by Rayna Tyler
She was my mate, my love, my future. Most of all, with Mandy, I finally had a place I wanted to call home. She’d been a temptation I couldn’t resist, and now that I had her, I was never letting her go.
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Books by Rayna Tyler
Seneca Falls Shifters
Tempting the Wild Wolf
Captivated by the Cougar
Enchanting the Bear
Enticing the Wolf
Ketaurran Warriors
Jardun’s Embrace
Khyron’s Claim
About the Author
Rayna Tyler loves writing about sexy alpha heroes and the sassy heroines who turn their lives upside down. All her stories have hot, always sizzling romance, with a guaranteed happily ever after.
Excerpt From Captivated by the Cougar
BERKLEY
Of all the men on the planet, why couldn’t I keep Preston Harker, with his smug, egotistical male shifter attitude and sexy-as-hell smile, out of my thoughts. I squelched the image of his intense luminous jade-green eyes from my mind and smacked the egg I’d been holding on the side of the large ceramic bowl harder than I’d meant to.
The shell broke into numerous tiny white missiles that landed in the nicely formed pile of flour and other ingredients I’d sifted together for my special pancake batter. It irritated me even more when the yolk missed the bowl entirely and slithered along the smooth side to form a gooey yellow puddle on the light gray laminated countertop. “Err.” I carefully picked out the shell pieces, then opened the cabinet underneath the sink and tossed them into the trash.
“Problems, sweetness?” Speaking of his smugness, the rumble of Preston’s deep voice caressed my skin like a thin layer of melted chocolate. And damn if I didn’t really, really have a thing for chocolate.
I winced and ground my teeth, hating how easily his nearness aroused me and silently cursing the unwanted chemistry between us. Being a wolf shifter with enhanced senses, I should have been able to hear the sneaky cat—or in his case, a cougar—enter the private kitchen. This room had been specifically designed for the owners, of which I was one, who lived in the main lodge of the Seneca Falls resort. And since he was a resident employee, our new head of security, he had full access to the area.
Reese, Preston and I all had our own room in the owner’s wing, making it a little difficult not to have our paths cross daily. There were times when I wondered if my half brother, Nick, didn’t have the right idea when he insisted on living in one of the rental cabins scattered across our property. When he’d first arrived at the resort, Reese and I had accommodated his request to live alone because his animal was part wild wolf and by nature could be extremely antisocial and sometimes feral. Now that he’d taken a mate, it only seemed fair to let him remain in the cabin to give them some privacy.
Preston was also a military buddy and close friend of my brother, Reese. Other than the two of them serving together, I knew very little about him. Reese never talked about those years much, and no matter how curious I was, I didn’t ask. For an older brother, they didn’t get any better than Reese. Sure, he could be overbearing, overprotective, and, on occasion, a bit annoying. But when it came to our personal lives, we had a noninterference understanding, one we both respected—most of the time.
Preston, on the other hand, must have missed the stay-out-of-my-personal-space memo. He excelled at showing up when I least expected, and spent a lot of time aggravating the crap out of me. He was a thorn in my proverbial ass, oh yeah, and let’s not forget that he was also my mate. A mate I didn’t want, didn’t need, and refused to acknowledge...to anyone. Especially him and my family.
Though Preston never said anything, I knew he was aware of our connection, which was why I was constantly the focus of his perusal. Some shifters could go their whole life without finding their mates. For those who were lucky enough to discover their identity, the recognition was immediate. I’d known Preston was my destined mate from the moment Reese had introduced us. The minute I’d shaken his hand, my body thrummed as if it had been supercharged by a bolt of lightning. It had taken every ounce of willpower to control my wolf and keep her from tackling him to the ground.
It was the same night we’d rescued my friend Mandy, Nick’s mate, after she’d been kidnapped by Desmond Bishop. At the time, Bishop owned the Hanford Regency, a lush, expensive hotel located on the outskirts of the city of Hanford. Bishop was a wolf shifter and a powerful lowlife. He’d been after us for months to sell the resort to him. When that didn’t work, he kidnapped my friend and used her as leverage to convince us to sign the deed over to him. Needless to say, after a bloody battle that included fur, fangs, and claws, we were able to stop him and save Mandy.
Even though two months had passed since our initial meeting, being around Preston didn’t get any easier. My body temperature still rose to unhealthy levels, and my wolf was still pissed that I wouldn’t do something to change the situation. Preferably something that involved Preston and me being naked—together. As far as I was concerned, she could keep her opinions to herself, and he was standing too damned close. I reminded him of the fact by shooting a warning glare at him over my shoulder.
We’d gotten good at telling each other what we were thinking without actually saying anything out loud. I knew he got the message when he had the nerve to grin, forming boyish dimples. He quirked an eyebrow, his gaze sparkling with mischief. It baffled me how the man could be so infuriating and look so damned delicious at the same time.
The button-down cotton shirt he wore was nicely pressed and fit perfectly across his broad chest. A chest of firm muscles I’d envisioned running my fingertips over too many times to count. His shortly cropped sandy-blond hair was still damp from a recent shower and carried the scent of coconut shampoo. He never wore cologne and didn’t need to. He had a natural musky scent that teased and enticed my senses. Not that I was paying attention. And, I certainly didn’t notice the fresh-forest smell that clung to his skin after he’d been on a run.
I blamed my wolf for the fact that I had cataloged all these interesting tidbits to memory and spent most days entertaining one fantasy or another about him. Even now, the fickle animal was annoying the heck out of me. She wanted to make him ours and was joyfully prancing at his nearness, persistently urging me to turn around and melt into his extremely masculine body.
The temptation was great, but I was determined to stay strong and refused to give in to my wolf’s insistent pressure that we succumb to our mate’s charm. “Nothing I can’t handle.” I let the sarcasm roll from my lips, then stepped away from Preston and reached for the damp washcloth draped across the rim of the stainless steel sink.
Mate or not, I’d had my heart broken once by another cat shifter and had no intention of going down that road again. Since Preston did an excellent job of protecting the resort, I couldn’t use my pull as a one-third owner to get rid of him, not without having to explain my reasons. Hell, both my brothers liked and trusted him so much that doing the upset-baby-sister thing wasn’t going to work either. Basically, I was screwed with no alternative other than to deal with my wolf’s longing and be tormented by Preston’s presence.
His chuckle wasn’t helping. It grated along every one of my nerves, and I couldn’t stop glaring at his back when he turned and reached into the cupboard for a cup. “Coffee smells good. Is it French vanilla?” He poured himself a cup of the fresh brew I’d prepared with beans I’d ground myself.
Cooking and baking were things I thoroughly
enjoyed, so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Normally, having someone around while I worked didn’t bother me. Preston, with his sexy smile and the unnerving way he watched me over the rim of his cup as he sipped his coffee, didn’t qualify.
Instead of leaving as I’d hoped, he turned and leaned against the counter. “Not talking to me today?”
“Don’t you have somewhere else you need to be?” Using the direct approach had had a low success rate in the past, but there was always a first time. I concentrated on cleaning up the slimy mess and trying my best to ignore him.
“No, I’m good.” He raised the cup to his lips again.
I still needed an egg to finish the batter. Of course, the carton was inconveniently sitting on the counter behind him. It meant I would either have to ask him to hand it to me or move around him to reach it.
He saved me the trouble of having to make a decision by setting his cup on the counter and plucking an egg from the Styrofoam container. “Looking for one of these?” He wiggled the egg in front of me.
I reached for the egg only to have it snatched from my grasp. I groaned and grabbed for the egg again, lost my balance in the process, and stumbled forward. I ended up with my palms pressed against his chest and his arm wrapped around my waist.
“A simple ‘yes’ would have been fine, sweetness. Though having you throw yourself at me works a lot better.”
“Err, I didn’t throw myself at you, you delusional... Let me go,” I growled and pushed against his chest, a futile attempt to dislodge myself from the strong band of steel securing me to his body.
Grinning, he silently challenged me by raising his brows. He rubbed the side of his face against my cheek, his warm breath caressing the skin along my neck. “Only if you say please.” He drew out the words, his Southern accent getting thicker with each syllable. It was hard to stay angry at him when his voice bathed me in warmth, created little flutters in my stomach, and had me shuddering.
It pissed me off that I was now more aroused than ever and no closer to finishing my pancakes. “I’ll show you ‘please.’” I lifted my leg and slammed the tip of my two-inch heel into his foot as hard as I could, which ended up being a bigger mistake than trying to wrestle an egg away from him.