No worries, I’d win him over if I had to.
4
Hawthorne
I had the mother’s mother of all headaches. Half was a hangover from drinking the night before and half was from a morning of pure hell. There was a reason I didn’t sleep with the same woman more than once. Yet, I’d broken my own rule with the little blonde last night, simply because she was there and she was easy, and I’d paid a high price for it. When will I learn? Easy is never easy.
I woke up to her cooking breakfast in my kitchen. My completely barren kitchen. I still didn’t know where she’d found the shit to cook for us. When I told her I had errands to run, she was annoyed and said she thought we were going to spend the day together. I had no clue where she got that idea from, but I, polite as can be, told her that I was busy and that we most certainly were not spending the day together. That got me a plate of eggs flung at my head. She’d seemed so sweet while we were throwing back shots of whiskey.
After she hollered all sorts of obscenities at me for a while, she insisted on using my shower and then taking off with one of my favorite shirts. Annoyance bubbled up in me at the recent memory, but I kept it in check. It was my own fault.
Instead of my usual morning run through the woods and breakfast at Wyatt’s mom’s place, I’d spent the morning cleaning up over-easy eggs and trying to get a psycho chick out of my house. Which was another mistake. I never brought women back to my place.
So far, the day had been a total train wreck.
There’d also been a nagging tingling at the back of my neck all day. I figured it was bear not getting a chance to get out and run, but I wasn’t sure. Something had me on edge, that much was for sure. What I needed was to shift and roam the woods, maybe find a berry bush to sit beside and snack off of.
Duty called, though. I had to meet and greet the new girl Abram had texted me about. I parked around the back of the bar and entered that way. Brady was at the chef station, his gloved hands working on battering a couple of pieces of fish.
“All good back here?”
Brady grinned and nodded. “Going smooth, Boss. The new girl is fucking awesome.”
I took a deep breath in, trying to sniff her out. What I scented had me grabbing the counter next to me. My dick was instantly rock hard, trying to bust free of my jeans.
What. The. Hell?
I isolated out the scents of everyone I knew. It wasn’t hard in a town the size of Burden. My nose locked in on hers almost instantly. She smelled like flowers and something wilder. Freer. Something that reminded me of shifting at the top of a mountain, experiencing a tidal wave of fresh, sweet freedom.
“You okay, Boss?”
I cleared my throat and kept my body arched in so he wouldn’t see the tent in my pants. “Sure.”
Abram came through the doorway just then. “About time you dragged yourself in here. You okay?”
I grunted. Okay was relative. “Fine.”
He gave me a look, but didn’t push. “Allie’s the best waitress and bartender we’ve found in a while. I like her. So, keep your buddies away from her.”
I hadn’t even met the woman yet, and the idea of my friends hitting on her sent shards of irritation coursing through me. “They won’t bother her.”
He paused and frowned. “That applies to you, too.”
I snarled at him, my frustration and long morning getting the best of me. “Abram!”
He held up his hands and backed away. “Alright.”
Abram went back into the bar while I tried to get a hold of myself. I needed to eat something and get some water in my system. That would help. “Will you send a plate out for me, Brady?”
Brady acted like he hadn’t just heard me being an asshole. “Sure thing, Boss. I’ll send it out with Allie.”
I felt, more than heard, the rest of the gang come in and settle at our table. Abram’s comment stuck in my craw and I intended to make sure they left my new waitress alone.
I forced myself to head straight to our table. Something I couldn’t explain fizzled underneath my skin, working my jangled nerves to the max. I wasn’t sure what it was. Shifters didn’t usually get sick; whatever we might pick up was quickly killed off by our incredible healing abilities, but maybe I’d caught something exceptionally nasty. Something my immune system was struggling with. The guys were already seated at our table, all eyes focused behind me. Annoyance gnawed at me because I knew who they were watching.
“Keep your eyes to yourselves, assholes. You know the rules. Even if some of you insist on breaking them.” I dropped into my usual chair, still refusing to look up at the new waitress.
Hutch slapped my shoulder. “Can’t blame a man for looking, right?”
I could hear the appreciation in his voice and blew out a rough breath. “Already order?”
They laughed, but Sam grunted. “Abram ran over here like a bat out of hell. Refused to let her anywhere near us. Like we’re some kind of sex-crazed beasts.”
Wyatt was sitting across from me, freshly returned from his survival weekend tour. “Well…”
I laughed and shook my head. “I’m due for a major run tonight. Anybody else?”
Sterling swore under his breath. “Oh, shit. That slap-happy blonde from yesterday is here and she looks pissed. You think she’s still mad at me? Jesus, some women can hold a grudge.”
My eyes lifted just as she stopped at our table, another pink dress hugging her curves. Her hair was pulled back in a style that intentionally spotlighted a hickey I was pretty sure I hadn’t left on her the night before. I leaned back in my chair, arms across my chest, and crossed my legs at the ankle.
“Thorn.”
I opened my mouth to say her name and realized that I had no clue what it was. “Hey…you.”
Hutch snorted and leaned into the table. “This just gets better and better.”
“Are you kidding me? You don’t even remember my name?!” Her voice got louder and a whole hell of a lot shriller.
My shifter hearing was sensitive and this chick was about to burst my eardrums. “Can we please talk without all the hollerin’?”
My request just seemed to wind her up more. She’d drawn all eyes to herself with her first bout of yelling and was obviously enjoying the attention. Just as she was about to open her mouth for a second round, though, a body slid between the blonde and myself.
“Well, hey there. I’ve got a bottle of Jack behind the counter with your name on it. Why don’t you c’mon over there and let me pour you a glass?”
God, her voice. It was breathy and a little husky in a way that had me wondering what it sounded like right after a full night of fucking. It sent chills through me and invigorated the hard on I’d only just gotten rid of.
I couldn’t see her face, but what I could see was definitely working. Her full, round ass was enough to have my mouth watering. I had the instant urge to bite it and take her from behind while digging my fingers into her soft, sweet flesh. I wondered if she’d be into spanking. Damn, was I drooling?
Before I knew what was happening, she was escorting the blonde away. I wanted to protest and beg her to come back and sit down on my lap. Jesus, I’d lost all decorum and sense of morals. All I could focus my thoughts on was what she might taste like if I were to eat her out from behind. What the hell was with that woman’s scent that invaded my senses and demolished every last bit of my rational thought?
If I didn’t get my shit together, I’d be staring down the barrel of a sexual harassment suit. If Abram didn’t kill me first.
5
Allie
“He took me back to his place this time and I thought that meant he and I were getting a little more serious, you know? Then, he kicked me out and wasn’t even sorry about it. So, I went and slept with my ex.”
I handed a beer to another customer and took his money. “Change?”
He shook his head no while making a pained face towards the pretty blonde in front of me. I winked at him and turn
ed my attention back to her.
“Well, was it good?”
She made a confused face. “Huh?”
I leaned my elbows on the bar and grinned at her. “Your sex-with-the-ex, was it good?”
She tilted her head to display a giant hickey. “I mean, yeah. We were together for a while, so he knows what I like. It wasn’t as good as it was with Thorn, though.”
I held my finger to her lips and shook my head. “We’re not talking about Thorn. We’re talking about the ex. The beefcake who gave you a great big orgasm today, right?”
She slowly smiled. “I guess so.”
“So, it sounds to me like you had great sex today. And now I’m buying you a shot. Looks like you’re having a pretty good day.”
She tossed out a little chortle and nodded. “Well, when you look at it like that.”
“I do. And you should, too. Now, down that shot, girl.”
She threw it back and giggled. “It’s just too bad my ex has a girlfriend now.”
I sighed. “Alrighty, you clearly need more than that one shot. You need an intervention.”
A couple stepped up to the bar a few feet down and waved a twenty in the air. I patted Blondie’s hand and went to take their order. After I served them and took my payment, I went back to find her on her phone. It was open to a text and she was typing fast and furiously, as though her life depended on it.
“What are you doing now?”
“Umm,” she looked up and shrugged, “Not texting my ex.”
“Coming from someone who’s ridden the ex-train all the way to ‘Beating a Dead Horse’ Station and beyond, don’t do it. Get while the goin’s good. Take the great sex you had today and run.”
“What am I supposed to do all alone?”
I gestured to the dance floor that was slowly filling up. “Honey, look around. This town’s overrun with hot men. Pick one. Preferably a single one. Then just have some fun.”
She motioned for me to pour her another shot and then stood up to take it. “You’re right. I’m going to go find me a hot single man.”
I shook my head as she turned around and then rolled my eyes. Blondie was attractive and meant well, but the girl was a hot mess. And I definitely knew how to recognize one of those. Lord knows, I’d walked by enough mirrors in my time.
I completely understood why she’d lost her damn marbles over the man she called Thorn. My boss, it seemed. With looks like his, the man could certainly set a girl’s panties aflame. My panties, to be specific. The moment he’d walked past the bar, my eyes were magnets, stuck to his chiseled steel physique.
He was a tall, broad glass of water and my body was behaving as though it’d been stranded in the dessert for years. Well, most of me. There was one part that most certainly had not remained dry.
Without the distraction of Blondie, I couldn’t help but take a sneak-peek back at boss man. His head was covered by a John Deere baseball cap, and he wore it low on his forehead so I couldn’t make out his eyes, but his mouth… Oh, my, I could write poetry about that man’s lips. Full and soft looking, set in the middle of a dark scruff of facial hair, the plump buggers were begging to be kissed.
He sported an outdoor tan and I imagined smelling the sun on his skin. When I’d stood in front of him, I almost thought I had smelled sunshine.
One of his buddies looked up at me and I quickly lowered my gaze, determined to not appear as though I was checking him out. Because if there was one thing I recognized in the man they called Thorn, it was that he was a player. Player had been my type for so long that I could practically sniff one out from a mile away. It was just the way the world turned. If I was attracted to a man, he was a player. And I was definitely attracted to Thorn.
I shook off the heady lust I was drowning in, and ignored the heat of a set of eyes on my back so I could focus on my job. Yes, Allie, you have a job to do, and ogling the boss isn’t going to keep you employed.
Brady called an order up through the window to the kitchen and I slipped away from the bar to retrieve it. Abram was stationed at the other side, chatting with an older gentleman and I didn’t want to bother him.
“Hey, this is for Thorn. You know which one he is?”
I barely resisted snorting. “I think I can find him.”
Brady shot me a knowing look and nodded. “Sure, you can.”
I shook my head and sauntered off towards the one table I seriously wanted to avoid. Even just anticipating getting close to the man had my skin prickling with goosebumps and the hair at the back of my neck standing on end. Not to mention my nipples hardening almost painfully and my heart racing. All responses I’d rather do without when having to face a man like Thorn.
I wasn’t a girl who usually backed down from challenges, though. Unless that challenge was marrying her on again, off again boyfriend.
I walked right up to him and bent over slightly to put his plate in front of him. “I guess I should introduce myself, boss. I’m Allie.”
He tipped his head back to look up at me, exposing two of the brightest green eyes I’d ever seen. Thick lashes surrounded them, thick enough to make most women sick with envy. They narrowed on me and I felt a flush run through me as all the blood in my body heated to a temperature that felt way past boiling. My lungs and heart were squeezing together to make room for the raw lust that instantly arose from the depths of my being.
I didn’t need to breath, right? It would seem that I’d crossed over into a place where my lungs felt no pressure at all to get air into them.
“Hawthorne.”
His deep voice raked its nails down my back eliciting the sweetest chill. It shocked me out of my stupor.
I suddenly realized I’d been bent over in front of him for… who knows how long, just staring into his bright green eyes. With a gasp of air, I stood up straight and hurried to the other side of the table. I rested my hand on the shoulder of the guy in front of me, desperately needing something solid to bring me back down to Earth. I thought I heard a low growl, like from a wild animal, but that just played witness to how much I’d lost it.
“Do ya’ll need anything else?” I forced my eyes to move to each man at the table, except Thorn. “A more permanent bodyguard, maybe? Just in case there are more angry Barbie’s lurking.”
6
Hawthorne
If she didn’t stop touching Sterling, I was going to rip his fucking shoulder off. He was casting a cocky ass smirk at me like he’d won some kind of game. This was no game, though. She was hands off for him. Fuck. She was hands off for me, too. I didn’t know how the hell that was going to work out. Not with the insane chemistry between us. I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling it. I’d smelled her sweet arousal and it’d been heaven to my nose. The thought that she’d become aroused for me made my dick feel like it was going to explode. I shifted in my seat and tried to get her to meet my eyes again.
“That was smooth of you. Do you always run interference with your boss’s jilted women?” Sam was looking up at her with way too much interest on his face. They all had too much interest on their faces. Fuckers.
“Only the lucky ones. The rest I leave to the sharp, manicured nails of karma.”
Yeah, that had bite to it. I cocked my head to the side and just watched her. No makeup and in a simple bandana, she was beautiful. Her hair was a few shades lighter than mine and wisps managed to fly freely around her face, despite the bandana. Her hazel eyes bounced around the table, never landing on me. Her eyebrows were full and curved and they gave her a constantly challenging look, especially with the way she kept her full lips pressed together, like she was thinking of ways to verbally eviscerate anyone who crossed her. I couldn’t keep from picturing myself spanking her again.
I’d missed what Sterling said, but it’d made her laugh. The shitstain. I balled my hands into fists and stared at Allie, daring her to look at me again. I needed to see if sparks flew every time our eyes met.
It was like she knew what I was up to, thoug
h. She refused to look at me, so I pushed it. “Where are you from, Allie?”
She stared at a spot on my shoulder. “North Carolina.”
Sam suddenly grinned up at her. “I spent a summer there when I was young. It’s pretty.”
She nodded. “Sure.”
“What brought you here?”
Again, she looked at my shoulder. “I’m driving across the country.”
Wyatt perked up. “Alone?”
“Yep. Just me and my lonesome. I ran out of gas this morning just on the outskirts of town. Abram was nice enough to hire me on the spot so I could earn some money.”
“Where are you staying?” My question silenced the table and she finally met my eyes again. Oh, fuck, sparks my ass, burning flames of raw desire were incinerating me.
“Abram got me all set up.” She bit her lower lip and then released it and looked away from me. She had to feel it too, didn’t she? “Well, I’m going to get back to work. Wouldn’t want my boss thinking I’m not earning my wages. Ya’ll need anything else before I leave?”
Fuck, yes. I needed everyone in the bar to get the hell out so I could breathe again without worrying about someone touching her.
Sterling nodded. “Just a promise that you’ll come back.”
Allie’s eye roll was almost comical. She patted the top of his head like he was a dog and then turned and went back behind the bar. I kept my eyes on her until she was back at Abram’s side. Abram was mated. She was safe with him.
“I think it’s safe to say someone has a crush.”
I looked over at Sam and shook my head. “Nah, she’s probably just nervous because I’m her boss.”
He snorted. “I meant you, jackass.”
The rest of the guys laughed and I had to crack a smile. I was being a jackass. I felt more drunk with her standing in front of me than I had last night after half a fifth of whiskey. “Shit.”
Shifter Starter Set Page 7