by Jodi Vaugn
“Is that what had you upset when I bumped into you in the alley?” The memory of holding her in his arms as she cried would be forever etched into his soul.
“Yes.” Her cheeks turned a pretty pink and she nodded. “I’m sure all of this is boring you to death.”
Braxton stood and walked toward her. Inches from her, he pulled her into his arms. She looked up at him, eyes wide. He relaxed his hold, expecting her to pull away. She didn’t.
His hands drifted down her back and rested at her slim hips. God, what he wouldn’t give to have just one moment with her. “Would you let me help you?”
She frowned. “I don’t want your money.”
Braxton chuckled. “Good, ’cause I don’t have any. I’m just a bartender, so my cash isn’t exactly flowing. I’ll just have to figure out something else.”
***
Heat rose in her stomach and then settled in a rush between her legs. All rational thought fled, leaving only images of Braxton in her brain. Visions of Braxton naked—and being under all that muscle—made her clench her thighs together as her body heated a thousand degrees.
“How do you think you can help me?” Her voice sounded like gravel and her body felt like gelatin.
His eyes darkened, and she knew immediately his thoughts were completely in agreement with her own. He leaned down, his hot masculine scent wrapping around her. Then, without warning, his mouth came crashing down on hers.
She relaxed into his embrace, bowing toward him as his tongue sought out her own. Her heart beat loud in her ears as she fought to catch her breath under his scorching kiss. She felt awkward, like a high school girl getting her first kiss and hoping she was doing everything right.
“Your arm. It’s not broken anymore.” She wound her arms around his neck, pulling him close and not ever wanting to let him go. How did he make her feel like she’d never experienced that kind of passion before? Her ex wasn’t a slouch in the kissing department, but damn, he’d never set her panties on fire the way Braxton did.
“Fast healer, remember?”
“Oh, yeah.” Her words were but a rush as she rubbed against him.
“Kate.” He whispered her name against the side of her neck as he licked and sucked her skin. She gripped him closer, and ground her pelvis into his rock-hard erection.
“If you keep doing this, I’m going to take you right here on the kitchen table.”
“Don’t do that,” she managed to say.
Braxton pulled back. “Why not?”
“Because it’s antique.” She swallowed. “It might break.” She pulled his mouth back down to hers and felt his lips quirk up in amusement.
“Then I’m going to take you to bed.” Braxton swept her into his arms before she could say a word. He hissed in pain and stumbled. She slipped out of his arms and stood.
Pushing the robe off his shoulder, she sucked in a breath. A fresh spot of blood spread and saturated the white bandage.
“Come on, I’m getting you back to bed.” She tugged on his hand.
“That’s what I’m talking about.” He smirked.
Kate suppressed a laugh and did her best to give him a stern look. “I don’t mean for that. You need to lie down and rest. Your wound is bleeding again.”
“It’s just a little trickle.”
“It’s more than just a trickle. ” After a little nagging, she got him settled into bed and redressed his wound. They kept up the small talk while she doctored his injury. By the time she was done, his eyes had drifted shut and he was lost once again to sleep.
Kate continued to stay by his side, studying the stranger in her bed and wondering why she felt such a strong connection to someone she hardly knew.
***
“It’s stopped snowing.” Brutus stood at the window of the snowbound cabin, his hands behind his back as he stared out into the night. The security light cast the snow-covered yard in an eerie yellow glow. The muscles in his legs jumped, impatient to get this mission over with. He fucking hated waiting.
“I hate snow.” Lorcan plopped down on the couch with a bag of chips and slung his feet up on the coffee table.
Brutus turned and glared. Lorcan needed to be on his guard. This was not some fucking holiday in the mountains. “He has to be found.”
“Bastard’s still going to be hard to track. There’s a good four inches covering his tracks.” Killian spoke from his perch on the kitchen barstool of the cabin, where he was busy slamming down another shot of Southern Comfort.
“Hell, I think the son of a bitch is dead, buried under a blanket of white.” Lorcan snorted.
Brutus glared at the two men. “Maybe he is. Maybe he isn’t. The point is, I need to be sure. If he’s not dead, then we need to make him that way. Understood?”
CHAPTER SIX
Braxton had seen a lot of women do a lot of things on their knees, but he’d never seen one on their knees trying to disassemble a dishwasher. Kate had half of her amazing body buried in the dishwasher with her tight little ass sticking out. He was getting hard just watching her wiggle.
“Shit.”
His eyebrows shot up at her profanity. She didn’t strike him as the type of woman to curse. She was too gentle, too shy, too ladylike.
She scrambled out of the cave of the dishwasher and stood with a plastic piece pinched between her fingertips. “Do you know how much it costs to replace this thing?” She cocked her head and narrowed her gaze on him.
He shook his head. “No.” He had no idea what that part was.
“Me either, but I bet it costs a lot.” Kate blew a strand of her blonde hair out of her eye and propped her hand on her hip. “Do you know if it’s supposed to even look like this?” She waved the dangly plastic in the air.
“No idea.” She was looking for his advice and he had none to offer. He wished he’d been more handy growing up, but back then all he had thought about was staying out of the house and away from his father’s fists.
“I thought men knew all about this manly stuff.”
Braxton held his hands up. “I’m a bartender and ride a Harley. I know how to fix every kind of engine ever built. But when it comes to appliances, I’m lost. The lightbulb in my microwave went out and I went and bought a new microwave, because I couldn’t figure out how to get the damn light out.”
Her lips quirked up in a smile and it had his heart racing. Everything about Kate had his body reacting like a teen in puberty. It had taken all his restraint not to jack off last night when he woke up thinking about her.
“Why don’t you just call a handyman?”
“If I could afford to pay someone to fix my dishwasher, I wouldn’t have bothered taking it apart.” Her shoulders slumped in a look of defeat.
He hated that lost look on her face. “Let me have a look.”
After a few minutes inside the appliance, Braxton grimaced and stood.
“Yeah, I’m not even going to lie and say I know what’s wrong. I have no clue.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I have to go to town anyway for groceries. I’ll just take this part to the hardware store and see if they can talk me through how to fix it.” She laid the plastic piece on the island by her purse. “Do you want to ride along?”
He shifted his weight. “I would, but—” What the hell was he supposed to say? I’m a fugitive and I’m trying to lay low?
“Ah. I got it.” Her eyes shifted to his wounded shoulder. He didn’t see fear in her expression, only concern. “Do you think whoever shot you is still looking for you?”
“I don’t know.” Probably. They were Assassins trained to kill. They didn’t give up or give in until the job was done.
He turned to the window and glanced out at the snowy landscape. It would have been quite the romantic setting if there weren’t three lethal killers searching the woods for him right now. “I’m hoping the snow buried my tracks. I saw the weather report on TV this morning and they said Missouri was getting another four inches of snow tonig
ht.”
Kate’s face went pale. “Is that where they shot you? In Missouri?”
“Just outside state line. When I was shot, I fell off my bike and rolled down the hill.” His heart sunk as he thought about his beloved Harley. It was the one thing he treasured more than anything and now it was nothing but twisted metal.
“Hill? There are no hills going into Missouri. You mean to tell me you rolled off the side of the mountain?” Kate’s hand flew to her neck and the blood drained from her face.
“Well, it wasn’t like it was Mount Everest.” He shrugged. Sure fucking felt like it, though.
“Jesus, Braxton, then you walked all the way here?”
He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and looked away. “I saw your light through the woods. I knew I was dying. I didn’t want to end up dying alone in the woods for the raccoons to eat. So I crawled to your front porch.” He felt like a complete pussy. She must think he was a really weak male.
“Was my house the first one you saw?” Her soft voice made him take a step closer, his body humming with desire.
“I passed some others, but they had a negative energy. Yours didn’t. When I got close enough to read the name, Bella Luna, I knew I had picked the right spot to die.”
She stepped into his arms and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. God, she felt so small and fragile and perfect. He tightened his arms around her, breathing in her unique scent that stirred his cock.
“I’m glad you didn’t die, Braxton.”
“Say that again.” He closed his eyes as he memorized the soft feel of her body against him.
“I’m glad you didn’t die.”
“No, say my name.”
She looked up, her beautiful lips parted. “Braxton.”
With one word from her, he was under her spell. She didn’t even know the hold she had on him.
His mouth found hers, licking inside her hot mouth. She tasted better than his wildest fantasy, sweeter than the finest chocolate.
He snaked his hand under her sweater and cupped her firm breast. She moaned and arched into his palm as his fingers played with her nipple.
He murmured against the crook of her neck. “I want you, Kate. I want you naked, in my bed, under me.”
She slid her hands around his neck and pulled him closer. “I want that, too.”
Braxton groaned, pulling away long enough to tug her sweater over her head, his fingers brushing against her flat stomach.
A door slammed, startling them both. Braxton quickly pulled Kate behind him and growled.
“What the hell is going on, Kate?”
***
Kate, wearing her jeans and bra, stared back in horror at Beau from behind the safety of Braxton’s back.
“Don’t you knock? You have horrible timing, do you know that?” Kate’s face heated as her embarrassment shifted into anger. She scrambled to get her sweater over her head. She wasn’t a child, dammit. She was a grown woman.
“I’ve been trying to call, but you’re not answering. I came by to check on you.” He walked over to the phone, picked it up, and frowned. “Your phone’s not working. Have you called the phone company?”
“How can I call the phone company if my phone doesn’t work?” Kate gave him a disbelieving stare.
“Smart-ass.” Beau glared.
“Watch how you speak to her,” Braxton growled and advanced toward Beau.
Kate placed her hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Braxton. Beau and I grew up together. I’m sure he’s called me worse.”
“Dude, you should hear some of the names she’s called me.” Beau snorted. He tossed a brown paper bag on the kitchen counter. “I brought you some clothes from the thrift store. It might be safer around here if you had some clothes on.” He arched his brow at her. “Get your phone fixed, Kate.”
Kate chewed her lip and glanced at the dead phone. “I’ll go by the phone company when I run into town today for groceries.”
“Don’t forget the hardware store,” Braxton murmured.
“What do you need at the hardware store?” Beau asked.
“I need a part for the dishwasher.” Kate cocked her head. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about a dishwasher, would you?”
Beau held his hands up. “Don’t look at me. I only work on animals, not appliances.”
“What are the odds that the two men currently standing in my house are appliance-challenged?” Kate sighed.
“Actually, I drove out here to make sure you were okay since I haven’t heard from you.” Beau cut his eyes at Braxton. “Needed to make sure he didn’t eat you.”
Kate’s face heated a million degrees. Braxton turned and looked at her. He grinned slowly, looking very much like a predatory animal.
“Oh, God. Enough with the mental image already.” Beau palmed his eyes. “I take it your shoulder and arm are healing.” He nodded at Braxton.
“They are.” Braxton picked up the bag. “Thanks for the clothes.”
“So why don’t you tell me what I’m dying to know?” Beau glared.
“And what would that be?” Braxton snarled.
“Exactly how did you wind up with an Assassin’s bullet in your body?”
***
Braxton held his breath for a brief second before meeting Kate’s astonished gaze. When he exhaled, he took a slow, deep breath. The scent of male wolf hit him. He jerked his gaze back to Beau, who was standing there smirking.
“Yes. I’m a wolf, too.”
“What?” Kate rounded on her friend. “You’re a werewolf? What the hell, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I kind of figured you’d freak out. Like now.”
Braxton narrowed his eyes at the vet. How come he hadn’t picked up on his scent before?
“I use a camouflage spray to hide my scent,” Beau answered the unspoken question. “Besides, the silver in your system dimmed your sense of smell. That’s why you didn’t scent me.”
Beau narrowed his eyes on Braxton. “Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s get to the real question. Just how the hell did you get an Assassin’s bullet in your shoulder? Who did you kill, Braxton?”
Kate paled, her pretty caramel eyes widening. At that moment, the sliver of trust he’d earned faded from her eyes. It hit him in the middle of his chest like a baseball bat.
“I didn’t kill anyone.” Braxton kept his eyes on Kate, trying to make her believe him by sheer will.
“Assassins don’t go around killing innocent werewolves. We both know that.”
Braxton rounded on the vet. “I’m not a fucking liar.”
Beau held his gaze, daring him to look away. To look away was a true test of lying. All wolves knew that.
Kate swiped the keys off the counter.
“Kate, wait.” Braxton grabbed her elbow. She flinched out of his grasp.
“I’ll be back. Sounds like you two have a lot to discuss.”
***
Kate didn’t remember the drive into town. She’d been too caught up in replaying the conversation between Beau and Braxton and trying to make sense of it all.
Was it possible that Braxton was a killer? She’d made bad decisions before, but to bare herself to a killer was unthinkable.
She shivered and turned up the heat in the SUV.
Her gut told her he wasn’t a killer. But her gut had also led her to believe her ex was a good guy. Look how that turned out.
She didn’t doubt for one instant that Braxton wouldn’t hesitate to get into a fight and do some serious bodily damage, but to actually kill someone? That was quite another thing.
Her shoulders sank along with her stomach.
She didn’t have an excellent track record when it came to men. She’d thought her ex had hung the moon. It wasn’t until he ran off with her life savings and put her in a dire financial situation that she realized how wrong she’d been.
Was she wrong about Braxton, too?
She parked in front of the ha
rdware store and cut the engine. She snuggled down further in her winter coat as she climbed out. The winter breeze stung her cheeks as she hurried to the door.
Mr. Thurmond, the owner of the hardware store, smiled warmly when he saw her. “Hello, Kate. What brings you in today?”
Kate gave him a sheepish grin and held up the dangly plastic part. She hoped she was standing in front of the man who could give her much-needed advice. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to tell me how to get my dishwasher running again, would you?”
***
Braxton gripped the windowsill as he watched Kate’s SUV disappear down the snow-covered hill and out of sight. He should go after her and explain, but it was light out and he didn’t know whether the Assassins were still out there looking for him. The last thing he wanted to do was to get Kate hurt.
“She’s always been too trusting.” Beau busied himself with pouring a cup of coffee. “I knew the moment she brought Tom home it wasn’t going to work. I never trusted that shifty-eyed son of a bitch.”
Braxton swallowed, his gut burned with anger. “I would never hurt Kate.”
“Braxton, face it. No matter how this thing plays out, Kate’s going to get hurt.”
“What do you mean?”
Beau set his coffee cup down. “If the Assassins find you, they are going to kill you. If they don’t find you and think you are dead, then you’ll be on your way out of town out of Kate’s life, forever on the run and looking over your shoulder.”
Braxton hardened his gaze.
Beau scrubbed his hand across his face and sighed. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you two, and frankly, I don’t want the play-by-play.” Beau shivered. “Jesus, Kate’s like my sister, so I don’t need the visual. But what I do know is how she looks at you when you walk in the room.”
“How does she look at me?” Braxton glanced away, waiting to hear the next few words come out of the vet’s mouth.
“Like you’re her hero.”
“I’m nobody’s hero.” He’d tried to be that for his mother, to save her from the monster his father was, and look where it got him. As much as he loved his mother, she would never have left his abusive father. The pattern was set and the routine learned. He couldn’t save someone that didn’t want to be saved.
