by Milly Taiden
Too bad he had nothing on her Bastien. Carly flushed at her thoughts. What was she thinking? He wasn’t her anything. One night of explosive, mind numbing passion did not make him hers.
Adam smiled as he grabbed her hand to pull her behind him to their table. She had forgotten how attentive Adam could be to a woman. They sat at the table and just stared at each other for a moment, both catching up on the difference the time apart had made in each of them.
“So tell me what’s new in your life? What brings you…” Carly trailed off as she saw Bastien and Toni sitting in a booth across the room.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong? Is that man bothering you?” Adam pushed his chair back to stand. Carly quickly grabbed his hand across the table and urged him to sit down.
“No, nothing like that. He isn’t bothering me, well not like that. I just know him and was surprised to see him here with my co-worker is all.” Adam frowned, but sat. She tried to get her hand back, but he held firm and smiled.
“So tell me what have you been up to since I saw you last? Do you have a boyfriend?” Carly wasn’t sure, but something told her Bastien could hear every word they were saying. His eyes were burning into the side of her head, and when she glanced over, he scowled and nodded to her clasped hand in Adam’s.
She turned her attention back to Adam, when he called her name for the second time. “Are you sure we don’t need to go someplace else? Is he making you uncomfortable?”
“Hey, Carly. Fancy meeting you here.” Toni said as she walked up to their table with Bastien hot on her heels. Carly was going to kill her. She knew damn well Carly would be here with an old friend.
“Hi, Toni.” Carly turned to Adam. “This is my coworker Toni Patria and that is Bastien Auberon.” Adam nodded politely to Toni and offered his hand to Bastien, who stared at him for a long minute before he finally consented to shake it.
“I know this is probably a bit presumptuous, but can we sit with you guys? Our table is wobbly and it’s driving me crazy. Poor Bastien here is getting annoyed with my complaints and the waiter said there wasn’t any other tables available.” Carly glared at Toni, she knew it for the lie it was, but she really couldn’t call her out on it in front of Adam.
Carly looked to Adam trying to gauge his reaction to Toni’s lie. He was scowling, but agreed they should join them. What should have been a night of fun and relaxation was quickly becoming more stressful than a day in the dentist chair.
“I hope we didn’t interrupt anything too important with our impromptu dinner crashing,” Toni said with a smile that let Carly know she wasn’t really sorry at all.
“It’s not a problem.” Carly had to hide a smile at Adam’s obvious and very poorly delivered lie. “We were just catching up. I’m an old friend of Carly’s. We used to be real close, but she moved here and we don’t get to see each other as often.”
“Well, now you have got to tell me. How close were you two exactly?” Toni winked at Carly as she asked the question. Carly was going to kill her. What could she possibly be thinking to insinuate something like that?
“We were really good friends, nothing more. I might have been a little blind to what was right in front of me. That’s part of why I am here actually.”
Carly could feel Bastien’s heated glare. She was too nervous to look at him though. Instead, she focused her attention on Toni and Adam. “What brought you and Bastien here tonight Toni?” Carly was desperate to change the subject to a neutral one.
“Kira and I discussed commissioning Bastien. I called him and invited him to dinner to discuss things and see if we could get the ball rolling.”
Bastien finally turned his attention away from her and she felt like she could take a deep breath again. She should have known it wouldn’t be good, his first question to Adam told her it was going to be a long night.
“So, Adam, you finally wised up to what a prize you had in front of you and now you have come to claim her. What if she is involved with someone? Like you said you haven’t been that close for a while now after all.” Bastien sat back in his chair with a self-satisfying smirk on his gorgeous face.
“Waitress! Waitress!” Carly was going to jump out of her chair and flag one down in a minute. She needed a drink and she needed it now. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Bastien’s smile grow with her desperate tone.
Toni and Carly ordered the coconut mojitos, while the guys ordered a draft beer of whatever was on tap. The drinks couldn’t come fast enough in her mind. She was going to have an ulcer soon at this rate. Oh, why had she chosen to come to this restaurant?
“Adam,” she began, “Tell me what’s been going on in your life since the last time I saw you.” Carly was desperately throwing out anything she could think of to keep the topic away from Bastien’s earlier question.
“Not much to be honest. Things haven’t changed that much for me. Well, that’s not technically true.” Carly was struggling to pay attention to his words. Bastien was playing dirty. He knew she wanted him, and he was proving it to her.
He traced circles on her thigh as he slowly trailed it up under her dress. “I did start working for your father.” Carly’s attention was pulled back to Adam’s word with that pronouncement. Carly grabbed Bastien’s hand to still it. She couldn’t talk while he was touching her like that.
“You did? My father never mentioned that to me. How do you like working for him?” Carly had a bad suspicion about Adam’s real reason for being here. Carly gasped as Bastien’s hand trailed higher. She was going to kill him, after she made him show her the pleasure she experienced the other night.
“So far it’s been great. He has been a wonderful mentor.” Adam’s attention turned as the waitress came and dropped off their drink orders and asked what they wanted for dinner. Carly took advantage to lean closer to Bastien and whisper so she wouldn’t be overheard by the other table occupants.
“What are you doing? Can you please behave?” Carly should have known her request would fall on deaf ears, but she had to try.
“I am behaving. If I wasn’t, your friend here would be looking for the closest hospital. I don’t share. I will be the only man touching you.” To demonstrate his words he moved his fingers and pressed them against her wet undies. She gasped and had to stifle a moan. “Yes, that’s right. See I didn’t even have to touch you for you to be hot and wet for me.”
Adam cleared his throat to gain their attention so they could take their turns ordering food. Carly didn’t like the look in Adam’s eyes. If she didn’t know better she would say he was jealous of Bastien talking to her, but that was ridiculous…wasn’t it?
“Bastien, tell me a bit about yourself. What do you do for a living?” Adam smiled and leaned forward with his elbows on the table, making it look like he really cared about his answers.
Bastien smirked and mimicked Adam’s posture. “I own and operate my own company. I handcraft furniture.” Carly tuned out the posturing of the two men and scowled at Toni. At least she had the decency to look somewhat ashamed by her behavior.
“What were you thinking bringing him here like this? I told you I was meeting an old friend. You knew how it would go when Bastien realized it was a guy, didn’t you?”
Toni tried to deny it, but one look at Carly’s face and she gave up and admitted the truth. “Luna might have mentioned that Bastien was into you, and it’s kind of obvious to the rest of us you are into him as well. I called to ask him about commissioning him I really did. He mentioned he had asked you to dinner, and well here we are. Please don’t be mad at me.” Carly rolled her eyes at her friend but she really couldn’t stay mad at her for long.
“Isn’t that right, Carly?” Adam’s words pulled her back into their conversation. Both men were looking at her with questioning eyes. Shit, what had she missed now?
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
NINE
“I was telling Bastien about how things were between us before you moved here. How close we
were. I was hoping to rekindle that actually. It’s part of the reason I am here.” Carly was stunned by his words, she involuntarily looked at Bastien and the intense look of ownership pissed her off.
“Adam was and is a great friend and I would love to spend time with you again.” There take that Bastien. It was vague enough that she wasn’t saying she was interested but it also wasn’t saying she was off the market either.
Bastien’s hand gripped her thigh in a firm grip. She assumed he was giving her a warning, but she wasn’t going to be pushed around like some penis worshiper.
“What are your plans after dinner, Carly? Care to go for a walk with me?” Adam asked with a smirk in Bastien’s direction. He clearly thought he was winning their little game.
Too bad he was out of the running and didn’t even know it. Carly may not like Bastien’s heavy handed tactics, but she couldn’t deny the attraction or the things he made her feel with a single look. Adam had never been able to do that. She was saved from having to respond with the arrival of their dinners.
Conversation turned to slightly more pleasant topics and with the exception of an occasional barb thrown by one of the guys at the other. Bastien’s hand never wavered far from her thigh, except when it was venturing higher up her leg making her squirm and struggle to hide her moans of pleasure.
They were enjoying a cup of coffee to round out their delicious dinner when Adam tossed out a comment that made Carly’s blood boil. “What did you just say?” Carly glared at Adam daring him to repeat what she thought she had heard him say.
Adam glanced around nervously at the anger he heard in her voice. “I said your father is going to be excited to know I had dinner with you. He was hoping things would work out with us again.”
Carly slammed her hand on the table and glared with murderous intent. “You sleaze ball!”
“What?”
“Quiet!” She hissed, her voice soft and deadly. “You didn’t come out here on your own did you? He sent you.” She waited for his nod before she continued in that steely voice. “Have you fallen so far that you let my father manipulate you like that? Do me a favor, won’t you. Tell my father, I can find my own man. I don’t need his help.” Carly sat back and fumed. How dare he have one of her own friends trick her like this.
“That’s not it, Carly, I swear. Okay, well not exactly. I was coming over here to check on a project for your father. He mentioned you lived here and I was excited to see you again. He asked me to let him know how things went. I swear it wasn’t done on purpose. You should know me better than that.” Adam was almost stuttering in his haste to get his words out.
“I’m sorry, Adam. You just don’t know my father. He set this up on purpose. He wants me to meet a nice guy he approves of and settle down. He used you, he knew I used to have a crush on you, and he hoped by sending you, things would work in his favor.” Carly blushed when she realized what she had just said in front of Toni and Bastien.
Quiet filled the table at Carly’s words. No one knew exactly what to say. Toni finally jumped in to break the tension. “Adam, how long are you in town?” Carly smiled gratefully at her friend.
Bastien leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I’m walking you home. We have some things to discuss. Don’t argue with me.”
Carly smiled and replied softly so only he could hear her, “I already told you that you can’t tell me what to do.”
“Oh, I’m not telling you what to do, baby. I am telling you what is going to happen.”
They finished their coffee and declined dessert. Adam stood and asked again if Carly would like to take a walk with him. Before she could respond Bastien stepped in and replied she had prior plans with him and she would need a rain check.
Carly should have been upset with his arrogance but she couldn’t. If she was honest with herself, it turned her on to see him so possessive. Not to mention she wanted a taste of the bear so bad, she could come with just one look from him.
They all knew it for the lie that it was, but no one dared say anything. “Thank you, Adam, but no. Can I take a rain check? I really would like to catch up and talk more before you go back home.”
Adam smiled and said he would call her. Carly nodded as she was pulled away by her gruff and determined bear.
TEN
Bastien had been dying to get Carly alone all night. He’d spoken to Luna about her, and once again, Luna had mentioned he needed to move his ass and show Carly how interested he truly was by actually going to see her in person. Toni’s dinner invite had been perfect once he’d known they were going to be in the same restaurant as his mate.
“Did you walk here? Where is your car?” He threw out the questions in rapid fire succession.
“I work down the block. It’s not that far a walk you don’t have to go with me.” Bastien stifled a laugh at her grumpy tone. Like he would let a woman walk anywhere alone at night. No matter how good the neighborhood was.
“I do have to go with you. It’s safer for you and my peace of mind. I’ll walk you to your car and then I will return to mine. Give me your address and I will meet you there so we can talk.” He could feel her anger flare to life.
“I have nothing to say to you, Bastien Auberon. You can go back to your mountain and rot, for all I care.” She’d had a difficult enough night without him being all possessive and aggressive at that moment.
“Calm down. I--”
“Did you just tell me to calm down?” He winced as she poked him in the chest with her tiny finger. “You listen to me, buster. I don’t belong to you. I can see my friends without you showing up and being an ass. Furthermore, until you can prove to me that you can behave and act like a gentleman, this conversation is over.”
He couldn’t help but like her spunk. He watched her storm ahead a few steps before he called out to her. “I was a gentleman, and you loved every minute I was misbehaving.”
Carly stopped, turned and stormed back to face him head on. “That is not what I was talking about, you overgrown furball. I meant the way you were challenging Adam. I can and will see my friends without you showing up and being all territorial. I do not belong to you. And I--” She frowned, staring at him for a moment her eyes searching his face. “Where are your glasses?”
“I don’t wear them all the time, only when I’m reading. Sometimes I forget to take them off.”
“Oh.” She sounded disappointed. He wondered if she’d liked him in his glasses.
“Look,”
“No, you look, stop thinking good sex makes us a couple. It doesn’t.”
He knew he’d screwed that up, but it hadn’t helped that her friend was purposefully goading him. Adam implied he had a prior relationship and to top it off, he had Carly’s father's approval to date her. Something he did not have, hell he had never even met the man. He watched her climb in her car and drive away without even a backward glance. It was time to pull out the big guns.
He didn’t waste any time, he jerked out his phone and dialed the only person he knew who could make things better. “Luna, I screwed up. How do I fix it?”
“Hello to you too, little bear,” she answered. “Did you get all dominant and growly with Carly?”
“Maybe,” he admitted.
“She is a human female, not a shifter. You can’t expect her to accept you as her mate without giving her what she needs first.” Luna made it sound easy, but how in the hell was he supposed to know what that was. “I can feel you thinking from here. It’s easy. Let her get to know you. Show her who you are, your dreams, and your nightmares. Let her into your heart. Humans don’t have the same instant knowledge when we meet our mate. We need to be shown who are mates are inside and out before we can readily accept them.”
“Fine, she told me I had to take her on a date. She said to make her speechless. Any ideas on what she would like?” He heard Luna sigh and he knew he wasn’t going to like whatever she had to say.
“It’s not that simple, little bear. It will be different for
each person. She is asking you to open up and be honest with her. Show her the different aspects of your personality. Let her see that tender side you keep hidden, the jokester we all love, the romantic you deny, and most of all be yourself. She will love you in no time.” He was speechless at Luna’s words. How in the hell was he supposed to do all this?
“She went out with a friend tonight, and I got jealous. She is a little angry at me….okay…little isn’t the right word. She called me an overgrown furball and drove off in a huff.” He was reluctant to admit that out loud, but he didn’t know how to fix it so he could take her on this impossible mission of a date.
“Make her forgive you. Send her something she wants or loves, but something that isn’t obvious. Something that show’s her you pay attention to her likes and wants. She will cave and consent to a date in a heartbeat. Don’t give up though. You are made for each other after all.”
He knew she was right, they belonged together, now he just had to make her see it.
“Thanks, Luna. I owe you.” He really did owe Luna. He wasn’t sure where he would be without her over the years since his parents' deaths. She filled the holes in his life they left behind.
He slowly walked toward his car lost in thought. Carly was right, he really didn’t know her that well. He just knew she was the one for him and his bear.
He thought back to the wedding and their impromptu sex session. He knew now what he was going to send to ask her forgiveness, hopefully it would be enough to get him the date he needed to prove to her he wasn’t the ass she thought he was.
The date was going to be the most important part, time to call in some favors and rock her world.
ELEVEN
Carly’s rage simmered the whole way home, it wasn’t so much that he was possessive, but more the fact that he couldn’t be nice to her friends without starting fights. She knew Adam was just as much at fault and she would be having it out with him as well. One night of orgasm heaven didn’t make her his property, even if she had wanted to offer a sacrifice to the orgasm gods for an amazing night afterwards.
