed down the cup of her bra to expose her breast.
His mouth watered at the sight of her dark, aching nipple. Lowering his head, he suckled her furiously, pulling her hard nub deep into his mouth and tormenting it with his teeth and tongue.
Penelope groaned and arched her back. She was fully aroused, and when Damien ground his rock hard erection against her core, she made a wordless pleading sound.
“Penelope...” Her name came out on a harsh, ragged breath.
Damien thumbed her nipples and claimed her mouth again. God, the woman was all fire, and she was one hell of a kisser. Her red lipstick was slightly smeared across her full, plump lips. Her bun had loosened and tendrils of wavy brown hair framed her heart-shaped face. She was looking up at him with hooded, bedroom eyes and her skin was hot and flushed.
He wanted to tear off her clothes and take her hard against the wall. On the carpet. Bend her over her desk and…
Damien was undoing another button when he heard approaching footsteps outside the door. Snarling, he buttoned up her blouse swiftly and gave her one last, bruising kiss.
Just as he released her, the door opened and a bespectacled man poked his head meekly into the office.
Penelope straightened up immediately and smoothed her hands over her blouse and skirt. She tucked her hair behind her ears and stammered, “G-good afternoon.”
“Hi.” The man smiled uncertainly and stepped into the office. “You're a dating agency, right? I...” he stuttered and glanced at Damien.
“Oh, of course,” Penelope said, hurrying to her desk. “Please, take a seat.”
If the man noticed her disheveled state, he gave no sign at all. Instead he simply pulled out a chair and sat down as Penelope snatched up her glasses from the desk and put them on.
“I, um, I'll like to sign up,” the man said, fidgeting in his seat. “I don't know if you'll be able to help me. You see, I've never gone on a date in my life. I just...I can't seem to work up the courage to ask a woman out.”
“Don't worry, Mr...”
“Doe, Ben Doe,” he mumbled.
“Well, Mr Doe, you've come to the right place,” Penelope said brightly. “Here. Just fill up this form, and I'll do the rest!”
Damien stood and watched Penelope and her new client for a while. From the man's scent, Damien could tell that he was full human. Mr Ben Doe was nervous and courteous, and he didn't stare at Penelope's impressive bosom. Instead his eyes flitted restlessly all over her office, darting from corner to corner. Like a Doe caught in the headlights, Damien thought.
Penelope kept her attention resolutely on her new client, refusing to even look at Damien. The color was still high in her cheeks, and she was quietly fuming. He had seduced her, and she had allowed herself to be seduced.
Damien backed out the door and Penelope glanced up when the door chime sounded. He winked and blew her a kiss.
Damien was whistling as he strolled to his car. He had just proven that she wasn't immune to him. He could get under her skin, and he would get her under him. All it took was patience, and a few tricks.
And he, Damien Ken, had quite a few tricks up his sleeve.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Penelope released the breath she had been holding once Damien left her office. Her entire body sagged and she simply deflated like a balloon. She glanced at the door again and felt a sharp pang in her heart. Was she...missing him already?
Penelope gave her head a hard shake. She clearly wasn'
t thinking straight.
Her mind told her that Damien was trouble. But her body had other ideas. With just a stolen kiss, he had set her entire body on fire. Imagine what he could do to her if he had his mouth and hands all over her naked body…
Penelope bit down a whimper and crossed her legs tightly. She had to stop thinking about Damien. That rascal could yank her chain and get a rise out of her with just a word or a look. And he seemed to enjoy getting her all hot and bothered. Maybe he was just making fun of her. He was just amusing himself with her and wasn't really that attracted to her. She had a brother. She knew guys could be real dickheads and men like Damien Ken with their rakish good looks and devil-may-care attitude were heartbreakers.
Penelope gave herself a mental slap upside the head and straightened up sharply. She should be focusing on her new business and nothing else. She had a client in her office, for God's sake. Stop thinking about Damien already!
With a huff, she turned her attention to Mr Ben Doe, studying the man quietly as he scribbled and scratched frenziedly on his form.
Nondescript was the only word that came to mind. Mr Doe had bland, non-expressive features and he was wearing a brown jacket that did nothing for his sallow complexion. His black hair was neatly combed back, and he kept pushing his rimless glasses up his nose.
Sensing her eyes on him, Mr Doe glanced up at Penelope and smiled sheepishly. “I'm sorry I'm taking so long,” he muttered, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants. “I've never filled up a questionnaire for a dating agency before.”
“Take your time,” Penelope said kindly. “There's no hurry.”
He winced and picked up the pen again. Penelope thought that he might be more comfortable if she wasn't sitting opposite him and watching him fret over his answers. She should give him some space and privacy to pore over the questionnaire. The poor man looked like he was sitting in an examination hall, sweating over a major paper instead of just filling up a standard form.
“I'll get you a cup of coffee, Mr Doe,” she said, standing up. “No, no, it's no trouble at all. I was going to get a cup for myself. Take your time answering the questionnaire. You can write as much or as little as you want. There are no right or wrong answers,” she added as the man gulped and mopped sweat from his brow.
“Okay. T-thank you, Miss Hatfield.”
Penelope moved to the small pantry at the back of the office and made two cups of instant coffee. As she walked back out with the steaming cups, she heard some shuffling and rustling sounds and glimpsed a blur of movement at her desk. Frowning, she quickened her steps and called out, “Is everything okay?”
Mr Doe jerked his head up when she appeared at her desk. He was sitting right where she had left him, looking even more flustered than ever.
“I...I've just completed the form,” he stammered, folding the paper in half.
Penelope glanced at her swivel chair and saw that it was still rolling. It looked as though someone had vacated it in a great hurry.
“Here's your coffee,” she said, placing the cup carefully in front of her client.
“Oh, thank you.” Mr Doe jumped a little and dropped the piece of paper. He hurriedly bent to retrieve it and when he reached out to hand her the completed form, he knocked the cup over with his elbow and sent the coffee spreading all over her desk.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Oh, oh, oh!” Mr Ben Doe cried, pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket. “I'm so sorry, Miss Hatfield. I...” He tried to mop up the spilled coffee with his handkerchief but ended up making a bigger mess.
Penelope ran to the pantry and grabbed some paper towels. She contained the spill quickly and was relieved to find that only the corner of a file had been stained. The rest of her documents and more importantly, her computer, escaped unscathed.
“I am so sorry,” Mr Doe squeaked. “I'm just so clumsy and awkward. I'll pay for any damage...”
“There's no damage,” Penelope assured him. “Really, everything's fine. There, all cleaned up.”
He gripped his briefcase tightly and started edging towards the door. “I better leave now, before I make a bigger mess,” he said with a grimace.
“It's okay, Mr Doe. Don't worry about it, please. I'll take a look at your form and we can discuss...”
But the man shook his head rapidly and exited her office in a stumbling run.
“Wait! Mr Doe!” she shouted.
With a sigh of frustration, she snatched up the piece of paper which had fluttered to the floor and took a look at what her rather strange, skittish client had written about himself.
Her eyes widened.
Mr Ben Doe hadn't written anything on the form at all. Not anything that made sense. There were just meaningless lines and squiggles, and he had ticked and crossed all the boxes.
“What the…”
She shook her head. The man had appeared so normal. Well, he did seem a little awkward and too excitable, but some people were just shy and uncomfortable around strangers.
Crushing the paper into a ball, Penelope hurled it straight into the bin. She went to tidy up her desk, all the while muttering stern rebukes to herself.
She should have kept a closer eye on Mr Ben Doe. She had thought, or rather, hoped that he was a genuine client. As a professional matchmaker, she had to be able to sieve out the genuine applicants from the pranksters and perverts. But she had been so eager and desperate for new clients that she wasn't being as observant and discerning as she should be.
Penelope went to the window and looked out at the quiet street. She came to Shadow Point to visit her brother quite frequently, but she hadn't noticed how much the small town had changed and grown through the years. The population had more than doubled, and there were many new shops and businesses in town. But the character of the town hadn't changed much. Shadow Point was still essentially a small, close-knit town with a large paranormal population. There were shifters, vampires, witches, fae folk, half demons and other hybrid paranormals. The human residents got along well with their paranormal neighbors, and the townspeople were open-minded and welcoming to newcomers.
Penelope stared at the lettering on her office window and smiled. She had been thinking of applying for a secretarial job in Shadow Point when Graham suggested she set up her own matchmaking agency.
“Why not?” Graham had argued. “You're good at it and it makes you happy. Why not turn it into a business?”
Why not indeed?
She had enough savings, she was highly organized and efficient, and she could be her own boss and her own secretary. It was perfect.
Penelope knew what was needed for a business to succeed. Research, hard work and some luck.
She had started with the research. She had to find out if she would get enough clients in this small town to sustain her business. Wasting no time at all, Penelope had started collecting all the necessary data in her usual methodical fashion. She doggedly did her surveys and research, analyzing the demographics and demands of the town, and projecting the population growth with detailed charts and graphs.
And she had come to the conclusion that a matchmaking agency was a viable business venture in Shadow Point.
She was on the right track. She just had to get her business off the ground. And not get distracted along the way.
With a determined nod, Penelope turned away from the window and went back to her desk. She checked her emails and shut down her computer.
It was time to head home. She needed to recharge and rethink her business strategy. She should put up more prominent advertisements, she decided.
When things picked up, she would be able to depend on client referrals and word-of-mouth recommendations, but at the moment, she didn't have a single successful match to boast of.
Her success rate was a dismal zero percent right now.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As it turned out, business did pick up rather quickly after Penelope launched her advertising campaig
n. She took out advertisements in the newspapers and distributed pamphlets around the neighborhood. She offered discounts to new sign-ups and redesigned her website.
Business, she was proud to note, was brisk and positively booming.
Penelope smiled as she ushered her two new clients to the door. “I'll contact you as soon as I've found you a match. It may take a few weeks, a few days, or if you're lucky, just a few hours.”
The two lion shifters smiled at her. “Remember, the female has to be perfect for the two of us. She has to want and accept us both.”
Penelope nodded. “Yes. The perfect mate to complete your triad,” she told the two alpha lions.
“I hope you can find our mate soon,” the younger lion said eagerly. “Damien said you're a great matchmaker.”
“I'll do my best,” Penelope promised.
After her clients left, Penelope returned to her desk and busied herself with paperwork. She sniffed and narrowed her eyes as she remembered what her client had just said. It was Damien again. His name had been popping up too many times for her to ignore.
Her client base had ballooned in the past few weeks. There were many new walk-in clients and many referrals. When she asked who had recommended her agency, many of them said, “Damien Ken.”
Damien had a lot of friends, and a lot of them were female. He referred his neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances, friends, and friends of friends. The guy's methods were questionable, but he got the job done. He cajoled, persuaded, bribed and even strong-armed people to her office.
Penelope huffed. She didn't ask for his help. But she wasn't going to turn anyone away either. She needed to build up her client base as quickly as possible, and make her first successful match. She was a businesswoman. Once she established a solid reputation, clients would come flocking to her.
Her office saw a lot more visitors now, but more often than not, the visitor was Damien. Sometimes he showed up with a new client. But every now and then he would pop into her office with a latte, some sinful baked goods or a box of chocolates. “Sweets for my sweet,” he would announced brightly as he bounded into her office.
Dating Agency Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 6) Page 3