by Kate Douglas
Anyone who saw him now would never believe the high level of intelligence that existed behind those bloodshot eyes.
“Hey, cuz,” Troy said after Jay hung up.
“Hey, yourself. When did you get back?”
“About fifteen minutes ago.” Troy flopped down in one of the three leather chairs before Jay’s mahogany desk. “I just wanted to check in before I go home and crash.”
“I gather by your ... casual appearance that you had a good time.”
A wicked smile crossed Troy’s lips. “Oh, yeah. You should’ve gone with me, man. Sun, surf, booze, and babes. I fucked until I thought my dick would fall off. I won’t be able to walk upright for at least a week.” His smile widened. “It was worth every second of misery.”
Jay chuckled. “I’m glad you had a good time. Have you seen your mom yet?”
Troy winced. “I need a long, hot shower to wash off the evidence before I face my mother.”
“Then I suggest you leave pretty quick, ’cause she’s due back in about fifteen minutes.”
“I’m outta here.” Troy jumped up from his chair. “I’ll be in early tomorrow,” he said while striding toward the door. “I know you have a dozen questions for me.”
“Make that two dozen. Plus I have something to tell you.”
His cousin stopped at the door and looked at Jay over his shoulder. “Something important?”
“Yeah.”
Troy closed Jay’s office door, wandered back over to the chair where he’d sat earlier, and flopped down again. “Talk.”
Jay wasn’t sure where to start. His cousin would probably think he was crazy if he said he believed he’d found his mate over the telephone. “I’ve been researching the property descriptions you left for me.”
“Anything you like?”
“Yeah, there are some possibilities. But after I researched a few of the local ones, I thought about checking property outside the Bay Area.”
Troy frowned. “Why?”
“Maybe it would be a good idea to invest in a different state, maybe someplace in the middle of the country, like ... Dallas.”
“Why Dallas?” Troy asked, his frown deepening.
“Because it’s a perfect location. It’s right in the middle of the country, with a large interstate system. Plus there are still some great deals there.”
“And it has bugs big enough to carry you off. Don’t forget that little fact. Not to mention the heat and humidity in the summer. I went there for a convention in July a couple of years ago, remember? Thought I was gonna melt.” He rested one ankle on the opposite knee. “What’s going on, cuz? What’s the real reason you’re thinking of Dallas?”
Jay should’ve known he couldn’t fool Troy for one second. His cousin knew him too well. “My mate is there.”
Troy arched one dark eyebrow. “Your mate is there. And you know this ... how?”
“I spoke with her on the phone a few minutes ago.”
“I think you’d better start at the beginning.”
The skepticism in Troy’s eyes didn’t surprise Jay. Jay had trouble believing what had happened, and he had experienced it. “I called Big D Properties in Dallas to check on a listing. Except I misdialed and got her instead of the broker. As soon as I heard her voice, I knew. She’s my mate. I have no doubt about that.”
When his cousin still looked skeptical, Jay huffed out a sigh. “My wolf reacted, Troy. Immediately. I’m talking instant hardon.”
“You think just because you got a hard-on, this gal is your mate? Hell, I walked around with a hard-on all the time on vacation.”
“Wolves are sexual creatures. We both know that. We crave sex almost constantly. But this was different, Troy. I’ve never felt this way in my life.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find her.”
“How? You said you dialed a wrong number. You don’t even know for sure you called Dallas.”
“I dialed area code 972. That’s Dallas.”
“You might’ve dialed 971 or 973, or even an area code that starts with an eight.”
“She had a Texas accent. She’s in Dallas.”
Leaning forward, Troy braced his elbows on his knees. “I don’t like this. You know we’ve had a problem with hackers trying to break through our firewall over the past several months. She could be one of those hackers and flirted with you on the telephone to get past your guard.”
“How the hell could she have done that? I called her, remember?”
“Maybe she got into our phone system so any number you dialed would go straight to her.”
Jay thought Troy had been watching too many sci-fi shows. “That’s ridiculous. How would she get into our phone system?”
“There’s a way to do anything if someone wants it badly enough.” He leaned back in his chair again. “She might even be from a rival pack. Have Mom check your outgoing calls and find out exactly which number you dialed.”
Jay hadn’t thought of that. His assistant and aunt, April, would hunt down the number he had accidentally called. She wouldn’t give up until she found it. “That’s a great idea. I’ll have her do that when she gets back from lunch.”
Troy rose and headed for the door again. “As soon as she finds out who you called, I’ll start my investigation of your mysterious caller.”
“You won’t find anything bad,” Jay called out to Troy’s retreating back.
Once his cousin left, Jay swiveled his chair around to look out the window. The last wisps of fog were slowly dissipating from the San Francisco Bay. He loved this area, he truly did. He’d love it more with his mate by his side.
Jay was a year older than Troy, but Troy had always been overprotective and taken care of Jay. He assumed the same thing applied here with wanting to check out the woman Jay had accidentally called. If it made Troy feel better, Jay wouldn’t interfere with any investigation. After all, he was confident his mate had nothing to hide.
Unavailable.
Veronica St. James stared at that word in the call list on her cell phone. It had come up in her phone’s display yesterday afternoon when he called. Since she refused to answer a call from someone who hid their number, she’d almost ignored it. Something inside told her to answer it, that it was important.
That feeling had been right.
The moment she heard his voice, her wolf had come to life. Even now, just thinking about that sexy voice over her phone made her wolf whimper to be let free, to run and find its mate ... to lie with him, spread her legs, and take his cock deep inside her pussy.
She couldn’t do that when she had no idea where he lived.
Her brother could find out. As head of St. James Security, Clint could find ways into computers or anything to do with electronics. Her youngest brother, Dean, was only nineteen, but already knew almost as much as Clint.
Roni was still trying to decide whether or not to ask Clint to help her as she stepped inside the twelve-story office building that housed St. James Security. What started out as Clint’s idea had exploded into one of the most successful computer security firms in the United States. Clint, Dean, and their other brother, Vince, did most of the work in the office. Roni and her two sisters, Mackenzie and Samantha, flew all over the country, selling their service to businesses. It gave her the chance to travel and meet some very interesting people.
She followed the latest hit from Maroon 5 to Dean’s work area. He looked up long enough to smile and wave before he turned his attention back to his computer screen. She gave his shoulder a loving squeeze as she passed him on the way to Clint’s office.
Her brother was on the phone, as usual. Roni crossed the floor to the small kitchenette and took a bottle of water from the minifridge. Sinking into the chair by Clint’s desk, she removed her phone from her pocket. The word Unavailable in her call list jumped out at her again. So close, yet unable to touch him.
“You okay, sis?”
Completely absorbed in thinkin
g about the man on the other end of this phone number, she hadn’t heard Clint end his conversation. Roni pressed the Home button to clear the call list. “Sure. I’m great.” She motioned toward the multibutton phone on his desk. “Someone important?”
“Maybe a new client. Parks Bank.”
Clint had been trying to get the contract for Parks Bank’s security for months. His persistence had apparently paid off. The company had banks up and down the West Coast. Rumors flew around that they would soon expand into the Midwest and the East Coast. Their contract would be huge for St. James Security. Roni smiled. “That’s great.”
“I’m still trying to set up an appointment for you, Mac, or Sam to fly out to Oakland to talk to the head honcho. That’s where their main office is located. It would probably be sometime next week.”
“Sam’s going to Miami next week, remember?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Okay, so you and Mac can flip for it.”
“I’ll tell Mac I’ll take it.”
“Deal.” Clint pointed to the cell phone in her hand. “Expecting a call?”
“No. Why?”
“You’ve been caressing your phone ever since you got here.”
Her brother was much too observant. Roni frowned to cover her embarrassment. “I’m not ‘caressing’ my phone. I’m just holding it.”
“Uh-huh.” He picked up a file folder from his desk and handed it to her. “Your itinerary for the day. All the appointments are in Fort Worth.”
“Thanks. I’ll check in with you later.”
Once back in her car, Roni opened the folder and checked the itinerary. It would be a full day ... much too full to hang around here while her brother tried to find out the identity of Unavailable.
She unlocked her phone and looked at the call list again. She’d been so shocked by her intense feelings yesterday that she’d gotten off the phone as quickly as possible. As soon as she’d disconnected the call, she wished she hadn’t. Her wolf knew he was the one.
Now if she could only find him.
2
Roni’s cell phone rang shortly before nine that evening. Before she looked at the display, her wolf told her it was him.
A 415 area code appeared on her screen. The San Francisco area. Disappointment gripped her heart at the realization he lived two thousand miles away from her. She’d suspected from his accent that he wasn’t in Texas. Seeing that area code confirmed it.
Another ring urged her to answer her phone. She pressed the button to accept the call. “Hello?”
“Hi.”
Clutching the phone tighter to her ear, Roni sank into her favorite recliner. “You’re a determined man, aren’t you?”
“Yes, when it’s something I want.”
“And you’ve decided you want me?”
“Very much. I meant to call you this time, so it isn’t a wrong number.”
Roni wasn’t sure of that, since they lived so far apart. A long-distance relationship rarely worked in the human world. It would be impossible in the pack world.
“I’m Jay.”
“Veronica, but everyone calls me Roni.”
“Roni,” he said, his voice low and husky. “I like that.”
She curled her legs beside her. Her heart thudded heavily in her chest, her breathing became fast and shallow. Her body prepared itself to take him, simply from the few words he spoke to her.
Roni’s wolf demanded sex often, so she frequently took lovers ... sometimes full humans, sometimes wolf shapeshifters from other packs. She always had sex in her human form. Having sex as a wolf with a wolf would be the ultimate surrender, the acknowledgment that he was her mate. She hadn’t met the man who would capture her heart, her soul.
At least, she hadn’t met him in person.
“Tell me about yourself,” Jay said. “I know by your phone number that you live in Dallas.”
“Highland Park. You live in the Bay Area?”
“Yeah. I wish ...”
He stopped. Roni knew what he wished—that they lived closer. She wished the same thing.
“What do you do for a living?” he asked.
“I work in the family business.”
“So do I. My cousin and I started our business eight years ago.”
“What kind of business?”
“Computers. Software. All that nerd stuff.”
Roni chuckled. She liked his sense of humor. “Isn’t it a law for everyone who lives in the Bay Area to work with computers?”
“Damn near.” She heard ice cubes clink against a glass. “You have an incredible voice.”
Roni placed a hand over her jumping stomach. The sexy tone to his voice sent desire zinging to her clit. “You realize we live two thousand miles apart.”
“You realize there are airplanes.”
“Jay, that’s crazy. We don’t even know each other, and you’re talking about one of us flying two thousand miles?”
“So we’ll get to know each other first, over the phone. I’ll call you every night and we’ll talk.”
“What if I don’t want you to call me again?”
“Don’t you?”
She couldn’t say no, not when she didn’t mean it.
He sighed heavily. “You probably think I’m a perverted stalker.”
“No, of course not,” she said quickly to reassure him.
“Good. Because I’m not. I felt something the first time I heard your voice, Roni. I want to explore that something and see where it leads.”
He made it sound easy, uncomplicated. Living so many miles apart was far from uncomplicated, especially if he was a wolf, as she suspected.
“I’ll let you go for tonight, but I’ll call again tomorrow evening. If you decide you don’t want me to call after that, I’ll respect your wishes. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Dream of me.”
He disconnected the call. Powering off her cell, she laid it on the end table beside the chair. She suspected dreaming of him wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Jay glanced at his watch for what he figured had to be the thirtieth time so far today. Time had never moved so slowly for him. He had hours and hours of work to do, but he wanted to push all that aside and call Roni. Since it wasn’t even lunchtime yet, he had a long time to wait.
God, he wanted to hear her voice again.
Forcing his attention back to work, Jay looked at Troy seated across the conference table. “What’s going on with the O.S.?” he asked.
Troy raised one hand and tilted it back and forth. “Still a few things I’m not happy with.”
“I want it perfect before we release it.”
“It will be, cuz, don’t worry. JEMATAR’s new O.S. will be the best, easiest to use, most stable operating system ever invented.”
“How much longer to work out the bugs?”
“I don’t want to rush it, Jay.”
“I don’t want to rush it either, but I’d like to start shipping it with our new computers in August.”
“So I have three months to make sure everything is perfect.” Troy shrugged. “No problem.”
Jay believed his cousin. He knew Troy would work day and night to be sure their operating system would do everything they had envisioned.
A movement in his office’s doorway drew Jay’s attention. His assistant and aunt entered the room, looking lovely and professional as always. Without hesitating, she strode directly to Troy and kissed the top of his head.
He grinned at her. “Hi, Mom.”
“Don’t ‘hi, Mom’ me,” she admonished in her soft English accent. “Why didn’t you tell me you were back?” April asked her son as she slipped into the chair next to him.
“You weren’t at your desk when I got here.”
“And what’s wrong with a phone call? I know you got back yesterday.”
Jay covered his mouth with one hand to hide his grin. His aunt could make Troy feel like a naughty little boy when she arched an eyebrow at him.
“I, uh, had to unpack and ... stuff.”
“You had to get rid of all the evidence of too much drinking and sex.”
Jay chuckled while Troy squirmed in his chair. “Geez, Mom.”
“You went to the Bahamas. You think I don’t know what you did?”
Troy threw Jay a “help me” look. Jay leaned back in his chair, thoroughly enjoying his cousin’s discomfort.
“You can make up for it by coming to dinner tonight,” April said.
Troy smiled, then leaned toward his mother and kissed her cheek. “Sure. How’s seven-thirty?”
“That’s fine.” She turned her head toward Jay. “You, too?”
Normally, Jay would accept the invitation in a second. Since his father and stepmother lived in England, April and Troy were the only family he had close to him. But if he went to his aunt’s house for dinner, he wouldn’t be able to call Roni. “Not tonight, April. I have some projects I want to finish.”
She frowned. “You always have some projects you want to finish. There’s more to life than work, Jay.” She shifted in her chair to face him. “I know you see me every day, but this is work. I’m your assistant here. There are times when I’d like to be your aunt.”
Guilt tickled at his conscience, but he wouldn’t let it change his mind. He had to talk to Roni tonight. “You’re always my aunt. I’ll come for dinner soon, I promise.” He gestured at the huge pile of papers on the table, even though the reason for his rejection had nothing to do with his work. “Give me a chance to get through some of this first, all right?”
“What can I do to help you?”
“Nothing yet, but hold that thought.”
She looked from Jay to Troy and back again. “I suppose you two still have things to discuss, so I’ll get back to my own work.”
“See you later, Mom.”
Once April left, Troy faced his cousin again. “Anything else we need to go over before I head back to the dungeon?”
Jay chuckled at his cousin’s nickname for the computer lab. “I think I’m good for now.”