Reluctant Heat

by Jaden Sinclair

  “Come on,” Fox said to Lindsey.

  She was about to protest but stopped when he took hold of her arm, leading her back to his truck. Rolling her eyes at him, she got in. He closed the door and went around the front to the driver’s seat.

  “Why don’t you drop me off at home,” Lindsey said, breaking the very uncomfortable silence in the cab. “I’m sure you want to spend time with Darian, and I’m just a tag along.”

  “Yeah, well I think we need to talk still,” he sighed, glancing at her. “Think there’s something you need to tell me.”

  “There isn’t anything I need to tell you.” She watched him closely, saw the change, but couldn’t for the life of her understand what caused it. “Fox, what’s going on?”

  “Darian told me about the notes.”

  Lindsey slumped in the seat crossed her arms over her chest and glared out the window straight ahead. “She had no right to tell you anything.”

  “Someone is harassing you, Lindsey, and your father isn’t home. She had every right to tell me. You should’ve told me.”

  “No one is harassing me. Someone is just trying to scare me and it isn’t working either.” He growled and she added, “Stop growling at me and take me home.”

  “I think that is the last place you need to go right now.”

  “Fox, you don’t get to tell me what to do!” She lost her temper and grabbed the door handle with the intention of opening the door. Tires squealed and he swerved when he grabbed her arm.

  “What the hell are you trying to do?” he yelled, slamming on the breaks.

  She tried to get out of the truck and he worked to keep her inside. “I’m going home!” she snapped.

  “Fine, you want to go home, then home is where I’ll take you.” He jerked her back into the seat and floored the truck. “I want to see these damn notes anyway.”

  With arms crossed over her chest again, Lindsey sat in her seat with mouth shut. The drive back didn’t take very long, and as soon as he pulled up she was out before he even parked and turned off the truck. Her anger at being told what to do seemed to dominate her for the moment. Stomping up to the porch and into the house, she tried slamming the door in Fox’s face, but he stopped it.

  “Where are the notes?” he snarled then slammed the door closed.

  Lindsey turned, crossed her arms over her chest, and narrowed her eyes on him. “I threw them away.”

  “Bullshit.”

  She watched him walk around the living room, sniffing with his eyes narrowed, taking in everything.

  “What’re you doing?” she asked.

  “I can smell him.”

  “Who?”

  “Someone who shouldn’t be here.”

  * * * *

  He turned and strode down the hallway. Taking a deep breath to get herself under control and rolling her eyes, Lindsey followed him.

  Fox sniffed as he walked around her bedroom. He easily picked up the scent of the shifter male who’d broken into her home, and had touched her possessions. He went into her closet and lightly fingered her shirts and skirts hanging there. Over to a dresser he moved, and into a drawer filled with panties and bras. When Fox moved to run his hand inside, Lindsey pushed him away from the drawer and shoved it shut.

  “You mind?” she snapped.

  Frowning at her, he moved over to the other side of the room and sniffed again. The scent was stronger on the bed, so strong in fact that Fox knew without a doubt what the male had done.

  “You’re sheets need to be stripped,” he said, yanking the covers and sheets off.

  “Why?” Lindsey stood back while he stripped her bed.

  “Trust me when I say you really don’t want to know,” he finished, took the pillow in hand, and walked out of her room, down the hall and into the bathroom where the washer and dryer were. He knew the layout of her house, just as the rest of the family did.

  Shoving the bedding into the washer, he started it just as she joined him. “Fox, what’s going on?”

  “Why don’t you tell me?” He leaned sideways on the washer, arms crossed over his chest. “How long has someone been breaking into your house?”

  “It’s not as bad as what you’re making it out to be,” she muttered, turned and walked out of the room.

  He followed her. “Not as bad as I’m making it out to be? Are you serious?”

  “Drop it.”

  “I’m not going to drop it, Lindsey. Some guy broke into your home, not just leaving you notes, which I’m still waiting to see.”

  “Well, you’re going to be waiting for a long time.” She went into the kitchen, stopped in front of the fridge, and opened the door. He saw what was inside before she slammed it shut. Nothing. The girl had nothing in the house to eat and was now out of a job. Man he wanted to get his hands on Ben again.

  “No food?”

  “Fox, will you just leave me alone!” she snapped. “This is really turning out to be a fucked up day.”

  Lindsey didn’t swear much, and she pretty much never used the four letter word. That had him raising both eyebrows at her. He didn’t stop watching her, even when she left the small kitchen and went over to the beat up sofa that leaned to one side.

  “I don’t know where he is,” she said after she sat down, head between her legs for a few seconds. “And there are these guys looking for him. Told him he owes a lot of money to them and wanted me to pay it. What you’re smelling is probably them coming into the house looking for money.”

  “When’d they come by?”

  She looked up at him. “Three nights ago.”

  “And you didn’t tell anyone?”

  She stood up, fire back in her eyes. “Look, Fox Laswell,” she snarled, pointing her finger at him. “The shit with my father has nothing to do with you or your family. You don’t need this crap on your shoulders. It’s my problem.”

  “No, it’s his problem and he landed it on you,” he tossed back, taking two steps so they were face to face. Now he pointed his own finger at her. “Your damn father needs to stop running away and be a man.”

  They stood there staring at each other, both breathing a bit faster. Fox knew she was angry with him and with Darian. Darian had told him, and Lindsey knew he would tell his father also. She needed protection, whether she liked it or not. Now with men coming and trying to get money from her, and someone harassing her with notes, he was pretty damn sure the scent he picked up wasn’t human. But that bit of information he was going to keep to himself. He didn’t need her to start freaking out over a shifter being the one that might be harassing her.

  He had more to say to her, and most likely he’d have said it all, but like a slap to the face her scent hit him and it hit hard. A stirring in his blood, chills down his spine, and Fox knew without a doubt he needed to get out of the room—fast. Only, he couldn’t make his feet move. No matter how much he screamed inside at himself to turn and put some distance between then, Fox couldn’t. Instead, what he wanted the most was to get closer—to wrap her into his arms and bury his face in her hair.

  She must’ve seen or sensed something change in him, because she was the one to move away and put that much needed distance between them.

  Taking a couple deep breaths, getting himself back under control, Fox watched her once more move around the room. He knew by the body language alone that she was scared and worried.

  “Why don’t you just come over for dinner and we can work this out later. You know Darian is going to be pissed if you don’t come back over,” he said, hoping to calm her.

  “I think I need to stay here,” she replied, hugging herself. “There’s things I need to do, and you all need alone time with Darian. I’ll be over tomorrow,” she rushed out when he opened his mouth to argue with her. “Promise, Fox.”

  He let the thought mess around in his head before finally giving in with a nod. Besides, even though he wanted to argue with himself about letting her stay here alone, he did need space between them. Wanting to h
old her, take her scent deeper into his lungs, didn’t set well with him, just like that kiss still bothered him.

  “All right, but if you don’t show up you won’t like what I do.”

  Lindsey rolled her eyes at him, and he couldn’t figure out if he liked it or not. After a moment’s thought, he decided if she did it again, he’d be pissed. “I’ll be there. Now get, please.”

  Another nod and he found himself walking out of her house as she closed the door on him. Then, as he walked off the porch towards his truck he stopped suddenly. Raising his head slightly towards the right, he picked up the same scent he’d smelled in her room. Without any doubt, he knew it wasn’t human, but shifter. The same male now hid in the shadows of a setting sun far enough away that Fox couldn’t find him, but not so far away that Fox couldn’t still smell him. Without thinking about it he snarled into the night, into the direction of the scent and hoped like hell that the other male could see him.

  * * * *

  He watched Fox Laswell leave her house. He’d watched and thought how lucky that bastard Laswell was; for if Fox touched what now belonged to him, he vowed he’d lose that pretty face of his.

  The snarl from Fox made him snarl back, even though that bastard couldn’t see him. There was no way in hell he’d allow that Laswell trash to take what he now considered his property. That bitch was his and his alone. He knew it was only a matter of time before he made his move and claimed her. Once that happened then they all would know him as the alpha, which was how it should be.

  “Soon my pretty,” he growled the words and grinned. “Very soon.”

  Chapter Three

  “Morning,” Lindsey greeted as she walked through the back door, and into the spacious kitchen of the Laswell home. As she promised Fox, she showed up only to find Dominic sitting at the kitchen table with stacks upon stacks of papers. “You alone?”

  He looked up from several sheets in his hand and gave her a big smile. “Um, yeah. Darian went with Skyler to the store. Alex is helping Adrian bring me the files for the past few years and not sure on the rest. Oh and morning. Sleep well?”

  She shrugged, looking at the mess on the table, inching closer to it. “Guess.” Without thinking, she picked up a sales report and scanned it. She whistled, “Man. Gas is costing him the most this month.”

  “What’s that?”

  She jumped, forgetting Dominic was there. “Oh, the gas costs. More is going out than coming in.” She handed the paper to him, and pointed to some numbers. “See.”

  “No, I don’t really see it.”

  She moved behind him and pointed again. “It’s here.” “More is going out than coming in. The credit alone is high,” she added, straightening up, feeling heat in her cheeks. “Sorry. Sort of good with numbers. Had plans on going to college for accounting, but my dad spent the money on other things.”

  “Have a seat.” Dominic pushed out a chair next to him and she frowned. “Hey, if I missed this then so did Adrian, and I normally don’t miss much when it comes to money.”

  She took the seat and he slid over the thick book that, at a quick exam, included the last five years of accounts in it. “Why you going through all of this, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “It’s sort of a deal I made with Adrian,” he said, picking up another stack. “My family sort of screwed his out of some stuff and to make amends I gave it back and promised to help him get the marina back on its feet before he lost it.”

  “Things that bad?”

  He nodded. “I think most of the people in this town are that bad. I know it’s a small town, but when it comes to friends and businesses you can’t have both. There are more unpaid bills here than I’ve ever seen. I think the bills had gotten lost and they forget all about it.”

  “And you want me to help?”

  “From what I have here, and what you just said about your accounting abilities, oh yeah.” With a nod and a quick smile, she opened the book before her.

  How long they worked on the numbers, her showing him things, him making notes, her doing the same, she couldn’t say. In time, she finished up with the book, and moved onto the next. Three down and she saw a pattern develop between the ones that just stopped paying, ones that forgot and would play catch up, and the other that either didn’t care or didn’t know. One that held her attention had the name Fallen attached to it. Ben Fallen had a nasty little habit of building up credit and not paying it off. What his father sent in each month covered the cost of their boat and jet skis only. It touched nothing on the bill at the store that Ben built up.

  “Having fun?”

  Lindsey jumped and looked up from the long list of numbers, pen in hand, and blinked several time to unclog her brain. Fox stood in the doorway with two bags of groceries in his hands.

  “Oh, sorry.” she stood up so fast the chair knocked over behind her. Turning to pick it up, Fox joined her hands, bags shifted into one hand.

  “I swear it costs us a fortune to feed everyone,” Adrian Laswell said.

  “The bill wasn’t that bad,” Skyler Laswell said as she entered the kitchen and closed the door behind her. “Hello, Lindsey.”

  “Hello, Mrs. Laswell,” Lindsey said, then she directed her attention to Adrian. “I’m sorry, Mr. Laswell. I didn’t mean to pry or anything.”

  Dominic held his hand up. “I asked her to help. She found things that even I seemed to have missed.”

  “And he misses nothing,” Darian remarked, also coming in with bags in her hands. Dominic quickly got up, took the bags from her, gave Darian a quick kiss as Fox went back out for more. “So what’d you find?”

  “Yeah, what did he find?” Adrian asked.

  “Not me, her,” Dominic said. “You’ve got at least four kids, which is what I’m going to call them, that like to party at night on your dime. Their fathers pay the monthly bill and the costs when they take the boats and jets out, but not their kids it seems. They are the ones costing you the most, but you also have a few others with unpaid bills going back a couple months.”

  “Really?” Adrian stopped helping with putting the food away and came over to the table. He took the papers from both Dominic and Lindsey. “Now, why isn’t that name shocking me any?”

  “Which name?” Skyler asked.

  “Ben Fallen,” Adrian replied. “That shit has a fortune credited up here. I knew you talking me into letting that little bastard back here would be trouble.”

  “I’ve also found some strange stuff with your little shop,” Dominic went on. “You’re ordering a bunch of stuff, junk food and all, but the numbers for sales don’t match up.”

  Adrian took that paper, looked it over, and mumbled, “Son of a bitch.”

  “Leaks that can be plugged,” Dominic stated.

  Adrian and Dominic stared at each other, and Lindsey sort of felt out of place right then. Then without any warning, Adrian yelled, “Ash!”

  Ash came rushing into the kitchen. “What’s up?”

  “You go down to the shop right now and fire that dumb ass you hired,” Adrian said, tossing the papers back on the table. “Right now.”

  “But I thought he was working out for you?” Ash said. “For us all, really.”

  “Not when he’s letting the others steal from me,” Adrian said. “Go do it right now and close it up. We’ll no longer be staying open late, not until we start to make the money back. And I also want you to return here with all the books. He doesn’t get his damn paycheck until after I see what he screwed up.”

  “Okay.” Ash nodded, gave Lindsey a quick wink, and headed out the back door.

  “Is there anyone in this damn town that isn’t trying to fuck me over?” Adrian huffed.

  “I think I’m going to head home,” Lindsey said, feeling slight uncomfortable with everything. Bad enough she found the leaks.

  “Oh no you’re not,” Adrian said, giving her his full attention. “You found this, at least I can do is make sure you have a good meal, and I’ll not hear
a damn protest about it. My mood wouldn’t handle it.” He walked past her, gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head like he used to when she was little and walked out of the room.

  “Why do I have this feeling that I did something wrong?” Lindsey asked.

  “You didn’t, honey,” Skyler said. “You just found the mistakes is all.”

  “You know, she needs a job,” Dominic said, right before taking a bite of an apple. “Adrian could hire her to keep track of his books. Heard she does it for another place.”

  “That’s okay,” Lindsey said, and felt her face heat up. She looked down at the floor.

  “Dad’s been trying to hire her for years,” Darian said with a smile when Lindsey looked back up. “And she keeps turning him down each time.”

  “Well he really does need someone with a sharp eye,” Dominic went on. “You’d be perfect.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Lindsey whispered.

  “How about we work on getting some super on?” Skyler said. “Girls! A hand!” she called. “Where is Lyssa at?”

  “Out again,” Fox said, coming back into the kitchen. With all the commotion going on Lindsey didn’t even see him leave. “I swear when Daxis gets his hands on her—”

  “Don’t even go there.” Skyler slapped Fox on the shoulder.

  Lindsey frowned, “Daxis is the one that did this claim thing right?” Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at her. “I thought you guys were okay with the mating thing. Am I wrong?”

  Darian was the one to speak first. “Daxis put a claim on Lyssa when we were summoned to the Gathering last year. He’s her mate, and Lyssa is sort of trying to push him away.”

  “But will only end up pissing him off,” Fox said, then added, “Ouch!” when Skyler hit Fox harder on the arm. “We all know it. She’s going to push him too far and then what, Ma? He’s going to walk through our door and just take her instead of waiting until she’s eighteen. There won’t be a damn thing Dad can do or any of us.”

  “You can do that?” Lindsey asked, eyes widening in shock.