“I’m sorry,” Dean said. But he couldn’t help but grin. The look on her face was priceless. “Why are you still here?”
Janie looked down at the table as if embarrassed before finally taking a deep breath and meeting Dean’s eyes. “I feel like the people working on this ad campaign for you are totally missing the point. I wanted to put a few ideas together while I had some time to myself.”
“You’re not enjoying the team you were assigned to?” Dean asked, raising his eyebrow at her.
“It’s not that,” Janie stammered. “I’m a team player as much as anybody, but…”
“You work better alone…on creative tasks?”
Janie cringed and didn’t answer, which was enough of an answer for Dean. He admired an independent spirit, but it would be fun to keep her in hot water for a bit. Just to see what she was capable of.
“Well then, let’s see what you’ve come up with,” Dean said, moving to Janie’s side. He could sense her tension, and a hint of another smell, a sweet, familiar, almost musky smell, that enticed him, but he forced himself to pay attention to the task at hand.
“They keep wanting to make you out as this incredible football hero,” Janie said, her voice tense. “But I just don’t think that’s what your image needs right now. Everybody already knows you were a great receiver. And they know your team was the first of its kind. Those are things that are already common knowledge. I just feel like the approach is all wrong.”
“Well, what would you suggest?” Dean asked. He agreed, but he wanted to see her flounder a little bit. Figure out if she really had what it took to speak her mind and get a job done, everybody else be damned. Even him.
“I think you would probably have a higher likelihood at success if you were to show the public something new along with something familiar. Instead of a picture of you kneeling with a touchdown, maybe you should show something a little bit more powerful.”
“Like…?” He liked where she was going with this, but she was taking an awfully long time to get to the point. And he was hungry.
“Um…”
“You know what? Just come with me. I’m starving, and the building is supposed to be empty. I can’t leave knowing somebody is still here.”
“I’m sorry! I…”
“No, it’s fine. You’re showing initiative. I just need you to leave with me. Now. We can talk at the diner.”
“The… Okay.”
“Good.”
Dean walked Janie to the door and led her out of the office building.
“Come on,” he said, climbing into his car. “I’ll drop you off at your car when we’re done.”
“Okay…”
She wasn’t sure about him, he could sense it, but she was even less sure about losing her job. Dean grinned and shook his head as she rounded his car to open the passenger’s side door. In a way, it never got old being able to read people.
“Are you ready?” Dean asked, turning the key once Janie was settled in.
Janie nodded and closed the car door, and suddenly, the whole vehicle was filled with her scent. It was intoxicating, and he glanced at her. The wolf was back to panting, eying the firm mound of her breasts and the gentle expression of her face. Janie didn’t have the same bitchy features or malicious, self-centered energy of most of the women he’d slept with in the past. Being in such a closed off space with her, in the quiet, was surprisingly comfortable.
“Have you been to the diner yet?” Dean asked, speeding down the street. Janie gripped the armrest of her seat and he grinned privately to himself. She was a girl who couldn’t handle the fast lane. He wasn’t sure yet whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“No,” Janie said. “I’m new here.”
“New?” Dean exclaimed. “Then you don’t know any of the good things about this place, do you?”
“Only what I’ve read,” Janie said.
“Well, there’s both good and bad. You know you have to be careful, right? This is a shifter town. If you get too mixed up in shifter business you can get yourself hurt. And you’d only have yourself to blame.”
“I know a lot about shifters, thank you,” Janie said quietly. “I’ve been interested in shifter culture since I was young. I know how to stay out of trouble.”
Dean grinned. Was that so?
“Well, it’s not just wolf shifters you have to look out for. There have been a lot of bear shifters lurking around the place recently. They’re shitty with everybody, human and wolf alike. If you think you see one of them, you’d better just get the hell out of there and don’t look back. You understand?”
Janie nodded without looking at him, worry heavy in her eyes.
“They’re trying to drag my name through the mud. Kiera, my ex, has been getting them to spread rumors about me to make it easier for her to take things from me in the divorce. But otherwise, if you avoid the bear shifters on the outskirts of town, it’s a great place to live,” Dean said, suddenly feeling awkward. He shouldn’t try to burst her bubble like that, right? It wasn’t very nice. She was new there. And so far, she was a better intern than all of the others combined. “You just have to know your way around, that’s all.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Janie said quietly.
Dean sighed heavily. He was great at putting his foot in his mouth. But he was hungry. It hardly mattered. What did matter was getting the hell to the diner before it closed. Who the hell could expect an alpha to carry on a conversation or act rational when he was hungry?
Finally, he rounded the corner and celebrated inwardly when he saw that the lights were still on inside.
“Perfect,” Dean mumbled, whipping into the nearest parking space and opening the door. He could see Maurice through the huge windows, and Maurice spotted him right away. He walked to the door and unlocked it, opening and holding it so that Dean and Janie could walk inside.
“Thank you,” Janie said quietly to Maurice.
Dean exchanged a bemused look with him. It was such a peculiarly human thing to do; thanking someone for doing something they wanted to do. He could understand thanking them for things that were demanded, but not something done willingly by another person. Wolves were unapologetic, and did what needed to be done without needing recognition for it unless the alpha deemed recognition the suitable reward.
“That’s all right, dear,” Maurice said good-naturedly. “You guys just made the cut-off point.”
Maurice winked at Dean, who grinned at his dearest friend. Maurice was an older man, nearly sixty, in fact, and Dean had always looked to him as a mentor. He had made his first dollar at this diner.
Even after he’d made billions of dollars throughout his career, both as an athlete and as an entrepreneur, he would have taken a meal at Maurice’s diner over a five-star restaurant anywhere in the world. In fact, sometimes he had flown in just to have dinner, only to return to Japan or Germany when he had finished.
“I’ll bring you two a menu.”
Dean nodded appreciatively and he and Janie settled into a booth near the door.
“So tell me more about your idea,” Dean said, tucking a napkin into his shirt and taking the menus from Maurice. He handed one to Janie, who held it awkwardly before opening it.
“I know it would be a lot of trouble, but what about a photoshoot?”
“A photoshoot?” Dean asked, looking up from his menu in surprise. He’d always hated being in front of the camera, but somehow, he always found himself there. Whether it was because people saw him as an enigmatic, mysteriously handsome wolf-shifter or he was just too famous, everybody was trying to get a picture with him.
“Hear me out,” Janie said, seeming to sense his displeasure at the idea. “Everybody knows what you did…back in the day. They even know that now you’re doing great things to help make sports safe and accessible for humans and shifters alike. But that’s stuff in the back of their minds that’s so familiar it’s almost numb. I think…”
Janie’s thought was in
terrupted by Maurice arriving at the table with a little pad of paper, ready to take their orders.
“The usual?” he asked Dean, who nodded. “And for you, miss?”
“Oh…”
Janie looked down at the menu, her face and body language the epitome of self-consciousness. Dean had seen it all before, especially with women who had body-image issues. They wouldn’t want to eat in front of him or share an enjoyment of food because they thought he might judge them for enjoying one of the greatest pleasures of the human body. Did she have a problem with those curves of hers? If she had any idea how sexy the wolf seemed to think they were…
“Everything here is amazing,” Dean said, doing his best to smile comfortingly at Janie. “And, of course, I’m picking up the tab. We ought to order one of everything just to show you what Maurice can do in the kitchen.”
“Oh…I would rather you didn’t,” Maurice said with a good-natured laugh.
Janie seemed to relax and smiled up at Maurice. “Surprise me.”
Dean snuck a glance at Maurice, who got a twinkle in his eye. “All right, my dear. A surprise it is.”
Maurice disappeared back behind the counter and Dean’s stomach rumbled. He hated being hungry. It gave him bad memories.
“So what were you saying?” Dean said edgily, impatient to get to the root of Janie’s idea.
“A photoshoot. With a junior team of football players. One that’s integrated. Maybe you could coach for a day or something. It would really drive the point home that you’ve made the world a better place for young shifters and humans alike.”
Dean considered this quietly, and Janie focused her gaze on the salt and pepper shakers in the middle of the table, doing her best not to rush him into any kind of decision. He appreciated her patience. It was rare to find someone who allowed him time to think, particularly in the business world. Most people were eager to get the results they wanted right away. Or a pat on the back for having an idea. It was disgusting.
“I think I like it. But I’m not a big fan of photoshoots. They’re too unnatural. Tell you what. Why don’t you set it up with a local team? I’ll coach for a few weeks and you can have a photographer do their thing. But I’m not posing. It’s too fuckin’ fake.”
Janie brightened up, excitement lighting her clear, beautiful eyes.
“That’s perfect. And actually, I minored in photojournalism, so if you wanted…”
“I wouldn’t have to pay extra for a photographer? We can give it a shot. Get me your portfolio tomorrow morning and I’ll let you know.”
“All right,” Janie said, smiling at him from across the table. Dean couldn’t help but gaze at her; there was something about her he just liked. But he shouldn’t like anyone. Everyone who got close to him either got hurt or hurt him. It wasn’t safe to like anybody.
“Dinner is served!” Maurice said brightly, placing large plates of food in front of Dean and Janie. He smiled at them before retreating, and Dean sighed.
“Finally,” he grumbled, digging into his food. Janie smiled gently at him and followed suit.
He guessed it wasn’t too big a deal to find an intern likeable. It wasn’t like they were going to date or anything. This was business, after all. Besides, she was half his age. Dean allowed himself to relax, and spent the rest of the evening enjoying an impromptu dinner with his new intern. There was no harm. He was fuckin’ hungry.
6.
Janie drove home, her entire body buzzing from the unexpected dinner with Dean. She hadn’t expected him to be so magnetic. He wasn’t very communicative as he ate–he was a little bit gruff, in fact–but it was ridiculously attractive. She didn’t blame the people who had labeled him one of the world’s most handsome men. It was so easy to forget how old he was. Shifter men aged very well.
It was a fact she tried again and again to ignore, but the fact was that she had been hired by one of the men deemed heartthrob of the year. And now, pending his review of her portfolio, she was going to be spending a lot more time with him.
As soon as she walked through the doorway of her motel room, the phone rang.
“So how did your first day of work go?” Leah asked immediately.
“I just had dinner with Dean Resner,” Janie said, scarcely able to believe it herself.
“What?!” Leah squealed. “Tell me all about it!”
Janie sat down on the motel bed and spent the rest of the night telling her best friend about her unbelievable first day of work.
“You’re really making an impression on him!” Leah exclaimed as they were hanging up the phone.
“What do you mean?” Janie asked. It seemed to her that he was the one who made the bigger impression on her.
“I hear he’s really picky about his interns. Doesn’t let them do anything too important. Almost condescending, really. And when he doesn’t like them, he fires them without remorse.”
“Really?” Janie asked, panic welling in her chest.
“Yeah. He would never have asked someone he didn’t trust to go to dinner and be his photographer!”
“He didn’t ask me exactly. It was just-”
“Still,” Leah said. “It’s a pretty big deal! Don’t downplay it like you do every other time you’re accomplishing something huge.”
Janie didn’t know what else to say about it and apparently, that was the end of that, because they were soon saying good night to each other.
Janie showered and lay in bed, her heart fluttering in excitement. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen when she brought him her portfolio, but the evening she had spent with him had left her feeling optimistic.
When she woke up, Janie packed her laptop in her briefcase and headed to Howler Inc. She was surprised when Dean let her into his office immediately. He seemed a lot less distracted than he had been when she had come in for her interview, and in fact, greeted her with a broad, handsome smile that made her heart flutter.
“Good morning,” Dean said, nodding to the chair across from his desk.
Janie sat and immediately began rummaging through her suitcase to pull out her laptop.
“Please forgive me, but I didn’t unpack my portfolio quite yet. I wanted to be sure I would be staying for good.”
“Where are your things?” Dean asked, a puzzled expression on his face. “I thought you were living here now.”
“I have everything in a storage unit on the east side of town,” Janie said, feeling a little bit self-conscious. “I’m staying at a motel until I know for sure if this is the right fit for me.”
A man like Dean Resner was unlikely to understand the trifles of poverty. It seemed embarrassing to admit that she was living out of a motel, especially to her boss, who happened to be one of the wealthiest men in the world.
“A motel? Really?”
Janie was surprised. Instead of looking judgmental, Dean just seemed concerned.
“Yup. It will do for now until I get settled in.”
“That can’t be safe for you,” Dean insisted, frowning. Janie had read before about the protective instincts of shifter men, particularly alphas, but she had never seen it in person before. It was a strange feeling, a man wanting to protect her. Most men in her life had a tendency to run away. Even her own father hadn’t stuck around very long.
“Really, I’m all right. I have a house lined up that I plan to rent. It’s really not a big deal. I’m used to doing things on my own.”
Dean raised his eyebrow, reluctant to drop the subject. “A human woman in a shifter town living in a motel alone. I’m just not comfortable with that. When will you be out of there?”
“I’m not sure…I’d have to get all of my things moved in from storage. So whenever I can find the time.”
“That’s absurd,” Dean said. “Let me help you.”
“What? But you have so much you have to do right now. Helping me move should be the least of your concerns.”
But judging by the look on Dean’s face, he wasn’t going to budg
e.
“I can do it on my own, really,” Janie said, although she could tell the words fell on deaf ears. “Look, these are the pictures I had to take for class. Some of them I did on my own time. If they’re not your style, that’s fine, just let me know and I can try to arrange another photographer to help you out with the project.”
Dean’s dark gaze rested on her for a moment, and she could tell he was still lost in thought, reluctant to let her situation go. Still, there was nothing that could be done right that moment, and Dean sighed.
“Let me see.”
They were quiet for a few moments as Dean clicked through the photographs that Janie had saved on her laptop. Usually, she wasn’t nervous about anything, at least she was fearless professionally, but seeing Dean’s scrutinizing gaze on her work was unnerving. She knew he had an immaculate eye. In fact, Howlers Inc. was decorated with some of the most beautiful artwork she had ever seen. Maybe it had been a mistake to bare her soul to this man without hardly knowing him. Showing him her photography felt somehow too intimate.
“Did you arrange for the coaching sessions?” Dean asked without looking up from the screen. Janie had to take a deep breath before she could answer. Her heart seemed to be beating a million miles per second.
“Yes,” Janie said. “There’s a team very interested in meeting with you as soon as you can arrange it. But they’re patient.”
“Luckily, you had this idea during football season,” Dean said quietly, still mulling over the photographs. Janie prayed he would be done soon; she wasn’t sure how much more of the suspense she could take.
“It’s partly why I thought it would be a good idea to do it this way,” Janie said with a wry smile. “Besides, these are at-risk youth who could really use a good role-model.”
This caught Dean’s attention and he looked up into Janie’s face, his expression somehow startled and vulnerable at the same time.
“What?” Dean asked, his face darkening.
“Well, I got to talking with an inner-city coach. He used his own money to put together this team, for shifters and humans alike, for kids with bad family situations who couldn’t afford activities like this. He’s doing really good things for them. I thought it would be better than standing with a team who already has everything figured out, you know?”
HAMMER (Forsaken Riders MC Romance Book 16) Page 102
