by Maia Dylan
Josie nodded then scurried out of the room. This day just kept getting better. It wasn’t often that someone taking a shot at you was one of the less upsetting moments in your day. She closed the door behind her and swiped her finger across the screen to answer the call.
“Hello.”
“Josie-girl.” Liam’s warm lilt came through the phone and Josie’s entire body relaxed. She would have to think about her reaction to the man on the phone at the later date, but for now she was going to revel in his ability to calm her, and smile that he thought enough about her to call her.
****
Kieran pounded on Violet’s punching bag, barely resisting the urge to throw back his head and roar like the lion he was. It was completely un-fucking-acceptable that Josie was afraid of him. He would do anything for her. He’d take a bullet for her, and he would sure as hell kill for her.
With a curse and one final punch to the heavy bag that sent it swinging back on its supports he strode over to the window to stare down at the street below. Violet’s apartment was at the top of a twenty-story building, and her rooftop housed a glass conservatory gym with views over the city he adored. He would love to have an apartment like this one day for him and his mate, but he didn’t think that Josie—
“Christ!” Kieran ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Josie wasn’t his fucking mate, and he would do well to remember that.
He put his hands on his hips and let his head fall back to stare at the sky above him. Damn it. He had scared that poor woman. Kieran had thought he’d caught the delicious scent of her arousal, but it was masked quickly with the acrid tang of her fear. Despite the fact that he would rather cut off his own arm than hurt her, that was exactly what he did. His anger dissipated quickly, and he was filled with regret. She had done absolutely nothing to deserve the way he had reacted to her, and she certainly did not deserve a man who ran hot one minute then stone cold the next.
Kieran wanted to remain friends with her, because quite honestly the thought of her not being in his life at all, hurt. Determined to fix it and make her smile again, he walked back the way he had come. He was in the apartment and halfway down the stairs when he heard the beautiful sound of Josie’s laughter coming from Violet’s office, and it brought him to a standstill. He looked over to the living area and caught both his pack mates looking at him strangely, and their mate’s expression was more one of curiosity.
“No, Liam.”
Liam?
“I promise you, I’m fine.” Josie’s voice was warm as she spoke to this Liam person on the phone, and Kieran’s lion growled in anger within him. “Karl shouldn’t have told you about the incident this morning.”
Josie laughed again, and Kieran’s reaction was physical, his cock hardening at the sound. “You sound like the man who saved me this morning. He’s intent on finding the man and beating him up for me, too.”
Kieran was more wanting to rip the man a new asshole before scattering the remains of his body in the river, but hey, semantics.
“I think that sounds lovely.” Josie’s tone had turned happy and shy, and Kieran’s heart ached that it was some other man who was making her feel that way. “Shall I meet you there?”
Kieran jolted. God damn it. He was standing there listening to the woman he was more than interested in, organizing a date with another man and it was tearing out his heart. Kieran stalked silently down the rest of the stairs, unwilling to listen to the rest of it.
“Tell Josie that I’m sorry I scared her,” Kieran said as he walked past his friends and headed for the private elevator at the end of the room. “I’ll call her later this afternoon to apologize myself, but I have to go. I can’t—” he stopped.
The elevator was fortunately there and opened when he pressed the button. He stepped into the cab and turned back to his friends. He steadfastly refused to acknowledge what he knew to be pity that he saw in their eyes.
“I know, Kieran,” Violet said gently, for once actually using his given name. “We’ll take care of her for you for now. Go.”
The door closed, and he was confronted with his own reflection. He could see why his friends looked at him like they did. He had never before seen a man look so devastated. The shit of it was, it was exactly how he felt.
Chapter Four
Liam couldn’t remember the last time he had been this excited. Given his upbringing and the lack of both a father figure and love in his household, he figured it had been a very long time. And yet, here he sat, ten minutes early for a date with a woman he wanted more from than just a night’s pleasure. The moment he caught sight of her standing at that ATM almost two weeks ago, his lion had been pushing at him to be near her. Not that the man was arguing. He felt the same urgency to have her near.
He had always known that the Fates would never bestow a mate upon him. It was rare for shifters who were only children to be granted such a privilege. And for a man with his past, his luck, and the choices he had made in his life, he knew that chance was lost to him. He felt a wave of regret roll through him. He had made choices in the past to survive. Running with the wrong crowd as a child, giving everything he had to a pack that was toxic and run by a shifter who was morally bankrupt, then traveling endlessly as muscle for hire, working for men with questionable ethics. He could change his ways, he knew that, but he was afraid that perhaps he was so far gone there was nothing left within him untainted by those bad decisions.
“Is this seat taken?”
Liam briefly closed his eyes at the sound of her voice before looking up to smile into her beautiful blue eyes. “Even if it were, Josie-girl, I would ditch whoever I was with for the chance to spend even just one minute with you.”
He stood up and moved to hold the chair back for her as she sat. He couldn’t resist leaning in and giving her a quick peck on the cheek and loved the fact that a sweep of red followed in his wake. “You look beautiful.” And she did. Her dress was black, simple, and showed off her narrow waist, the tempting sweep of her hips, and the length of her legs.
“Th-thank you,” she stuttered.
Liam stared at her as he sat back across the table from her. “Kitten, you sound like you don’t believe me. Surely that can’t be the case.”
Josie nibbled on her bottom lip, and Liam was thankful that he sat behind the table with a long tablecloth draped over his lap to hide his reaction to the move. What he wouldn’t give to be the one nibbling on that lip. From the way his lion chuffed with pleasure, Liam figured the big bastard agreed.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” she said in a husky voice that had his erection twitching in his trousers, pressing painfully against the zipper. “At least, not really. It’s more to do with the fact that I am simply not used to compliments.”
Liam frowned, reaching out to take her hand off the linen napkin she was toying with and held it in his own. “Josie-girl, you are gorgeous. When I look at you, my heart races. That has never happened to me before. It’s not just that you are stunning perfection, because you are, but you have a light within you that calls to me like nothing else. I think about you a lot during the day, and just the mere thought of you makes me smile. It breaks my heart that you are not used to compliments. If I knew the idiot who you were, were not, maybe already in a relationship with, I would kick his ass from here to Belfast for not complimenting you every single day.”
Her smile when it came was genuine and lit up the entire world. Or at least his world. “Thank you. I will work to be better at taking a compliment, I promise.”
The two of them settled in to look at the menu, and when it came time to put their order in, Liam frowned at how little she had ordered. He could tell she was hungry. He had heard her stomach growling in spite of the surrounding noises. The fact that she wasn’t ordering something more than just a salad had him confused. So when it came to his order, he made sure to get extra. So much so that both the waiter and his date stared at him in surprise, but he just grinned.
&nbs
p; When the waiter had left, she leaned forward. “Liam, this place is very expensive. Perhaps you should rethink your order?”
Liam sat back in his chair, more than a little shocked. “Kitten, is that why you only ordered the damn side salad and some bread sticks?” Josie’s guilty look told him everything. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Josie. Do you think I don’t have enough money to take you out?” At her look of obvious embarrassment, Liam softened his tone. “Josie-girl, I love the fact that you’re worried about that, and think enough of me to ensure I am not doing something beyond my means. I really am. But trust me when I tell you that you could order everything on the menu ten times over and I wouldn’t bat an eye.”
Josie tilted her head and regarded him with a calculating look. “Is that why you ordered so much food? You wanted to make sure there was enough for both of us, didn’t you?”
Liam stayed quiet, but simply grinned at her. He loved that she was as smart as she was beautiful. His heart swelled at the small shake of her head and gentle laugh she gave him. He decided in that moment that he was going to do everything in his power to win her heart and make her his. There might not be a mating bond between the two of them, but there would never be another man who would care for her like he was going to. He already had an insane urge to protect her from anyone and anything, and he was just determined to do everything he could to ensure she let him.
“How was your day?” Josie asked.
Liam winced. “It was okay. The man I am doing some work for has these other guys working with me on the same project and they are both insane.”
Josie laughed. “A little crazy, huh?”
“Yeah, you could say that.” Liam thought of Brett and Hugh, the two other lone lion shifters that were working with him, and there was nothing little about their level of crazy. Hugh in particular walked a very fine line between sanity and needing to be put down for the safety of everyone around him. Liam had witnessed behavior from both men that screamed narcissistic psychopath, and he always watched his back when they were around.
Liam had no idea why Rossi would hire two men he couldn’t control, but figured he had his reasons. Rossi had hired all three of them specifically because they were lion shifters. He figured it would take a similar shifter to take out the Black Ridge Alpha. It wasn’t until he had arrived in Chicago that Liam found out the reason why, but by then he’d met Josie and he wasn’t quite ready to leave. He’d been stalling ever since, not really looking for the Alpha Rossi wanted him to end.
The arrival of another waiter carrying the drinks they’d ordered interrupted his thoughts, and Liam waited until they were alone again to ask the question that had been plaguing him since he’d found out about the shooting yesterday. “The man who pulled you out of harm’s way yesterday, is that the man you have feelings for?”
Josie’s eyes widened a little in surprise, but she nodded. “Yeah. It’s silly because he has made it perfectly clear that there can be nothing between us. I think it might have something to do with hero worship. Yesterday wasn’t the first time he’s saved me.”
Liam’s lion began to pace inside him at the thought that this woman could be in a situation where she required rescuing more than once. “What happened?”
Josie grimaced. “I can’t talk about it. I would, but it is not my story to tell, and besides, it’s not really the look a woman wants to give a man when they are out on their first date.”
“First of many,” Liam added, and enjoyed the swift expression of shocked joy that filled her face.
The rest of the evening passed quickly because he was enjoying himself so much. She ate her fill of the food he had ordered, and he unashamedly ate the rest. She even gave him shite for the amount of food he could pack away and had him laughing out loud. Liam didn’t know when it happened, but sometime during that dinner, he’d fallen hard for Josie Cadman. Despite the lack of any kind of bond, she was his mate in every sense of the word. If, by some random chance he were to ever encounter the woman the Fates had predetermined would be his, he would forsake her and defy the Fates.
When it came time for them to part, Josie was adamant that she could find her way home on her own. Liam desperately wanted to change her mind, though not for any other reason than to make sure she got home safe. When she continued to insist, he reluctantly agreed.
“Will you call me as soon as you get home?” he asked as he leaned into the open back door of the cab he had made her take, handing the driver enough money to take her wherever she might need to go. “I won’t be able to rest until I know you are safe behind locked doors.”
Josie smiled up at him and wriggled her finger for him to come closer. When he did, she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I really like that you worry about me,” she said quietly as she pulled back. “It makes me feel cared for.”
Unable to resist, Liam leaned through the window and took her mouth in a slow, deep kiss, one that left him wanting more, wanting everything. He pulled back before he threw himself into that cab beside her. “You are cared for, kitten. A lot.” He held her gaze as he gently closed the door between them.
“I-I’ll call you, I promise,” Josie said just as the taxi pulled away from the curb.
Liam stood on the curb staring after the car as it drove off into the night. With his enhanced vision he knew that she had turned in her seat to look back at him as they left. She lifted her hand to her lips and blew him a kiss, which had him smiling. He lifted his own hand and returned the gesture before turning around and walking back in the direction of the hotel he was staying at. It was funny how life turned out. He’d found the love of his life in a town he had always hated. If he managed to successfully convince Josie to take a chance on him, then it looked like he’d be living in the one city he said he’d never ever settle down in.
And how bloody ironic was that?
****
Kieran stomped down the sidewalk toward the diner. He hated having to apologize, and would normally bluster his way through a moment with his pack until they understood that was what he was trying to do. Somehow, he knew that Josie wouldn’t be like that. He was going to have to choke down a huge serving of humble pie, and he was not going to like it. Ever since he had scared Josie and left without saying anything to her three days ago, his lion had been a complete dick. Pushing for control, growling and prowling within him when he pretended he might actually be able to sleep, and generally fucking him over at every turn. The bastard.
He stepped up to the door of the restaurant and fought the urge to keep on walking. With a growl of contempt directed solely at himself, he threw open the door and stepped into the diner. As soon as he entered the space, he knew that Josie wasn’t in the room. He could tell because her scent was only slight, and the room seemed drab and dull without her shining light in the space. He saw Marcy over at the counter wiping it down and approached her.
“You looking for Josie, Alpha?” she asked quietly before lifting her head to meet his gaze.
Kieran nodded. “Where did she go?”
“She headed out for her break,” Marcy answered, then stood up, leaving the cloth on the counter. “You aren’t here to cause trouble between her and her young man, are you?”
A growl of displeasure erupted, and those in the room all shifted nervously as the essence of his dominance filled the room. He wanted to yell that he was her man, and that whoever this “young man” was he would dismember him and eat his heart for daring to touch what belonged to him. But he bit his tongue. He would have to think about why his reaction was so visceral and quick at a later date. Right now, he just wanted to get to Josie so he could apologize to her, and finally get his lion to stop being an asshole and pushing for control every five minutes.
“I’m not here to cause trouble,” he said in a tone that clearly said he was trouble, but he continued anyway. “I owe her an apology, and I want to give her one face to face.”
Marcy jolted slightly. “Really?”
Kieran sc
owled, but nodded. Was he so much of an asshole that people who didn’t even know him thought it an impossibility that he might actually apologize to someone?
Marcy stared at him for a long moment before taking pity on him. “She’s gone to the bank.”
Not waiting for anything further, Kieran left the restaurant and headed in that direction. He was less than half a block away when he spotted her walking toward him. Her shoulders were slumped, and she looked defeated, something he had never seen in the woman, and was not pleased to see now. Kieran sped up and stopped a few feet from her. She was so lost in her thoughts she walked directly into him.
“Oh, goodness,” she cried out as she stumbled slightly and he reached out to hold her steady. “Kieran! What on earth are you doing standing in the middle of the sidewalk?”
Kieran frowned at her pale expression. “I saw you and was waiting for you to look up and see me, but you stayed staring at the ground. What’s wrong? You seem upset.”
Josie sighed. “Just having one of those days, I guess.” She stepped back to put some space between them, and Kieran wanted to tug her back into his arms and keep her there for the day. The year. Life.
Kieran forced himself to drop his hands and plunged them into his jeans pockets to keep from reaching for her. “Those happen for sure. But I am glad that I ran in to you, or rather you ran into me.” She smiled at his comment, and his lion chuffed in pleasure. “I went to find you at the restaurant. I wanted to tell you that I am sorry for what happened at Violet’s.”
Josie shook her head. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Kieran.”
“I scared you,” Kieran reminded her. “That was completely unforgivable.”
“You didn’t scare me, and if you’d stayed in the living room you would have realized that,” Josie chided gently, reaching out to punch him in the arm. “But instead you marched off upstairs to no doubt punch the heck out of one of Violet’s punching bags.”