Jay cleared his throat, drawing me back to the present. Callie stared up at me. Apparently I’d been gaping back at her.
Suddenly, I recognized the coiled tension in my groin. I jerked the front of my polo shirt down further, spinning away from Callie’s prying eyes.
One of her small hands brushed down my bicep, resting at my elbow. She leaned around me, peering up at my face. “You okay?”
That simple touch further ignited my drive, rousing my wolf, turning him into a hungry predator…or, a horny one at the least.
I quickly nodded my head, not wanting to worry her. “Of course, I am, sweetie. I’m just hungry.” I reached back and threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her up against my side. “Let’s go eat.”
Jay held the door open for us, falling in on the other side of Callie as we walked.
“Um, not that I’m trying to be picky since you’re paying, but, it’s been a long day. I’d really rather go home, change into comfy clothes and crack open a bottle of cheap wine with some pizza.” She fidgeted, even as she kept pace with us. Our alpha pheromones had other pedestrians going around us. “If you two want to go out still, I completely understand. And, by all means, go. I’m just not really up for it tonight and wouldn’t want to ruin your evening.”
“Pizza and cheap wine it is.” Jay threaded his fingers through Callie’s. At the corner, he lifted her hand with his and kissed her fingers.
She gave him a shy smile. “You two spoil me. I swear you’ve ruined me for any other man.”
“Good.” I couldn’t keep the growl out of my voice. I hated the idea of any other man touching what was ours.
Her expression was a cross between a pout and an angry snarl. She feigned upset. “You’ve made me an eternal spinster. How is that good?” She jutted her elbow into my side teasingly.
“You’ll always have us to keep your company.”
Her laugh was sweet music to my ears. “Sorry boys. You’re great companions, but a girl has other needs if you catch my drift.”
Jay and I caught each other’s eye. We issued a simultaneous, “We do.”
“Good, then you’ll understand when I kick you out tonight.”
My wolf lunged for my surface as my groin twisted tight.
Jay and I halted in the middle of the street, each of us fighting to turn Callie our way. We settled in front of her, firm scowls in place. My wolf ambitiously fought his way to my surface, anxiously refusing to settle as we scrutinized our mate.
Callie blushed, averting her gaze. She sucked her lower lip between her teeth, plumping her top one out further. I had the urge to nip and nibble on her upper lip.
Shit. This was getting harder and harder every day it seemed.
A small chuckle erupted from her. “I was joking. Jesus, boys.”
Her scent said she wasn’t, but we wouldn’t call her out on it.
Jay, the more forward of us, sidled up to Callie. Her breath hitched as he brushed his cheek against hers. “You ever have a need in that department, you let me know. I’m more than happy to help, Callie Cat.” He winked as he drew back.
Callie’s pulse sprinted. She tried to stifle her reaction by taking a deep, steadying breath. It didn’t fool us though. “I’d rather not complete the entire gold digger application. I think mooching off of you for food and shelter is enough. I don’t need to add O’s to the list.”
Callie met my gaze, a stiff, yet wistful smile on her lips.
“You’re not mooching if we offer.” I wanted to reassure her.
Her features turned down as Jay moved, tugging her the rest of the way across the street when a car impatiently honked. When we reached the other side, Callie jerked free of him, crossing her arms over her chest. She turned on the alpha. Her tone was softer than her expression. “You could have told me to walk. You didn’t have to drag me.”
Jay scrubbed his hands through his hair. His muscles flexed beneath his suit. I could tell by the faint glitter in his eyes that his wolf was close to breaking free. He closed his eyes and expelled a breath. When he focused on Callie again, her features had relaxed slightly after witnessing his tension. “Sorry, Cal.”
All the fight fled her. She looped an arm through Jay’s, ambling over to me to do the same. “Seems like we’ve all had a rough day. So, I say we go home, order pizza, crack open a bottle of wine for me and a few beers for you two. We can kick back in our most disgusting sweats, the ones that are amazingly comfortable, yet not fit for public viewing, and watch some cheesy crime shows. I’d like to put my vote in early.” She was beaming.
I couldn’t contain my amusement. “CSI Miami?”
Her smile reached her eyes. Any lingering frustration from her day dissipated. “You know me so well.”
“How could we not? You’ve forced us to watch every episode at least a hundred times.” Jay rolled his eyes.
“And you’ve enjoyed every single one.”
“I don’t know about Eddie, but I enjoyed your enthusiasm over the show, not the show itself.”
Callie cut her eyes at Jay, her lips pursing as she studied him. “Liar.”
He smirked, egging her on. “Maybe.”
She withdrew her arm from his and smacked his chest. “Asshole.” She grinned at him, pressing closer to me. “I know who my cuddle buddy will be tonight.”
Jay’s smirk disappeared. His nostrils flared and a low, tight snarl vibrated through the air.
I couldn’t help but snicker knowing my reaction would have been exactly the same. We were accepting, but that didn’t mean we weren’t jealous if she gave one of us more attention than the other.
That only encouraged Callie. Her eyes lit up. She puckered her lips, watching Jay as we strolled down the street.
He’d shoved his hands into his pockets. His features were tense, his lips turned down.
I bent into Callie. “You should probably relieve him of his misery sooner rather than later.”
She was beautiful as she met my gaze. She nodded her head once in agreement. She released me. I immediately felt cold and anxious. My wolf clawed at my insides. I’d had him on a very tight, short leash for the past ten years.
Callie cuddled against Jay. His muscles instantly relaxed at her touch. “Sorry, Jay-Jay.” If she only knew what that nickname really did to Jay. “You can join the canoodle party.”
My friend turned on the charm. “What man can say no to holding those curves all night?”
Callie scrunched her nose. “Apparently a lot of men.”
“Idiots,” Jay bluntly proclaimed. He wrapped an arm around her. As he leaned in to kiss her head, he met my gaze.
I knew the look in his eyes, all too well. It was the same look I had on my face every morning when I looked in the mirror: one of hunger, an insatiable sexual hunger. It was hell sleeping a door away from your mate. Many nights I’d lay awake, tossing and turning as I listened to her deep breathing through the wall. I wanted to crawl into bed with her more times than I could count. I came close to losing it a few nights. Luckily Jay had been there to stop me from making a big mistake, the same way I’d stopped him on occasion. Our defenses were low though. We were both near the end of our rope. And when we finally reached the end, poor, innocent Callie wouldn’t know what hit her…
—
Chapter Five
CALLIE
The second we got home, I made a beeline for the bathroom. Summer was hell on a big girl, especially a big girl in formal layers for extensive interviews that got her nowhere. A waterfall between the thighs and breasts was a given, and no amount of deodorant stopped your pits from feeling like a swamp. Make-up caked, hair frizzed, and sweat stuck to your flesh like glue, creating a solid layer of yuck that collected more airborne dirt and grime with every step you took.
A shower was a must before I could relax around the guys, especially with their enhanced senses. Sweat doesn’t smell pretty.
My mind easily wandered as I stood beneath the showerhead. Cool water sprayed a
cross my generous curves, delivering much needed relief.
Another downside to living with two paranormals? You couldn’t whip out a vibe and relieve the tension anytime you pleased. And after the day I’d had, I wanted to; damn did I want to.
I’d filled out two separate applications, completed three online assessments, passed a background check and suffered through two rushed phone interviews before driving down for an in-person interview today. The fact that they had the balls to tell me mid-discussion that they didn’t believe I would be a good fit crushed me. Worse, they implied it was because of my size.
I’d applied for a position with a local bail bonds agency. It was one of the largest in town. It wasn’t quite detective work, but it was close enough. I was beyond excited that they called me back.
In truth, I never expected the hiring process to be so in-depth; that’s certainly not what they depicted on TV, but I didn’t care because I wanted the position.
Fresh tears gathered. I blew out a deep breath, rushing to rinse my hair and get out. The last thing I wanted to do was cry again. I felt stupid crying period. Clearly I’d put too much into this single potential employer to be reacting like this.
It was infuriating though. I had all the qualifications they requested and then some. The position would have been a flex one, meaning half the time I’d be behind a desk and half the time I’d be hunting down jumpers.
I jerked the handle, turning off the water. Anger burned through my veins, only to be quickly dowsed by embarrassment. I could never tell the guys what happened.
I yanked a towel off the rack and wrapped my hair in it. I grabbed a second and covered as much of myself as possible with it. A sliver of my wide hips jutted beyond where the edges attempted to meet, causing a gap that revealed a thin, vertical line of my right hip and thigh. I didn’t bother using another towel for modesty. My goodies, fat rolls and stretch marks were covered, and they’d seen my thunder thighs a thousand times. One thing you learned in the South: comfort is worth more than modesty. I had no problem daunting short shorts, flaunting every imperfection on my legs, or sleeveless tops, allowing my meat flaps to, well, flap, during summer. I was too hot to care.
The guys were great about keeping the temperature low during the hot months so skimpy outfits weren’t a necessity for me. Quite the opposite was the case at times…like now.
Cold air kissed my skin, causing a shiver to shoot down my spine. I quickly dropped my clothes in the hamper and skittered across the hall to my room.
A whistle echoed down the hall as I reached my room. Jay wagged his brows, grinning mischievously at me. He had no shame.
I rolled my eyes and shut the door behind me. Like I said, they were overly generous boys. They didn’t judge me the way everyone else did. It was a nice little boost to my self-esteem on occasion, but I was depressed after my interview today. I didn’t hate my body; I’d accepted my curves for what they were a few years ago: permanent. But there would always be days when I wished I was smaller.
I dressed as quickly as possible, needing the protection from the frigid temperatures. Sometimes I wondered if they turned down the air so I would request one of them to be my human heater. I swore, they were never cold. They walked around in athletic shorts, no socks and no shirt most of the time.
I pulled on cotton grey, hipster panties and a matching t-shirt bra. Next I slid into thick, dark grey capri leggings. Almost immediately, I tugged on a pair of cushioned black socks. I didn’t care how ridiculous I looked. Comfort and warmth were key.
A quick search turned up a pale grey, long sleeve t-shirt that was worn-out just enough to be comfy and cozy. The collar was extra wide, causing it to slip off one shoulder, exposing my upper body a bit. It allowed just enough of a breeze to touch me to keep me from overheating after a while.
Carrying the towels back to the bathroom, I hung them up to dry. I spritzed conditioning serum on my easily frizzed hair and ran a brush through my locks before joining the guys in the living room. Just as always, they were both in athletic shorts and nothing else. They each owned one side of the couch, forcing me to take the center position. I didn’t mind. Eventually, I always ended up sprawled out, taking up real estate from both of them.
“Pizza should be here in thirty,” Eddie said.
“Wine is chilling in the fridge,” Jay added. “And season eight is in the DVD player. We were just waiting on you.”
Eddie stretched his arm across the back of the couch, offering himself as a cuddle partner.
“You guys totally spoil me. You’re the best friends a girl could ask for.” I crossed my legs Indian-style and wrapped my arms around myself, waiting for my temperature to come up a few degrees.
—
Chapter Six
JAY
It was hell sitting beside your mate, knowing you couldn’t act on a single one of your instinctual urges. If Callie only knew what exposing the cartilage between her neck and shoulder did to us.
Eddie emitted a low growl.
Gaze falling, I found I’d shoved her hair back and was delicately stroking her neck and shoulder. She hadn’t protested my move.
Halting my soothing motion, I closed my eyes, clenching my jaw, highlighting the fact that my gums ached. My wolf was dangerously close to gaining control. He bunted his head repeatedly, fighting to break free. This was a struggle, an assault I’d experienced nearly every day of the past decade of my life.
Eddie and I started out as rivals growing up. Attending different schools until high school, we competed against each other in everything, playing into the rival neighboring pack story line. Even when the new high school was built, uniting our pack young under one roof, we competed for positions on the football team, for P.E. records, stupid things…until Callie came along.
She was our ultimate competition.
But she refused to be a part of it.
Callie ignored both of our advances separately, forcing us to come together for the first time; she forced us to stop competing and work together. By the time we graduated high school, we were having weekly meetings about the girl, working as a team to steel her focus from the other guys checking her out. Callie wasn’t every guy’s cup of tea, but her curves were sweet like honey, attracting enough attention to ruffle a few wolf hairs.
The last two years that Callie was in high school and Eddie and I were working was hell. Talk about paranoid. We’d sweet-talked our way back onto the high school campus more times than we cared to admit. We spent more lunch breaks with Callie at school than we did in or around the office. Together, Eddie and I bought our condo and had it set up in time for Callie to move in when she graduated high school. Her parents weren’t keen on it, but after ten straight weeks of Sunday night dinners over the entire summer reassuring them, offering every excuse possible, i.e. we live closer to the school’s campus, they agreed and Callie moved in with us.
But rather than get better, things got worse. Callie was more distracted than before with her school studies. Our advances went right over her head because her face was always buried in a textbook. It got to a point that we stopped trying. Just because we stopped trying to steal her attention, didn’t mean we’d given up. Any male she brought home for even a second, we let know that he was stepping into our territory. Without fail, they never showed their face again, and eventually Callie didn’t bother with other men.
Perhaps it was a selfish move on our part, but our wolf assured us that she was our mate. No other man would dedicate their life to her the way we would. No other man would give up everything to make her happy like we would. We knew we were it for Callie.
I just wished she saw it that way.
Sometimes I wished I could strip away at her layers. On some level, I was certain she was attracted to us. She was comfortable openly flirting with us, but to a degree, that was her Southern personality shining through. She made everyone feel comfortable, even the stage-five clingers we wanted her to aggressively kick to the curb for us when we
were out together. She never treated them the way they treated her.
Her kind heart only made me love her more. She accepted every decision we made, even the bad ones. Her acceptance was what prompted us to respect her decisions in kind, regardless of how much we wanted to contest them.
Case in point, a job.
Eddie and I both had held back hiring on positions in our companies, saving them for Callie.
She didn’t want a leg up though. She wanted to do this on her own. It was hell watching her day after day try so hard and continue to be rejected. That alone drew my wolf to the outward. It was our job to protect her, and that wasn’t exclusive to physically. When she was hurt, we felt her pain. When she was upset, we felt her discontent.
Like now.
She was watching the TV, but we knew by her emotions that her mind was elsewhere. She was all about putting on a brave face for us, equally trying to protect us. It showed how much she cared, even if she didn’t want to admit it.
I scented the pizza before I heard the footsteps getting closer in the corridor.
With a sigh, I patted her thigh before standing. She turned her big brown eyes on me, giving me a small smile. She was trying to use the smile to cover up the sadness in her eyes, but I saw it; I felt it.
Eddie threw his arm around her and pulled her into his side. “Come here, sweetie.”
Callie slid deeper her Eddie’s embrace. I forced myself to turn away, biting back my growl of jealousy to get the food.
—
Chapter Seven
CALLIE
Jay passed Eddie a beer before setting a glass of pinot noir on the coffee table. The guys were anything but formal CEOs; they ate their pizza with their hands, forgoing any plates.
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