Eh, who was she kidding? She wasn’t built for that kind of life. Since her childhood, all she’d ever envisioned was being married and raising her two-point-five kids in a cute little house with a fence and a dog.
With a sigh, Anna bent and scooped up the fragrant mass of mixed flowers. She was no gardener, so she didn’t know all of the types, but there were several. Roses, tulips, carnations…a bunch of things that probably shouldn’t go together but somehow worked. She set the vase on the table inside the door and headed out for another day of hell.
Surely things would go better today. She was going to venture farther out. It didn’t make her happy, but then, this was her being selfish. She’d been so looking forward to the few minute drive to and from work, and now she was facing at least a thirty-minute trek one way.
She prayed this one last lead would pan out so she wouldn’t have to leave town. While exiting the diner yesterday, she’d seen a dingy old ad for a garage apartment for rent. Anna had decided during the predawn hours—when she hadn’t been able to sleep for the lustful images of two certain men—that she could do a garage apartment until something else came along. Provided, of course, the ad was still good. This was questionable since the paper seemed nearly as old as the diner itself. It would be her first stop of the day. Once she had scratched it off her list, then farther out she’d go.
Her phone rang as she was exiting her car where she’d parked in front of a pretty shabby, run-down, two-story house that at one time, in its heyday, had probably been a very respectable mansion. Instead of getting out, she answered her phone while spying the garage behind it and just off to the side. It too seemed a little suspect.
“Hello?”
“Anna. I don’t have great news for you. I’m sorry.”
Great. Any conversation starting with I’m sorry was never a good thing. “What?”
“Peter seems to have disappeared. He’s changed his number and so has Vanessa.”
“Who?”
“Vanessa. Peter’s girlfriend?”
“Oh.” Candy Apple. Anna had never taken the time to learn her real name. Matter of fact, it peeved her to know it now. She’d never think of her as anything other than the hooker-red shade of lipstick she wore.
“Anyway, I contacted his employer, discovered he’s been away on business since Friday evening and won’t be back for several more weeks. They, of course, refuse to give me a way to get in touch with him without a warrant. I did speak to his attorney, who assured me he would talk to Peter. He wasn’t aware of the house being sold, either. So for right now, we’re stuck.”
“I have nowhere to live, James.”
“There’s nothing in your complex?”
“No. My complex is only six apartments, and since I gave up my lease when Peter gave me the keys to the house last week, there’s nothing. The manager already gave mine away. I have until Saturday to be out.”
“I’m really sorry this is happening, Anna.”
“It’s not your fault.” She was sure he’d hear her complete dejection, but there was no way to keep it out of her tone. Besides, it really wasn’t his fault. “I’m looking now. And expanding my search to nearby towns. I really can’t move back to Kansas City. It’s too far since I took the teaching job here.” At least that part of her life remained stable. Peter couldn’t take her work from her.
But then she never would have thought he could take the house, either, and he had.
“Do your best and I’ll put out some feelers from this end. Oh, and I’m also working on the stolen car deal. I’ve put in a request to talk to the officer who took the report. He’s off duty until tomorrow, so I’ll have to wait to get the details straight from his mouth. The officer I spoke to today said the claim came from a couple. It could be a case of the tag being put in the system wrong. I have a strong suspicion that’s what happened.”
Well that was good news at least. She guessed. Sort of.
“Thank you, James.” She’d needed all the help she could get.
“One last thing. I did some checking on the men living in your house. They’re the alphas of the local shifter pack there.”
“Yes. They mentioned that.” She wouldn’t tell her lawyer the other things they’d mentioned. Like wanting to eat her or keep her. Forever. “They offered to let me stay there.”
“They did?” Surprise colored James’s response.
“Yes. I think they felt bad.” Has nothing to do with them wanting to lay you bare and share their DNA with you. “Anyway, I can’t imagine living A: with strangers, and B: being surrounded by what I can’t have.” Although she told herself it was the latter that would hurt more than the strangers, who made her heart beat faster and certain parts of her body come to life. Namely her clit and nipples.
“I guess as a last resort, though…” James let the thought trail off.
“As a last ditch effort, I’ll think about it.” As in, on Friday night if she hadn’t found anything, she’d offer herself on a silver platter.
“Good luck today, Anna. I’ll keep trying to find Peter and you continue to let me know how things are going.”
“I will. Thanks again.”
She disconnected after the perfunctory good-byes and Anna glanced at the dilapidated old house once more.
Determined not to let the fact Peter was now MIA piss her off any further, Anna steeled her spine and dragged herself out of the car. Nothing would stop her from finding a place.
Except the man standing before her. She so hadn’t counted on the garage apartment belonging to someone like this.
“You have got to be kidding me,” she muttered, and then pasted on a fake smile.
Anna swallowed, trying ever so desperately not to inhale the stench of stale beer, cigar, rotted food, animals, and rampant decay that wafted from the house behind him and choked out, “I’m here…to see the apartment.” She ended up blurting it rather rudely because she couldn’t think of any other excuse on the planet to get her off the front porch.
Her first inclination was to turn tail and run as fast as she could as soon as he came out his front door. The man was the epitome of good ole boy, complete with decades old overalls and rotten or missing teeth. He was lecherous to boot, and the way he eyeballed her almost made her vomit. But since she’d called on her way over to make sure the apartment was still available, she decided the polite thing to do would be to take the few minutes to look.
She was really going to have to work on the being polite thing. There was a time and place for everything, and this wasn’t it.
He smiled as though he’d just won the lottery and ogled her breasts some more before slowly tracking his gaze back to her face. “Sure, doll. If’n you don’t want it, I got a place right inside too.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder, proud as could be.
Oh, Jesus. “I’ll thank you not to call me doll, and no thank you. I’ll just have a quick peek at the apartment.”
“Sure. Sure.” He could have stepped right around her. There was plenty of room for both her and his ample, greatly stained, overall-covered belly, but he chose to brush against her as if they were in the narrowest of spaces and he had nowhere to go but through her.
Anna barely refrained from wiping herself off. She bit her lip and reminded herself he was most likely a lonely old man in need of some company.
Just not hers.
What circle of hell had she fallen into now? She truly was a glutton for punishment if she was willing to even entertain the remotest of possibilities in living on Mr. Masterson’s property. Instead of taking Colton and Marc up on their offer to let her live in her house, she was here. Trying to be polite in the face of…well, Mr. Masterson, who trudged ahead of her even though he tried to get her to go first.
Her ass didn’t need the attention. She wasn’t sure he wouldn’t grab it, either, so she wouldn’t even give him the opportunity. At the top of the landing, he pushed open a door that barely hung on its hinges. Literally pushed it open. The knob nearly
fell off in his hand, and the dead bolt was nowhere to be found.
“I ken fix that right up fer ya. No problem. Git ya a new lock and all.”
Bless his heart. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. Not even when a giant furball ran from the depths of darkness behind the door.
“Git, cat. Git.” Mr. Masterson spit something foul and black over the railing at the cat. A railing Anna wouldn’t dare touch for fear of it falling off.
She’d gone completely insane.
“Have to git the lights turned back on. Been awhiles since some’uns been in here.”
Yeah? What the heck was she supposed to say? Politeness could only go so far. Even for first grade teachers who had nowhere to live. She’d poke her head in and then conveniently remember that she’d forgotten her mother was dying and say her good-byes to Mr. Masterson.
Oh my God, you are the worst person on the planet, Anna.
Seriously though, a few minutes was two minutes past the one she needed to see there was no way in hell she’d ever live here. The tiny room hadn’t seen the light of day in decades. Dust motes floated in the sudden spray of sunshine given off by the open door. Mr. Masterson stepped in and waved at her to follow. She expected someone to jump her any second since this really was a live horror movie.
The space was just that. Space. No walls. One big room. Anna crossed it in about ten steps. It was like she couldn’t help herself. In one corner was a kitchenette, with what looked like an oven and small refrigerator. She doubted either piece worked since they appeared to have come straight out of the fifties. A rickety table and two chairs flanked this area. In the opposite corner sat a toilet. Literally, a toilet. With a pulley flushing system and tank up in the air. Next to it was a dingy, ancient clawfoot tub. Someone might kill to have the relic in the house. Not the ginormous fuzzy spider that dwelled within it, probably, but polished up it might be a nice piece even she might like to own. There were no walls to separate the “bathroom.” The third corner held a twin-size bed on an iron frame she was sure would no longer hold even a small child without collapsing in a rusty heap.
When she turned to thank him, politely and without laughing, for showing her the apartment, she found his gaze glued to her butt in a very unfriendly sort of way. She turned fully toward him, which was worse since then he found her crotch and grabbed for his own.
Yeah, she was outta there. No words of good-bye, no thank you.
The last thing Anna heard before she slammed her car door was his bellow, “When ya gonna move in?”
•●•
Marc tapped his fingers on the steering wheel in agitation. He’d give her five more minutes, and then he was calling Colton. It was already dark, dammit. She should be home. Safe in her bed, wrapped in cotton. Or bubble wrap. Where nothing could harm her. If she were in their bed, even better. Where he could keep an eye on her. Make sure nothing bad happened.
Jesus, this mate thing was hell.
“And we’re not even mated yet.”
Headlights blinded him, and he raised his hand to shield his eyes. Relief hit him hard when he saw Anna’s car turn into her parking space, and he wondered if his feelings for her would always be so intense or if he’d always feel this overwhelming sense of serve and protect. This alien need to make her happy.
Now they just had to convince her.
He exited his car at the same time she did and immediately noticed the slump of her head and shoulders. Her body language screamed dejection, and Marc couldn’t help but throw a mental punch into the air. If she hadn’t found a place, there was still hope to get her moved in with them.
She glanced up at her apartment and then turned to stare at the street light. Her face, bathed in the orangish glow, showed a tinge of sadness mixed with anger, and she was mumbling into the air. He caught the words “gateway to hell” and sighed.
Depressed he could handle. In spades. He had all the tools he’d need to be the shoulder she could cry on right in the back seat.
“Anna.”
Her head whipped around and her hand went to her heart.
“Jesus.” Her eyes narrowed. “Stalker much?”
“Hey, Colton got alone time with you yesterday. Today it’s my turn.” He pulled his goodies from the back seat and bumped the door shut with his hip.
“Am I a competition?”
“One we are definitely going to win.”
Her hands went to her hips, but her lips twitched. Marc didn’t hesitate. Moving the cooler to his hip, he leaned in and kissed her softly. Surprise made her mouth open with a gasp, and Marc pressed the advantage, slipping his tongue in and rubbing against hers.
Damn the cooler needing both his hands. He wanted to take hold of her, devour her, make her understand how much they not only wanted her but required her in their lives.
Anna responded for long, sweet seconds, reciprocating the kiss, tilting into him, her heart beating faster.
Right up until a horn honked on the street behind them and a rowdy chorus of pubescent males shouted, “Get a room!”
Anna jerked back, eyes wide, and then proceeded to glare at him as if he’d committed a mortal sin.
Marc laughed. “Oops.”
“Don’t you oops me.” She huffed and spun around to march up the walk to her door.
“Why are you angry?”
After stabbing the key in the lock, she wheeled on him. “I’m not angry.”
“Then why are you shouting?” Teasing her was fun.
“I’m not shouting.” She cocked her head. “All right, I’m shouting. I’m shouting, I’m shouting, I’m shout—”
Marc did his best not to laugh. “Clue?”
Her mouth dropped open. “You know Clue? It’s my all-time favorite movie.”
“Definitely a good one.”
Her excitement morphed into suspicion. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve brought treats. And I told you, I thought maybe we could get to know each other a little bit. Spend some time together. Besides, I was jealous as hell Colton got to eat lunch with you.”
She showed him her back, opened the door, and entered while muttering something.
“What’s that?”
The keys flew from her hand to land on the table next to a giant vase of flowers. Marc smiled. Good. She hadn’t taken them and thrown them out the window, at least. Her arms went across her chest, plumping up an area he really should keep his eyes off of for the time being, so he busied himself setting the cooler on the floor.
“I said, this is so awkward.”
“What is?”
“Kissing Colton yesterday and you today. It’s weird. And not. And I don’t know why it’s not, because it should be. It should feel like I’m cheating on one of you, but it can’t really be like that since I’m not dating either one of you, but it should and it doesn’t…”
“Breathe.” One of her endearing qualities. The lady tended to speak really fast when she was nervous. He took her hands and squeezed them. “For us, it’s not weird. It’s natural. And maybe, somewhere deep down inside you, you also feel it’s natural to want to be with both of us.”
“But I don’t know you.”
“Doesn’t matter. We don’t know you, either, but our souls somehow do. They recognize you as the one woman meant for us. Meant to complete us. That’s all Colton and I need to know.”
“What if I were still married?”
The thought made Marc’s stomach drop to his feet. “Thank the fuck you’re not. I’d have to kill him.” When her face went ashen, Marc put his palm on her cheek. “I’m kidding. Truth is, I don’t know what we’d do. Shifters don’t mate with humans all that often. If you were one of us, you wouldn’t be married. I guess it’s a risk we run if our mate turns about to be human. I’m glad we met you at the right time.” He traced the ridge of her cheek with his thumb, loving the softness of her skin and how she shivered at his touch. “Now what’s all this talk about hell?”
She blew out a breath and s
crunched up her adorable face. “Don’t judge me when I tell you this, but one of the very few things I remember from high school was reading Dante’s Inferno—or at least learning about it—and then having to write a paper, putting some significant people into each level of hell and explain why we’d put them there. I got an awesome grade on it and a little note from the teacher.” She shrugged. “It’s always stuck with me. Still have the paper somewhere in this mess.”
Marc stared at her for a second. He may have blinked a time or two and then threw his head back and laughed.
She punched him in the belly. “You said you wouldn’t judge.”
Rubbing his stomach—she packed one hell of a punch—he took hold of her shoulder and squeezed. “I’m not judging, Anna. It’s sweet that you’re so sentimental that you’d keep and remember some paper from high school. But why exactly do you feel you’ve fallen into hell?”
She ticked off on her fingers. “My life is in complete limbo right now, no place to stay, a job around the corner, and we can’t find my ex to even find out why the shit he handed me the keys to the house knowing full well he’d already sold the place, asshole, and I think I may be lusting after two men…please tell me I didn’t just say that out loud.” Her mouth dropped open and her cheeks grew dark pink.
He wanted to hug her. He wanted to push her against the wall, strip her clothes off, and enter her in one smooth thrust.
But first they had to woo. Overwhelming her wouldn’t do them any good, plus Colton wasn’t there, and their first time they would all be together.
He had to get her out of this line of thinking, so he changed the subject. “How ’bout you pick a movie—you have a DVD player?”
“Yes. You’re lucky it’s still attached and not packed up yet. The movies are, though. I’ll have to dig for one.”
“Perfect. I’ll set up this little snack I brought, and you find a movie and get comfortable.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Is that some kind of code for get nekked so I can have my way with you?”
Marc snorted. “I wish. But not yet. I’ll give you a few more hours to get to know me before I relieve you of your clothes.”
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