Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Chapter Fifteen

  The booth inside the Dallas pub was padded and the high back afforded far more privacy than the average restaurant table. Jason King had never been inside this place before, but he was already liking it. The atmosphere was good. The lighting was low and intimate. And the service so far was excellent.

  “Can I get you folks anything else right now?” The waitress was wearing little jean shorts that barely cleared her butt cheeks and her dyed blue and blonde hair was pulled up into a high and very bouncy ponytail. Her smile was huge. But there were drinks and a basket of potato wedges on the table. “I’ll have those burgers right out for you, sir. Just give me a minute.”

  “I think we’re good, thanks.” Jason flashed the young woman—Ashley—a smile. “Thank you very much.”

  Ashley bounced off in a flash of bi-colored hair and Jason watched her go. Then he turned to see that Skye was rolling her eyes as she squeezed the lemon wedge into her iced tea. Interesting. Jason had often observed that women got far more detail out of their interactions with each other than men ever could. That made him curious as to what Skye had seen about the friendly, bouncy Ashley.

  “Okay.” Jason plucked one potato wedge from the basket and popped it into his mouth. He chewed for a few moments. Then he made a gesture to Skye. “Tell me what you noticed about Ashley the waitress. You were doing the whole chick eye roll thing. Why? I thought she seemed pretty polite.”

  “I am absolutely certain that you did,” Skye agreed. “And you should have because she was working really, really hard to make sure that you appreciated her smiles and her looks and her voice and pretty much everything else.”

  “Really?” Jason was a bit surprised. “So you don’t think she would have acted the same way if I had been—say—in the bathroom when she first came to the table?”

  “Nope.”

  Women were so puzzling. Jason often could not figure them out to save his life. “Why not?”

  “Because she’s working for tips. Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with it. She is working for tips. She’s probably just a college student. She would know immediately that I’m not a big tipper because I don’t look like I have money.”

  Jason raised his brows. “And I do? I’m not wearing Prada sandals or anything.”

  “What? Prada sandals you found in the garbage because they had baby poo on them?” Skye joked. “Yeah. I know.”

  Jason could not help himself. He laughed and he felt better and better with every single chuckle. He loved it that she could remember funny things that had happened and then toss them back at him during a witty back-and-forth-style conversation. He held up his hands. “Okay, fine. I get it. You don’t look like a big tipper and I probably do. If nothing else because my family is well known.”

  “Exactly!” Skye leaned forward in the booth and took his hands. She lightly stroked his knuckles. “And there’s really nothing wrong with that. You’re a good guy. You’re polite. It’s not like you’re asking for special treatment. You just smile at them and they drop at your feet. It’s probably something that’s happened all your life.”

  “Not really.” Jason could not remember feeling as though women just fell at his feet. “They usually go after my brothers. I’m not the one with the real cash. They are.”

  Skye rubbed the pads of her lightly calloused fingers over his knuckles. The touch was electric. He almost couldn’t think straight. Her hands were so soft and inviting. He was tempted to lean across the table and try to kiss her. Would she have allowed that sort of familiarity? It seemed possible. And yet he didn’t want to be that person who expected something for nothing. She was talking about how women fell at his feet. He didn’t want to make her think that he was just expecting her to do the same.

  “You’re so good looking that I cannot imagine anyone ever suggesting you weren’t worth the trouble,” Skye whispered to Jason. “I think you’re the best looking of your brothers.”

  Jason snorted. “Now I know you’re crazy. Or blind. Maybe you’re just blind.”

  “Then if I’m blind I would be feeling my way through this decision,” she told him.

  Before Jason could even process what she was saying, Skye reached out and put her palms on either side of his face. She lightly stroked his cheeks and chin. Her soft hands explored the blade of his nose and the slightly crooked spot where Orion had elbowed him in the face as a child. She stroked the cleft in his chin and then touched his lips. The feel of that contact was absolutely the most erotic thing that Jason had ever experienced. There was no expectation in it. He did not have the sensation that she expected anything of him. It was just the two of them in this one moment in time and that was enough.

  Exhaling very slowly, Jason tried not to be overwhelmed by what he was feeling. “You can do that as much and as often as you’d like,” he whispered. “It feels amazing.”

  “I like touching you,” Skye murmured back. “I think I should probably have my head examined because I think that it’s not a good idea. But I can’t bring myself to stop.”

  Jason decided there was really no point in not telling her the truth. “I don’t want you to stop. I could sit here forever and just let you touch me.”

  “Pet you?” Skye suggested slyly. “Is that what this is like? If you were maybe a little different would I just be sitting here stroking your fur?”

  She spoke so quietly that the words did not travel much past his ears. Jason could not believe that she’d said it out loud. How could she just take that whole thing so calmly? But perhaps that was more than he needed to worry about for the moment. Right now the only thing that he should be considering was what it would be like to have her hands threading through his fur. Would it feel good? Would it be one of those experiences that he would never forget? Would he want to roll onto his back and just lay there beside her forever while she petted him and made him stop thinking about all of the things in his life that just did not seem to be working?

  “Here you go!” Ashley, the smiling, bouncy waitress, set two plates full of food on the table. Most of that food was for Jason, but that didn’t matter. “If you two need anything you just give a shout!”

  “Will do,” Jason said without looking at the blonde waitress. “Thank you very much.”

  The food steamed and smelled amazing but eating it would have required Jason to move and he didn’t want to move. He wanted to stay right here forever. He closed his eyes and felt Skye’s fingertips smooth over his eyelids. The soft touch was mesmerizing. She moved from his eyes up to his eyebrows and then back down to his nose. She brushed his chin and then her hands moved to his ears.

  How had Jason never known that it felt so good to have someone massaging his earlobes? How had he never realized that? The tingle shooting through his body culminated in his fingertips and his toes. If he had been in his wolf form he would have been howling at the sky.

  “Ahem.”

  Great. Was Ashley the waitress standing there again? Couldn’t she just refill the drinks and leave them alone? Jason was about to open his eyes to tell Ashley to go away when he realized that the throat clearing was most definitely coming from a male source.

  Shit. That would be his brother and not the waitress. Whoops!

  “Yeah, little brother. If this is why you called me down here right at the dinner hour I think I’ll just pass and go on back home,” Edward said witheringly.

  Jason grunted. Then he got up from his side of the booth and moved over to sit beside Skye. “No. Have a seat and eat some food if you’d like. I need to talk to you about something else entirely.”

  “Something else entirely?” Edward slid into the seat that Jason had just vacated. “And that would be what?”

  Skye reached over and offered Edward her hand. “My name is Skye Kincaid. It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “The society page reporter?” Edward’s brows shot up as he shook Skye’s hand and simultaneously turned to stare at Jason. “You do have some explaining to
do.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Skye had seen all of the King brothers, of course, but it was a little different being this up close and personal with them. Tisha Olivares-King—despite her self-proclaimed Mexican heritage and the name Olivares—had big bushy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was short and sort of buxom. Mac King had been a bear of a man with swarthy tanned skin, black hair, and dark eyes that had always seemed so very alert that they could be a bit intimidating if you didn’t realize that he was actually quite a nice man.

  “So,” Edward King said as he looked from Skye to Jason. “Let’s talk about why Jason is sitting here nice and cozy with the woman who keeps embarrassing our mother in the pages of the Dallas Star newspaper.”

  “To be fair,” Jason pointed out. “Mother pretty much embarrassing herself. It wasn’t like Skye was the one to make our mother the social media queen of baby diaper poo.”

  “You are correct,” Edward admitted.

  The older brother actually chuckled. It was sort of odd because Edward had his mother’s blond hair and blue eyes. His hair was a little sandier than Tisha’s, but there was no doubt that he had his mother’s coloring. He just didn’t have her physical features. At all. Edward was just as big and broad as Jason and probably a few inches taller as well.

  Skye swallowed and took another swig of iced tea to get rid of the cottony feeling that had taken up residence in her throat. “I’m sorry about that, but when Jason came to me and asked me to keep your mother a bit busy in order to allow you and your brothers a bit of time to settle the estate—so to speak—without your mother interfering I just went with what I had.” Skye held up both hands and hoped that Edward could read the earnestness in her expression. “I promise that I have never said anything about your mother that wasn’t true.”

  There was a very pervasive and lengthy silence at the table. Jason was tense beside Skye and Edward was silent, and it occurred to Skye that she had very likely just said far more than she should have. Except she hadn’t said anything untrue.

  “So,” Edward mused. He leaned back in the booth and slung his arm over the high back as though he were stretching his enormous shoulders. “The media campaign against our mother hasn’t been accidental. Is that what I’m getting?”

  Uh oh. Skye glanced over at Jason. “I thought that you and your brothers were all in on this?”

  Jason pursed his lips. “I don’t feel like there’s anything to be in on actually. I handed you a bit of information and asked you to report it because I felt like it not only needed to be said but because I was hoping to get this estate settled without my mother becoming a total pain in the ass. But, as it turned out, she had already made herself a pain.”

  Edward stared right at Skye and offered her a small smile and a nod. “To be honest, I have to give my brother credit. That’s a pretty brilliant notion. And no. You haven’t said a single false thing about our mother, and the woman certainly does not need help making herself look bad. The viral video episode was certainly not your fault. In fact, I feel like I should offer you an apology for the way she treated you when you were only trying to help.”

  “Oh!” Skye drew back, surprised. “Well I can’t blame her for being too upset with me to accept the offer. She was just a little—uh—rude to the little boy and his mother. Well, and the coffee shop owner. His name is Shawn.” At this point Skye realized that she was rambling and managed to shut herself up. She needed to listen, not speak.

  Edward smiled briefly at Skye before turning to his brother. “Zane told me that Orion and Devon gave you the speech this morning about how they intend to split the company three ways and basically put us on salary because we haven’t been as interested in the business as they have been.”

  “Can you believe that shit?” Jason was obviously fuming about it. He hadn’t said anything to Skye so she couldn’t really decide what was happening. But if she understood correctly, Jason’s oldest brothers were attempting to screw him out of his inheritance. Jason gestured to Edward. “They told me that you were okay with it.”

  Edward shrugged. “There’s still the land. In my opinion that’s the more important thing.”

  “Which is why I called you first,” Jason retorted. He reached for the file folder in front of Skye and pushed it across the table to Edward. “Mother’s bad behavior resulted in her losing a few items of interest. Skye was nice enough to pass the items on to me because I’m a family member and she was just sure that the items would eventually make their way back to Mother.”

  Edward snorted and shook his head. “In the meantime what did you discover? Dirty photos of Tex Johnson on her cell phone?”

  “You knew her phone was missing?” Jason slapped both hands on the table top. “How did you know? She hasn’t admitted that to anyone!”

  “I pay attention.” Edward reached for the folder. “What did you find? Her schedule of manicure and pedicure appointments?”

  Skye almost opened her mouth to explain, but at that point Edward opened the file folder. He took one look at the contracts on top and started cursing low and colorfully. “You have to be freaking joking me!” Edward snarled. He glanced up at Jason and then at Skye. “Where did you get these?”

  “From the real estate agent. Some sleezy guy named Reese Herrera. He’s got an office across the street. The guy claims that he never actually saw Dad, but that he did this entire thing over email and that he’s sure the signatures are real.”

  “Bullshit!” Edward fumed. He slammed his index finger down on the page. “That is not Dad’s signature!”

  “I know that,” Jason assured his brother. “There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Herrera knows it too. He was just going for deniability. So then Skye here suggested to the guy that he had known about a set-up to make it look like our dad had been killed in a hunting accident and the guy went ballistic.”

  “Really?” Edward’s soft tone of voice was almost chilling.

  Skye was nodding. “It was actually pretty disturbing. He started shouting about lawyers and issuing all kinds of threats against us and pretty much anyone else who might have tried to hold the jerk accountable for his actions.”

  “That seems telling,” Edward mused. “I just wish we could get out from under this whole thing and walk away.”

  “What?” Jason looked shocked. “The land too?”

  “No. Not the land.” Then Edward made a face and glanced at Skye.

  Jason glanced at Skye as well. “She knows, Edward. It was complicated. But it’s fine.”

  “You told a reporter?” Edward gaped.

  Okay. So as much as Skye knew that she wasn’t likely to rat them out or tell anyone about their true nature, she couldn’t help but understand why her status in the journalistic sense might be cause for concern. After all, reporters did not have a very good reputation. They were known to sell people down the river just for a story. But who would believe Skye if she started trying to convince people that the King brothers secretly turned into wolves? They would lock her up and throw away the key!

  “She’s safe,” Jason said firmly and calmly. “I promise.”

  “Fine.” Edward shrugged and exhaled a huge sigh. “Maybe it’s all just bullshit anyway. I’ve got almost no interest in our company. I want to do something else. I have a business degree and I speak four languages. I’d rather do something with that. I have a friend—It’s not really important. I just have some other opportunities that I’ve been looking into. That’s all.”

  “And Orion knows this?” Jason seemed absolutely floored. Was it so unusual for a King to go into something other than the family business?

  “Yes.” Edward shrugged. “Mother doesn’t. And I suppose you could say that Dad didn’t either. I never mentioned it. I guess I’ve always been assuming that I would get a payout from the business and from the land and I could somehow make it work.”

  “The land?” Now Jason was openly looking at his brother as though he were nuts. “You can’t be seri
ous. You would give up access to the land? What about…?” Jason’s frown was heavy. “You realize that you would have no place to run.”

  “You’re assuming a lot. First of all, we don’t need to run on that land. You can run anywhere that you like. There’s no rule about it.”

  “Well, yes, but…”

  Edward didn’t let Jason finish. “I don’t want to talk about this. But I do want to talk about what we can do to prevent our mother from totally screwing us all over. All right?”

  “The contracts aren’t valid,” Jason pointed out.

  Skye realized what Edward was getting at. “You’re worried that they’ll move ahead and start clearing and just keep their fingers crossed.”

  “Yes.” Edward nodded. “I think we need to talk to Tex. I want to know if he’s aware of all of this. I need to understand how a man who professes to be my father’s best friend could stab him in the back like this. It might even be Tex’s signature on that line. He watched Dad sign how many documents over the years? What if he’s been signing Dad’s name on other stuff? It’s worth looking into.”

  “All right.” Jason nodded. Then he picked up his burger and took an enormous bite. Skye was glad. He had been saying how hungry he was, but Jason had also been too upset to actually eat. “So then we need to approach the others.”

  “Yes.” Edward exhaled a sign that sounded a bit more irritated than excited about the prospect. “And you know that’s not going to be fun.”

  “No. But I want to talk to them about their inequitable inheritance deal too.” Jason shook his head. He took another enormous bite of his burger. “If they don’t want me to be a part of King Security Solutions, that’s fine. But I’m not just turning everything over to them because they think that they deserve an extra portion. That’s not how it works.”

  “I would agree.” Edward ran his fingers through his hair. He was looking very thoughtful. “What if you got the land and they got the business?”