Aiden was clearly the newest addition to that lot.
Stop! She admonished herself. He is your boss and you will not go down that road with him.
She took a bite of her hotdog to stop herself from drooling over the man. His curved, long legs were accentuated by the kind of strong masculine ass that would make any woman weep and disrobe without question. The black suit he had chosen that day was carried off by the rose pink tie that blew lightly on the breeze. Both of which were a testament that his self-confidence far surpassed any need to have his ego soothed. And Lord knows his swag was more than enough to feed a thousand man army.
“Are you going to take him home and fuck him?” Jim asked, breaking through her lust session with his crass question. His eyes followed hers as she gobbled up the image of Aiden walking away, and his question was a valid one. She turned and glared at Jim more out of embarrassment than anger.
“What?” he asked laughing at her hopelessness. “You better or I most certainly will.”
She swatted him across the shoulder and turned back to Aiden who had stopped to talk to someone. She watched him as he walked through the revolving doors at the front of the building. He entered backwards, and from where she stood she could see a flash of lust in his eyes as he stared at her again. She quickly looked away, gazing down at the black shirt he wore beneath his suit. All she could think of in the seconds before he disappeared behind that glass, was that he must have some seriously gorgeous abs beneath that.
Was he even a single available man? Women must be throwing themselves at him. The truth was that she did not care whether he was romantically engaged or aspiring to become a monk. She wanted him and she would have him.
“I suggest you stay away from that half-breed if you want to avoid trouble,” said a gruff voice behind her that just interrupted her moment.
“Excuse me?” she said to the man who wore the motorcycle cut of one of the most troublesome gangs in town. Most other motorcycle crews were called ‘clans’ because they represented a brotherhood or sisterhood that stood for something. The cut this one wore was from a group called a gang, because racist, sexist and ignorant were just some of the nicest words that could be used to describe them.
“I said, if you know what is good for you, then you stay away from him.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “What crime is this one guilty of now? Since you and your crew go about this city accusing people of basically the sin of being born.”
The man stepped up to her menacingly. “You listen to me carefully. We will be keeping an eye on you because any woman who beds a half-breed is just as much an abomination we will wipe from the face of the earth.”
He spoke the last words up in her face and the stench coming from his mouth made her gag. “I think you should go brush your teeth and wipe your stinking breath from the face of the earth before you try to tackle any other problems.”
The insult landed a solid punch and the red of anger that crept into the man’s face made her want to hightail it. She took a few steps back from him, not wanting to turn her back to a potential threat. but then she walked right into the solid frame and a familiar scent...Aiden.
“Do we have a problem here?” Aiden asked the man as he rested a hand on her hip where she stood before him.
“Yeah, stinking half-breed. You are the problem. If you defile another human woman I will make sure you end up just like your brother.”
Anna didn’t know what really was going on, but the words the man spoke angered Aiden. He stepped in front of her. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”
“Aiden, let’s go,” she said pulling on his hand and trying to get away from the crowd that had just gathered. “He isn’t worth it.”
She pulled on his hand but he did not seem to notice her there.
“I said I will make sure you end up just like your dead broth-“
The rest of the word the man was about to say did not leave his lips as Aiden swung upward in one powerful swing. In slow motion the man lifted off the ground and went flying backward into the hotdog cart. Jim managed to dart out of the way just in time, but his cart was not so lucky. The flimsy frame crumbled under the weight of the man falling on top of it.
“I will make you a promise, you scum,” Aiden said bending over the man who was scurrying to his feet. "You touch a hair on her head and I will make sure you meet your maker before you have time to repent for ever being born.”
“I will get you back,” the man hollered as he ran off.
“I look forward to it,” glowered Aiden. The man couldn’t hear him, but she did. Even then the look in his eyes told Anna that he was very serious. Though she had many questions about what the man meant by half-breed and defiling a human girl, she didn’t ask. It was neither her place nor the appropriate time.
“Are you okay,” Aiden turned to her, his eyes softening.
“Yes,” she said looking at his hand that was bleeding from the power of the blow he had just landed.
“I will be fine,” he said smiling and straightening his suit. He turned to Jim and pulled a wad of cash from his pocket. “I am sorry about your cart.”
“It’s okay man,” Jim said. “I know what they did to your brother. My cart is insured.”
Aiden patted his shoulder and handed him the cash. “Here is five grand. I am sure it will cover the damage and then some.”
Jim tried to protest but Aiden wouldn’t have it, and when he was done he turned to Anna as if to say something. She waited, but all he did was look at her with sadness in his eyes and sighed before walking off.
“What did that man mean by half-breed?” she asked Jim.
Her friend looked at her in shock. “You really don’t know?”
“No,” she said looking towards where Aiden was disappearing into the building.
“Aiden and his entire motorcycle crew are shifters. Bear shifters and the Tribe gang killed his brother three years ago for that very reason.”
“No!” she exclaimed in horror.
“Yes,” Jim said coming to stand beside her. “The gang has dangerous people and they don’t like human girls who sleep with the bears so be careful.”
“I am not sleeping with him,” she protested.
“Not yet,” Jim said with a knowing smile. “Just be careful.”
“I have to go,” she gave Jim a peck on the cheek and drew herself back to the present.
She rushed into the building meaning to apologize to Aiden for what had happened, but he was already busy. Their eyes met through the glass of his office and he looked at her apologetically. For a moment she just stood looking, wanting to say something, but unsure of what she should say.
“Hey!” Kelly came up to her. “I have been looking for you. There is a problem with one of our accounts.”
She reluctantly drew her eyes away from Aiden and instead focused on the job he had hired her for. She hoped she would get a chance to talk to him. She had this urge to go be by his side, and nothing could shake it. Later when her day calmed down he was already gone. But as she made her way home five bikers from the Tribe gang followed her. She changed her mind and decided to go back to the office. There were rooms beside the gym downstairs where she could sleep. Luckily she always had two changes of clothes there for the days she worked out before work.
She didn’t exactly like the idea of leaving the comfort of her home because of a group of men. However, safety came first and so she would make sure she stayed out of harm’s way.
Chapter 3
Aiden was steaming with anger as he left the office that day.
“Hey Hank!” He called to one of the plain clothes security forces he had employed since his brother’s death.
“Sir?” The man jogged over to him.
“I need you to get a couple more guys and work overtime tonight. Make sure Anna is safe. I think those motorcycle guys might go after her.”
Hank smiled. “Already ahead of you on that sir, but what about you?”
With that he rode off. He broke every speed limit as he made his way to Jeanette's bar to meet up with the others. He had tried his best to move on from his brother’s death but it had not been easy. The Tribe was still a reminder of how cruel people could be. And they were making it particularly difficult for him today.
“Your hand?” Carrie, Brian’s wife asked him as she served him a beer.
“I am fine,” he said coming off harsher than he intended.
“What happened?” Brian asked. Aiden related the events of his day.
“You have to make sure she is protected Aiden,” Carrie told him. He could see her reliving the day the Tribe bikers had set Jeanette's bar afire with her inside.
“I know,” he said. He explained he had beefed up security for her.
“Isn't she the one you have a thing for?” Jackson asked. He nodded.
“I like her way too much to put her in danger so I am going to just stay away from her. I have seen what the fact that we are shifters can do to the people we love.”
The others were silent but Jackson didn't leave him alone. “Truth is Aiden, we are allowed to be happy and we can't let a bunch of arrogant and ignorant men take our joy away. She is also safest with you now that they know you have a thing for her. Now more than ever you should make sure you are by her side.”
He thought about that for a moment and decided he was right. He hung out in the bar playing a few pool games to calm himself down before he decided to go. He watched Carrie and Brian, the epitome of what a perfect couple was. Tyler and Mary couldn't get enough of each other either. All the love blooming around him made him nostalgic for a love like that of his own. They were entitled to love and that was the truth. The only problem was that the Tribe was making it hard for them in this town.
Picking up his phone he called Hank. “Where is she?”
“At the office sir,” Hank said.
He was shocked. “Why?”
Hank chuckled. “She is smart. When she left work earlier a group of tribe bikers followed her out. We stayed close enough should they try anything. That was when she realized they were following and turned back to the office. I guess she figured with the rooms and twenty-four hour security here she would be safer.”
Aiden was fuming again. “But she can't stay there forever.”
“I know sir. Maybe we can find some other arrangement for her until this blows over.”
He sighed. “I will be there in a few. Has she eaten? Do you know?”
“I think she ordered some Chinese or something.”
“Okay, hold the delivery until I get there. Don't let anyone in.”
He hung up and ordered some of Jeanette's spicy wings to go along with the food. Explaining to his clan what was happening just in case he would need them, he rode out and back to the office. Hank met him downstairs with the food and he took it up to her. If the conversation went the way he was hoping it would, he would put her up in a nice hotel for a couple weeks. That would have to do until he and the clan figured out how to deal with these idiots.
He would not have another person he cared about dying on his watch.
Not again.
* * *
To get out of the foul mood the bikers had put her in, she decided to make use of the fact that she was the only one in the office. The gym was hers to work out as much as she wanted to and that was what she did. For an hour she poured herself into sweating and thinking. Aiden was a shifter, what did that mean really. When she had just moved to this town she had found out that shifters existed. Then she had been told that the bar a few streets down was where they hung out mostly. Never did she think she would have ever met one, let alone get the hots for one.
It didn’t change anything for her though; in fact it made her want him even more. Then there was the anger at the mention of his brother’s death. Now she remembered how three years earlier the self-made millionaire’s family had been the centre of the news cycle. His brother had been shot twice in the chest after he had been leaving college one evening. He was just twenty-four and on the verge of an excellent career as a doctor. Now she knew that the Tribe had been responsible for that. The spate of reprisal killings that had followed now made sense to her.
Clearly Aiden was a man of much more than meets the eye and she felt something more for him in that moment. She felt like she was driving herself crazy, so she decided to take a shower and go do some work. Donning a pair of slacks and a comfortable T-shirt, she walked barefooted to the elevator. She buried herself in work, completely forgetting the food she had ordered earlier.
Anna buried herself into the work that had been left on her desk. She tried to forget everything else around her once again. It was not until a familiar voice disrupted her quiet that she was reminded of the food that had yet to arrive.
“Do we pay you so much that you want to dedicate your nights to your job?” Aiden asked her. She looked up into the grey eyes belonging to Aiden and her heart skipped a couple beats. Her jaw went slack at the sight of him in a v-neck white shirt and comfortable slacks. He looked dashing and laid back. A side to him she had never seen before.
“No you don’t,” she responded when she remembered her words. “Consider this my hopeless case of not having a life.”
“Or are you just here because the bikers gave you a scare?”
She looked at him shocked. “Hank told you? I saw them following me too.”
“Observant aren’t you?” he asked with a smile.
“Yes,” she replied. “And observant enough to have figured out that you are a shifter and that is why the Tribe hates you so much.”
He chuckled. “Does this belong to you?” he asked as he pulled a bag of food from behind him and her stomach rejoiced.
“Yes,” she said and he stepped into her office and rested it on her desk. “Thank you,” she whispered smiling up at him. He smelled like fresh air and cucumbers. A combination of scents that was simply intoxicating to her.
“No problem. I saw the delivery man pacing in circles in the parking lot. He was no doubt worried he would have to pay for his food out of the pittance he earned. I saved him the trip up.”
“Or did you have Hank take the delivery so no strange man could come in here?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
He laughed. “I forgot for a moment how smart you were. Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” she really did think it was sweet of him to pay such close attention and she was grateful.
“I have another sleeping arrangement for you if you are interested,” he said and waited for her to look at him.
“Let me hear it.”
He smiled loving the way she was cautious about herself. “The Marriott down the road has excellent security and is close by. I want you to stay there until I deal with this situation.”
“How are you going to deal with it?” she asked not wanting violence on her behalf.
“However it needs to be dealt with,” he said flatly and she knew that was the end of that conversation.
“How much do I owe you then?” she asked reaching for her wallet. She turned her head back to him when he did not answer and saw him smiling down at her. He was hotness personified even when he was not trying to be. His grey eyes melted into the cover of the black and white ensemble he wore. And his lips seemed to barely move as he answered her.
Bearly Christmas Page 152
