Wyatt gave me a weird look. “You good, man?”
I didn’t know if good was the word. “I’m going to run to the back for a second. I’ll be back.”
They grabbed at my food as soon as I stood up, but I wasn’t hungry for food. Not anymore. On the way, I slapped Sterling on the back of the head for flirting with Allie.
I slipped into the kitchen, threw open the fridge door and stuck my head inside for a few seconds. “Jesus.”
“You okay, boss?”
No. My skin was on fire. My bear was practically running a damn marathon inside of me. What the fuck was going on? I knew skipping my run this morning had been a mistake. “Sure.”
I headed to my office and slammed the door. I needed distance from that woman. I needed space and a few minutes to get myself together. I hadn’t felt so out of control of my bear since I’d gone through puberty.
My office was a sanctuary. Locked behind the thick wooden door, I could almost pretend that I didn’t smell her. Sitting in my chair, I looked around and felt a restlessness unlike any I’d ever felt. I was so on edge that I was worried about having a stroke or something. I had recently turned thirty-eight. Maybe I was experiencing some kind of curse. Lord knew my father hadn’t lived to forty.
I stretched out as best as I could in the small room and then stood up. Nothing was helping. Maybe I was sick. Maybe it was a fever that had my skin feeling two sizes too small. I knew there was Tylenol behind the counter. I’d take a few of them, see if they had any effect with my shifter metabolism.
I strolled through the kitchen and jerked open the door to the bar just as Allie was trying to push it open. She stumbled, fell into my chest and gasped.
I understood completely. Feeling her chest crush against mine had me wanting to gasp, too. I could feel her nipples pebble against me and it sent white hot lust pulsing through my already feverish body. I caught her easily and took advantage of the chance to wrap my arms around her soft curves. Amazingly, the erratic, restless feeling in my chest faded slightly.
Allie’s wide eyes looked up at me and her lips parted. “Oh.”
Something primal and unrestrained pumped through my blood. My bear growled. I watched as the sound drew goosebumps to her skin and the aroma of her arousal once again flooded my senses. Her fingers dug into my chest and her tongue stroked out to wet her lips. It took everything in me not to follow the trail her tongue made with my own.
Her body felt phenomenal pressed up against mine and I was too weak to stop my hands from trailing farther down, until the tips of my fingers were on the top of her ass.
Allie’s pupils dilated and I knew she was right there with me, feeling the same wild hunger as I was. Just as I was about to throw out the no sleeping with waitresses or bartenders rule, her sweet little mouth opened again and uttered a string of words that not only shrunk my dick, but had my bear tearing apart my insides.
“I have a fiancé.”
7
Allie
Thorn growled again, low in his throat, just loud enough for me to hear it. I should’ve been freaked out, but instead, I wanted to climb him like a stripper pole. Everything about the man was intoxicating. And off limits. Off limits. Totally and completely off limits. Which was why I’d blurted out the thing about having a fiancé.
Remembering that little tidbit caused my cheeks to heat up but my brain was able to kick into gear again. I let go of his shirt and pushed away from him. “Sorry I bumped into you.”
Like that was all that’d happened. Like I would ever not feel his fingertips on my ass, or his massive erection pressed against my stomach, thick and heavy and ready to go.
I squeezed around him and tried to act normal as I walked up to Brady, who’d clearly been watching us, and grabbed a tray of food. “Thanks. Table three?”
Brady nodded and kept right on staring.
I turned to head back out, but Thorn was still standing frozen to the spot where he’d been before, as if I’d never moved. I edged around him and sucked in as best I could to avoid touching him again. There was something about him that made the slightest physical contact drive me crazy enough to imagine all the ways we could smoosh our bodies together.
“Allie.”
I shivered when he said my name. “Boss?”
“You’re done for the night. You can go.”
I spun around to face him. “What? I can’t. Abram is taking me to his trailer to get it set up tonight.”
“He can go, too.”
His eyes were an even brighter green than they’d been at the table and his body was nearly vibrating. He wouldn’t meet my gaze anymore, either.
I wanted to demand a reason for his behavior, but he was my boss. I couldn’t exactly demand anything, especially not on my first day. Not if I wanted to keep my job. Instead, I shoved the tray into his chest and tossed my apron on the counter beside him. “Table three,” I said. “I’ll tell Abram we’ve been dismissed.”
Of course, Abram didn’t believe me. He stuck around to see what the deal was with Thorn, but Thorn just yelled at him and then stormed across the bar to a tall brunette who wasted no time in attempting to suck his face off.
Bitter fury flooded my body, but I tamped it down. I had no right to feel angry or jealous. I had been telling the truth about having a fiancé. Sort of. Thorn could do whatever he wanted. Thorn was not my business.
Even as I formulated my conviction, the brunette came up for air looking like the luckiest woman on earth. She threw her arms around Thorn’s neck and pulled him back in for another go. It wasn’t hard to imagine them ending up in the back of his truck before the night ended. Or, maybe against the walk-in in the back. Stop, Allie, just stop.
I jerked away from the display and headed outside to wait for Abram. The night air had gone frigid and I immediately dug around in my backpack for a sweater. The only one I could find was stretched and ripped all to hell and back so it fell off my shoulder and left almost as much skin exposed as if I hadn’t put it on at all.
“Jesus, he’s in real fine form tonight.” Abram looked at me and shook his head. “You got any idea why I was just kicked out of the bar? That place is going to be a damn wreck in the morning. And guess who isn’t going to be there to clean it up. Mr. Hawthorne Canton. He’ll be at home, sleeping off another damn bender.”
I winced and followed behind Abram. “We had a run in in the kitchen, but it shouldn’t have caused that reaction.”
“What kind of run in?”
“I bumped into him. That was pretty much it. I mentioned I’m engaged.”
He cocked his head at me. “Well, congrats. Even though I’m not sure I should be congratulating you. I don’t reckon many newly engaged women go running off for a spur of the moment cross country drive by themselves.”
I blew out a big breath. “I haven’t accepted yet.”
Abram made an unpleasant tsk sound with his tongue. “Damn, woman. You’ve got a cruel streak in you. What’d that boy at home do to make you run off and leave him hanging like that?”
I climbed into his truck and reached for the seatbelt, only to find it missing. I motioned towards it when he got in, but he just shook his head. “Okay… Um… Well, he didn’t do anything, I guess. I don’t know. He’s a lawyer. From a wealthy family. Already owns his own home and it’s huge. On paper, I guess he’s great.”
Abram started the truck and it shimmied to life. “You don’t seem too enthused, though.”
Eric was probably sprawled in his king-size bed back home in North Carolina tucked under the Egyptian cotton sheets that his housecleaner, Kelly, laundered every other day. Or, maybe he was still up pouring over a case and glancing occasionally at the clock on the bedside table, wondering why I hadn’t called to check in.
He was probably in his college T-shirt and the flannel pajama bottoms I’d given him for Christmas three years ago, and there was probably an empty whiskey glass caught, forgotten, between his legs.
“I don’t know
… there’s a lot of history there.”
Picking up that I wanted to drop it, Abram just adjusted the static-filled radio station to one slightly less broken up. “I still don’t understand why Thorn went all jackass. He should be thrilled that you’re engaged and not going to be tempted by his friends. One less chance of you being run off.”
I didn’t say anything and Abram cleared his throat. “Unless, of course, he’s interested in you.”
I kept my eyes straight forward and sighed. “I don’t know about that, either.”
He laughed. “Convenient.”
8
Allie
Abram gave me a tour of the little trailer and worked to get everything set up for me. By the time he left, I had running water, heat, and electricity, and was cozy and comfortable snuggled in the camper-bed that was like a giant pillow.
I slept better than I had in weeks.
I woke up the next morning and showered in the tiny, but clean, shower. Afterwards, I dressed in ripped up jeans and threw my old sweater over my head. It was warming up quickly outside, but the air still held a chill and I figured I’d hike up to my car a bit later to get more clothes.
I didn’t have a clue what time it was, but I headed towards the bar, anyway. It wasn’t a very long walk, at all, and it gave me the opportunity to look around Burden a little bit. The town seemed to be mostly still asleep. Everything was quiet, until I got closer to the bar.
I froze as Thorn jogged out of the woods beside the bar without a shirt on. His body was drenched in sweat, despite the cool weather. In just loose jersey shorts and tennis shoes, his hair was a little longer than I expected it to be and damp tendrils hung over his eyes.
He stopped and ran his hand through it, pushing it back. Then he turned to face me and another low growl reached my ears. His eyes narrowed on me and his presence seemed to grow even larger.
My eyes were drawn shamelessly to his glistening six pack abs and the deep V of muscle that led right down beneath the waistline of his low-slung shorts. I tried to remember to breath normally and swore under my breath. The man was too tempting.
He stepped closer to me and I got a whiff of his scent, male sweat and something darker. “You look like you were attacked.”
I glanced down at my clothes and forced a casual shrug. In reality, I was just realizing how much bare skin the rips exposed.
“You’re up early.”
I nodded. “I had a lot of free time last night. My boss let me go early.”
Another step closer and I could see individual droplets of sweat rolling down his abs. “Sounds like a great guy.”
“Something like that.” I looked away and blew out a rough breath. “I’d better go. I’m going to help Abram get set up this morning.”
“Abram won’t be in until around nine. You’re a couple of hours early.”
“Damn.” I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed. “I guess I’ll go to my car and get more of my stuff while I’m waiting.”
Thorn watched as I walked past him and then he fell into step beside me. “I just finished my run. I’ll go with you.”
My body reacted, of course. A warm tingling began to spread from the flutter in my chest, down my belly and shot like a missile to the nerve endings right between my legs. I ignored the wetness pooling between my thighs. It had no business being there. “I’m really okay, Thorn. It’s just right up the hill.”
He shrugged. “Then it’s not far for me, is it? Come on.”
I had to take two steps for every one of his and I found myself panting by the time we got to the top of the hill. “Slow down, would you? I’m not exactly in the best shape.”
He swung around and his eyes raked over me, undressing me in one sweep. When he met my gaze again, his pupils were dilated. “There’s not a thing wrong with your shape.”
My face heated and I turned back to the road. “Keep your eyes to yourself, would you?”
A low chuckle came from behind me as he followed, slower than before. “Why? Because you’re engaged?”
There was that word. I looked down at my bare finger and then back at my car, parked just up ahead. “Yep. Here it is. I just need to get a few items out of the back.”
Thorn stood beside me and watched as I jimmied the trunk open and started grabbing clothes. Things were just tossed in, chaotically. A bra here, jeans there.
“You left in a big hurry, huh?”
I made my way around to the front and grabbed a Ralph Lauren shopping bag from the back seat. I tossed the sweater I was supposed to return for Eric onto the floorboard and went back to the trunk so I could gather more stuff. “Yeah. I’ve been wanting to travel the country for a while. An opportunity arose and I took it.”
Thorn reached into the trunk and pulled out a tiny pink nightie. He held it up on the tip of his finger and raised an eyebrow. “An opportunity that had you pack a nightie, but not enough gas money for the whole trip?”
I snatched it from him and threw it into the deepest part of the trunk. “It was a last-minute opportunity.”
“I’d say.” He took the bag from me and held it open while I shoved more stuff into it. “Where is this fiancé of yours?”
I grabbed more things that I thought I might need and then slammed the trunk closed. “Home, in North Carolina.”
He grunted. “If I had a woman like you, I can promise you that I wouldn’t be sitting at home if you were on the road, halfway across the country.”
I snorted to hide the way his words affected me. “Bullshit. I saw you last night. You had one woman ready to claw your face off when you walked in and another ready to take off her clothes for you by the time I left. You’d never have a woman like me because I prefer more of a commitment from my men. You know, like breakfast and maybe dinner the next day?”
“More of a commitment, as in a ring that you don’t wear and a home that you leave in what appears to be the fastest escape in the record books?”
I spun on him and jabbed him in the chest with a finger. “Don’t act like you know my relationship. You have no clue why I’m not wearing my ring, or why I left.”
“So, you did leave?”
“What? Not like that! I just… I just wanted to see the country. My fiancé is a very busy man, unable to just drop everything for a cross-country road trip adventure.”
Thorn dropped my bag and stepped closer, crowding me against the side of my car and using his body to box me in. “Why aren’t you wearing a ring?”
He was so close I could feel his breath and my mind went blank. He pressed in closer until his thighs were brushing mine and his arms stroked my shoulders as he closed them in on either side of me. I made the mistake of looking up, into his eyes, and felt myself get lost. Thoughts escaped me and I suddenly felt like I was floating.
He slowly lowered his mouth, closing the distance between us. When he was just centimeters from my lips, he flicked his gaze between them and my eyes. His eyes were shockingly green from that close, and burned with intensity. I had the feeling that I’d been trapped, cornered like prey, but damned if I didn’t like it. My body was practically humming against his.
“You’ll have to forgive me later. I just can’t help myself.” Thorn ran a finger under my jaw and then used it to angle my face towards his. Slowly, giving me every chance to stop him, he closed the gap between us and roughly tugged my bottom lip between his, sucking and licking before pressing his lips to mine more firmly. Oh, sweet Jesus.
His few days’ worth of beard tickled my face, but his soft lips were pure seduction. He moved them sensually against mine, pressing firmly into me before licking the seam of my lips. I opened for him and he swept into my mouth with ease, his tongue stroking mine in a way I felt straight down to my core.
I coiled tightly around his body, somehow finding my arms and legs clinging to him. My heart beat a wild, uneven tune in my chest. I’d never felt anything like the power that was surging through us. The way my body was tingling, it was like I cou
ld spontaneously orgasm. Spontaneous orgasm. Was that even a thing?
Thorn’s fingers raked through my hair and he gripped it tightly, tugging my head back as his searing lips kissed their way down my throat, roughly. His teeth scraped my skin and I cried out in a voice I didn’t recognize. The urge to have him sink his teeth into me rolled over me like a tidal wave and I arched my back pushing my throat further into his mouth.
9
Hawthorne
My teeth elongated, my bear clawed its way forward, and I opened my mouth wider to sink my canines into the tantalizing woman in my arms. She set my soul on fire. Molten hot lava coursed through my body and the only way to ease the burn was to sink my teeth into her soft flesh. I wanted to mark her and make her forget anyone else.
My bear growled and I let it out before lowering my mouth to her shoulder. Just a little more pressure and she would be claimed. My dick pulsed painfully and I gripped her hair harder, feeling my control slip.
Just as the tips of my sharp canines pierced her tender flesh drawing droplets of blood, a car sped past and blared its horn at us. I froze, but it roused Allie from her lust induced haze.
She jerked away from me and ripped her hair from my hands in an attempt to fully untangle our bodies. With a yelp of pain, she freed herself and snatched up her shopping bag as she stomped away from me looking horrified and confused. I could hear her heart, its unsteady beat calling to me. The scent of her arousal, the flaming pink tinge of her cheeks, the thin trickles of blood dripping from the tiny punctures, a few strands of her hair still intertwined through my fingers, everything about her called to me. To my bear.
He demanded I chase her down and finish what I’d started. Claim her, give her my permanent mark, pin her to a tree trunk and mate her. Fucking bear had no finesse and damned if I wasn’t right there with him.
Shifter Starter Set Page 8