Claws and Effect (Small Town Shifters Book 1)

by Lola Kidd

  But Rhett was different. He was a much better man than her ex and every other man she had ever met. No one else would work this hard to keep her safe and also make sure she was comfortable in his home. That was part of what made this so hard. If she threw herself at him, would she be resigning herself to only having a sexual relationship with him? Because that was not what she wanted. She wanted to be in a real relationship. That was what she wanted to try to do with him, but she wasn't sure he felt the same way. At least if he made some kind of move on her physically, she would have that much to hold on to. She needed to know that he wanted her with all of his heart and all of his body, but if she couldn't get that much validation, she wanted to know he at least wanted her body.

  She checked her phone. This was going to be a very unproductive night, and all the ones after it were going to be the same if she didn't get her mind off him. Maybe she could organize stuff while she was here. That would keep her mind off him and his hard, hot body. It would get her to stop picturing all the things she wanted to do to him.

  She lay there, not sleeping, for a few more hours and then got out of bed. She strolled around the room. It was more cluttered than a single man's guest room usually was. Usually, men's extra rooms were turned into home offices or gyms, in her experience. She hadn't taken much time to look around the first night, but now she zeroed in on all the clutter.

  There was a chair in the corner with three pillows and a blanket on it. The dresser had knickknacks along the top and toiletries on a mirror. It was very cute and looked like the rest of his house. Not exactly what she'd expected from a gruff shifter like him.

  She would ask him if she could make some changes. It wasn't like she could start organizing without asking him first. But there was no way he'd be up yet, and she didn't want to knock on his door. Instead, she would shower first and hopefully then he would be awake. She was starting to get restless.

  The cool shower really helped bring her temperature down. Even on little sleep, she was all the way awake and singing her favorite songs. When she was done with her shower, it was like she'd washed away her bad mood. It was a whole new day and she was ready to take on the world again.

  She put on a towel and went back to her room. While she was getting dressed, there was a knock at the door. She was putting on her shirt and hadn't picked out pants yet. "One minute."

  The door opened, and Joseline scrambled to pull her shirt down.

  "I said one minute!" she huffed.

  Rhett's jaw was practically on the floor, but he took a moment before he said anything. "I'm so sorry. I thought you said to come in."

  "What do you want?"

  He held up a cup of coffee. "I just wanted to bring this coffee in your room. I wanted to see if you were awake. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry."

  "Thanks for the coffee. Please get out."

  He stared at her a moment longer, letting his eyes travel slowly down her body and back up again. When his eyes reached hers again, his face turned a deep red. "I'm so sorry. I'll make breakfast now. Come down whenever you're ready. Or never, if I've offended you too much. Again, I'm sorry."

  He backed out of the room, still staring at her body, and stumbled when he got to the threshold. He reached forward and grabbed the door and slammed it shut.

  Joseline was shaking. That could not have gone worse. She hadn't wanted him to see her in her underwear yet, and she'd never wanted him to see her in this underwear. She'd brought a lot of cute pairs of underwear with her, but she was wearing her ugliest pair. It was incentive not to throw herself at him. If she had on cute underwear, it would be more tempting to give him a peek. Her foolproof plan had blown up in her face.

  She sat on the edge of the bed, near tears. He had already seen her body, and he was probably already done with her. The way he had apologized meant he was sorry he had seen her naked. Sorry he had seen her at her worst. So much for being with him now.

  When she had collected herself, she went downstairs to face the music.

  "I hope you like waffles," he said from the stove. "I made chocolate chip, blueberry, and buttermilk. Take your pick."

  "Thank you," she said demurely. "I'm sorry about what happened up there. I know it had to be unpleasant for you."

  He snorted. "Unpleasant? I guess that's one way to describe it."

  She hung her head. "I'll be more careful and get dressed in the bathroom from now on."

  "Pick your waffles." He pushed the plate toward her, not meeting her eyes. "You don't need to get dressed in the bathroom. I won't come into your room anymore without you opening the door first. I won't make you uncomfortable again. Sorry I broke your trust."

  "No problem. I don't want to risk you having to see me naked again."

  She sat down at the breakfast bar and put a blueberry waffle on her plate. Reconsidering, she grabbed a buttermilk, too. She would have one of each to start. There was no need trying to pretend she didn't have an appetite anymore. She didn't have to impress him. He had already seen the whole awful picture.

  "I don't know if you're trying to tease me, but it's not very funny," he said, flipping the waffle maker. "I already feel bad enough. You don't have to make me feel worse. I know there's little chance you'll let me see you like that again, and I'm sorry I walked in on you like that."

  "I'm not teasing anyone," she said. "I know that wasn't that nice for you to see."

  "Wait. What? Are you kidding me?"

  "I know men don't enjoy looking at my body." She shrugged. "I know what I look like."

  He set his spatula down hard. "I don't think you do. There was nothing unpleasant about that for me, unless you consider having a raging erection unpleasant. Which I do and I can't do anything about it. And it's very unpleasant to be so close to you but not be able to touch you. That's very unpleasant for me. I haven't been this sexually frustrated since I was a teenager."

  She smiled and ducked her head so he wouldn't see how happy he had made her. He was probably saying all of that for her benefit, but she did appreciate it. "You don't have to make me feel better. It's okay."

  "I'm not saying anything to make you feel good. I would rather we didn't talk about it, but if we have to be honest, I liked what I saw very much. I wasn't lying when I said you were my type. You're exactly what I go for. I understand if you don't feel the same way about me. I know you can have your pick of men. I'm not surprised you don't want a man like me."

  Joseline almost choked on her waffle. She had to take a drink of water before she could speak. She couldn't believe her ears. "Any woman would be glad to have a man like you."

  "That's funny." He flipped over the waffles. "You think I'm some great catch, but you don't think the same about yourself."

  "Well, there's always time to change that stupid line of thought." She smiled at him. "I guess we're two peas in a low self-esteem pod, you and I."

  Maybe him seeing her naked wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Maybe she should show him her body with a few less layers next time and see what happened.

  Chapter Twelve

  This had all been a mistake. It was a nice mistake, but it was a mistake nevertheless. There was no way he was going to be able to let her go. Even if he figured out how to get the dragons off her back and how to keep her safe the rest of her life, he still wouldn't want her to leave.

  His saber-tooth was never going to allow him to let her go. She was his mate. Seeing her in next to nothing for the second time in as many days had told his animal everything it needed to know. She was his, and he was hers. Now, his animal was urging him to figure out how to make her believe the same thing.

  Rhett wasn't sure that was the wisest of moves. He was putting a little distance between them so he'd have time to think without her mucking up his mind. Being around her made it next to impossible to be reasonable.

  Currently, she was sitting across the building from him with Beau. She was going through all the files and helping Beau clean up their filing area. Her job skills were com
ing to good use here. They weren't messy, but their paper files weren't the most organized, either.

  She was good at cleaning up messes. He was good at it too, when it came to shifter relations around town, but personal matters were a whole different deal. Things had gotten messy, and she didn't seem to mind. She was bummed, but she'd regrouped quickly. Unlike him. Seeing her like that and telling her how he felt about her body had made him want to hide. He hadn't been that vulnerable in...well, ever. He had never cared about anyone like this before, and it was terrifying.

  He wasn't sure how to proceed. From his few experiences with human women, he knew they didn't want to be told he loved them or that they were his mate within the first week of meeting. He and Joseline hadn't even gone on a proper first date yet. He was going to have to ease his way into this. He couldn't just come out and yell that she was his mate and tell her everything. She would hate him.

  "How long can she be here?" Beau asked from across the room.

  "As long as I need to be," Joseline said. "More than long enough to finish what you have for me here. This isn't much, trust me."

  "She's going to be here for a while," Rhett confirmed. "If there's anything left to be done, we can bring her back and hire her for real."

  "You mean I could be getting paid this whole time? Damn." Joseline smacked her leg. "I haven't even told you guys my hourly rate. I don't know if you can afford me."

  "I think we'll find it in our budget to hire you," Beau told her. "If there's anything worth spending money on, it's a nice lady who can help get this place in order."

  Joseline slapped him on the arm when he tried to put a file down. "Nope. That doesn't go there. Half the battle for you guys is going to be keeping everything in its proper place once we get it all organized."

  As they were laughing, Beau's cousin Zach entered the room. "Hey, guys."

  "What's going on, brother?" Beau greeted him. "This is Joseline. She's helping out today."

  "This must be the human everyone's talking about," Zach said. He shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Beau's cousin."

  "Everyone's talking about me? Still?" she said. "That's incredible."

  "Of course they are. You made quite an impression. You went up against dragons." Zach whistled. "You must be one tough cookie."

  "How do you know that?" Rhett asked.

  "Magnus was in town. Anytime he's here, word spreads fast," Zach said. "Also, I've been to work. Eddie isn't known for keeping secrets. I heard all about the broken car and how it got broken."

  "Don't we have to go and pick up my car soon?" she asked Rhett.

  "I don't think you'll be picking up much." Zach shook his head. "Murry really did a number on that thing."

  "Any word about Murry yet?" Rhett asked. There was no way the dragons would give him any information willingly. He would be more apt to find things out about this case by word of mouth until he could talk to Tuck.

  "Nobody knows what's wrong with Murry yet," Zach said. "I just hope it isn't anything too serious."

  Rhett had been spending his morning researching the incident Lydia had told him about. It wasn't as serious as what Murry had done. The shifters had gone crazy. They'd shifted into their animals and run amok. They had damaged some property but hadn't gone after humans or any other shifters. What had happened the other night was entirely different in that way.

  He needed to get to Murry and talk to him about the incident. He was sure Tucker would give him any info he wanted, but it wasn't the same as getting the information firsthand.

  Rhett also had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last of the crazed shifters. He just hoped that the next time it happened, it wouldn't be in his jurisdiction.

  "You guys can head out now if you'd like," Beau told him. "I can handle everything here. If anything crazy happens, I'll call."

  Rhett nodded. "That's a good idea. Better to get this car thing taken care of now."

  "I'm not even halfway done here," Joseline protested. "How about we do another hour or two and then leave?"

  "I think it's better we go now. Trust me. There will be more people there later in the day. We don't want to get stuck answering questions about this."

  "Well, I guess I have to come back tomorrow, then," she told Beau.

  "We'll be glad to have you," he told her. "Maybe I'll even bring you lunch."

  "I'd be happy to try one of your world-famous sandwiches."

  Rhett helped her put her coat on, and they left the two cousins at the station. They took his car over to Bear Works. Eddie was inside, working on a car, but he stopped to talk with them.

  "Funny seeing you here," he said. "I was just going to call you to come in."

  "Zach came by the station," Rhett said. "He told us you were done working on her car."

  "And by done, he means I can't do anything," Eddie said to Joseline. "This thing is totaled. There's nothing we can do to fix it. It's going to cost more to fix than it would to just scrap the whole thing."

  Joseline sighed. "Damn. I really loved this car."

  "Have you contacted your insurance company yet?" Eddie asked. "We can tow it to a second shop to get a second opinion if you need it. I doubt it would be worth it. You could have an adjuster come out and just junk it."

  "I'll call them as soon as we get back to Rhett's house," Joseline said.

  Eddie nodded. "Or you could also not make a claim for this and let us junk it."

  Joseline put her hands in her coat pockets. "Why would I do that?"

  "I'm going to assume you don't want to sue Murry for damages, right?"

  She shook her head. "No. I want this to go away as quickly as possible."

  "Okay. If you put in a claim with the insurance company, they're only going to give you market value for the car and take it to scrap themselves."

  "Okay." Joseline looked at Rhett, and he nodded. That was exactly how he understood the process to work.

  "Right," he said. "So, you can confirm this with the insurance company, but they're only going to give you maybe six thousand for this car. If you let Zach part it out, I think he could get ten grand for everything. He'll take twenty percent, and you'll still make two grand more this way. Plus, you won't have to make a claim with your insurance."

  Joseline nodded. "Wow. That's a lot to think about."

  "It is, I know, but sleep on it and get back to me," Eddie said. "I'm really sorry about all this."

  Rhett put his arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze. That wasn't what she'd been hoping to hear. He hated seeing her sad like this.

  "It wasn't you who destroyed it," she said.

  Rhett shook his head. "Thanks for the rundown," he told Eddie. "We'll get back to you before the end of the week."

  When they got outside, he hugged her. "Sorry about your car."

  "Me too. I think I'll part it out. I could use the money to buy a new car. An extra two thousand will be nice."

  "I hope you pick something safer."

  She laughed. "Something that can protect me from another scorpion attack? My car is very safe. Top-of-the-line. I picked it for that reason."

  "I was thinking something more like maybe a tank," he joked. "What if a dragon comes after you next time? A tank will keep you safe for sure."

  "Just how much money do you think I make?" She buckled herself in the passenger seat of his car. "A Volvo is more than enough for me."

  "If you insist on small cars, I'll have to find some other way to protect you."

  "I can protect myself just fine." She reached over and took his hand. "But if you want, you can protect me too. Nothing will do as good a job as you can."

  "Thank you. I hope that means I don't have to stop anytime soon." He reached over and squeezed her knee. "How about we watch a movie to cheer you up tonight?"

  "But you don't like movies," she said. "We can do something else."

  "I want to do whatever makes you happy. If a movie will cheer you up, I'll enjoy it."

  He meant it. H
e didn't love watching movies, but he wanted to do whatever it took to make her happy. He wanted the smile to never leave her face.

  When they got back to his house, he set her down in front of his TV and let her scroll through all the options. His account was all set up, and she could pick whatever she wanted. The charge would go to his credit card, and she wouldn't have to worry about buying anything. He made popcorn while she was choosing.

  In the end, she settled on a romantic comedy. It'd been a while since he'd seen a movie like that, and it wasn't something he would have picked himself. But he enjoyed sitting in the dark with her and hearing her laugh at the jokes.

  Any time he could spend with her was time well-spent. This whole thing with Murry would be finished soon enough, and he would have no excuse to keep her at his place much longer. He was going to enjoy this while he could. Who knew what would happen when he confessed his true feelings to her? Until then, he would cherish her while he could.

  Chapter Thirteen

  "Thanks for letting me watch a movie," she told him when the movie was done. She was sitting very close to him. During the movie, they had both gravitated toward the middle of his enormous couch.

  "Did you like it?"

  "I did, but I really like rom-coms. What did you think of it?"

  "It was okay. I mean, it was cute, but those leads were starting to get on my nerves. They obviously belonged together the whole time."

  She bit her lip. "True. But that's kind of the point of rom-coms. And in real life, that's kind of how it usually works, too."

  "You mean people run away from love or ignore it? And then they fall in love after one of them falls in a fountain?"

  She laughed. "Not like that, exactly, but yeah, basically. If it were easy to find love, we wouldn't have stuff like Speed Mating or OkCupid. Or all the self-help books that teach you how to have a better relationship."

  "You read those books too?"

  "Don't laugh, but yes. I've checked out a few...dozen."