“I hit my head?” It was a question.
“Cat Scan was negative.”
“Narcolepsy?”
“Falling asleep is not the same as being unconscious. I have to admit though, you’re getting better.”
“Sleep walking!”
Janet laughed, the thought of a man walking from his home to the inner city naked flashed in her mind. “That doesn’t even deserve a comment.”
Max leaned forward and captured her hand. His fingers traced the back of it sending a tingle up her arm. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
“No, and you’re changing the subject.” Janet tried to ignore her body’s signals. The fast beat of her heart made her head dizzy. What had she asked him?
“All right, Miss O’Brien, if you really must know, I work for the FBI. Last night I was working undercover.”
Janet shook her head and removed her hand from his. “You really aren’t going to tell me, are you?”
“I really don’t think you’d believe me.” Their breakfast arrived, and Max dug in.
Although hungry, Janet stared at him instead of eating. “Are you into something illegal?”
He wiped his mouth and leveled his sober eyes to her. “No.”
It was the first honest answer she’d heard. Why she believed him she would question later, but for now, it was enough. He had his secrets, but hell...who didn’t? “Fine, for now.”
His dimples peeked through, his eyebrows raised. “Do you want to drive back when we’re done?”
Janet felt her mouth gape again. “You’re kidding?”
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“Oh, no you won’t.” She snatched the keys he had laid on the table and stashed them in her purse.
“You don’t mind if we take the long way do you?”
Max laughed and stuffed a forkful of eggs in his mouth.
****
With sunglasses shading her eyes, Max couldn’t read her thoughts. But if he had to guess, she was just this side of ecstasy. She chose a mountain road where the grace of his sports car easily handled the winding path.
It amazed him how comfortable he was while she drove. If her father drove a racecar, then the man must have shown her everything he knew. Max hated to admit it, but she almost drove the car better than he did. Almost.
“I take it you like the car.”
She removed her eyes from the road and glanced his way. “You’re brave to allow a virtual stranger to drive her.”
“You took a chance and drove me home. I’d say you’re the one with guts. This is only a car.”
Janet nodded and murmured her agreement.
Max noticed the street sign. They were a long way from his house. “Where are we going?”
“My place, to pick up a few things. I have some errands to run before I head home.”
“Ah huh.” Max smiled, and turned his attention to the road again. “It won’t hurt to show off a Ferrari to your neighbors.”
She shot him a surprised look, and then laughed. “They wouldn’t believe me if I told them.”
Janet let out a sigh when she turned the corner. The mountains downsized to hills as they drove. In spring that meant wildflowers. “Look at that.” She pointed to a hillside covered in poppies. “Mind if we stop?”
“Not at all.”
The road widened out, and Janet pulled off and into a vista viewpoint. They hopped out of the car and walked over to the rail. Max watched her stretch her arms over her head. She stifled a yawn, but he could see the night catching up with her.
“You don’t see that every day.” She leaned over the rail, her tight jeans kept his attention much more than the flowers.
“No, you don’t.”
She turned around and peeled the sunglasses off her face. Her smirk told him she knew he wasn’t talking about the view of the hills.
With her eyes glued to his, Max moved closer and stepped into her personal space. Janet’s gaze moved to his lips, she sucked in a small breath.
Max placed one hand to each side of her, boxing her in. Brave, she didn’t move away. His breath mingled with hers, he spoke against her lips in a whisper. “Your mouth is so full, so moist. It screams to be kissed.”
Her tongue darted out. Her teeth caught it before it disappeared inside. The thought of her catching something else in those teeth made his blood boil. She lifted her chin in invitation. Max wasn’t about to ask twice.
He lowered his lips to hers. She tasted sweet with a hint of spice. Her lips were pliable, a gentle nudge, and they opened for his tongue to explore. He kept his hands on the rail and pushed his body against hers.
Static electricity surged through him, more than that, his body heated, shuddered. Her scent filled his mind and erased all rational thought. He stopped thinking of Gorman, of the impromptu date with Janet, or of the fact that he stood on the side of the road, laying claim to a woman he’d just met.
All Max wanted to do was claim. Claim this woman as his after one kiss.
He pulled back in disbelief. His family told him long ago that when he found his soul mate the effect of only a kiss would knock him back.
Dear God, that was exactly what her kiss had done. He let out a deep groan and crushed his lips back to hers. Her hands lifted to his chest and fanned out in his hair and on his neck. Her breasts strained against him, his arms wound around her and gathered her close.
Moment by moment he felt her essence fill his head, burning into his system. Burning into his life. Her body molded perfectly to his.
A car sped around the corner. The driver hit the horn while a passenger yelled out the window, “Get a room!”
She drew back. His lips no longer stuck to hers, but their bodies still pressed intimately together. Her breasts pushed against his hard torso with the rapid rise and fall of her chest.
“We should go,” Janet suggested.
Reluctantly, Max stepped away but kept her hand in his on the short walk to the car.
****
They both kept their thoughts to themselves on the drive to her house. Max searched for a reason for her to stay within arms’ reach. If nothing else, he would count on seduction as a tool. He didn’t like the dishonesty of it, especially on someone he knew he would have a future with, but he had little choice.
Gorman sized her up at the hospital. He would come after her, and Max had a whole new set of reasons to keep her safe.
His thoughts turned to her kiss and the way she felt in his arms. He glanced her way through lowered lids and darkened sunglasses. Her blonde hair glistened in the sun. The way her hands stroked the wheel of his car invited his brain to imagine her holding him.
Janet turned into a small driveway of a bungalow-style house in the hills of Sunland. “I’ll only be a minute.” She tossed him the keys after turning off the ignition. “I’m starting to hit a wall. You should drive back.”
Max stepped around the car and took her hand in his.
A half smile lifted the corner of her mouth.
“Quiet neighborhood,” he said as they walked toward her front door.
“Yeah, this part is. Over a few blocks is a little noisy.”
They climbed the steps together and then Max smelled Gorman’s lingering scent and stopped. Max pushed Janet behind him, and reached for the small revolver he had in a leg holster.
Janet stumbled when Max abruptly stopped moving. The sudden appearance of a gun stunned her silent and sent a prickle of alarm through her entire body.
“Stay behind me,” he whispered in a deadly voice.
Her gaze moved from the gun, to Max’s face. Her internal alarm bells were ringing. “What is it?” she whispered.
“Shhh.”
Slowly, Max eased the front door open. To her dismay, it gave under a gentle push. Why is my door unlocked? She never forgot to lock the door when she left home.
The alarm bells raged into big red fire truck levels inside her head.
Max crouched and sniffe
d the air. What the hell?
He tossed his sunglasses to the porch and Janet watched his eyes literally swirl. The deep blue, which had mesmerized her earlier before his kiss, turned to a deathly grey. She blinked twice. How does he do that with his eyes?
When the door opened wider, Max stood tall, keeping the gun in front of him while he entered the house.
A tornado must have unleashed her fury in Janet’s living room. Her couch lay upside down, her lamps thrown to the ground and broken. Every drawer and cabinet had been carelessly tossed open and its contents dumped.
Tears stung her eyes, her back teeth ground together. Janet stood frozen in place, while Max moved forward and searched the rest of house.
I’ve been robbed.
She picked up a lamp and placed it on an end table.
The remote control to the television sat upside down by her foot. As she absent-mindedly picked it up, she glanced over to her 42-inch flat screen.
Who would rob my house and not take my new TV?
Even the CD’s were scattered on the floor.
Janet scanned the room. Everything was there, only torn and broken. Panicked, she ran to her bedroom, and found clothes strewn everywhere. She lifted the mattress and retrieved her mother’s box. “Thank God,” she whispered, crushing it to her chest.
“What is it?” Max stood in the doorway and tucked his gun away.
“My jewelry. It’s not much but it’s still here.” It was the only thing she had left of her mother. To Janet, the contents of the box were priceless.
She sat on the edge of the bed and shook her head. “I don’t get it. I don’t see anything missing. Who would do this and not steal anything?”
Max sat beside her and draped his arm over her shoulders. The comforting movement had her shaking, the tears started to flow.
“It’s okay,” he murmured.
She buried her head in his shoulder. His hand stroked her hair while he spoke words of comfort.
As the tears dried up, Janet pulled away. “I should call the police.”
Max followed her to the phone, his mind ticked off the facts as he knew them. Gorman had been there. Max knew he’d be back. But why had the bastard trashed her place? It wasn’t his MO.
Janet picked up her phone, but before dialing, she played her messages.
Max was surprised to hear her voice on the player. The message to herself made him smile despite the severity of the situation.
She avoided his eyes. “I didn’t know if you were a serial murderer.”
“You’re very resourceful.”
“Hey, baby girl…” the male voice boomed into the recorder.
“My dad,” Janet explained.
“I’m going out of town for a few days. There’s a car show in Vegas I’m going to check out. Be a good girl and watch Cat for me. Oh, and water your mom’s roses, too. Love you.”
“Your dad’s cat is named Cat?”
A little lift of her lips made him happy he asked.
“What self-respecting bachelor owns a cat? She showed up one day and he didn’t have the heart to take her to the pound. He tries to pretend she isn’t his.”
Janet’s smile fell. Max watched her stare at the machine.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“The light wasn’t blinking.”
“What?”
“The light blinks to let me know there are new messages, it wasn’t blinking.” She turned to him and grabbed his arm. “Someone listened to my messages. Why?”
Max bit back a curse. “Call the police, Janet.”
****
Within a couple of hours, the police filled out their report. They took pictures and asked question.
“Miss O’Brien, do you have any enemies who would do this?”
“No. No one.”
The officers exchanged glances. “Whoever did this wasn’t after financial gain.”
“That’s obvious, since they didn’t take anything,” Janet said.
“What we have to assume is the perp was after you.”
“Me?” Janet almost screamed the word. “Why me?”
The police officers didn’t answer, instead they asked, “Is there somewhere you can stay for a few days while we run our investigation?”
“I could stay with my dad.”
The cop doing most of the talking put away his notepad and pen. “Good. It wouldn’t be wise to be alone until we know more about who did this, and why.”
Janet shook her tired head. “My dad is out of town. If I stay at his house I’ll still be alone.”
The officers exchanged an uncomfortable look.
Max cleared his throat. “Miss O’Brien will be staying with me.”
Max’s statement put her back. “I can’t impose on you.”
He smiled, his jaw twitched. “It isn’t like I don’t have a spare room.”
She knew she shouldn’t take him up on the offer, but the thought of being alone had her scared more than she cared to admit. “Are you sure?”
“I insist.” He squeezed her hand and Janet felt too tired to resist.
The police gathered their things and started for the door. “Okay then, we’ll get in touch with you tomorrow.”
“Go pack a bag,” Max told her. “I’ll finish up here.”
****
They arrived at Max’s estate after three.
He carried her bag and led her to a room across the hall from his. “You’re exhausted.”
Janet rubbed her swollen eyes and agreed. “I need a few hours sleep.”
Max massaged her arms with his hands. The act brought a smile to her face. “Everything you need should be in the bathroom. Do you want something to eat before you turn in?”
“I couldn’t eat anything now. Can you wake me by six? Otherwise, I won’t sleep tonight. Graveyard has a way of screwing up your sleeping patterns.”
He knew that from firsthand experience. Max didn’t express his thoughts however; instead, he agreed to act as her personal alarm clock.
He left her alone and went to find his brother. They had a lot to do and little time to do it. There was only five hours until the moonrise.
Five hours until he changed.
Chapter Four
He found Richard in his office. A monitoring system, like the one in Max’s bedroom dominated the back wall.
Max walked in to find Richard taking aim at the room where Janet was getting dressed for bed.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Richard turned at the sound of his voice, then swung back to the monitors. “Surveillance.”
Max crossed over and hit a button on the wall. A full size bookshelf descended over the monitors and effectively hid all evidence of their existence. The thought of his brother’s eyes on Janet’s bare skin boiled his blood.
He didn’t think himself a possessive Were, but today he was. Janet was his.
“She’s not for your eyes,” he growled. The warning behind his words vibrated in the back of his throat.
“Someone’s a bit touchy.” Richard took a seat on the large leather couch and crossed an ankle over his knee. “Who is she?”
Max stopped at the liquor cabinet and poured himself a drink. “Her name is Janet. She’s our next assignment.”
Richard’s brow shot up in surprise. “You brought her here?”
“I didn’t have a choice. Gorman knows I have her. This is the only place to keep her safe.”
“Does she know about him?”
“No. When I took her home from breakfast, we found her place trashed. Gorman’s scent permeated like week old produce. He didn’t take anything other than information.”
“Why trash her place? It doesn’t sound like him.”
“I think it was his way of goading me.”
Richard sent him a questioning look. “Does she know about you?”
Max tipped the remainder of bourbon down his throat. He savored the burn. “I just met her, Richard. What do you think? I go
around telling everyone I turn into a wolf three nights a month?”
“She’s going to figure it out pretty damn fast once the sun sets.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” He slammed his glass on the desk. He seldom cursed his affliction. But today he wished he was anything but a werewolf.
“You should get some rest. It has been a long night. We wouldn’t want Gorman to catch you sleeping.”
“He wouldn’t dare try and invade here.”
“His pack is growing, Max. Ever since we took out their last leader, Gorman is sporting for the top position. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
Max flopped onto the couch next to his brother, his head tilted back. “It would help if you took the change.” Richard had yet to take the change and still walked the nights of the full moon on two feet.
Becoming a werewolf was a choice for the members of the Ritter family. A choice Richard wanted nothing to do with.
Richard lifted a hand in the air. “We’ve gone over this. Someone needs to cover your ass every month.”
“I can’t let him get to her.”
Richard nodded toward the door. “Sexy little thing, I imagine he wants her for a mate.”
“Over my dead body,” Max’s voice was deadpan, his expression firm.
“Whoa, wait up. Since when do you take assignments so literally? We try to keep him from turning people. Never do you risk your life for them.”
“She’s different.”
Richard rolled his eyes. “If you say so.”
“I mean it, Richard. She’s mine, he can’t have her!”
“Slow down, you just met her, remember?”
Max leaned forward, debated with how much to tell his brother. “She’s not just another assignment. She’s mine.”
Richard shrugged. “If you say so.”
“I say so.”
Richard had the good sense to change the subject. “How did you meet her anyway?”
“She was my nurse in the E.R..”
“You ended up in the hospital?” Richard sat forward. “Are you hurt?”
Max rolled his eyes. “Please! My shift must have been too much after the fight.
I remember feeling lightheaded as dawn broke and then I blacked out.”
Before the Moon Rises (Ritter Werewolves) Page 3
