by Alisa Woods
He kissed her forehead again and drew back fast enough that she couldn’t catch him. And she was too tired, too worn out from the world and the sex and everything, to chase after him. She slumped back into the pillow and watched him go through half-lidded eyes.
She tried to keep them open, but they slid shut as he closed her bedroom door.
Her last thought before drifting off was a vague idea that Owen wanted the couch because it was closer to the front door.
He was keeping her safe, even now… just as he promised.
Owen awoke on Nova’s couch.
It took him a moment to sort how that happened. His mind was definitely still thinking about pressing her smokin’ little body up against the door, having some of the hottest sex he’d ever had. In fact, his body was still there, too—he had a raging hard-on even before he blinked open his eyes to the morning sun. For a moment, he lay there, hand on his cock, thinking about her and getting his bearings. She was asleep in the bedroom, right where he left her, and the door was closed. If she came out now, he’d be hard-pressed not to back her right into the bedroom, throw her on the bed, and work off his erection that way.
But that wasn’t what Nova Wilding needed from him.
Which was why he was on the couch, far from the temptation of her sweet, sweet body.
No. He needed to get some breakfast going and come up with a plan to deal with this Wolf Hunter. Last night, Owen had been focused on getting Nova to safety and calming her down. But now in the bright light of morning, he needed a better plan than just relieving the insane sexual tension that was still tenting out his pants.
There was nothing wrong with taking Nova hard and fast against the door. In fact, there were all kinds of right about it. She’d really needed something at that moment, something he was more than willing to give—comfort; the security of someone looking out for her; and a hot distraction to take her mind off the danger.
But she had stirred something more than just his cock last night. Normally, he would say his wolf was calling for her—but this was something different. Something primal, untamed, and very deep inside him. It surged up whenever he kissed her, much less sunk his cock deep inside her hot little body. She was bringing something out of him. Something that should most likely stay buried.
Nova wasn’t looking for a mate, anyway, at least not from him. Which was just as well, because claiming a mate meant shifting and that wasn’t happening. He’d told her the truth about that. No, he needed to keep his cock and whatever was raging deep inside him under better control. Otherwise, he might be more of a danger to her than the Wolf Hunter.
Owen tossed off the small throw that had been his blanket and stretched out his sex-sore muscles on the way to the kitchen. His dress pants were still loose around him, not entirely zipped from the night before, and his cock was still tenting them out. He rubbed his eyes and tried to think of mundane things to tame his erection. He got the coffee pot going. He found the plates and pans for rustling up some breakfast.
Nothing was working.
As he sorted through the refrigerator, pulling out eggs and milk and butter, his mind kept drifting back to last night. The scent of their encounter hung in the air, and that wasn’t helping. His body knew she was sleeping in the next room, just waiting for him. He set the breakfast supplies on the counter and let out a growl of frustration. Then he yanked open the refrigerator door, grabbed a Coke, and held it against his crotch.
Fuck, that was cold. He squeezed eyes tight against it, gritting his teeth, but keeping the Coke in place, until he was sure his blood flow had been permanently chilled.
“You okay?” The voice startled him, and he convulsed in front of the open refrigerator, popping open his eyes and yanking the Coke away from his crotch.
Nova stood in front of him in a long T-shirt that barely covered her ass. Her bed-head hair was all mussed and sticking up, her head was cocked to the side, and she was squinting at him. Sexy as all hell.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that.” He coughed. Unbelievable. He’d been caught with a Coke on his cock. Then again, he wasn’t entirely sure she’d noticed.
She gave him a lazy, sexy smile. “Aren’t you the security guy? I shouldn’t be able to sneak up on you, should I?”
He closed the refrigerator door and held the Coke up like he had planned all along to pull that out for breakfast. Then he wagged a finger at her. “That’s right. And I’ve been thinking—we need a more secure location for you to stay.”
She frowned, but she didn’t seem to grasp what he was saying. “That sounds suspiciously like a decision that requires my brain to function. I require coffee first.”
He smirked. “Just so happens I’ve got some brewing.” He grabbed a mug out of the cabinet, poured her a cup, and then set it on the small breakfast table. She went to it like a starving man goes to a feast, then cradled the cup in her hands and held it up to her face to breathe it in. That look on her face was doing things to his cock again.
He turned away and started making breakfast.
She moaned, drawing his attention back from the crackling and popping of the scrambled eggs in the pan. He gave her a questioning look.
“I am famished,” she said, hungrily eyeing the pan.
“Breakfast coming right up.” He finished the eggs and dished them out. When he brought them to the table, the steam wafted across her face, and she breathed that in, too.
He sat down across from her. Her dark eyes were starting to open more fully, but she was still in that short T-shirt with the mussed hair. She looked too damn good. He could see his way to waking up to that sight every morning.
What the hell? He evicted that thought and kicked its ass on the way out.
Then he scooped a mouthful of eggs into his mouth. “So, as I was saying—”
She held up a finger to stop him, then raked her eyes over his half-dressed body, making him acutely aware that he hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt.
“You know,” she said with a dead-sexy smile, “you really can’t sit there half dressed, feeding me eggs and coffee, and expect me to forget what happened last night.”
He swallowed his eggs and smirked. “I was aiming for unforgettable.”
Her smokin’ hot look in return had him aching to drag her off to bed. He coughed into his hand again and dug his fork into the eggs. “But we really need to talk about what’s happening next.”
She leaned back from her plate, studying him. “Did we, or did we not, have raging hot sex last night?”
He met her gaze. “We did.”
She leaned forward, looking him over again. “Are we, or are we not, going to do that again?”
He smiled. “I couldn’t say. That’s up to you, Ms. Wilding.”
She nodded and bit her lip, looking thoughtful. “This is just between you and me. No one else needs to know, right?”
If that Coke had been pressed to his cock again, he couldn’t have chilled any faster.
“I suppose that’s right.” It shouldn’t bother him that she only wanted a casual fuck… but it did. It should bother him even less that she wanted to keep it a secret—after all, Riverwise wasn’t going to give him an award for seducing his client—but it did bother him. A lot.
Owen got up and carried his plate to the sink, scraping out the rest of the eggs, given his appetite had suddenly taken a vacation. Why was he so worked up? He needed to do his damn job and keep her safe—the rest of it was just trouble waiting to happen.
He turned back to her. “What matters is where you’re going to stay. I promised I’d keep you safe, and I aim to do that. It’s why I’m here.”
She was frowning and biting her lip some more. “Thank you.”
And like that he was back to wanting to haul her off to the bedroom. “It’s just common sense to move you back to the River brothers’ safehouse.”
She shook her head. “I’m not running off to the mountains over this, Owe
n. I can’t. I’ve got a business to run, and we’re about to release the beta. This is the biggest launch we’ve had in years, and that safehouse is what? An hour away? I can’t be commuting back and forth like that—”
He lurched back to the table. “So you prefer being dead?”
She rolled her eyes.
He reached across the table and grabbed her hand. It was soft and warm and small inside his hold, and for the first time, all the anger and the urgency and the heavy need for her fled, leaving behind just a naked fear. That she wouldn’t take this seriously… and that would end up with her dead.
“Nova, please.” He was begging now. “This Wolf Hunter could just be some lunatic… or he could be stirring up dozens of vigilantes. He’s calling for every nutjob in the state to go after shifters. Specifically Wilding pack shifters. Very specifically your father… and you. We’ve got to use our heads about this.”
She pulled her hand away from his, but not before giving him a little squeeze. “I’m not the only Wilding he’s targeting. Sure, there’s been an attack on my father and myself, but all of the Wilding pack, including all my employees at Wylderide, are at risk. What kind of message does it send if I go hiding out in the mountains while leaving it to all of them to keep my father’s business on the rails?”
He scowled. “You’ll give them the message that you have a brain in your head.”
A storm took over her face. “I have plenty of brains in my head. Enough to know that I don’t have to sit here and argue with you.” She rose up from her seat. “I’m taking a shower. And then I’m going to work. If you want to be my bodyguard, you can come along.”
She stomped off to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.
Owen dropped into his chair, then plopped his head into his hands. Could he possibly have fucked that up any more?
He shoved his way up from the chair again, poured himself a cup of coffee, and slugged it down. The truth was, she was smart. And brave. She’d been shook, sure, but a lesser woman would have fallen apart under the circumstances. Unfortunately, smarts and bravery didn’t always add up to a sense of self-preservation. Add in a huge helping of Wilding-flavored stubbornness, and Owen had no idea how he was going to keep her from getting herself killed.
But really, all of that didn’t matter. It was his job to keep her safe. He’d just have to find a way to do it, regardless.
Nova had her battle gear on in more ways than one.
She stomped into the Wylderide office in her special ops gear uniform from the upcoming release of Domination: AfterPulse. She’d worn the custom outfit before, but it was relatively new, so she still caught some glances on the way in. But the curious faces quickly ducked down below their cubicle walls when they saw the storm brewing on her face.
Goddamn Owen.
The man was driving her insane… and also following her like a shadow, silent and three steps behind, as she marched through the office. He was overprotective and insanely hot, but that crack about her not being smart about this threat from the Wolf Hunter… she wanted to fire his ass and send him packing back to Riverwise.
Only she needed him.
And not just because her lady parts were still happily sore from their wild sex against her front door. She needed his protection to make sure she didn’t actually do something stupid with this. Because the truth was, she was terrified… the terror had nearly made her collapse the night before. It was only Owen’s steady, commanding care—not to mention the hot sex—that had gotten her through it.
I know just what you need.
His words still made her hot. And frustrated. And want to ball up her fists and pound on something. Because he was asking her to drop everything and run off to some secret hideaway in the mountains that the River pack kept. The three River pack brothers who ran Riverwise, the private security company Owen worked for, had done a lot of great things for the Wilding pack, and she was sure they would welcome her—the problem was exactly as she told Owen.
She had a company to run.
Nova made a bee-line for her office. She stopped at the door and turned to face Owen behind her. His expression was still set on Stony Scowl Mode. He’d been silent ever since they had fought in her kitchen earlier this morning. She could see his jaw muscles flex, but he said nothing.
She glared at him, then wrenched open her door and fled inside. She managed to not slam the door, but once it was shut, and Owen and his hot scowl were outside, she slumped against the door and wondered what on earth she was doing.
She didn’t want to fight with him. He’d been nothing but kind to her before the crack about her brains, or lack thereof. And she knew almost nothing about him except that he’d saved her life and her sanity once apiece this week already. She shouldn’t be so ticked off by one comment. She shouldn’t care about him at all. Sure, he was insanely hot and the sex was scorching, but it wasn’t like she planned to take him for a mate. Which only made her think about that cryptic comment he made when he had her up against the office window—can’t have a mate, anyway. Who was this Owen character? Why couldn’t he have a mate? And how did he slip under her skin so easily?
She jumped when someone pounded on the door she was leaned against and just barely got out of the way before it shoved open.
It was Brad.
Great. She stepped back and just caught the look of fury on Owen’s face before Brad shut the door.
“Nova,” Brad breathed out as he pulled her into his arms. He held her tight. Too tight.
She struggled to get out of his hold, and it took him a moment to release her.
“Jesus, girl, you can’t just not answer your phone like that!” He frowned as she backed several steps away. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m under no obligation to return your calls.” God, she was fuming at Brad now, too. What was wrong with her?
“I was worried about you.” His scrunched-up expression looked hurt. Then he glanced back at the closed door. “What’s going on with the bodyguard? He’s more of a pain in the ass than normal. Do you want me to get rid of him? Because I’d like to do that anyway.”
Nova rubbed a hand across her forehead. “No, it’s not Owen’s fault. Well, it is, but…” Oh, God, what a mess. “He annoys me sometimes, but he’s just doing his job.”
Brad stepped toward her. “There are other bodyguards. You’re under enough stress as it is, you don’t need this asshole—”
“No!” It came out too harsh. She reined it in. “Owen stays. He… took care of me last night. He stayed over.”
Brad’s eyes went a little wider, then he looked her over.
She didn’t like his scrutiny, so she turned away and strode to her desk. “What do you want, Brad?”
“The bodyguard stayed over?” he asked, brow furrowed.
Shit. “Yes, he stayed over. I was scared, all right? That video freaked me out.” She kept her head down, tapping open her screen and pulling up her email. Maybe if she ignored him, he would go away.
He didn’t. Brad strode to her desk, then braced his hands on it, leaning across it and forcing her to look at him. “You fucked the bodyguard,” he said with wide eyes like he could hardly believe it.
“Oh, for God’s sake!”
“You did.” There was amazement in his voice, then a dark storm gathered on his face.
She shoved a finger at him. “It is none of your business who I sleep with!”
Seventeen emotions crossed Brad’s face before he finally settled on a deep scowl. “You and I both know that’s not true.” His voice was deadly calm, and that was what unsettled her the most. “Tell me he didn’t claim you.”
“What? Jesus, Brad.”
“Tell me.” His face was stone cold.
“He did not claim me. God.”
“I want him out of your apartment. And out of Wylderide.” His voice was icy with determination. “Today.”
She gave him a what the fuck? shake of her head, spee
chless for a moment. “What makes you think you can tell me what to do? I’m the boss around here. I’m the alpha’s daughter. So how about you get your subversive ass out of my office before I fire you?” She swept a hand toward the door.
But he didn’t. He bit his lip, stared at the carpet, then slowly came around her desk to face her. “You’re the boss, Nova—on the game, in the office, all of it. But not the pack. And you know that. I made a vow to look after you like your father would—because I was his beta, and that’s what betas do. You know I want you. You’ve known that for… well, ever since you were old enough to figure it out. Maybe you don’t want me. Maybe you’ll pick someone else. But for God’s sake, Nova, don’t pick someone outside the pack.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she couldn’t look him in the face. Because he was right. Mating outside the pack would tear it apart—and Wylderide with it. It was the opposite of what she was supposed to be doing.
She just shook her head. Tears she didn’t want came unbidden to her eyes.
Brad’s hand slid across her shoulder to gently rub the back of her neck. “I know you’re scared. I couldn’t sleep last night, I was so worried about you. But this whole Wolf Hunter thing has to blow over soon. Until then, please, Nova, just lie low—”
“I’m not going to hide up in the mountains!” She shoved his hand off.
“The mountains?” Brad’s brow wrinkled up in confusion.
“Owen wants me to run off to Riverwise’s safehouse.”
Brad scowled. “I’m sure he does.”
“It’s not like that,” she growled. But then she thought of doing exactly that—running off with Owen and hiding out in the mountains, secluded, just her and Owen’s hot body. A flush ran through her, and she was shocked how much she yearned for that fantasy to come true—to leave everything, all her responsibilities, behind and play with a sexy shifter. It was completely irresponsible, and that was probably why she ached for it. She sucked in a breath and pushed that thought aside. “Owen wants me to stay away from E3 next week, as well as the Finals Tournament in a couple days—”
