by Mills, Julia
“Yep, it’s me.” He hoped quickly changing the subject would stop any further questions, so he rushed on, “What seems to be the problem with your car?” he pointed, hoping she would stop looking at him like he had three heads. She continued to stare as he approached, but at least closed her oh-so-very delectable mouth. Not that it mattered one damn bit; she was still the sexiest thing on earth and standing right in front of him.
As he braced his hands on the frame of her car and leaned in to take a look, she spoke, “Do you live around here?”
He loved the sound of her voice. It was a little lower than most women’s and smoky. He longed to hear it whispered in his ear while he tasted and explored her silken skin with his hands buried deep in her long brown curls, feeling her body moving against his. He took a deep breath to rein in his wayward thoughts and focused on the gorgeous woman in front of him. He had noticed the curiosity with a bit of suspicion in her voice and knew he would have to tread very lightly. His Samantha was a smart cookie, and from what he had seen, she was also as tenacious as a bulldog. There was no way she was going to let the subject drop until she was satisfied with the answers her gave her and he decided honesty was the best policy, but that did not mean he had to tell her everything.
“Not far, I just like to ride out here in the open.” He pointed at his Harley. “Riding in the city with all the buildings, people, and stoplights, takes all the fun out of it.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she was seriously considering what he’d just told her while she moved a few steps away from him and her car. Within a few seconds, he recognized that she had decided he was being honest. Her shoulders relaxed, and the lines that had been bracketing her intense, dark eyes disappeared. Missing the sound of her voice already, he asked, “You live out this way?” Even though he already knew the answer to the question, he had to try to protect his secrets.
“Yeah, not too far, just over the next hill at the edge of the woods,” she answered. As she started walking back towards him, he was sure that the earth tilted on its axis. The way her long legs stretched out in front of her, the slight sway of her hips, and her hair blowing in the wind, made him take another deep breath just too keep from grabbing her and kissing her until neither one remembered where they were. Just as he was about to turn away, the wind changed direction and his entire being was filled with the scent of jasmine and honeysuckle. He inhaled long and deep, fighting to keep his eyes open. Her scent was absolutely intoxicating. He felt his dragon roll over and purr from just a whiff. He snapped his head back towards the engine and prayed that she hadn’t noticed his odd behavior; because there was absolutely no explanation his lust-fogged brain could conjure.
Deciding he needed to think of anything but the alluring woman at his side, he turned, poking around her engine. It didn’t take long to find the problem. “How long has it been since you had a tune up? These spark plug wires look beat to hell, and your engine coil is most likely shot, too.”
He heard her feet shuffle in the gravel and couldn’t resist looking up. A slight blush covered the apples of her cheeks and she was worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, making him once again have to resist the temptation to pull her close. He waited while she worked up the nerve to answer his question. “Well, would it surprise you if I said I just can’t remember?” She hurried on, and he listened, loving her voice more with every word. “I know I had the oil changed like eight or nine months ago, and I think I remember them saying something about there being more work I needed to get done, but honestly, I wasn’t paying attention. I’d just been called from the hospital. See, I’m a doctor, well almost a doctor, and I’d been called back into work, so I just paid them and left. I know this car is old, and I try to keep up with the maintenance, but I work some pretty crazy hours and sometimes I forget to get things done.” She paused to take a breath, and his hands itched with the need to reach out and tip her head up so that he could look into her eyes while she scrambled to explain the disrepair of her car, but he knew if he touched her right now, she would most likely slap his face, so he waited for her to continue.
“I know I should’ve gotten a newer car, but I really only go from my house to the hospital and back again, and I was hoping to keep this one running at least another year while I finish my residency. Then when I get a better paying position, I can start paying off my school loans and get better transportation.” She stopped abruptly, gasped, and speared him with her big brown eyes.
“And I have no idea why I just told you all of that. I’m so sorry.” She blushed again, and he had to tuck his thumbs in his pockets to keep from touching her. This woman packed a powerful punch, and he wanted her more than he had ever wanted anyone or anything in all of his one hundred and twelve years. Just when he was sure he would lose his mind from trying to resist the gorgeous woman standing before him, the most amazing thing happened. She smiled right at him. With that one small act, he knew without a doubt why his Commander acted like a crazy man and Aidan acted like a lovesick puppy after finding their mates. He had no doubt that he would move heaven and earth to see that very smile every day of his life, and if all else failed, he would stand on his head or twerk with Miley Cyrus. Whatever it took, he would do it just to see her smile.
“Is she dead?” she asked, and for the first time he realized she had a slight southern accent. Nothing like Kyndel, his Commander’s mate, but it was there, nonetheless
He cleared his throat and chuckled to hide his reaction, “She? Your car’s a girl?”
Again her cheeks colored, and he wondered if she blushed all the time. Then he prayed it was only for him because he was sure he would kill any other man that ever made her blush. WHOA! Where the hell did that come from? He quickly shoved all murderous thoughts aside. Sam was talking again, and he didn’t want to miss a word coming from those kissable lips.
“Yep! Her name is Bonnie Blue.” She said with pride, and he could not stop the grin that spread across his face. Damn! She was really something else.
He bit the inside of his cheeks as he was sure she would not appreciate him laughing at her choice of names for her car. “Bonnie Blue, huh?” She nodded her head, and he could tell she was waiting for him to tease her, but he moved on. “Nope, she’s not dead, but she’s not going anywhere tonight. I don’t have the parts or the tools to fix her with me right now.”
“Well, shit!” She gasped as her hand flew to cover her mouth. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
Lance laughed out loud. The longer he laughed the more relaxed Sam became, until she was laughing right along with him. “Darlin’, you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. I’ve heard worse. Hell, I’ve said worse,” he said still laughing, but now he was using it as a cover to listen to her laughter. She didn’t have the tiny, tinkling, little laugh most women had. His Sam had a full laugh that filled the evening air. The kind of laugh that made other people want in on the joke so they could laugh right along with her. Mental note: keep his Sam smiling and laughing as much as possible. And there it was again, His Sam, and thoughts of keeping her happy. What the hell was he doing? He wanted her more every second of every day even though he knew it was not the right time. There was no way he would take chances with her safety. It was time for him to get his head out of his ass and catch that little fucker, Andrew. Then he could be with Sam.
As their laughing died down, she started looking at the ground again and shifting from one foot to the other. He could tell something other than her car was bothering her. “Don’t worry about your car…er I mean Bonnie Blue. I’ll get her fixed right up.”
“It’s not that. It’s just that I let my Triple A membership lapse, so now I’m going to have to call a tow truck, and everyone that I know is working tonight, so I’ll have to walk home.” She turned and started back towards her car.
Before he could think about what he was doing, he reached out and touched her arm. The electricity that flew between them went straight to his cock, and his mind was f
looded with images of their bodies intertwined and sweaty while he tasted every inch of her lovely golden skin. It was all he could do to keep from falling at her feet and begging her to be his. He did everything in his power to regain control, to keep himself and his dragon in line, as he withdrew his hand and said, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll have my bre...brothers come and pick her up, and I’ll take you home. You aren’t scared to ride a Harley are you?” He wiggled his eyebrows and was graced with another of her dazzling smiles, while all he could think about was what it would feel like to have her wrapped around him while they rode to her home. Oh hell, he was totally fucked.
CHAPTER TWO
She had tried every argument she could think of, but nothing seemed to get through Lance’s thick skull. He was bound and determined to have his brothers pick up her car and that he be the one to take her home. She even tried calling Charlie, the only person she could really call a friend, but the nurse that answered the phone on the surgical floor said she was assisting with another appendectomy. They seemed to be running a special on those lately. It was either ride on the back of the motorcycle of the guy that had haunted damn near every thought she’d had for seven months, or walk the almost ten miles home. It wasn’t that she couldn’t walk it, but she had been at work for thirty hours, hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, and was basically being held up by the sexual tension that seemed to jump between her and her now two-time rescuer. When he had touched her shoulder, the electric current that ran through her body and landed in her pussy was potent enough to light the entire metropolitan area. Her panties were immediately wet and her knees went weak. She was sure he felt it too. His eyes had widened and his nostrils had flared, but he quickly schooled his features and went on to help her with her current situation. She was sure she had seen him sniff the air and then smile, but that had to be her imagination. Otherwise, the man that headlined the best erotic dreams of her life was in need of a psych evaluation.
His brothers arrived a short time later, and she damn near lost it. They were the biggest and best looking guys she had ever seen. Not as good looking as Lance, but she knew loads of women that would let those beefcakes eat crackers in their beds anytime. She kept looking from man to man, searching for physical attributes that they might share. He had said they were brothers, but she saw nothing at all to indicate that they shared any genetic material. As a matter of fact, the tall red-headed one, well hell, she decided she should call a spade a spade, the carrot-topped giant was in no way genetically related to Lance, but she guessed they were just really close friends. He had said his name was Royce, and from the way they bickered and worked together like a well-oiled machine, she could see that they had known each other a very long time. She’d had a few people like that in her life. It was shame she had lost touch with them, but they still held a special place in her heart; without them, she would have never survived foster care before Momma Maybelle came along.
“Look, you pain in the ass, I’m telling you to move the hell out of the way and let me secure the car to the trailer,” Royce was growling through gritted teeth.
“Okay, Old Man, I was just trying to help,” Lance answered and then looked at her and winked. She’d never noticed it before, but from this angle, she could see that he had a little dimple in his cheek that seemed to wink right along with his amazing blue eyes. On anyone else, she would have said it was cute, but on that beautifully masculine face, it just made her want to kiss it to see if it tasted as good as it looked.
“You better get your ass outta the way, Lance. You know the old guy has a short fuse these days.” She looked up, surprised that the quiet one that had barely said ‘Hi’ when they arrived was actually talking. The longer she looked at him, the more she realized that just like the giant, there was no way the tall, lean drink of water with light gray eyes, olive skin, and hair so black it shined, was related by blood to the muscular, tanned, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man that was her infatuation.
“Royce’ll be fine, Dev. He just needs to blow off some steam. Since I haven’t been around the lai…I mean…home much lately, he hasn’t had anyone to argue with. Isn’t that right, Grandpa?” She watched as Lance slapped the big man on the back so hard she would have sworn he had dislocated his shoulder.
“Why don’t you two knuckleheads do something besides irritate me? Go over to the other side of the trailer and make sure everything is secure.” Royce sounded gruff, but she picked up on the affection they had for each other.
Lance turned and looked right at her and she felt her heart skip a beat. What the hell was it about this guy that made her body go crazy? It was potent as hell and twice as scary. She had no time in her life for any man, let alone one that made her forget all else and dream of endless days and nights spent wrapped in each other, sweaty and spent. Just staring into his eyes made her want to abandon all else to be with him.
“Devon, you handle that,” she heard him say without ever breaking eye contact. She could feel his stare in every single cell of her body. He completely mesmerized her as he strode in her direction, all sex and wet dreams in ripped jeans and cowboy boots. She watched the muscles in his chest bunch and roll under his tight gray T-shirt and wondered, by what miracle his sleeves hadn’t burst from the strain of his biceps. He was intense and raw and she could just tell, as tough as nails; then there was the twinkle in his eyes that told her he was just as likely to play a practical joke on someone as save a damsel in distress. Damsel in distress? Where the hell did that thought come from? She really needed to get home and get some sleep.
“You doing okay, Sam?” she heard him speak, saw his lips move, but her brain had chosen that moment to short circuit. She watched his brows furrow, and before she could answer, felt the shock from his touch on her shoulders.
She blinked and shook her head. “Yeah, I’m okay. Sorry, I blanked out there for a minute. Guess I’m more tired than I realized.”
“I’m sure you are, hell, who wouldn’t be after a thirty hour shift?”
“Yep, that’s the way the job goes.” She knew she should move so that his hand would fall away from her shoulder, but the heat that infused her exhausted body from that simple touch was absolutely delicious, so she stood there, soaking it all in. Then, what he had just said registered in her foggy mind, and all the relaxation she had felt seconds ago disappeared. “How did you know that I just worked thirty hours?”
He looked away for a split second and when he looked back, he focused on the spot right above her eyebrows, instead of her eyes. “You told me earlier.” As soon as it was out of his mouth, he looked her in the eye again.
“No, I didn’t. I remember saying I worked long hours, but I know I didn’t tell you how long I’d been at work today, I mean yesterday, well also today. Oh, whatever,” she sighed with growing exasperation. “I know I did not say anything about thirty hours. How did you know that?” she pushed through gritted teeth, not wanting to alert his brothers to the fact that she was about two seconds from losing her cool.
Just as he was about to answer, Royce yelled for him, and her cell phone rang in her pocket. He turned to go and she shivered, her body immediately feeling the loss of his touch. She watched as he walked back to where the others were finishing up with her car, so entranced by his ass that she almost forgot about the phone ringing in her hand. She shook her head as she answered her phone, noting from the caller ID that it was the hospital. Still watching the play of hard muscles under well-worn denim, she could not deny he was the best looking thing she had ever seen, but he was hiding something. She had picked up on his feelings of unease and tension when she’d called him out. Again, she thought of what a distraction this man was proving to be. Sure, he had literally saved her ass more than once, but she could not shake the feeling that he was hiding something and dammit if she didn’t really want to know what it was.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He knew she was tired, and in any other situation, most likely would not have accepted his h
elp, but now that she was snug against his back with her arms around his waist and her thighs pressing against his legs as they rode the winding road back to the hospital, he thanked the Universe with all that he was. However, he was not thrilled that she was going back to work after having just been there for so many hours, but she had been adamant. He knew if he didn’t take her, she would just walk, especially since it concerned the patient she had stayed late to help; a little girl who had obviously captured his mate’s heart. The mating call and his dragon were screaming at him to take her home and care for her, but Sam’s furrowed brow and unrelenting glare told him she was going back to the hospital come hell or high water. So, against his better judgment, they were heading back in the same direction they had come from just a few hours ago.
He agreed with his dragon that she needed rest, but her determination and commitment to her chosen profession was something he greatly admired. Not to mention her quick mind and immeasurable strength, along with her abundant curves that begged to be explored. She reminded him of a warrior, defending what she held most dear, something he could totally understand. That simple realization brought him once again to the fact that he wanted her more than he wanted his next breath, but her safety had to come first. But, who was he to question fate if She thought they should spend some time together and get to know each other in the meantime? He had been fighting his attraction and the mating call to this amazing creature for over seven months, and it was fucking exhausting. He knew he had to protect her from those that would come back to hurt again, but he had also decided sometime in the last twelve hours or so that he would take full advantage of every excuse to be close to her that presented itself. There was just no way he was claiming her as his mate. Exposing her to the chaos that was plaguing their clan was not something he could do. The responsibility of a mate while leading the hunt for the traitor was something he wasn’t ready to handle… not to mention the shit he was going to have to deal with from each and every one of his brethren. His mind knew the reality of their situation, but his body, soul, and dragon wanted their mate….now. To keep his own sanity, he had protected her from afar, but tonight that had been blown all to hell. The last seven months had taught him that there were things a person simply could not deny, and his attraction to Dr. Samantha Malone was one of those things.