by E A Price
“You believe me though.”
“Yeah well...” I love you. His wolf wagged his tail. “I guess I’m just a better Detective than Leeman.” Nice, stick it to Leeman. They didn’t need their fox thinking of other shifters.
Carly chewed her lip and nodded. “You’re right. So where do we go from here? I still vote for Mexico by the way.”
Logan chuckled. “You should try searching this guy Carlton’s house. Find his phone and his computer maybe.”
They looked at him. “What? I was bored waiting for you so I read the file. I’m up to speed.”
Jackson looked at the bear sheepishly. “You think you could ask Alma to find his address for me?”
Logan arched an eyebrow. “You too afraid to ask?”
“Hell yes! If I get her on the phone she’ll probably use her witchy powers to reach down the line and throttle me.”
Logan excused himself laughing as he went. Jackson tensed as some cops walked into the Diner. He put his arm round Carly and pulled her into his shoulder, shielding her face. She relaxed into him and gave the most adorable little moan of satisfaction. Almost as lovely as the moans she had given last night and this morning...
The cops soon left, completely oblivious to Carly’s presence. She snuggled a little closer. “Mmmm I have to pee but I don’t want to get up.”
Jackson snickered before moving and pulling her to her feet. She started walking away but stopped when she felt him tugging on her hand. He leaned over her closely, his breath tickling her cheek. “Don’t bother going out the window foxy. I’ll just find you. And if you run away again I’ll have to punish you.”
Carly trembled and felt her panties moisten. She imagined from the deep amber hue of his eyes that any punishment he wished to give her would be sexual. She hadn’t intended to escape through the window but now part of her was considering it just to see what he would do.
She smirked at him before walking away wiggling her ass. A low growl of desire caught in his throat. Logan sauntered back over and glanced at the retreating curvy fox.
“Nice.” He said before ducking out of the way of Jackson’s fist.
Jackson snarled at him and Logan held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Easy man, she’s not my type.”
Jackson harrumphed. “She damn well better not be.” His wolf barked, marginally appeased. She was his type, and his alone. “Did you get the address?”
They sat down and Logan flicked a piece of card over the table. The address was written on the back of a frequent customer card for Fruitful Endeavors, a vegan cafe. One more organic chai latte and Logan would get a free one.
Jackson’s lips twitched. “You sure you want to part with this?”
Logan gave him a sour look. “It belonged to an ex-girlfriend. I don’t see her coming back for it.”
“What did Alma say?”
Logan’s massive shoulders shook in silent laughter. “A lot. Not much that’s repeatable.”
Jackson winced. “Did she say anything about Marcus?”
“Only that he’s pissed you’re dodging his calls and that when he catches up to you you’re dead meat. He wants to know what the hell’s taking so long in bringing the fox in. He’s got about a dozen new skips for you. He’s had to call in hunters he swore he would never use again.” Logan shook his head. “You’ve really gone off the reservation on this one.”
“She’s innocent.” Jackson hissed.
“They all say that.”
“She’s in danger.” Jackson felt his anger rising at the thought of anything happening to Carly.
Logan grunted. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
So did he. “Did you have any trouble with Alma?”
Logan sucked in a breath through his teeth. “A little. I didn’t tell her Carly was with you but she guessed.”
Jackson rolled his eyes. You can’t keep anything from the damn witch.
“She didn’t want to give me the address. She wanted me to knock you out and drag Carly to the cops.”
Jackson’s wolf snarled and readied himself. He wasn’t sure if he could take the enormous bear shifter but for Carly he was willing to try. Logan would have to kill him before he let the bear take her away from him.
Logan rubbed his jaw. “I told her I doubted I could do that. She finally gave in when I told her the sooner she found the address the sooner you would be bringing Carly in anyway.”
Jackson snorted. Alma just couldn’t stand the thought of having to phone the vampire Viktor and ask him for help.
“Alma wanted me to pass on a message to you.” Logan took a sip of his soda.
“Well?” Demanded Jackson impatiently.
“Given that this is a family restaurant I better clean it up a little, but you’ll get the gist.” Logan cleared his throat. “You blanking blank. You better know what you’re blanking doing or I will blanking blank you when I blanking find you. You stupid blank.”
“Well blank me.” Muttered Jackson.
“And also nothing came back on the background check on this Dr Carlton Levine guy, apparently he’s clean as a whistle.”
Carly came back all smiles and his wolf let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.
“We’re leaving.” Said Jackson shortly. He threw some bills down on the table. “Logan I need to borrow your SUV.”
“What? Why? Where’s your truck?”
Jackson stood up and began tapping his foot. “Parked a block from the Howling Moon Motel. I had to leave it behind last night.”
Logan slurped down the remainder of his soda. “So? Go get it.”
“Some of the goons from last night might be hanging around. It’s too risky. Come on, gimme your keys.”
With a martyred sigh Logan threw them at Jackson’s head. “First the file, then talking to Alma and now this? You owe me. Hugely.”
Carly gave Logan a nervous smile and put a hand on his muscled arm. “Thank you for everything. I really appreciate it. I promise I will find a way to pay you back.”
Logan grinned at Jackson wickedly. He patted Carly’s hand. “I’m sure we can work something out sweetheart.”
Jackson snarled and forcefully threw his truck keys at Logan’s chest making the bear oof when they hit. “You can use my truck.” He laced his fingers through Carly’s. “Ignore him, when this is all over we’ll get him a muffin basket.”
Logan frowned. “I know you’re joking but I would love that.”
Jackson rolled his eyes and stalked out of the Diner with Carly close behind.
“Again, nice to meet you.” She called over her shoulder.
Chapter Eleven
On getting in Logan’s SUV Jackson immediately changed the position of the seat, deleted all the radio station presets and knocked the mud off his boots on the floor.
“Really?” Carly asked. “Aren’t you being a tad childish?”
“Just you wait until you see what he does with my truck.” The bear was anal about his own vehicle but a complete slob in other peoples. It was with great reluctance that Jackson had imparted his keys to the bear. But needs must...
“Sooooo we’re going to Carlton’s place?”
Jackson nodded while flipping off a white sedan that had been driving far too slowly in his opinion.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Carly and her fox both had bad feelings about this.
Honestly he wasn’t sure. “A reason why someone would want to kill him.” He had no idea what that could be.
Carly bit her lip and looked out the window as people and buildings whizzed by. “Why are you helping me?” She asked in a small voice.
It was the question that had been bothering her since he had thrown her out of the window back at the motel. Why was he going out of his way to help her? He didn’t know her. Why would he risk his own freedom trying to secure hers? Was he doing all this just to sleep with her? If he was he’d already received his reward, she hadn’t exactly held out for long! She was overwhel
mingly attracted to him and he made her fox go wild. Part of her suspected the reason why but she was too scared to admit it out loud for fear of rejection. For Jackson it might not mean the same thing, she could just be an exciting roll in the hay for him.
When he didn’t answer Carly blushed and started babbling. “Not that I’m complaining or anything. Of course not. I’m glad you’re helping me, really I am, but I just wanted to know why.”
Jackson flicked her an uncertain look. He suspected why but he wasn’t certain. He’d been wrong before. “Because I believe you. I believe you’re innocent.”
“That’s it?” Was she really supposed to believe that he was harboring a bail jumper because he thought it was the right thing to do?
“Isn’t that enough?”
Carly fidgeted in her seat, her fox thoroughly unhappy with his answer. “Well... thanks. For everything, I mean you’re really going out of your way. I hope after this is all over we can be friends.”
Friends?! His beast yowled at him. “I kind of thought that we’d... be more than that.”
Hope blossomed in her chest. “You mean, like dating?”
Jackson grimaced. Dating wasn’t really in his wheelhouse. “Well not exactly dating...” He was thinking more along the lines of moving her into his trailer and making it known she belonged to him. Mine.
Carly felt deflated as her fox bleated. “So what? Friends with benefits?”
He prickled. “I wouldn’t say friends. You don’t do what we did this morning with your friends do you?” If she did he’d have to hunt down each and every one to either rip their throats out or just warn them off, he hadn’t decided which yet.
“Of course not.” She hadn’t even done that with all her boyfriends. “So just benefits then?”
Jackson sighed and gripped the steering wheel. His wolf growled reproachfully at him. “Look the whole relationship thing... I’m not very good at it. But I like you. A lot.”
Well it wasn’t the nicest thing a man had ever said to her but it wasn’t the worst, and somehow those words meant more coming from Jackson.
Jackson nervously adjusted the collar of his shirt, his clothes felt too tight. His beast was unhappy at the direction of this conversation and had started pushing forward. His muscles rippled as he tried to maintain his human form. “Why don’t we focus on keeping you out of jail and then worry about our...” Ugh. “Relationship.”
Carly chewed on her cheek. That sounded reasonable. After all shouldn’t that be her main concern? Her head said yes. But her heart was only concerned about her possible future with Jackson. And her sex was anxious for them to repeat their amorous escapades of last night and this morning. Her fox couldn’t decide between her heart and her sex. It was kind of confusing.
“Well at least tell me a bit about yourself.”
So far all she knew was his name, profession and where he lived. Truth be told she felt like a complete slut spreading her legs for a man she barely knew. She’d never been so quick to have sex with a man. For her previous boyfriend they’d dated for a month before they had sex. It hadn’t been worth the wait. Particularly as he’d actually only been dating her for a bet.
A number of men at Ryntech had an ongoing game. They draw a name of one of the ‘undateable’ women that none of them were interested in and then draw one of their own names. The lucky, or unlucky depending on how you looked at it, guy then had to get the ‘undateable’ into bed. All the other guys took bets on how long it would take him. Losers.
It really irked her. She hadn’t even been interested in Gary from accounting at all until he started showering her with attention. He was prematurely balding, had a pronounced paunch and was pretty misogynistic. Yet after his persistence she had finally given and started dating, then a month after numerous gifts and dinners out she had relented and they had sex. It was terrible. But even more so to find out that he’d only done it as a game and then he dropped her like a hot potato.
Her cheeks burned remembering it. She’d been keeping her head down ever since. On the plus side Gary had been quite complimentary about her sexual prowess. She hadn’t returned the sentiment.
But for Jackson... he practically just had to smile in her direction and she was rolling over. She was annoyed at herself for being so easy. She wanted something more from Jackson. She felt they shared something deeper beyond a quick tumble between the sheets. She just couldn’t tell whether he thought so too.
Jackson grunted. “What do you want to know?”
Carly threw up her hands. “Anything, like what’s your favorite color? Or meal? What kind of dessert do you like? What do you watch on TV? Do you even like watching TV? What’s your favorite movie? What’s your biggest fear in life? Anything will do. Why don’t you run with a pack?”
Jackson shot her a fierce look and she flinched, her fox yelping. “That’s a bit personal don’t you think.”
“Yes! That’s the point!” She cried in exasperation.
Jackson pulled over. “We’re here.” He jumped out the vehicle without looking at her.
Apparently Jackson didn’t feel anything for her. She sighed and got out too. She wasn’t going to wallow in self pity. She would sort out this whole murder mess first and then she could wallow. It was all about priorities.
Jackson tried not to look at Carly. He’d overreacted to her question about his pack. It wasn’t a subject he liked to discuss but he shouldn’t have spoken to her that way. His wolf was barking up a storm inside.
Wordlessly Jackson took her small hand and began tugging her to follow him. Just the feel of her skin touching his made his body hum. Her hands were so delicate and soft. What he wouldn’t give to feel them wrapped around his aching manhood... Fuck he needed to get a grip. Yes, a grip on Carly...
He had parked a block away and was now leading Carly round the back of his condo. Carly whistled when she saw the pool and the Jacuzzi. Carlton’s house was awesome.
Jackson peered through the patio windows. He couldn’t see an alarm but that didn’t mean anything. None of the houses he had ever illegally entered had been quite as nice as this one. He reflected that the people he chased were unsuccessful criminals, only the successful ones could hope to afford this level of swank. He did notice there were three different locks on the patio doors though.
“Well? What are we waiting for?” Asked Carly peering around, afraid someone could see them.
Jackson pursed his lips. “I can’t tell if there’s an alarm or not. A nice neighborhood like this might have a silent alarm that goes straight to some private security firm.”
“Can’t you just hack in and disable it?”
He blinked. “Hack in? What do you think this is? Mission Impossible? I have my doubts I can even manage to pick the locks.” They looked complicated.
Carly rolled her eyes and turned away. He peered back through the window. A loud crash startled him and he almost leapt into the air as his wolf yelped.
Looking around wildly it was to find a rock had been thrown through one of the patio doors, smashing the glass to smithereens. Carly gave him an expectant look. “Well you weren’t doing anything.”
Jackson groaned inwardly. He wanted to berate and roar at her but he figured they only had so much time until the cops arrived so instead he chose to hustle her inside and get to work.
“Where do you think we should start?” He asked.
“Hey I solved the door problem, this one’s on you.” She pinched his bicep.
Jackson let out a throaty, sensual growl that made her sex tingle. He shook his head trying to dismiss the erotic thoughts chasing through his mind. No such luck...
He cleared his throat. “Let’s see if we can find an office or something and be careful about leaving fingerprints.”
Carly nodded and followed his lead. They didn’t find anything on the ground floor of interest, unless you find a huge amount of gym equipment and a suntan bed interesting. Although Jackson did find a particularly toxic smelling bran
d of air freshener and began squirting it everywhere. No way was that mountain mist scent. She gagged but he said it was necessary to cover up their scents. She bowed to his expert burglary skills.
On the upper level Carly was flabbergasted at the size of the man’s wardrobe. He owned ten times the amount she did, and she owned a lot! In comparison Jackson owned two pairs of boots. If Carlton’s wardrobe was breathtaking it was nothing compared to his bathroom. It was like a mini spa. Her whole apartment would fit in there. And the amount of products he owned was astounding. And she thought she was vain... She couldn’t help but snigger when she found his ‘manscara’. Then she remembered Carlton was dead and felt bad.
Carlton must have spent hours on his appearance and yet when compared to Jackson he came up short. All Jackson had to do was roll out of bed in a morning and throw on some crumpled clothes and he was a walking wet dream. Oh Jackson! She felt herself getting excited remembering how he had so easily coaxed a total of four orgasms out of her only hours before. She’d never managed more than one at a time before. Yep, he certainly was talented...
Carly eyed the bathtub. It certainly was a big tub, room enough for two...
“Carly!”
Damn. She hustled toward his voice and found him in a small office staring intently at a computer screen. She leaned over his shoulder, the luscious globes of her breasts pressing against his back. He groaned imperceptibly and rearranged the swelling in the front of his pants.
She read the e-mail he was looking at twice and her excitement quickly died. “It’s just an e-mail to his boss. So what?”
Jackson craned his neck and gave her a smug smile. “That’s just the first one, there’s a dozen more. Read on.”
Her eyes slowly widened as she read e-mail after e-mail. The first one, dated two months ago, had been pretty tame. It was from Carlton to the CEO of Ryntech Teresa Pratchett who liked to be known as TP. Carlton asked TP for a meeting as he had some reservations about a new drug unfortunately called ‘Erectoplus’ they were about to debut.
