Sloan fell into step with him. “Awesome. What did you get? Is it going to make Jasmin blush?”
“Jaz?” Xander said. “Hell no. It’s going to make Brody blush.”
Smiles, heart-to-heart conversation, and inappropriate prank gifts. Explode-o-meter dropping to approximately 24%. With Xander, that was about as good as it got.
Sloan’s work here was done. At least, for the moment.
Chapter 5
Three days after Sloan almost went off the cliff edge, Caitlyn stood at the front door of the Bearcat Construction office, rattling the doorknob. It was definitely locked. Nobody here, even though it was the middle of business hours on a weekday.
It was a sign. This was a stupid plan. What was she thinking, trying to get a job with Flynn’s construction company? She should just go back to watching Sloan from the treetops.
But so far, trying to act like a spook had gotten her nowhere. If she was going to help Sloan, she had to get closer.
And she needed money. Her savings were running out, and Jared could cut off her access at any moment. If she could pull off this job thing, maybe she could figure out what Sloan’s ghost really wanted, and how to banish it.
Maybe she could stop him from always looking so sad, even when he was smiling.
At least, she could if anyone actually showed up. She bit her lip, hoping nothing was wrong with the crew. Everything had seemed okay when she left early this morning. Maybe she should have flown by there first. Maybe she should fly back there now.
Chicken.
Right. She was not going to be a chicken. She was a stately owl, with half a course of intelligence training under her belt. She was brave. She was intrepid. She could do this.
She stepped back to look for a list of Bearcat’s office hours. In the window next to the front door, she saw a small handwritten sign she’d missed the first time.
Office closed. Please use shop door.
So someone was here. She hoped it wasn’t Flynn—he always seemed so grumpy and intimidating. She wasn’t used to dealing with shifters outside her clan, and as far as bravery and intrepidness went, she was pretty sure she was going to have to work up to Flynn. Lissa would be a good start. She seemed friendly.
Caitlyn walked across the gravel parking lot to the shop entrance. All three garage bay doors were closed, but the small access door next to the first one was unlocked.
Caitlyn pushed the door open and stepped inside, looking around. Bearcat Construction had once been a service station with a mini-mart attached, which was now the main office. The garage bays had been turned into shop space, littered with saw tables and workbenches, and tall toolkits with dozens of shiny red drawers.
It took her immediately back to her childhood, and the same urge of creative excitement she used to get when she was allowed to help in her father’s workshop.
It had been so long since she was that innocent, and that happy. She would love to work in here, she realized.
She didn’t see anyone around, but there were hammering noises coming from inside a half-built tiny house in the far bay. The noise mingled with the sound of solo guitar music, turned up loud.
She peeked in the doorway of the tiny house, and froze.
It was him. Sloan.
He had his back to her, working on installing something into the ceiling of the tiny house. At the moment he was pounding the head of a screwdriver with a hammer—never a good move. He seemed to be trying to wedge the blade in between two pieces of wood. Probably also not a good move. A master carpenter, he was not.
But he was super-hot. He was wearing a worn t-shirt that clung to the muscles of his back, bulging and rippling with every movement he made. His faded jeans looked like they’d been molded to his butt. He shifted his weight, causing his glutes to bunch and flex. A sudden picture of what that same butt looked like naked jumped into Caitlyn’s brain.
Her mouth went dry.
She swallowed hard.
“Um, excuse me?” Her voice came out half an octave higher than usual.
Sloan started. The screwdriver slipped, digging a deep gouge into his right hand. Caitlyn gasped.
“Shit, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed, just as Sloan yelled, “Fuck!” and dropped the screwdriver.
He swung around. Both of them opened their mouths to apologize for swearing. Both of them froze with their mouths open.
All Caitlyn could think was that he was much, much more gorgeous close up. He was taller than she’d realized, and his gray eyes looked like rain on water. His hair, long on top and shaved on the sides, was messier than usual, with sawdust sprinkled in it. He smelled delicious, like clean sweat and some kind of masculine body wash.
But it was the intensity in his gaze that pulled at her. From a distance, he always seemed quiet and laid-back. Now she could feel the passion that hummed under the surface, compelling her to want to get closer.
She suddenly noticed that no one was talking.
Sloan seemed to realize it at the same time. “Sorry,” he said. “You startled me. Can I help you?”
You can kiss me about a million times. You can drag me off to your trailer, strip me naked and have your way with me. You can marry me and give me leopard babies.
Help. What was happening to her?
She said, “Your hand is bleeding. A lot.”
He was still staring at her. “It is?” He looked down at the blood dripping onto the plywood sub-floor. “Shit.” He reached for a bandanna that lay on a nearby counter and wrapped it around his hand.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, mortified. Her first meeting with Sloan, and she’d actually bled him. Sort of. Indirectly. “I didn’t mean to make you hurt yourself.”
“Not your fault,” he said, pressing the bandanna to his wound. “If I didn’t suck so much at construction…” He broke off. “Shit. I’m not supposed to say that in front of a customer. I’m just an apprentice, so don’t worry. They usually don’t leave me unsupervised. If you’re considering buying a tiny home, please be assured that the owner of this company actually knows what the fuck he’s doing.” He suddenly realized what he’d said. “I mean, knows what the heck he’s doing. Shit. Oh, sorry.”
By this time Caitlyn was giggling. She couldn’t help it. The Bad Bloods really did have no social skills. It made her feel urbane and sophisticated by comparison.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t laugh. You’re wounded.”
“No, you shouldn’t,” he agreed. “It offends my already damaged manliness.”
Being laughed at definitely offended Jared’s manliness, but Sloan’s didn’t seem to be in any danger. Judging by the way he filled out his jeans, he was as manly as they came.
Lordy, Caitlyn, stop looking at his jeans!
She looked at his face instead. Those gorgeous gray eyes were crinkling at the corners. He was teasing her. She suddenly realized that Jared had never, ever teased her.
“I could try to restore it,” she offered. “Your manliness, I mean. I could make admiring noises about…whatever it was you were doing.”
Sloan smiled, the crinkles around his eyes getting deeper. “That wasn’t actually very convincing.”
“I’m out of practice,” she said. “Would batting my eyelashes help? Or, I could admire your muscles instead.” Or your butt. It’s a very nice butt, especially when it’s naked. Help. No. I can’t say that. I’m not supposed to even know what it looks like naked.
And anyway, she had a feeling that seeing it up close and naked was more than she could handle right now. Um, probably more than she could handle ever.
“You could coo sympathetically,” Sloan suggested. “And tell me how brave I am. Wounded warriors love that.”
“I don’t really coo very well.” That was a pigeon thing, not an owl thing. “Or you could let me bandage that up for you,” she offered. “It’s the least I can do.”
“I’m fine,” he said, still holding her gaze. “It’ll stop bleeding in a minute.”
“There you go,” she said, smiling at him. “That sounded very brave.”
He grinned back. “Not really. I’m a fast healer.”
She nodded. “Right. Shifter healing.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. “You’re one of us,” he said.
She nodded again. Should she have given that away? Probably. It would make him trust her more. He’d be more guarded with a human.
He didn’t ask what kind of shifter she was, though. Even shifters with no social skills knew that much. Her secret was safe—at least for the moment.
“Are you in the market for a tiny house?” he asked. “I can show you photos of our standard models, and some customizable floor plans. Blood is an extra, by the way. Just so you know.” His eyes were crinkling again.
Caitlyn took a deep breath. “Actually,” she said, “I’m looking for a job. I wanted to fill out an application, but there was no one in the office.”
Sloan’s eyebrows went up. “Oh,” he said. “Great. Yeah, the others are all out in the field today. They left me in charge. Because of my obvious skill and competence.”
Caitlyn breathed a silent sigh of relief. Everyone in the crew was okay, then, if they were working.
He was still watching her with that unnervingly intense gaze. “Come on into the office, and I’ll get you that application.”
He ushered her into the office through a connecting door, brushing his hand lightly on the small of her back.
A shiver of heat went up her spine.
He rooted in a filing cabinet until he found a job application, and pointed her toward one of the desks. “Flynn will be thrilled,” he said. “We could really use the help, and if you have any experience at all, you’ll look like a star.” He held up his bloody hand. “Behold the competition.”
She grinned at him. “Bloodied, yet unbowed.”
“More like bloodied and humiliated,” he said. “While you fill that out, I’m going to go down the hall to the bathroom and wash this out. Take your time.”
He disappeared around the corner, and Caitlyn let her breath out with a whoosh. She’d done it. At least, she’d done part of it. She had the application in her hand, and Sloan said they needed help.
Sloan. She couldn’t believe how nice he was. She was actually going to work with him—with the Bad Bloods. Energy buzzed through her. She gave a quick glance toward the door to make sure he was gone, and then commenced to do a happy dance.
Sloan ducked around the corner to the hallway that led to the back offices and the tiny bathroom. He leaned against the wall and caught his breath.
She was the prettiest thing he’d ever seen. Sweet round face, with huge eyes the color of sunlit amber that seemed to look right into his soul. Honey brown hair with just the hint of a curl, and sexy curves that a man could lose himself in. Her curvy butt alone was enough to make him kneel down and beg.
And… she had something else. A kind of sassy innocence that made him just want to tuck her under his arm and protect her—right before he dragged her off to bed and made her come about a dozen times just so he could hear her moaning his name.
Get a grip, he told himself. She wants a job, not a fuck buddy. And you’re not fit to be anyone’s mate, which means that fuck buddy is all you have to offer.
Better stick with helping her get a job.
He was halfway down the hall before he realized he’d forgotten to bring the first-aid kit. He retraced his steps to the office, and stopped dead.
His not-going-to-be-a-fuck-buddy was doing a little victory dance right by Lissa’s desk, pumping her fists and shaking her booty, whispering, “Go Caitlyn, go Caitlyn” under her breath. It was dorky and adorable and sexy and endearing, all at the same time.
Not to mention, watching that gorgeous booty shaking was giving him a boner.
She was moving in a circle, so he watched, a grin spreading across his face, until she turned around and faced him again.
She froze. “I thought you were in the bathroom,” she said. A blush rose up her cheeks.
“Forgot the first-aid kit,” he said. “Nice moves,” he added.
“Um, yeah. It’s my happy dance,” she said. “Because…I really need a job. So could you pretend you never saw this, and I was really professional the whole time? That would be so awesome.”
“I’ll try.” He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “But I kind of liked it. Especially the booty.” He demonstrated, shaking his own butt. “I think I can’t help but remember.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t make fun, now. For all you know I could be a Tyrannosaurus Rex shifter. I could bite you in half. Wouldn’t you be sorry then.”
Sassy, bordering on badass. He liked that in a woman.
“Right,” he said. “I’m just going to get that kit.”
“Uh huh.” She made herself very dignified. “And I’m just going to sit down and fill out this application. Very professionally.” She sat down primly, and then looked up suddenly, her eyes wide. “You don’t have security cameras in here, do you?”
He just grinned at her. “Maybe. See you in a few, Rex.”
He cleaned up his hand at the bathroom sink, splashing disinfectant on the wound. It was a deep gouge, but he’d get way worse any night of the week, brawling with the other Bad Bloods. The bleeding had already stopped, but he should probably put a band-aid over it, especially if he was going back to work.
Easier said than done, with one hand.
He gave up after messing up two of them, and took the first-aid kit back to Caitlyn. “Hey, Rex,” he said. “Before you eat me, can I trouble you to put a band-aid on for me?” He grinned at her. “It would be an act of kindness, especially if you could admire my manliness some more at the same time. Plus, I might be disposed to put in a good word for you with the boss.”
Caitlyn beckoned him over and took the band-aid out of his hand, stripping off the plastic tabs. “Thank you for ignoring the fact that I’m the one who made you hurt yourself in the first place. Not exactly a stellar recommendation.”
She put the band-aid over the wound and smoothed it down. Her hands were warm, and she smoothed it maybe a few more times than was strictly necessary.
He didn’t mind. His cat was uncurling inside him. Nice. Will she pet us more? Let’s lick her all over.
Shit. He and his cat were not getting the same visual with that. His version was giving him another boner.
She looked up at him, her face inches away from his. Her lips were full and pink and soft-looking, and he wanted to kiss her so bad he had to step away from her, pulling his hand gently out of her grasp.
“How are you doing with the application?” he asked.
“I’m just about done,” she said, handing it to him.
He glanced down at it, noting what she’d listed under ‘address.’ “You’re living in a motel?” he asked.
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “For the moment. Thus, the needing of a job. So I can get a regular place to live. And, you know. Eat, and stuff.”
She was still standing there, looking at him with those wide eyes. Not leaving.
He didn’t want her to leave.
He said impulsively, “There’s this thing tomorrow night. A couple of people in my crew just took over a restaurant, and they’re having their grand re-opening. South American food. Lots of meat. Great for shifters. Would you like to go? With me?”
Chapter 6
Caitlyn lost her breath for a second. Okay. That just happened. Breathe. Try not to hyperventilate.
“Are you—did you just ask me on a date?” Her voice had gone squeaky again.
He ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck as if he were embarrassed. “Um, yeah?” he said. “I admit I’m out of practice, but I didn’t think I did it that badly.”
He was joking, she saw, but only halfway. He looked uncertain—and hopeful.
She couldn’t resist hopeful. Not from Sloan.
“No, it wasn’t—I was just s
urprised—I—” She took a breath. “Sorry. Nobody’s asked me out in like… forever.”
Literally forever, since she’d been promised to Jared since she was twelve. Everyone in the owl clans knew that. No one had courted her.
Sloan was watching her face.
He said quietly, “There’s someone else, isn’t there.”
“No.” That came out too loud. “Yes.” She bit her lip, and started over. “There was,” she said. “I was in a mating contract, but I broke it. I’m just—not used to not being in it anymore.”
Those rainy-day-gray eyes lit up. “Then you should celebrate,” he said. “Come to the opening with me. You can meet the crew, before you start working with us, while there’s still time to run away screaming.”
“They can’t be that bad,” she said. She’d seen the Bad Bloods at their best and at their worst. She couldn’t wait to meet them.
“Yes, they can,” he said. “But better to know now. And they have good hearts, even if nothing and no one can keep them from brawling and making inappropriate sexual comments.”
“I think I’ll be okay,” she said. “I’m T-Rex, remember?”
He nodded. “Okay then,” he said. “Come back tomorrow around five. I’ll set up your interview, and then we can go to the restaurant from here.”
She frowned suddenly. What if she blew the interview? “Won’t it be awkward, if I don’t get the job?”
Sloan winked at her. “Better ace the interview, then. Hot tip—don’t let Flynn intimidate you. He hates bullshit and has no tact at all, but he’s a good alpha.”
“Thanks,” she said. Shit. Flynn. Why couldn’t it be Tank? He seemed nice.
Be the T-Rex, she told herself. You can help Sloan. You’re so close. You can’t let fear of Flynn get in your way. She took the application back, signed her name at the bottom, and left, turning at the door to wave before she disappeared.
Caitlyn drove back to her motel, excitement fizzing inside her like champagne. She’d done it. She’d ninety-percent gotten the job. She’d met Sloan, and he liked her. He liked her enough to ask her to go on a date.
Bad Blood Leopard (Bad Blood Shifters Book 3) Page 3