by Jessie Lane
There was something different about this man, though. Some sort of magnetism that rolled off him in waves.
A primal lust rolled over Chloe, and she could just see herself wrapping herself around the man’s body and taking him for a test drive. From the burning lust in his eyes, she could tell he felt the chemistry crackling between them, as well.
She was so lost in looking at the pretty, shiny man treasure that she hadn’t heard what was going on between Elena or Gage. And that could have been a fatal mistake on her part because, the next thing she knew, the mohawked twin was roaring.
Chloe looked over to see Elena pressing the barrel of her .45 against the center of Gage’s forehead.
Shit had just hit the fan, and it was time to stop drooling over hot man candy and get out of this bitch.
Chloe pulled out her own gun at the same time that Delta and Aunt Thea pulled out theirs.
Amazons weren’t stupid. They wouldn’t come empty-handed when they knew they were going to be walking into a shifter-owned bar on unfamiliar territory.
As they became surrounded by the pack of friends Gage had shown up with, Chloe couldn’t help wondering if the shifters were going to let them go, or was Chloe or someone else going to have to use their gun to try to escape. She would do what she had to do to protect her family, but she really hoped it didn’t come to that.
In a raised voice, Chloe heard Gage say, “Back away from the Amazons.”
When nobody moved, he growled, “NOW.”
Knowing they needed to leave, Chloe took the chance to get one last good look at her pretty boy, finding his eyes were already glued to her. Wishing things could have been different and she could have at least learned the man’s name, she chalked things up to fate, gave him a wink and an air kiss, and then slowly backed out of the bar as her sisters turned and left.
Maybe, if she was lucky, she would run into her pretty boy another time.
~~~
Kent
Sweet baby Jesus, he had just caught a glimpse of an angel with a gun.
Okay, maybe she wasn’t an angel if she was swinging a gun around, pointing it at him and his friends, but she sure as hell did look like all his fantasies rolled up into one phenomenal package.
For a split second, he thought about whipping out his police badge and using it to go after his walking wet dream, but one look at his partner Jenna had him stopping in his tracks. She knew him all too well and was already shaking her head in negation. As in, no, you cannot go after the woman because you think she’s hot.
Fun killer.
Walking over to the bar where Gage was talking to his brother Alec in hushed tones, Kent asked the question that was burning on his mind. “Who the hell was that?”
Gage warily looked over at Kent and simply said, “An ex-girlfriend.”
Kent winced, but it didn’t stop him from asking his next question. “Who were the other chicks with her?”
That question had Gage giving him a dirty look. “Why do you ask? You’re not going to arrest them, are you?”
“Do you want me to?” Kent asked.
“No.”
“Then no, I won’t arrest them, but I still want to know who they are.”
The tiger-shifter gave him a suspicious look, while Alec smothered a laugh with his hand. “If you’re not going to arrest them, then why do you want to know?”
That question had Alec laughing out loud. “Really, bro? You can’t figure out why Kent wants to know who they are? If it were me asking, what would be the reason?”
Gage shot a nasty glare at his brother. “Because you’d want to fuck one of them, you horny bastard.”
Alec nodded, while Kent tried to keep a cop face on. “Just give me their names, Ivanov.”
Gage turned his head back to glare at Kent again. “Why, so you can try to hit on them? Is that all you think about, your dick?”
Sometimes. But he wasn’t going to say that aloud.
Not to mention, he couldn’t help thinking about that wink the Amazon had given him before she had left. Or the hint of a smile that she had graced him.
Kent knew when a woman wanted him, and the Amazon had wanted him bad. For some odd reason, Kent’s body wanted her just as badly, and he didn’t know why. He had never felt this level of lust toward a woman before, and he was damn determined to find out why.
Running out of patience, Kent snapped, “Just give me a damn name.”
Gage cocked an eyebrow at him, silently saying, Do you really want to push your luck?
All Kent could think was: Hell yes! For that woman, he was willing to push all his luck if it would help him find out why he suddenly felt like he had to have her or he would die.
The reaction wasn’t rational, but he didn’t care. Right now, he had a one-track mind and that was finding out everything he could about his angel with the gun.
After Kent and Gage stared at each other for long, quiet minutes, the tiger-shifter finally got bored and gave in with a sigh.
“I don’t know who the older woman was, but the two younger women were more than likely Elena’s sisters, Delta and Chloe.”
“And which one is which?”
Gage shrugged. “I can’t be certain because I never met them. But I do remember Elena telling me that Chloe was the oldest and Delta was the youngest out of the three of them.”
Kent thought back to the group of women and visualized their appearances. He knew who Elena was without a doubt, and he wasn’t interested in the older woman, so that just left the two other younger women to decipher. Paired with the memory of Gage calling Elena “Sergeant Demos,” Kent now had a name he could run a check on: Chloe Demos. If need be, he could run all three Demos sisters’ names to find out who was who. It wasn’t much information, but it was a start.
Kent headed for the door, new determination in his every step, as his plan formed in his head. He would go to the police station and run Chloe’s name; see what he could find out about her from there first.
Before he made it to the door, though, the peanut gallery known as Alec piped in with his two cents.
“Man, I don’t know why you want her so badly. That chick was so frigid I thought my nuts were going to freeze off standing just five feet away from her.”
Kent turned his head before he walked out the door and said, “And I’m just the demon to warm her up.”
~~~
At his desk at the police station, Kent swore under his breath as he closed out another driver’s license picture of a Chloe Demos. That was not his Chloe Demos. Just how many women were named that in the state of North Carolina? He had already clicked on five of the ten results that had come up on his search.
Clicking on number six, he held his breath and waited for the driver’s license picture to come up.
Jackpot.
Chloe Alyssa Demos. Date of birth: July 17th, 1986. Five-foot-five and one hundred and forty pounds. Residence listed on her license was one that Kent knew wasn’t far from the McPhee Pub. And her driver’s license was fairly new, so she hadn’t been living in the Wilmington area for long.
Using her social security number, Kent ran a background check on her and found no prior charges, which sort of surprised him. Only a little over an hour ago, she had been pointing a gun on him and his friends. He would have thought that she would have at least a minor infraction somewhere in her past to have that sort of bravado. Or maybe she was so confident because she had never been caught doing anything like she had done today. Whatever that answer was, he would figure it out … along with the rest of the mystery that was Chloe Demos.
Chapter
2
Chloe
Later That Night…
D is for douchebag.
That was all Chloe could think as she picked her mark for the night.
She had come to a popular nightclub, needing to blow off some steam, and ended up catching one of her “Chloe cases.” That was what she called her little missions of vindication for women.<
br />
After living a life where every man who looked at her either wanted to use her or abuse her, Chloe was short on patience when it came to the male species. She wasn’t a man-eater by any means. Not like her distant Amazon relatives who were, in essence, an anti-men society. Instead, she liked to consider herself a man-teacher. As in, she taught them a freakin’ lesson on how to treat women!
Chloe had been so engrossed in staring at said douchebag who was belittling his date as he joked with his buddies across the room that she didn’t notice when the pretty boy from earlier today, who she now knew through some research was named Kent, sat down on the stool next to her.
“Do you have a thing for men who are taken or something, sweetheart?”
The sound of his voice near her ear had her almost falling off her seat it startled her so badly.
Now that she had taken a deep breath and re-centered herself, Chloe placed a hand over her hammering heart and turned to glare at him. “No, I do not have a thing for men who are taken. Do you usually scare women in clubs half to death?” A few minutes ago, he had been across the L-shaped bar. Now he was practically bursting her personal space bubble.
Kent shook his head. “Didn’t mean to scare you, but you’re staring at that pencil dick over there pretty hard. I know you saw me watching you from across the bar, and yet, you ignored me. I was just trying to figure out if you wanted to jump his bones or something since you won’t give me the time of day.”
Chloe snorted in disgust. “I’d rather tell him to take a flying leap off a tall building than give him the time of day.”
What a man, what a man, what a mighty fine man, Chloe sang to herself as she looked out of the corner of her eye again at the man candy next to her and sighed. Although she didn’t know him well yet, she was going to try to learn as much about him as she could while they were sitting there at the bar.
Keeping up her charade of not knowing who he was, she asked, “What’s your name, sugar?”
Pretty boy cocked an eyebrow at her and smiled. “Shouldn’t that be my line?”
Chloe shrugged. “Sometimes a lady likes to be the one in control of the conversation. So, are you going to tell me your name or what?”
He held his hand out for her to shake, and she extended hers in return, only to find that he didn’t want to shake hands. No, he lifted her hand up as he bent his head down and kissed the back of her hand, before politely depositing it on the bar top. “My name is Kent.”
She waited for him to give her the rest of his name, and instead, they sat there staring at each other.
“Just Kent? No last name?”
His smile became even wider. “Kent is my last name, and before you ask, I don’t tell anyone my first name, so I simply go by Kent.”
Giving him a speculative look, Chloe said, “So, you were in the shifter bar today; does that mean you turn furry and howl at the moon?”
Kent threw his head back and laughed before shaking his head. “I’m a different variety of Other, sweetheart. No turning furry for me.”
Interesting, she thought to herself. Chloe couldn’t help wondering what Kent was then: vampire or demon. Whatever he was, there was something about the man himself that drew her in.
Just like the first time she saw him earlier that day, the sight of the him stirred an insane amount of desire in her. She didn’t understand this attraction at all, yet part of her didn’t care to understand it. She wanted to lay her hands on his body and kiss him senseless. Too bad she didn’t have time for more than giving him bedroom eyes and a come-hither smile. From the way he was eye-fucking her now, she knew those two tricks could easily reel the man in if she wanted a good time.
It seemed like a crime to ignore Kent’s appreciative glances and to keep track of the douchebag boyfriend who was berating his poor, sweet girlfriend in front of his friends. The woman had naive and innocent vibes, and was in no way in the same league as the man she was there with on a date. Chloe hated assholes like him and loved to make examples of them. She was just waiting for her opportunity to do so.
“Have you seen how mean he’s being to his girlfriend?” she asked Kent.
“Yeah, it’s a shame, too. Pretty girl like her could definitely do better than him. She’s probably with him for his car.”
Chloe gave him a confused look. “His car?”
“Yeah, sweetheart, his car. Saw him getting out of his Ferrari when I pulled in. That pretty little girl probably took one look at his car and thought she was hooking up with a high-class man. Instead, she hooked up with an idiot.”
Chloe pursed her lips in thought as she stared at the miserable girl. The poor thing looked as though she wanted to be anywhere other than there. Maybe Chloe could help her with that.
“Think it would make her night if she got to drive his car? Then maybe she’d have at least one good thing about tonight she could remember.”
Kent laughed. “There’s no way in hell you’re getting that guy to let her drive his car.”
Well now, she did love a good challenge.
Leaning into his personal space, she crooned back, “What would you give me if I walked out of here with his car keys and the girl so she could?”
“Anything, because there’s no way you’re pulling that shit off.”
She gave the demon a small, flirtatious smile. “And what do you want if I lose this little bet?”
“You, in my bed, any way I want you for twenty-four hours straight.”
Typical male response. She wasn’t one bit surprised. On the other hand, Chloe didn’t even have to think about it. Not because she wanted to have marathon sex with Kent, although she had to admit the idea was appealing, but the truth was, she was that confident in her abilities.
Chloe Demos might still be learning about Others, or what this particular Other was, but she knew men. And Kent made a critical error in his response. Guessed this would be a two for one lesson since she was sure Kent would lose. He should never underestimate a woman on a mission. He also should never have blindly walked into a bet. His mistake would be her gain.
And really? Twenty-four hours? Why did men always try to bullshit about their stamina? Chloe doubted there was a man, or Other, on the planet who could have a sexual marathon for twenty-four hours.
Running one of her manicured fingers down the side of his face, she whispered, “Remember this was your bet, darling. If you have any questions, you can find me at my aunts’ business, Amazons Inc. Otherwise, when it comes time for me to cash that marker, I’ll contact you.”
He shot his hand out to grab her wrist and stop her from moving her hand from his face. “What makes you so confident you’ll win, Amazon?”
Chloe couldn’t help smiling. She couldn’t wait to see the expression on his face when he heard her answer.
She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, “I’m wearing my lucky panties tonight.”
The grip he had on her wrist tightened for a second, and she pulled back to see explosive, burning desire in his eyes. It almost matched the amount of desire she could feel in her own body. Sadly, fun times would have to wait for later.
She patted the side of his face affectionately then got up off her bar stool and walked away from Kent, who was watching her with a curious look as she sashayed over to her mark’s table.
She had seen a hundred guys just like him, and they never failed to disgust her—the privileged, over-confident, and atrocious jackasses who liked to treat women as objects instead of people.
When she reached her destination, she pulled up a chair and invited herself to sit. Every single man there was already leering at her, and half of them weren’t even bothering to look at her face. The only one unhappy to see her was the douchebag’s date. That was okay.
“Hello, boys,” she purred. “Who wants to buy me a drink?”
Two of the four men were up and out of their chairs so fast they were practically tripping over themselves to get to the bar. Douchebag was one of the two left be
hind.
Chloe turned herself sideways in the chair and crossed her legs to give him a view of her tanned limbs and red high-heeled, fuck-me shoes.
As usual, Chloe was dressed to kill, wearing a black sheath dress with an overlay of red lace that clung to her pin-up figure. It had a low, square neckline to show off her abundant D cups.
She leaned back a little to thrust her breasts out and watched her mark’s eyes zero in on her assets. This wouldn’t be hard to pull off at all. She was almost disappointed at the lack of challenge.
“What’s your name, sugar?”
Douchebag leaned over until he was perilously close to burying his face in the valley of her breasts. “John. But with a body like that, you can call me whatever you want, baby.”
Ugh. Douchebag wasn’t even original with his lines. Nor did he care that he said that right in front of his date. The poor woman simply sat there, timid and embarrassed; obviously not willing to do or say anything to the man who was disrespecting her.
Chloe leaned across the table and held out her hand in greeting. “And what’s your name, honey?”
The woman looked at her hand questioningly, and then shyly shook it. “Sarah.”
“Nice to meet you, Sarah. I love meeting pretty girls.”
At that moment, one might have thought that John would have looked calcitrant for hitting on another woman in front of his date, but no. The only thing he said was, “Hey, are you into girls? Because that would be hot to watch.” This further proved to Chloe that this man definitely needed to be taught a lesson.
Chloe spent the next hour coyly flirting with four men that she would rather pour gasoline over and set on fire, determined to win the demon’s marker. The entire time, she could feel Kent’s eyes on her. A part of her wondered if it turned him on to see her schmoozing other men. Maybe losing the bet would be worth it. Her pride, however, wouldn’t let her throw the bet for a bit of pleasure.
Douchebag was practically drooling all over their table at the thought of getting in her panties. He had all but forgotten his date sitting with them. All she had to do was make her move now.