by Paige Tyler
She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “Maybe we could try and see how things work out with us? I think it would be different with you.”
He cupped her face in his hand. “I think it would be different too. But I’d rather find the right place and time to ease into this slowly. I don’t like the idea of Kos or Liam or Frasheri walking in here when we’re in the middle of something good. So why don’t we leave this pot on to simmer for a while?”
She hadn’t even thought about someone walking in on them. Eric was right. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t disappointed.
Eric weaved his fingers into her long hair and pulled her close to give her a long, lingering kiss that left her wanting more. And soon.
If she didn’t leave now, she might not have the strength to.
She reluctantly got to her feet, then offered him a hand. He took it and walked with her to the door.
“I’ll see you later?” she asked.
He grinned, his blue eyes twinkling. “Count on it.”
Jayna went up on her toes to give him another kiss, then slipped out of his room and hurried downstairs. Megan must have heard her coming because her friend opened the door before Jayna could even knock.
“Well?” Megan asked with a grin that would make the Cheshire cat proud. “Did you have fun?”
Jayna laughed. Considering that Megan wasn’t much more experienced with guys than Jayna, she was certainly interested in her and Eric hooking up.
“Yes, I had fun,” Jayna said. “But all we did was talk.”
Megan frowned. “You mean you two didn’t…you know?”
Jayna shook her head. “No. We got close, but we both decided the loft isn’t exactly the best place to…” She smiled. “You know.”
Megan considered that. “Then maybe you and Eric should get out of here for a couple hours and go somewhere you can have privacy.”
As much as Jayna loved that idea, she couldn’t. “There’s no way I’m leaving you and the guys alone for that long.”
“That’s silly,” Megan protested. “We’ll be fine. And if we need you, we’ll call you and Eric.”
Jayna didn’t answer as she walked over to the small fridge in the apartment’s kitchenette and took out two bottles of water. She handed one to Megan. Her friend took the bottle but didn’t open it.
“Jayna, Eric’s a really great guy. My mom always said that great guys don’t come around that often, and that if you find one, you should hang on to him. And you deserve a great guy like him.” Megan smiled. “I’m not saying you have to do anything if you don’t want to, but at least get away for a few hours together. If anyone asks, we’ll say you went out for coffee or something.”
Jayna chewed on her lip. Spending time with Eric away from the loft and all the drama would be nice. Like Megan said, it would only be for a few hours.
Chapter 9
Becker opened the door to his apartment, praying the place didn’t smell like dead fish. Cooper was a good friend—the best—but he wasn’t exactly with it when it came to taking care of Becker’s fish.
Thankfully, the apartment smelled fine. He tossed his keys on their usual table, closing the door behind him and Jayna.
“Mind if I use your bathroom?” she asked.
“Sure. Down the hall, second door on the right.”
Becker watched her go, his eyes locking on the sexy sway of her hips in the yoga pants she wore. He stifled a groan. He’d always had a thing for women in yoga pants, but Jayna took it to a whole new level.
He swore under his breath as she disappeared into the bathroom, berating himself for even going there. Getting away from the loft was about being able to relax together for a few hours, nothing more. He wasn’t going to assume they’d have sex.
While he waited for Jayna, he went over to check on his fish and was relieved to see they were fine. They immediately came over to the glass, clearly happy to see him too. Since he didn’t know when Cooper had fed them last, he only gave them a few flakes of food. They gobbled them hungrily, swishing their tails in thanks.
As he watched his girls swim around, he thought back to the conversation he and Jayna had had the day before. When she’d told him what her stepfather had done, he’d seriously come close to calling Cooper right then to get an address on the guy. The urge to hunt him down and beat the shit out of him had been overpowering. But he’d forced himself to check his anger. Jayna had moved on from that horrible night, and he needed to respect that.
But he’d sworn that if he was ever fortunate enough to run into that ass wipe, he was going to finish what she’d started.
Down the hall, the bathroom door opened, distracting him from his thoughts of revenge.
“Wow,” Jayna said, coming to stand beside him. “That tank is beautiful. Though I have to admit, I never really pegged you as the fish type.”
He chuckled. “I could sit and watch them swim for hours. They’re actually the perfect pets for me. If I’m a little late because of the job, I don’t have to worry about them making a mess on the carpet.”
Jayna touched her finger to the glass tank and gently traced it back and forth in time with the motions of the three saltwater fish. “Do they have names?”
“The red one with the silver markings is Lady Liadrin, the dark blue one is Queen Azshara, and the black one with the long, wavy fins is Lady Vashj.”
She glanced at him. “Those are the strangest names for fish I’ve ever heard. What’s wrong with Dory?”
He moved closer to her, breathing in her scent as she went back to watching the fish swim among the colorful coral and lush plants. “They’re all female characters from World of Warcraft. It’s a video game.”
“Yeah, I know what World of Warcraft is.” She turned to him with a smile. “Wouldn’t have pegged you for a gamer either.”
He grinned. “I like to think of myself as a man with varied and complex tastes. Come on. I’ll give you a grand tour of the place.”
His apartment wasn’t that big, so maybe grand wasn’t the right word, but Jayna seemed eager to look around.
The moment they walked into the kitchen, she locked in on the two big bowls on the floor in the corner. “I thought I smelled a dog.” She looked around. “Where is he?”
“I share custody with the rest of the Pack,” he said. Then, when she gave him a confused look, added, “We picked up Tuffie a few months ago after she and her owner got shot by some psycho. Her owner didn’t make it, so we took her in. We all take turns bringing her home with us.”
Jayna smiled and looked wistfully at the bowls. “That’s so cool. I always wanted a dog when I was a kid. But with my screwed-up home life, getting a dog was out of the question.”
Becker never thought of himself as a softie, but his chest tightened up at her words. “Then I’ll make sure you get to meet Tuffie. In fact, we’ll make it a priority.” He put his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the place.”
They wandered from the kitchen to the second bedroom, which was set up as his computer-room-slash-home-office. Jayna stopped in the doorway and stared at the four computers with their huge, oversized monitors.
“What the heck do you do with all these, spy on the NSA?”
He laughed. “Nah. I used to do work like that, but these days, I just play around on them. Kind of like a hobby, I guess.”
“A hobby, huh?” She lifted a brow. “Like hacking into Starbucks’s computers and the city’s video cameras so you could find me?”
“Exactly.” He grinned. “Some guys like to work on cars or do woodworking. I search for beautiful women who might want to bite me.”
She blushed. “I never intended to bite you. Shoot you, yes. But never bite you. At least not the first time we met. The desire to bite you came much later.”
Becker had a sudden image of Jayna nipping at his neck with those sexy canines of hers, a thought that immediately made his cock stiffen. He decided he’d be
tter do something intelligent before he gave in to his animal urges and pulled her into his arms. He led her back toward the living room, intending to show her his killer TV and video game setup, but she stopped halfway there.
“What’s in here?” she asked, motioning her head toward the closed door.
“My bedroom,” he said, heading toward the living room again. “Nothing interesting in there.”
Not unless you counted his king-size bed. And while it wasn’t all that interesting on its own, he was already picturing her lying back on it, gloriously naked with her silky hair fanned out on the pillows. That image made his cock even harder.
He cleared his throat. “You want to try your hand at a few video games? I promise to take it easy on you.”
“I should be offended that you’re assuming I suck at video games.” Jayna plopped down on his big, comfy couch, then kicked off her flip-flops and sat cross-legged. “But since I don’t play them very much, you’re probably right.”
Becker made a quick detour into the kitchen to grab two bottles of water from the fridge, then powered up his game console and television.
“You sure the TV is big enough?” she teased as she sipped some water. “I’m not sure we’ll be able to see it clearly from here.”
He selected a simple race car game he thought would be good to start with. “It’s the biggest one I could get through the door.”
Her lips twitched. “Compensating for something, are we?”
He chuckled as he handed her a controller. “Yeah. Small apartment doors.”
Becker had spent a lot of time playing video games with the guys from the team, but as he and Jayna spent the next hour or so goofing off on his couch, he realized he’d never had more fun, even if Jayna was horrible at video games. She must have come to that conclusion too, and decided she needed to level the playing field by blowing softly in his ear and gently nipping at his neck in an effort to get him to mess up. Becker didn’t mind and didn’t have a problem returning the favor. Jayna let out a soft growl that did crazy things to his body, and he replied with a growl of his own when she tossed her controller on the coffee table and climbed into his lap to kiss him. He slapped the pause button on his controller and kissed her right back. This was much more fun than a video game any day.
He put his hands on her waist, trying to settle her into a position that wouldn’t bring her sweetly curved ass into constant contact with his hard-on, but it was futile. She buried her fingers in his hair with a moan and wiggled around until she was right back where she’d been before.
He groaned low in his throat, his hands sliding down to the curve of her hips. He could feel the heat from her body through his jeans and it was driving him insane. He should stop now before things went too far. But it was obvious that Jayna was enjoying herself as much as he was. If her rapid breathing, elevated pulse, and the slightly extended claws digging into his shirt hadn’t told him that, the scent of arousal pouring off her did.
She was definitely having fun.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t a little shocked when she grabbed the bottom of his shirt and started pulling it up like she was unwrapping a Christmas present.
“Whoa.” Becker dragged his mouth away to look at her. “You sure about this?”
She sat back, her lips curving into a shy smile. “I’m sure. But only if you’re okay with it.”
How the heck was he supposed to respond to that? She wanted to have sex with him. Of course he was okay with it. He just hadn’t expected it. “I’m okay with anything you’re comfortable with.”
Jayna smiled and reached for the bottom of his T-shirt again. He helped her get it over his head, then leaned back. She lightly ran her partially extended claws over his chest, tentatively at first, then with more confidence. Did she have any idea how good that felt? Since she kept doing it, he suspected she did.
Her blue eyes swirled with green as they roamed over his bare chest. He’d never had a woman look at him so hungrily before, and it was seriously turning him on. As if picking up on his arousal, her eyes shifted completely, turning a vivid green, and Becker’s pulse spiked as the tips of her canines appeared and slipped down over her lower lip. The scent that came with unleashing her inner werewolf was mind-numbingly good and made it hard for him to think of anything other than making love to her. But while she was comfortable with what they were doing, that didn’t mean she was ready to take things further.
“You okay?” he asked softly, wanting to make sure she wasn’t going to do something she’d regret later.
Jayna giggled. Okay, that had to be the sexiest sound he’d ever heard.
“I’m good.” She ran her tongue lazily over her fangs. “How about you? You okay?”
“Me? No problems here.” He probably would have been able to pull off a more convincing lie if she wasn’t pressing right against his straining hard-on.
She smiled, her fangs a flash of white against her strawberry-pink lips. “Good. I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything.”
“Uncomfortable definitely isn’t the word I would use right now.”
“It isn’t the word I would use either,” she said. “In fact, I’m feeling very comfortable with you right now.”
Now it was his turn to grin. “Good. I want you to always be very comfortable with me.”
Jayna leaned forward and kissed him again. As her tongue slipped into his mouth, he couldn’t stop the low growl that slipped out, nor could he keep one hand from sliding down to caress her ass. He immediately moved it back up to her hips, but she was already pulling away to give him a curious look. Eyes locked with his, she grabbed his hand in hers, then slowly and deliberately put it back on her ass.
“Would it be a bad thing if I admit that I like your hand there?” she asked.
Her expression was both sexy and vulnerable at the same time, and his chest tightened.
“That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all,” he said huskily. “Like I said, I’m good with anything you’re comfortable with.”
She smiled and went back to kissing him. He buried his free hand in her hair, tipping her head to the side and tangling his tongue with hers. He slid his other hand from her ass, along her thigh, and back again, giving her bottom a gentle squeeze. Jayna let out a sexy sound of approval as she trailed kisses along his jaw and down his neck. She pressed her lips to his chest, exploring his pecs with her tongue. When she gently nipped him with her fangs, he thought for sure he was going to lose his hold over his inner werewolf.
Okay, that was enough of that. He tightened his hold on her hair, urging her head up. As she sat back on his thighs, Becker closed his eyes and got himself together. He couldn’t believe how fast Jayna could make him lose control. She was like his kryptonite.
When he finally got his heart rate somewhere back under a hundred, he opened his eyes to see her regarding him with an amused expression. She must have decided he was okay, because she leaned forward again. For a second, he thought she was going in for another round of teasing with her fangs, but instead she trailed her claws across his chest.
He stifled a groan. Dammit, you’re an alpha. Act like it, would you?
She traced the tip of one claw over the barely discernable scar from the bullet wound he’d gotten yesterday. “I can’t believe how fast this healed.”
It took a second for him to change gears, and by the time he had, she’d already moved on to the wolf head tattoo inked over his heart. “This is really cool. Did you get it when you became a werewolf?”
Becker didn’t answer right away because she was busy destroying his concentration by running one of her claws around the outside of said tattoo. He bit his tongue—literally—and finally managed an intelligent answer.
“I got it when I joined the SWAT pack. We all have them. To anyone who sees it, the acronym stands for Special Weapons and Tactics, but we call it Special Wolf Alpha Team.”
She smiled. “Clever. So how did you become a werewolf anyway?”
“It happened when I was with the Secret Service—”
“Whoa, wait a second,” she interrupted, her eyes wide. “You worked in the same Secret Service that protects the president?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that Secret Service. But I never served on a protective detail. I went through all the training necessary to be a special agent, but once the higher-ups in the Denver field office realized how much I knew about computers and electronics, I ended up spending all my time doing network security, white-hat work, and advanced computer surveillance, crap like that. It wasn’t exactly what I thought I was signing up for, but it’s likely why I was hired in the first place. It’s damn hard to get into the Secret Service without one hell of a résumé. Besides, it’s what I was good at.”
“So you were a computer geek?”
A smile tugged playfully at the corners of her lips as she said the words, making him stifle another groan. Damn, every time she smiled at him, he swore she released some kind of pheromone into the air that practically made him drunk.
He blocked out the endorphin rush her smile gave him and focused on her question. “Yeah, I was a computer geek. But my supervisor knew I wanted to get some field time, so he loaned me out to an anticounterfeiting team. The ring of counterfeiters they were after used these really expensive computers and printers to make their fake money, and I was there to make sense of the computer-based chatter going back and forth on the wiretaps. But when the counterfeiters started talking about bringing in a new computer guy, I went from IT expert to undercover operative overnight.”
Jayna regarded him thoughtfully. “I’m going to say this in the nicest possible way, but wasn’t that kind of a big jump, considering your lack of field experience?”
