by Ramona Gray
“I will,” Cooper said. “I promise.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath and made herself step away from his comforting solidness. “Thank you for checking on me, I appreciate it. I’ll be in as soon as I’m finished here. It’ll take me a little longer to get there on the bus, but I’ll work through my lunch and I can make up the rest of the time on the weekend or -”
“Daisy, stop,” Cooper said. “You’re not taking the bus. I’ll give you a ride to the office.”
She swallowed hard, her throat burning with unshed tears. “Thank you, Cooper.”
“You’re welcome.”
She wanted to hug him again, but she wrapped her arms around her own torso instead as the officer returned. He handed over her licence and the clipboard. “Sign and date at the bottom please.”
She signed the report, and he took the clipboard back. “I’ll get this filed and we’ll contact you if we catch the person who did this.”
Cooper snorted and the police officer shrugged. “Yeah, I know, but we do what we can.”
He climbed into his car and drove out of the parking lot. Daisy rubbed at her forehead as Cooper studied her car.
“It’s wrecked,” she said. “They put sugar in the gas tank. Even if I could afford to get it fixed, it would cost more to fix it than it’s worth.”
She studied the rows of cars in the parking lot. Most of them were as old and crappy as hers and she shook her head. “All these cars and they pick mine to break into.”
“It’s shitty luck,” Cooper said.
“Yeah. I need to run to my apartment and grab my purse and my lunch. I’ll call a tow truck from the office. I’ll be right back.”
She stopped when Cooper followed her across the parking lot, staring up at him. “What are you doing?”
“Going with you,” he said.
“Oh, um, that’s okay. I’ll only be a minute.”
He studied her apartment building and the man sitting on the front step who was swaying back and forth. “If you think I’m letting you go near that drunk and coked out guy on the front steps, you’re wrong.”
“That’s just Robert. He’s harmless,” Daisy said. “He lives here.”
“I don’t care. He could hurt you.”
“He won’t,” she said. “He doesn’t do drugs. He just drinks too much.”
“Either you let me go with you or you don’t go in at all,” Cooper said.
“I need my purse,” she said.
He didn’t reply and she glared at him. “You’re not the boss of me, Cooper Brooks.”
“I kind of am,” he said with a small grin.
“Only during working hours.”
“It’s twenty after eight,” he said. “You start work at eight. Haven’t we had this conversation before?”
“You’re kind of being a jerk,” she said.
“I know.”
She rolled her eyes and contemplated whether she could sprint to her building before he could catch her. Probably not in this skirt and heels.
As if he could read her thoughts, he leaned down and said, “I’m faster than you, little Daisy, but you’re welcome to try and outrun me.”
She scowled at him and he laughed before purring and cupping the back of her neck so he could rub his face against her throat. It sent an immediate tingle of need through her belly. She bit back her moan as he purred again and said, “The sooner we get back to the office, the sooner I can mark you.”
“You could mark me now,” she said.
“I could.” He straightened and dropped his hand from her neck, smiling at her as she scowled again.
“You’re not playing fair.”
“Maybe not. C’mon let’s get your stuff.”
She sighed and let him follow her to the building.
“Daisy? Is that you?” Robert squinted at her when she stopped at the bottom of the steps.
“Hi, Robert. How are you?” she said.
He shrugged before drinking from the bottle he held in his left hand. “Shitty. Bad news about the building, huh? I don’t know what I’m gonna do… I ain’t got nowhere else to go.”
She glanced nervously at Cooper before hurrying up the stairs past Robert. “I’m sorry, Robert, I’m late for work. I’ll chat with you tonight.”
“Sure, yeah, okay,” Robert mumbled. He paid no attention to Cooper as he stepped past him.
Embarrassment brewing in her belly, she opened the door to her lobby and stepped inside.
“Jesus,” Cooper said before covering his nose. “Are you fucking kidding me? Daisy, this place needs to be condemned.”
She pressed her lips together and headed for the stairs. There was an elevator, but it’d been broken the entire three months she lived here. As they climbed the stairs, she said, “It’s not that bad.”
She almost sounded like she believed it.
“You can’t stay here anymore,” Cooper said.
She coughed to hide her bitter laughter. He had no idea how right he was.
“I’m on the second floor,” she said as she pulled open the door and stepped into the hallway.
Cooper covered his nose again and muttered a curse. She supposed the smell of urine and weed and mold was much stronger to him. She breathed through her mouth and walked briskly toward her apartment.
Before she could get to her door, the door to the apartment beside hers swung open. An old woman with a scarf covering the curlers in her silver hair and a moth eaten velvet robe tied around her thin frame, stepped into the hallway.
“Daisy! Daisy, have you heard? Did you get the notice?”
“I did, Mrs. Treaton,” Daisy said. “Listen, I can’t stay and talk right now but I’ll talk to you after work, okay?”
Mrs. Treaton clutched at Daisy’s arm. “What are you going to do? I already talked to my daughter and she said I can live with her – although I don’t relish the idea of listening to her and that useless man of hers having sex night and day – but what will you do? Where will you go?”
“Can we talk after work?” Daisy patted the old woman’s hand. “I’m running really late.”
“But did you get the notice?” Mrs. Treaton said. “Did you, Daisy?”
“I did,” she repeated.
“What notice?” Cooper said.
“Nothing,” Daisy said quickly. “Mrs. Treaton, go back inside and -”
“The building’s been condemned!” Mrs. Treaton released Daisy and clamped her bony fingers around Cooper’s arm instead. “We got a notice this morning that we gotta be out by tomorrow at noon. They aren’t giving us a choice. They said the whole building failed code and it’s a health hazard to live here. I ain’t surprised to tell you the truth. I got enough mold growing in my bathroom to perform multiple science experiments. Black mold too... it ain’t good for you, you know.”
“I know,” Cooper said.
“Where is Daisy gonna go?” Mrs. Treaton said. “She ain’t got no family here and she obviously don’t have money if she lives in this dump.”
“Mrs. Treaton,” Daisy said loudly. “Go back inside please.”
“She’s a sweet girl,” Mrs. Treaton said to Cooper. “She shouldn’t be living out on the street. Why, she’ll be raped and murdered!”
“She won’t be living on the street.” Cooper patted the old woman’s hand. “I’ll take care of her.”
“You promise?” Mrs. Treaton said. “She’s been real good to me since she moved in. She brings me my mail and cooks my dinner some nights. And she helps me shower when my arthritis acts up. I’d hate to see her out on the street.”
“She won’t be,” Cooper said. “I promise. She’s moving out of her apartment today. I have a place for her to stay.”
“That’s real good. My daughter is flying in this afternoon to help me pack my shit and then she’s renting a car and we’re driving back to Oregon. I ain’t got much, but I ain’t leaving it behind.” Mrs. Treaton reached up and patted Cooper’s cheek. “You’re a good boy then,
aren’t you? You one of them shifters? You’re big like a shifter.”
“I am,” Cooper said. “I’m a lion shifter.”
“Whoo-ee, I thought so,” Mrs. Treaton said. “My daughter is married to a jaguar shifter. All they do is have sex night and day. It’s like listening to two cats in heat, I swear to God. I tell you what, I ain’t looking forward to having to listen to that in my twilight years, but an old woman like me don’t got much choice. Colleen’s been begging me for years to move in with her, but I liked my independence you know?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cooper said.
“Anyway, you take good care of my sweet flower, all right?” Mrs. Treaton said.
“I will,” Cooper replied.
Mrs. Treaton shuffled past him to hug Daisy. “Be a good girl, Daisy. You got my email, make sure you check in with me every once in a while.”
“I will,” Daisy said. “Plus, we’re Facebook friends, remember?”
“Ayuh, I remember,” Mrs. Treaton said. “I ain’t been on there much since I accidentally posted that nude selfie on my main page instead of sending it in private message like I meant to.”
Behind her, Daisy could hear Cooper choking back laughter and she pressed her lips together to stop her own laughter. “Okay, well, take care, Mrs. Treaton. I’ll email you.”
“All right then. Be a good girl.” Mrs. Treaton kissed Daisy’s cheek before returning to her apartment and slamming the door shut.
Cooper stared at Daisy and, flushing, she unlocked her apartment and stepped inside. Cooper followed her in and made another grunt of disapproval. “You don’t have a bed.”
“I have a bed.”
“An air mattress on the floor is not a bed.”
“Yes, it is.” She grabbed her purse from the counter in the kitchenette and grabbed her lunch from the fridge. “Okay, I’m ready to go. Let’s – Cooper, what are you doing?”
He’d taken off his suit jacket and opened the tiny closet next to her air mattress. He pulled out her suitcase and dropped it on the air mattress. “You start packing your clothes. I’ll call Boone and get him to pick up some boxes and bring them by so we can pack your other stuff.”
He studied the loveseat and the broken bookshelf. “How attached are you to your furniture?”
“I’m not,” she said. “But you’re not helping me pack.”
“Yes, I am,” he said. “We’ll load it into my truck. If you don’t want your furniture, then,” he glanced around her small apartment, “everything will fit in one load.”
She sighed, hating what she had to say next, and a big part of her worried about what would happen to Cooper when she left. But what choice did she have? She couldn’t live on the street just so she could stick around and stop Cooper from going mad.
“Cooper, you’re my boss. I’m already embarrassed enough that you know my building has been condemned. I’m not getting you to pack my stuff and move it to the motel. Also, I, um, I know this is terrible timing, but I need to give you my notice of resignation.”
“No,” Cooper said.
She blinked at him. “What?”
“I’m not accepting your resignation.”
“You have to,” she said.
“No, I don’t.”
“Look, I don’t want to quit, I really don’t. But…” God, she really hated having to admit this to him, “I don’t have enough money to live in a motel until I find another place to live. Which means my only option is to go back to Connecticut. So, I’m quitting. I know it’s shitty of me. I wish I could give you two weeks notice but maybe we could Facetime every night to help you with your um… problem.”
“You don’t have to live in a motel,” Cooper said. He opened the cupboards in the kitchen and pulled out some of her glassware. “You can stay with me.”
She gaped at him. “I – what?”
“I have an extra bedroom. You can stay with me,” he said.
“I can’t stay with you.”
“Why not?”
“You’re my boss.”
“I am,” he said. “Think of it as a temporary thing until you find something else. You’ve already agreed to spend time with me outside of work, right? Living with me will make that easier.”
She stared silently at him as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the counter. “I promise to give you space, Daisy. You know I won’t hurt you, right?”
“I know,” she said.
“Look, Grayson mentioned yesterday that you told Ryan you were trying to get over your fear of shifters. Being roommates, even temporarily, will help both of us with our… problems.”
She rubbed at the scar on her forearm. “What if I – what if I’m too afraid? I don’t want to be scared but…”
“If you are, we’ll come up with another solution that doesn’t involve you quitting and moving back to Connecticut. Okay?”
She didn’t reply and Cooper said in a low and cajoling voice, “You don’t have much of a choice, baby. Even if this place wasn’t condemned, I wouldn’t let you stay here. It isn’t safe.”
She didn’t object when he stepped closer and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over the pulse point in her wrist. “It’s only until you find a new apartment, Daisy. A month at most, right?”
“What will everyone else at work say?” she said.
“I don’t care, and you shouldn’t either,” he said. “If they ask, I’ll tell them you’re doing it to help me. They all think I’m on the verge of going insane anyway, remember?”
He smiled at her, but she scowled and squeezed his hand. “Don’t joke about that, Cooper. It isn’t funny.”
He sobered and rubbed her wrist again. “Will you try, Daisy?”
She stared into his gorgeous blue eyes and nodded. “Yes, I’ll try.”
Chapter Eleven
“God, that is some craptastic luck.” Lusa grabbed her sandwich from the fridge and plopped into the chair next to Daisy. “Car broken into and your building condemned. Although, honestly, not surprised about the condemned building thing. Your neighbourhood is terrible. Why did you rent there, Daisy?”
Daisy poked at her sandwich. “It was the only thing I could afford. I have some, uh… debt.”
Her face heated with embarrassment but Lusa nodded. “Tell me about it. Between rent, car payment, and my student loan debt, some months I barely have enough money for food. It’s frustrating as hell. What are you going to do for a place to stay? I only have a one bedroom, but you’re welcome to crash on my couch if you need it.”
“Oh, that’s, um, okay. I have a place to stay for now,” Daisy said.
“With Cooper?” Lusa bit into her sandwich.
Daisy poked a hole right through the bread of her sandwich. “How did you know?”
“Girl, please, you are covered in his scent. Figured Coop would have you stay with him. It’s easier for you to bang him when you’re at his place, right?”
Daisy’s mouth dropped open. “I’m not… I …what?”
Lusa sipped some water before pulling out a piece of lunch meat from her sandwich and popping it into her mouth. “It’s really nice of you to sleep with Cooper so he doesn’t go mad, Daisy, especially considering how terrified you are of shifters. Talk about taking one for the team.”
She laughed. “Although, my friend Kara told me that just because I don’t find Cooper attractive, doesn’t mean that other women don’t. Apparently, according to her, he’s fine as hell. Me, I like brunettes. You’re into blonds though, huh?”
Daisy gulped down some water before clearing her throat. “I’m not having sex with Cooper.”
Lusa paused with her sandwich to her mouth. “Oh. Shit. Sorry. I thought you were because you’re covered in Coop’s scent and because Boone…”
Her face went red and she set her sandwich down. “Oh fuck. I’m gonna kill Boone. I’m sorry, Daisy.”
“It’s okay,” Daisy said. “I, uh, I smell like him because I asked him to mark me.”
Sh
e touched her throat a bit self-consciously. Thanks to how few personal possessions she’d brought with her from Connecticut, after Boone dropped off some boxes, it had taken her and Cooper less than an hour to pack up her stuff. They’d gone to his place, put her stuff in his spare bedroom, and then Cooper drove her back to the office. He was late for a client meeting, but he’d still taken the time to mark her like he’d promised before leaving with Gray and Wes for the meeting.
“Earth to Daisy,” Lusa said.
“Sorry, what did you say?” Daisy said.
“Why are you asking him to mark you?” Lusa said.
“Because I’m afraid,” Daisy said. “I’m afraid of shifters I don’t know and even most of the ones I do know, but when Cooper marks me with his scent, it keeps other shifters away from me. I go to the grocery store and they avoid me. I have no problem telling who’s a shifter and who isn’t because the shifters so obviously avoid me. It’s like… magic.”
Lusa nodded. “Coop’s a pretty powerful lion shifter and you stink like him. I’m not surprised other shifters are staying the hell out of your way.”
“So, they really can tell just by his scent that he’s, um, strong and stuff?” Daisy said.
Lusa nodded. “Oh, for sure. Are female shifters giving you,” she grinned, “excuse the expression… catty looks?”
“I don’t think so?” Daisy said. “But he hasn’t been marking me for very long.”
“You’ll start getting the looks from them,” Lusa said. “We female shifters like the big powerful males, and Coop’s scent will be a damn aphrodisiac to some females. They’re gonna be pissed that he has a mate. Or they think he does.”
Daisy’s throat closed up to a pinhole and she stared down at the sandwich she could no longer eat. “Will they go after me?”
She could hear the fear in her voice. Lusa made a soothing motion with her hand. “No, no. That isn’t what I meant. I mean, yeah, they’ll be annoyed that a powerful lion shifter is taken by a human, but they’re not going to go after you. No one wants a pissed off lion shifter on the hunt for them. Especially one like Coop.”
“What do you mean – one like Coop?” Daisy said.
“He’s over the top possessive and can be jealous,” Lusa said. “You can smell it in his scent. It’s another reason his marking is so effective on you. Other males can smell that he’s the possessive and jealous type.”
