by Zoey Thames
He yanked his thoughts back to the question at hand—private area or sundae bar—when he realized everyone was looking at him to make up his mind. “Well,” he said. “Tell me your votes and we’ll decide.”
Dominic snorted. “You’re paying. You get final call.”
Brian shrugged. “In that case, we should be gentlemen and allow the lady to decide.” He gave her a smile and a short bow. Nothing too pretentious…even though he could see the amused twinkle in Dominic’s eye.
Before Ruth could answer, Dominic smacked a hand dramatically against his forehead and said, “Gentlemen! That’s right. I’m sorry, I’m so used to putting up with Brian that I’ve forgotten all my manners. Mama would beat me with a soup ladle.” He took Ruth’s hand gently and held it, looking into her eyes. “What would you like, Ms. Hadley?” Then he shot Brian a look that said he’d be taking out his embarrassment on Brian in the ring later. Brian only grinned. Let him bring it.
But Ruth only laughed at Dominic’s routine. “My goodness, so much attention and pressure on a lady.” Her grin widened even further, and Brian could scent that she was very pleased. She glanced around the outside wall of the parlor that took up the entire floor. There were wide private booths arranged along the floor-to-ceiling windows, using the incredible view of Manhattan or the water as focal points. “As tempting as that sundae bar looks, I’d like a booth.”
“An excellent choice,” the hostess said and led them to a corner booth. The corner booths were by far the most desirable, allowing a full ninety degrees of the New York city- and waterscape to be seen. Another reason it paid to keep the people who helped you happy and show them you appreciated their efforts. They would come through for you in the little ways that showed they appreciated you right back. He always left generous tips, and he and Dominic came to this ice cream parlor often, as odd as that might sound to someone else who only knew of him as a either Barrington the billionaire or Brian the mixed martial artist.
The table was white marble veined with black and silver. The booths were a deep, rich leather with brass tack buttons and dark wood. Slow jazz drifted in over speakers. The wall sconce lighting gave a mellow glow to everything. The travertine tile perfectly complimented the walls, the glitzy patterns, and bas-reliefs. He kept the smile off his face as he watched Ruth take all this in, and he could tell she was impressed. He didn’t want to smile because he didn’t want her to feel self-conscious or think he was amused by her, although the excitement he could scent coming off her did make him happy. There was the top-level excitement—a new place, fancy, new experiences—and below that was a level of deeper, more primal excitement that had lingered around her since she’d first met them. That sexual excitement. That lust drive. One that might simply drive him mad before the night was over.
She took her seat at the booth and Dominic slid in opposite her, scooting all the way to the window. Brian went to sit next to her, but Dominic coughed so dramatically that Brian could only laugh and roll his eyes and take a seat next to him and across from her. He could scent that Dominic wasn’t jealous in the least, but this was only part of their general good-natured competition.
Ruth shifted a little after he took his seat so that she was sitting opposite but between them, as if she wanted to face both of them as equally as possible. Another man might have missed the subtlety of that, but he didn’t, and it shot off a whole new series of sparks in his mind. Appreciation and gratitude this time. Dominic was his best friend and lover, but sometimes women would hone in on Brian simply because he was the rich, successful, billionaire tech mogul genius—or whatever they said about him in the media these days—and they would ignore his straightforward, unpretentious martial arts fighting trainer. Needless to say, Brian would drop such women like a molten rock. Dominic was part of him. Dominic kept him grounded. If a woman ignored Dominic, it was as good as giving Brian the finger. But Ruth seemed genuinely interested in both of them, and that thrilled him to no end.
A server in a tuxedo attended them and set them up with their drinks. Coffee for Ruth and for him, a beer for Dominic. Ruth ordered a Crème Brulée. He stuck with his favorite, a lemon curd pistachio sundae, and Dominic ordered some kind of chocolate death sundae with extra chocolate and heaps of chocolate chips decorating the lines of frozen chocolate frosting. The server left to get them their orders.
Ruth turned to stare out the windows at the city lights. There was no place in the world at night quite like New York City. That was one of the reasons he chose to own a penthouse here. Well, that and the fact that he was alpha to one of the biggest werewolf packs in NYC.
He reached out and took her hand in his. Her skin was soft, smooth, her fingers delicate. He’d noticed she wore gloves when she was driving. They were black leather. For some reason the thought of those gloves on her hands made him hard. Perhaps because his mind imagined her completely naked except for those gloves and that adorable chauffer hat… Oh god, these thoughts of her were going to kill him. His cock throbbed in his trousers while she met his eyes and smiled shyly.
“Thank you again for coming,” he said, struggling to keep his blazing lust out of his voice.
“Yeah,” Dominic interjected, flashing him a knowing grin before turning back to Ruth. “I know it’s weird, but we love this place.” He took a sip of his beer, leaned his head back, and sighed.
Brian smirked at him, still desperate to take his mind off the image of a beautifully naked Ruth staring up at him with those soulful eyes he could so easily lose himself in. Time to distract himself from those lust-filled fantasies and fast. “Hey, Dom. I never get why you drink beer with ice cream.”
“Beer goes with anything.”
“I’m ninety percent certain you’re full of crap,” Brian replied, his smirk widening into a grin.
That got Ruth laughing. He liked her laughter. It was loud, yes, but it was true. Not a delicate feminine giggle, but something more from the heart. But her laughter must’ve embarrassed her a little, because she quickly blushed and covered her mouth. As much as he found that endearing, he wanted her to feel free to act herself around him and Dominic. So many people with agendas behaved the way they thought he wanted them to act because he was a rich and powerful man, and so he genuinely valued when people were simply themselves.
That was one of the many reasons why he loved Dominic.
“The view from up here is so stunning,” Ruth said after a moment. She stared wistfully out the window. “It’s as if we have the whole world at our feet.” She squeezed his hand, hesitated, and then withdrew it slowly.
He immediately missed the contact with her warm skin, but he didn’t want to rush or smother her either, no matter how eager his wolf might be to bring her into a mating triangle with him and Dominic. Whoa, down boy, he thought wryly, knowing his wolf hated nothing more than to be talked to like a dog. Served the bastard right though. He’d only just met her and the wolf already wanted to make her part of the pack, part of the people that Brian loved and protected.
While Brian wrestled with his alpha urges, Dominic smoothly replied to Ruth. “You’re exactly right, it is breathtaking. But if you like this, you should see the view from Brian’s place. I swear he strolls around there in nothing but a toga, pretending he’s Zeus ruling over ancient Greece from the top of Mount Olympus.”
Ruth’s eyebrows shot up and a smile turned up the corners of her beautiful, full lips. “Really? A toga? And Zeus?”
Brian coughed into his hand. “Dominic loves to exaggerate.” But he leaned forward a little and allowed himself a bit of a predatory grin, staring straight into her eyes. “But if you like men in togas, you’ll find me perfectly willing.”
He could sense the electric thrill of arousal that shot through her thanks to his enhanced werewolf senses, how her skin flushed, the fine hairs on her arms lifted, the scent of her pussy flooding with moisture at the sound of his voice and the implications of his words. God, he wanted her so badly. Right here. On this table. Domini
c could lay back and claim her lower hole while she lay atop him, and he would spread that wonderful pussy and fill it with his cock. Then they would both fuck her until—
Dominic cleared his throat and broke the spell with a quick glance down at Brian’s suit trousers, which were tented by his massive erection. The table hid his erection from Ruth, but she too was staring at him, her lips wet, her mouth parted, as if she too could sense the raw sex drive blazing off him, stirred to flames by her presence.
The server brought in their desserts on a fancy cart. Brian shifted in his seat to make sure the server didn’t catch sight of his cock standing at attention in his pants and wonder if he had some kind of strange ice cream fetish. The waitress arranged everything perfectly and wished them an enjoyable meal before tactfully retreating again. Ruth dug into her Crème Brulée with an enthusiasm that warmed his heart. Dominic matched her, tearing into his Chocolate Overload Delight—or whatever it was called—and ending up with chocolate all over his face as if he were six years old. Brian took his time on his sundae, savoring every bite. The conversation remained light while they ate. But as soon as they pushed away their dishes, Dominic leaned forward toward her.
“Did you grow up in New York or are you a transplant?” he asked after taking another sip of his beer.
“A transplant. From out west.”
Dominic nodded. “That’s what I guessed. I’ve been trying to get rid of the Bronx in my voice all my life—well, since I met Brian and had to start wearing suits anyway.”
“You look good in a suit,” Brian said, frowning.
“And you look good in boxer shorts,” Dominic quipped.
Ruth was grinning. “You both look good in both.” And then she seemed to realize what she’d said, covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes widened, and she leaned back with a laugh. “Sorry. That was a little forward.”
“My ego loves you,” Dominic said, grinning back at her.
Brian wanted to take her hand again, but his heightened senses told him they were on tricky ground. He didn’t want to scare her off by moving too fast.
“So what part of the west were you from?” he asked. “I’m originally from…wait for it. Los Angeles.”
“I try not to hold it against him,” Dominic said with a friendly elbow to his side.
“I’m from…Oklahoma.”
Ah, so she was good old All-American heartland. That might explain that inner…not innocence exactly, but that warmth and genuineness that he kept picking up from her. She might live in the big city, but she wasn’t a big city girl. Right now, he wanted anything but the usual big city, cynically street-smart kind of woman. He wanted this wide-eyed woman with her simple, unabashed charm and lack of guile. He was done with schemers. It that way, he thought, she seemed to be a lot like Dominic. What you saw was what you got.
“I’ve never been further west than Jersey,” Dominic admitted.
“Jersey’s to the east, you idiot,” Brian said.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Dominic came back with a smirk, and again Ruth blessed them with more of her unabashed laughter.
After a moment, she scraped the bottom of her dish and licked her spoon in a way that had both of them watching her every move. The thing was, she did it without knowing how incredibly sexy it was, and that innocence made his cock practically rip through his trousers with lust for her.
“Can I ask you a question?” She stared at Brian first, then at Dominic.
Brian leaned back in the booth and put an arm around Dominic. “Anything.”
“I was surprised you’re into martial arts. I don’t find many billionaires who are into that full-contact stuff. What got you into that?”
He grinned. He’d guessed she was going to ask about his and Dominic’s relationship—whether they were exclusively gay or were bi or whatever. It seemed to fascinate a lot of the women they met—especially the ones who were interested in either Brian or Dominic. Either that, or she’d ask a million questions on what it was like to be a werewolf—another very popular subject with the ladies. But she wanted to know about the training. Now wasn’t she full of surprises?
“I did a little boxing at Harvard,” Brian said with a shrug. “I like the competition.” He frowned and glanced out the window. “It helps keep my inner wolf satiated.”
“He loves those five-dollar words,” Dominic said. “Makes him think his Harvard edu-ma-cation was worth every penny. Actually, the gym was on hard times. The owner was going to sell it. The place was a good, safe area for kids in a rough part of town to learn how to defend themselves, to learn the warrior code—protect the weak, keep your honor—and it was going to be a damn shame to lose it.”
Brian cut in. “So Dominic and a few of the other guys got together and ended up saving the place.”
“Now hold on, buddy,” Dominic said, casting a sidelong glance his way. “That’s not doing the story justice. So me and a few other guys went to our pack alpha with the problem. And our alpha ended up buying the place and keeping it in business.” Dominic turned to him with a sparkle in his eye. “How much money do you lose on it every year?”
“Doesn’t matter,” he replied. “It’s worth every single penny.”
Ruth’s eyes widened a little. “So…you’re the alpha? I mean…I should’ve guessed it…I think I even read it in the client portfolio…”
He gave a curt nod. His power and his influence…well, they weren’t what he wanted to impress her with. That was easy. He’d been more thrilled when her eyes had lit up when learning he liked martial arts competition.
“He’s the alpha of the Empire City Pack. Empire has wolves in most of the big cities, even some in Canada, but mostly in New York.”
She shook her head. “That really sets a small-town girl’s head spinning. It has to be glamorous…but also a huge responsibility.”
He nodded, impressed. Most people only thought about the power or the riches, not the heavy weight of responsibility that came along with the position.
“So Ruth,” Dominic said, gently veering the conversation away from the pack. He knew Brian didn’t really enjoy talking about the trappings of power and werewolf politics, especially when they were supposed to be having a good time. Brian was grateful for that. “Why did you move to New York?”
She stared down at her hands for a moment, frowning. “A bunch of reasons, I guess. NYU was probably the biggest one.”
“Ah,” Brian said. “So you’re a student there?”
She shifted in her seat and glanced out the window at the water. “Not at the moment. But I will be.” She bit her lip and met his gaze again. “Soon.”
Brian nodded. “I know you’ll love it at NYC, Ruth. I know a few alumni. They all loved the place.” But when her lips turned up in a sour quirk of a smile, he raised his eyebrows in question. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Just…I was never that fond of my name. And hearing you say it only drives the point home.”
He cocked his head to the side, curious now. “Do you have a name you’d prefer?”
She blushed, her soft skin going a lovely shade of pink. “Not anything I’m going to admit to.”
“We can come up with a nickname you might like,” Dominic offered. “Something having to do with driving—”
“No. Definitely not.”
They both laughed at how fervent she was. After a moment, she joined in.
“This was the most memorable ice cream I’ve ever had,” she said. She looked to Brian and then to Dominic. “Thank you for inviting me.”
“It was our pleasure,” Brian said. “Thank you for coming.”
“I’ll second that,” Dominic quipped. “But it sounds as if you think tonight is over. Face it, lady. We’re enjoying the hell out of your company. Let us take you somewhere else that will give you a night to remember.” He gently took her hand in his and looked into her eyes. “Tell me you like to dance.”
She sucked in breath and her eyes widened. Then she s
lowly nodded.
Brian’s heart leaped. Perfect. He had just the place. “We’d be honored if you would come to Flare with us.”
“Flare…the exclusive dance club? I’ve never… I mean, I don’t know anyone who has ever been inside…”
Dominic jerked his chin toward Brian. “I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that Brian owns a healthy chunk of the club. He helped finance the start up a few years back. Risky. Clubs in New York can suck money faster than a tornado in a bank vault.”
Brian lifted an eyebrow at him. “That’s clever. Did you come up with it all by yourself?”
“I’ve been keeping that one special for months.”
Ruth was grinning, her eyes shining. “I’d love to go.”
And that was all Brian needed to hear.
CHAPTER FIVE
This night had officially gone off the rails…but in the best possible way. Ruth felt like she was in some wonderful dream. A very hot dream. With two stunning males. And the strangest thing was, they seemed to be interested in her of all people. Of course protocol had gone out the window when they’d convinced her boss to let her come with them to the posh ice cream parlor, but now they were approaching one of New York’s trendiest and most exclusive clubs, Flare, which catered to the wealthy, the beautiful, and the entire span of shifters. Wolves, cougars, bears, dragons, birds of prey, panthers, the list went on. Which only served to make the place even more exclusive and desirable.
