by Eve Langlais
One of the things she liked about living in Lowman was the low probability of running into someone in her own age demographic whom she might find datable. Some of the river guides who lived there in the summer were definitely eye candy, but they were more hookups than boyfriend material. So what did that make Liam? He was way too stunning to meet the typically low standard of guy she’d dated in the past and he sure as hell wasn’t a hookup. When you found a guy like that, you dug your claws in and didn’t let go. He was the guy you brought home to your parents. The guy you showed off to your friends. Maybe even the guy with whom you walked down the aisle.
What are you basing that opinion on? His rugged good looks? Or his rugged good looks.
Devon looked around for the nearest tree so she could bang her head against it. Superficial much? She reminded herself for the hundredth time that good looks did not equal a good person. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew Liam on more than just a superficial level. Cliché? Probably. But that didn’t make it any less true.
Little clouds of steam puffed into the cold air with each one of Devon’s breaths by the time she made it to the end of the lane. Last night’s storm had passed, but it looked as though another was brewing. Clouds gathered in the north and the wind swept them quickly across the patches of blue sky. The sound of metal scraping against pavement drew her attention, and she looked up the highway to see the snowplow headed her way. Perfect. The quicker she could get Liam to a phone—and off her hands—the better.
She hustled back to the cabin and kicked the snow from her boots before going inside. She found Liam standing at the kitchen sink rinsing out his mug and washing the dishes she’d left from the night before. “You don’t have to do that.” The words left her lips with more force than she’d intended. “I’ll just wash them when I get home later tonight.”
Liam’s answering grin turned her bones to mush. It should’ve been illegal for a man to look so downright mouthwatering while dressed like a drunken frat boy. “I don’t mind,” he said. “You did save my life. It’s the least I can do.”
Heat flushed Devon’s cheeks. She hated that a perfect stranger could affect her so easily.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you though, if I was unconscious, how’d you get me into your car?”
Devon cringed. “I sort of hooked you up to my winch and pulled you into my Jeep.”
Liam’s mouth softened and his eyes widened a fraction of an inch. He dried his hands off on the sheet wrapped around his waist and reached up to feel the skin just below his pecs. “Here?”
Devon looked away, guilty. “Yep.”
His good-natured chuckle stunned her. “Good thinking,” he said as he grabbed a sponge and dove back into the dishes. “I was wondering how you’d managed. There’s no way you could have carried me on your own.”
Despite him being absolutely right, Devon couldn’t help but feel a little insulted. “I’m stronger than I look, you know. I could have totally carried you.”
Liam cocked a challenging brow.
“I probably could have,” Devon amended. “You don’t know.”
Liam laughed as he continued to wash and rinse the dishes. Devon was struck by the peaceful domesticity of the moment and it sent an anxious jolt through her system. She didn’t want to feel anything for this mysterious stranger. She didn’t want to feel anything for anyone. All love managed to get her was hurt. She’d never known it to be any other way.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do about shoes for you.” She needed to keep this all business. No more small talk. She looked down at his feet. That old adage about a man’s feet relating to other parts of his body was certainly true. She’d seen proof enough of that last night.
Devon looked up to find Liam studying her. “You’re blushing,” he remarked. “What are you thinking about?”
She didn’t like the mischievous glint in his dark gaze. His eyes raked her from head to toe and she swore the heat he threw off was enough to make her sweat. “I’m not blushing.” Okay, that might’ve come across as a little too defensive. “I just came in from the freezing cold, of course my cheeks are a little red.”
His grin widened. “If you say so.”
An indignant fire burned in Devon’s chest. How dare he insinuate she’d been having salacious thoughts! Whether or not that had actually been the case was immaterial. “I do say so.”
“Like I said,” Liam replied. “If you say so.”
Devon had the feeling he liked to push her buttons. She wouldn’t deny she didn’t like a little teasing, though. Especially when it came from someone who looked like Liam. “The road’s plowed. As soon as I can figure out how to make you presentable, we’ll go.” She might’ve liked his teasing, but he didn’t need to know that.
Liam rinsed off the last plate and stuck it in the dish caddy to dry. He grabbed the sheet once again and rubbed it over his dripping hands. “I can go as I am,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with it.”
“I have a problem with it.” If anyone got a glimpse of Liam she’d never live it down. Besides, it was twenty degrees outside. He’d freeze to death. “You can’t just walk around in the middle of winter, naked and barefoot, with a sheet tied around your waist.”
A corner of his mouth hitched into a wry half smile. “Worried about what people will think?”
“No.” Yes! Of course she was worried about what people would think.
“Liar.”
Devon was taken aback by the certainty in his tone. As though he had some sort of built-in lie detector and had caught her. “Would you be worried about what people thought if you’d found me naked in the middle of a field and paraded me through your place of business wearing nothing more than a sheet?”
His heated gaze burned through her. “Absolutely not,” he said without an ounce of humor. “I’d be one proud, cocky son of a bitch.”
Devon wanted to be scandalized by the admission but she couldn’t help but find it a little flattering. And maybe, had her place of business been a women’s dorm, she might have paraded him down the hallway with an equally smug smile plastered on her face.
“You can’t go out like that.” She turned and headed for the staircase that led to her loft. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll find you something to wear. Then we’ll leave.”
She walked up the stairs without another word, and though Liam didn’t respond, she felt the weight of his gaze follow her. Who in the hell was this guy? And what sort of mojo was he working to make her feel this way?
* * *
The sway of Devon’s hips hypnotized Liam as she made her way up the stairs. It had been a long damn time since a woman could hold his attention with an act as simple as walking. She wasn’t an ordinary woman, though. She was human, but not mundane. Centuries of instinct coupled with a healthy dose of magic made sure that Liam would know that. Devon was special. She was his.
A mate bond. Holy hell.
He still couldn’t believe it. Liam had found his mate in a tiny wilderness town in the middle of nowhere. Had he not been attacked and dragged miles from his territory, he never would have found her. Knowing that shook him to his core. Mate bonds with humans weren’t unheard of, though they were unusual. A human life span was like a flash of lightning in comparison to that of a supernatural creature. The logistics of any relationship with Devon were problematic at best.
Relationship? He didn’t know the first thing about her aside from the fact that she owned a bar and had winched him out of a snowbank last night. Not exactly the foundation for a strong partnership. His wolf didn’t care about such trivialities though. The mating instinct that rose up inside of him didn’t give a single shit if she was a human, a werewolf, or a kelpie straight out of the swamp. The wolf recognized only one thing: she belonged to him. Nothing else mattered.
“Okay, I think I’ve got something that’ll work.”
Devon came downstairs with an armful of clothes and a pair of old black boots. Liam
let out a snort. If she thought he was going to squeeze his feet into those tiny things she had another think coming. “I’d rather wear a sheet than a toddler-sized T-shirt if it’s all the same to you.”
Devon’s lips formed a petulant pucker. Gods, he wanted to kiss her when she did that with her mouth. “They’re not toddler-sized.” Her pouty tone was almost as sexy as her lips. “This T-shirt is an extra large.”
Liam’s wolf gave a warning growl in the back of his mind. Devon was a tiny slip of a woman, a little over five feet tall and probably about a buck ten soaking wet. If she tried to make him put on a shirt that smelled like another male he’d go out of his fucking mind. He couldn’t do a damned thing about the hardness in his tone when he asked, “You keep a stockpile of men’s clothes for emergency situations?”
Her adorable pucker made a downturn that caused Liam’s gut to bottom out. He filled his lungs with breath and let it all out in a forceful gust.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I like to sleep in big T-shirts. Plus, they’re great as a cover-up when I don’t want to get dirty.”
The scent of her anger was like sulfur. It burned Liam’s nostrils and left a tang on his tongue. She held the T-shirt out to him and he took in the image of a unicorn leaping over a rainbow. Oh, hell no. He’d rather wear the sheet. Liam raised a dubious brow as he brought his eyes up to meet Devon’s. A smug smile played on her lips. She obviously loved every minute of this. Sadistic. And sort of a turn-on.
“I’m not wearing that,” he said.
She shoved the T-shirt into his arms. “If you want to use the phone you are.”
His lip curled in distaste. “It’s got a rainbow on it.”
Devon didn’t even bother to hide her amusement. “Uh-huh.”
“And a unicorn.”
She kept her expression level. “Yep.”
For a long moment they simply stared at each other. A battle of wills that Liam was determined to win. Stanley was only fifty or so miles away. It wouldn’t be long before his pack members found him. He’d rather live in isolation for a year than wear that fucking T-shirt.
“What’s the matter?” Devon asked sweetly. “Not man enough to rock the unicorn?”
Oh, she was good. There was no way he could back down from the challenge now. Without a word in response he pulled the T-shirt over his head and jabbed his arms through the sleeves before smoothing the soft fabric down his torso. He gave her a defiant look, daring her to utter a single word.
“It’s a little tight.” Her admiration manifested as a rich bloom of scent that drove Liam wild. “But you can totally pull it off.”
He’d endure the humiliation if it pleased her. He looked down at the pair of sweatpants she still held in her grip. His thighs were like tree trunks in comparison to hers. “I’ll wear the T-shirt,” he said. “But I’m drawing the line at those sweats.”
“They’re extra—”
“Not gonna happen.” She might have managed to shame him into wearing the T-shirt, but those pants were going back to where they came from. “I don’t care if they’re double extra large. They’re not going to fit me and I’m not even going to try.”
“Okay, fine.” At least she wasn’t going to fight him on it. “Try the boots, though. They were here when I moved in. They might fit.”
The cold wouldn’t harm his preternatural skin but it would be nice to not have to go barefoot. He might not get frostbite, but the chill would become a little annoying. He took the neoprene Muck boots from her opposite hand and turned them over to check the size. Eleven and a half. They’d be snug, but they’d work.
“Thanks.” There was no way he’d leave this house not looking like a fool. Seriously, the pack really needed to do something about leaving changes of clothes at checkpoints or some shit. Of course, when some son of a bitch jumps him and drags him miles from his territory, a clothing cache wasn’t going to do him much good.
Liam slipped on the boots. His toes reached the end but they weren’t too uncomfortable. He looked down at the sheet still wrapped around his waist and brought his gaze up to Devon’s to find her fighting her amusement. “Are you sure you don’t want to try the sweats?”
The sheet might have been embarrassing, but those tiny pants would have been absolutely asinine. “I’m positive.”
Liam untied the sheet from around his waist and spread the two halves wide to readjust. From the corner of his eye, he caught Devon’s gaze dip below his torso. Her mouth softened and her tongue flicked out at her bottom lip as she stared. Liam forced his thoughts to the most unsexy things he could conjure: old wrinkled grandpas in Speedos, a plate of barbecued cockroaches, a broken nose … If he didn’t distract himself from the way Devon looked at him right now, his cock would betray his thoughts in a single stiff second.
Before he was tempted to throw the sheet aside and answer his desires, Liam bent over and grabbed the length of fabric that rested between his feet. He pulled it up between his legs and tied it loosely with the other two ends forming some very functional, though hideous, harem pants.
Beside him, Devon broke out into robust laughter. Gods, it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. “You look ridiculous,” she said through spluttering giggles.
“They’re still better than those toddler sweats you offered me.” He headed toward the door, more than ready to take a little action. “Come on, let’s get to that phone.” He was in deep shit, that was for sure. And the least of his problems was whatever had jumped his pack and left him for dead.
About the Authors
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Eve Langlais is a Canadian mom of three who loves to write hot romance. Her twisted imagination and sarcastic sense of humor tend to heavily influence her stories with giggle worthy results. As one of the authors in the Growl anthology, you can be treated to her version of romance featuring a shapeshifter, because she just loves heroes that growl--and make a woman purr. To find out more about Eve please visit her website or find her on Facebook where she loves to interact with readers. You can sign up for email updates here.
Milly Taiden is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the renowned Paranormal Dating Agency, the Sassy Mates books, and the Federal Paranormal Unit novels. You can sign up for email updates here.
Kate Baxter is the author of THE LAST TRUE VAMPIRE. She’s a die-hard romantic with a thing for Shakespeare. She lives in the great northwest where she hides away to write about all things fanged, furry, and undead. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Bearing His Sins
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Bought by the Bear
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Alpha and I
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
About the Authors
Copyright
These are works of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
THANKS FUR LAST NIGHT - Exclusive sampler
“Bearing His Sins” copyright © 2017 by Eve Langlais.
“Bought by the Bear” copyright © 2017 by Milly Taiden.
“Alpha and I” copyright © 2017 by Kate Baxter
.
Cover design by Crystal Ben
Cover photographs: couple © ostill / Shutterstock.com; bear © Andrey Yurlov / Shutterstock.com
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
First Edition: December 2017
eISBN 9781250178749
First eBook edition: December 2017