A few minutes later, he watched from his perch as a half-naked woman dashed to the bathroom, followed by Lucas, who walked behind her, cool and collected in a bathrobe. Noting Tyler’s presence he came into the kitchen, leaving his guest to her shower, and sat down opposite his bodyguard.
“So? Was your night as productive as mine?” Lucas asked, a wicked smile on his lips.
“It was very productive, thanks. And would it be unprofessional of me to tell you that you smell of pussy?”
“I’m supposed to. It’s in my DNA, as it’s in yours. Lions are big pussies and all that.”
“True.”
“Besides, I could say the same for you. Coming in here in a half-buttoned tuxedo shirt, smelling like you spent several hours pleasuring a woman with every part of your body.”
Tyler looked down and noticed for the first time how unkempt he was. There were, he’d decided long since, two possible looks for a man in a tux: well-groomed and handsome, as a man prepared out to whatever affair he had to contend with, and the absolute disaster of the morning after. Usually the latter involved a series of questionable stains and some sort of accidental exposure of the chest or belly. In his case, a bit of tanned, taut stomach showed through a gap in the shirt where he’d missed a buttonhole. He was fit enough that the sight wasn’t by any means disgusting, but it was still likely unappealing to the boss.
As he fixed his shirt he spoke again. “As you’ve surmised, my night was excellent. Thanks for letting me take off.”
“No problem. I could see that you weren’t focused on me anyhow.”
“Yeah, about that. I…”
The Sovereign chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I know how these things work. You meet a woman and your brain explodes. For all intents and purposes, you turn into a drooling moron for several days, or, if you’re really lucky, months. So, tell me about this lady who robbed you of your mind, and possibly heart.”
Tyler hesitated.
“Come on,” said Lucas. “You can tell me. I didn’t get to this position by revealing my friends’ secrets.”
Friends. Yes, that was what they were, of course.
“All right. You know that I went to that dating agency the other day.”
“Yes, and you got selected by the lucky lady. And what happened?”
“Well, I’d never met her, but we texted a little and she sent a photo. And last night, there she was, at the gala.”
“A happy coincidence. So I take it that the two of you hit it off, given that you’re probably not wearing underwear at the moment, and quite I’m sure she isn’t either.”
“Hitting it off is putting it mildly. Something hit me hard last night—something powerful. I needed her, I had to have her. I don’t even know how to describe it.”
“You’ve found a shifter who could be your mate,” said Lucas. “I don’t believe in fate or any of that, but I do think there are only a few people out there who can give us what we really need. And it seems that you’ve found your way to just such a woman.”
“That’s very profound of you,” said Tyler. “I’m not really used to earnest talk from you, Luke.”
“Well, don’t get used to it. You should remember that I’m a jerkoff. And where is she? What the fuck are you doing at my kitchen counter, when you could be on top of her, chastising her soundly for her lack of panties?”
Tyler laughed. “You know, that’s a really good question. She’s probably still in bed. And if she’s not, she’s probably wondering if the note I left her is one big lie, and if I’m a total douche.”
“Note?”
“I said I’d call her later.”
“Ah. So you definitely fucked her brains out. Only a man who’s fucked a woman tells her he’ll call.”
“I will reveal nothing of our activities.”
“Maybe not, but your clothes reveal a lot. And don’t forget—there’s a lion inside me with a damn good nose.” Lucas sniffed the air around Tyler. “Let’s see—I’d say you went down on her, then fucked, then fucked about two more times. Probably went down on her several times in between, too. Well done, by the way.”
“You’re pretty close, actually. And thank you.”
“So you like her. Or at least your the beast between your legs does.”
“My beast, and the rest of me, like her a lot. But it’s the rest that I’m worried about.”
“Specifically the bit in your chest—the part that pumps the blood to your brain and cock, which, let’s face it, are largely interchangeable organs.”
“Yes.”
“You told me that you’re worried that if things get serious, you’ll have to reveal what happened a long time ago. And I’ll bet that’s why you ran away this morning, even though last night you resolved to do exactly the opposite, didn’t you?”
Tyler grimaced. Lucas was never to be underestimated; for all his womanizing ways, and all of his drinking, he was highly intelligent and intuitive. He knew exactly what was going on and why.
“Pretty much. I’ve avoided relationships all this time because I didn’t want to talk about my past. But Naomi—she’s amazing. I’d have to tell her, or risk losing her.”
“So tell her.”
“She’s a writer. What if she turns against me and puts it in a book?” Tyler grinned as he tried to avoid the matter through a feeble attempt at humour.
“Well a) she won’t. And b) if she does, sue her ass off and wear it like a hat.”
“We’ll see.”
“Fucking hell, Tyler. Don’t wind up like me. Don’t be an irresponsible pussy hunter who sleeps with a different woman every night. You have it in you to be crazy for someone. So be crazy. Go for it.”
“Maybe I will, boss. I think I need some time to figure this out.”
“Well, don’t take too much, or you’ll lose her.”
* * *
It was around two p.m. that Naomi’s phone rang. Fully expecting it to be a telemarketer or someone even less appealing, she answered without even looking at the number. Her voice was rigid and hostile.
“Hell-o.”
“Naomi.”
“Yes?” Her heart did something approaching a back flip when she heard the voice. Well, this was unexpected—even though it shouldn’t have been.
“It’s Tyler. I don’t know if you remember me, but we met last night. Fucked in an alleyway. Then on your floor. Then in your bed. Or, if you prefer, we ‘made love with élan on several occasions.’”
“Yes, I remember now—black hair, right? You’re what? Five foot five?”
“Light hair. And I’m quite tall, actually.”
“Oh, well. I must’ve been thinking about the other guy that I fucked after the first guy left me without so much as a good-bye.”
“Okay, I deserved that. Listen, I’m sorry I took off this morning without kissing you. Hell, I’m sorry that I didn’t stay in bed with you all day. But I’d really like to see you again, and maybe I could make it up to you.”
Well, this was another surprise. She wanted to tell him so—that a man walking out like that was generally to be taken as a big fat slight—but she bit her tongue, literally.
“Okay,” she said, her voice forcing itself not to convey any internal excitement. She wanted at least to hold some power—to let him know that she wasn’t going to be jerked around, and that if he did so, it wouldn’t hurt. Even though it damn well would.
“When were you thinking?” she asked.
“How about tonight?”
Naomi could do nothing to resist the smile that formed on her lips then. Tonight was perfect.
* * *
Naomi spent that night, and every night for the next two weeks, with Tyler. Even when he had to work late and could only make his way to her place at three a.m. And each night, they’d made love in some form or other, each ending up a spent, content mess coated in perspiration and grins.
Naomi found a conditional happiness setting in as their relationship developed. Each night,
before or after a long bout of nudity, they spoke at length about themselves, their lives, their desires. Her hopes to move away from Grayson City eventually to write in a small house in the country where her ferret could have some freedom to frolic in the woods; his desire to move away from the life of a bodyguard, and to work on a PhD in English Literature somewhere. She knew by now that he loved books and words; that he wanted to teach, and that somewhere inside his hard-as-steel body was a gentleness and a profound kindness.
He was everything she could have hoped for, amazing in every sense.
Except for one. He was still hiding things, still avoiding her questions. Each time she asked about something personal, he would find excuses to deflect. For the most part, though, she could see that he was trying. He told her about a few past, failed relationships. About his college years, in which he was mostly a loner who worked out a great deal, looking after his body while neglecting his emotional side. And he told her about the Lion Pride.
But questions about the time before his twentieth birthday were handily avoided for some reason that remained a mystery to her. Naomi had told him about her family and her childhood, but he avoided any such revelations about himself like the plague.
One night, Tyler found himself begin to open up. “My childhood wasn’t easy,” he said, his eyes avoiding hers in favour of staring at the floor. He could feel himself tighten under her gaze, even as he looked for the words that he wanted to utter. And when his eyes met hers, and he saw the look she was giving him—one of pure affection, of warmth and admiration, and everything he’d ever wanted, he stopped.
I can’t do it, he thought. I can’t. She’ll run. And so he’d clammed up again, sealing his thoughts in as though letting them out would bring ruin and destruction to anything they touched.
I’ll give him time, Naomi kept telling herself as she watched him hesitate over and over again, wondering if she should be so patient. He just needs time.
She found in their moments apart that she thought of him constantly. There was no question that she was developing real, deep feelings for the lion shifter. And she wondered at times if he felt the same way. If he did, why the secrets? Why the avoidance?
It was on a Thursday evening after they’d made love for about the thousandth time that he turned to her, his face leaning on his hand, elbow firmly planted in her mattress. To date, they’d spent most of their time alone, and she hadn’t met his friends, nor he hers, other than Miri.
“Listen,” he said, his chest glistening from the exertion of what they’d just done. “The boss is having a little cocktail party tomorrow evening. I’ll only be there in an unofficial capacity, more or less—but I don’t have much of a choice in the matter, since there have been new rumblings about the Wolf Pack. Would you be my date?”
“The Sovereign is having a cocktail party? Or is there some secret code that I’m misunderstanding, where in fact this is an orgy involving cocks and tails?”
“The former. He’s quite civilized, when he wants to be—which is to say rarely.”
Naomi pictured the man she’d seen the night of the gala, flanked as he’d been by young, beautiful women, all of whom apparently wanted to sleep with him. She was curious about him, though he didn’t appeal to her as a sexual object; more as potential inspiration for a character in a novel.
“I’ll join you. I like dressing up sometimes—wait, no I don’t. But I’ll do it for you.”
“I’ve noticed over time that you like getting undressed. I much prefer that anyhow.”
In spite of herself, she found all of her blood seeming to rush to her clit, as though to remind her what ecstasy it had felt only a few minutes earlier—and what it could feel again if she had her way with him.
“I prefer having someone undress me,” she said. “Someone with a firm hand and a hard…resolve.”
“I’d undress you now, if you weren’t already naked. As for tomorrow, I’ll pick you up at seven. And you’d better meet me outside or I might not let you leave your apartment,” he said, pulling himself on top of her, his length pressing into her belly. His sexy smile was just about enough to drive her over the edge all on its own, but in combination with his incredible cock, she was enslaved.
“Outside it is,” she whispered. “I’ll try to wear something nice.”
“Cellophane would be nice on you. Or a towel. Or a see-through curtain.”
“Dirty, dirty lion. Now kiss me, lion.”
* * *
When seven rolled around the next evening, Naomi was standing outside the front door of the building, wondering if she should have asked if Tyler was driving a car or his motorcycle. Normally he showed up on his bike, but she wasn’t sure that he’d subject her to being a passenger, particularly when she was meant to look presentable.
Her question was answered a few minutes later, when he pulled up in a red sports car.
“Thank God,” she said as he got out to slip around and open her door.
“That happy to see me, are you?” he replied, grinning.
“That happy to see something with four wheels.”
“I thought we could take it slow.”
“Yes, that seems to be our style.”
He kissed her cheek, a gentleman in stark contrast to the animal that he could sometimes be, and opened the door for her. “You look beautiful,” he said.
“Thanks. So do you.”
Tyler was wearing a dark blue suit with a slight sheen to it, cut perfectly to show off his gorgeous frame. Underneath was a grey shirt and a dark tie that Naomi had the sudden urge to bite. What was it with the lion and her urges to sink her teeth into various parts of him and his clothing?
“So tell me about the Sovereign,” she said as they drove. “What’s his story?”
“Lucas? He’s actually a good man. Honest to a fault, if a little promiscuous.”
“So these women that he’s with—they know about each other?”
“No woman lasts more than a night with him. So they don’t need to. But yeah, if one asks, he tells. He has no secrets.”
“So the Pride likes him?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s popular. It’s the wolves that we worry about. Since they started screwing up Grizzly territory, we’ve just been waiting for their gang warfare to make its way into our district.”
“They need a new Alpha,” sighed Naomi. “Or the current one needs to be taught a lesson.”
“Agreed. But that’s not my job.”
“I’m glad. I wouldn’t want you putting yourself in harm’s way.” She looked at him, studying his handsome profile: that square jaw. Something about it was so manly, so strong. And lion shifters’ jaws were more pronounced than those of other species. There was a nobility to them that oozed out their pores.
“I will always put myself in harm’s way, if it means protecting someone I care about.”
“And you care about your Sovereign.”
Tyler turned her way for a moment, the passing lights illuminating bright eyes. “I do,” he said. “He’s a good friend. I’m pleased that you’ll meet him, you know.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. He and I have had a few chats about you.”
“Well, this is interesting. Dare I ask?”
“You’d probably be intelligent not to. But you’ll like him, as I think he already likes you. Just maybe don’t sleep with him.”
“I won’t. I’m a one lion kind of gal. When I commit, I commit.” With these words she was testing him, seeing if he would flinch at her declaration of monogamy. But he didn’t.
“I’m very happy to hear it,” he said, smiling. Slowly his right hand slipped over her thigh and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m a one ferret kind of guy.”
* * *
Tyler escorted Naomi up the elevator to the penthouse, where large men were milling around with their dates. Some human women, thin, long-legged; others shifters, whose curves were generally more prominent.
“You okay?” he asked as he h
eld her hand, leading her into the vast apartment.
“Never better,” she said, looking around at the expensive furnishings and attractive guests.
“Hey, Tyler!” The booming voice belonged to Lucas, who stood with a few guests by the broad doorway leading into the kitchen. Tyler escorted Naomi to his location and introduced them.
“I hear that you’re a writer,” Lucas said after giving her a firm handshake. “I’d love to read something that you’ve written.”
Naomi could see his allure. Like Tyler, he was built, powerful, muscular and incredibly handsome. She’d seen him at the gala but up close, she understood even better why he was constantly surrounded by women; he exuded a sort of powerful aura of sexuality. She questioned whether it was his status of the powerful lion that had made him like this, or simply a presence that couldn’t be defined. A sort of shifter It-factor.
His scent was the most stunning thing, though. It had a power to it, a musk that moved in silken tendrils about his presence. The sort of powerful stimulant that made a woman want to tear a man’s clothing off. And though Naomi had no intention of doing so, she wasn’t immune to his allure. He was an intoxicating force.
She leaned her body towards Tyler’s as she spoke, being sure to maintain contact. Something in the Sovereign made her want to stake further claim on her date.
“I’m not sure that the sort of thing I write would be your bag,” she said, laughing. “But you’re welcome to. I can give Tyler a copy of something, if you’d like.”
“Good. Say, Tyler, would you get us a couple of drinks?” he asked.
Naomi swallowed, not certain that she wanted to remain alone with the man. But Tyler gave her hand a brief squeeze and headed off, seeming to trust his Sovereign not to hit on his date.
“So listen,” said Lucas, speaking in hushed, intimate tones. “While we’re alone, I just wanted to tell you to look after our man. He’s not always the big strong shifter that he seems.”
“No? What is he?” asked Naomi, hoping to get some answers to the questions that had been lurking since she’d first laid eyes on Tyler.
Naomi and Tyler (Plenty of Shift Book 2) Page 6