by Jaci Burton
“And I’ve never given you a damn reason not to. You’ve got this mindset that I’m out to get you. Tell me, do you treat every man like you treat me?”
“No.”
“I don’t buy it. I’ll bet you don’t get many guys warming up to the cold front you put out.”
Her eyes widened and she looked away.
“I don’t get you, Shannon. One minute you’re steaming hot, next you’re giving me this great freeze-out for no reason.”
“I don’t need a reason. I just know men like you.”
He made the turn into her condo lot and pulled into a parking spot, then turned off the engine and looked at her. “Men like me?”
Finally, she met his gaze. “Look, Max. We had sex. It was great. How many times do I have to tell you that it’s over? Quit stalking me, quit trying to get me to go places with you and quit trying to…to…”
“To what?”
She flicked the lock and threw open the door. “Nothing. Just stay the hell away from me unless it’s about work.”
With a hard slam of the car door, she walked away.
Dumbfounded, he sat there for a few minutes, having no earthly idea what had just happened.
Shannon was a complete mystery. Hell, maybe it was because she was a woman. The problem was he’d never gotten close enough to one before to get into weird little arguments like this. Maybe he should call his sister. Chantal might be able to give him some insight into the female mind.
Although she’d probably laugh at him. The great playboy Max Devlin, confused about a woman’s emotions. Chantal had always accused him of conveniently forgetting that women even had emotions.
Well Shannon sure as hell had them. And they were like night and day. Was this normal, or was it just Shannon?
How was he ever going to convince her to become his pack mate when he couldn’t figure her out? Normally he was good at reading people’s emotions. Okay, maybe not women he dated, but most people he could figure out. Shannon confounded the hell out of him.
Her hard headedness could be a stumbling block. Yes, he wanted a strong mate by his side. She couldn’t be alpha female of the pack without having the balls to be in charge. That wasn’t a problem with Shannon.
She’d have to learn to bend to his will, and that’s where he knew they’d battle. She was not the type of woman to give up control easily. He’d just have to convince her that he was the alpha male of the pack and she’d have to do what he said.
Yeah, right.
Sure as hell figured that the first woman he’d ever wanted to make his mate had to be the one who didn’t even want to give him the damn time of day.
Good thing he enjoyed a challenge.
Chapter Eight
Max was amazed at how much he’d managed to accomplish in a couple weeks. Not only was the PR campaign rolling along, but he’d closed on the house.
He’d spent two weeks making arrangements for his furniture to be shipped down, and his attorney managed a quick closing on the house. Keys in hand, he was ready for move-in day.
Everything was going just as he’d planned, with one exception—Shannon.
During the past two weeks, she’d avoided him as much as possible. Her emotions ran like the finicky fall weather. Steamy one day, chilly the next. It seemed as if she couldn’t make up her mind how she wanted to react to him.
But he knew one thing. If he didn’t do something and soon, they’d never have a repeat of the “hot” night they’d spent on the balcony at Lune de l’amour.. Things between them had been a bit too frosty lately, and he meant to change that.
The urge to mate was foremost on his mind now, and he needed to reveal to her who and what he was. How he was supposed to do that when she wouldn’t even talk to him was the problem.
For someone who’d always maintained control of women, Max was damned irritated that he couldn’t seem to handle Shannon.
He paced the front of the house while waiting for the moving van to show up, trying to figure out how to finesse his way back into her bed.
Well, hell. For that matter, they’d never ever done it in a bed. Not yet, anyway.
She refused to have dinner with him, had point blank told him that she wouldn’t be seeing him socially, and had kept her distance during their business meetings.
Other than a pounce and attack approach, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get past the cold shields she’d put up.
Then again, maybe he wouldn’t have to, because several cars pulled into the long driveway and stopped in front of him. They were filled with Storm family, from Angelina and Galen to Logan, Kaitlyn, Melissa, Aidan and bringing up the rear, looking reluctant as hell…Shannon.
“What are you all doing here?”
Angelina hugged him and kissed his cheek. “We couldn’t let you move in by yourself. What kind of southern hospitality would that be? We’ve come to help you.”
To say he was stunned was an understatement. “I don’t know what to say.”
Logan smiled. “It’s our family’s way of welcoming you. When Shannon told us you had bought a place, Mom made arrangements for a moving day barbecue. It’s kind of a tradition.”
“Don’t bother trying to get rid of us,” Kaitlyn said as she swept by, arms filled with bags. “We won’t listen. You’re practically family anyway now that you’re moving here. Where’s the kitchen?”
Speechless, he mumbled something about through the front door and down the long hallway. The rest of the family followed Kaitlyn inside, Shannon dragging the rear.
“Shannon.”
She stopped and turned to him, offering the phoniest bright smile he’d ever seen. “Yes?”
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“I have not. I’ve seen you every day at work.”
“I’m not talking about work. You’ve been avoiding me after work.” He sounded like a lovesick boy. He was disgusted with himself.
She sighed. “Max, I don’t want to get into this again, okay?”
“Why did you even come today if you don’t want to be here?”
“I don’t know what you mean by that. The Storms are always happy to help.”
He wasn’t buying it. He could chisel that frozen smile off her face. “Is it that awful to be around me?”
She shrugged. “Again, I have no idea what you mean.”
Unable to resist, he reached for her and pulled her against his chest. She stiffened. Anger rose within him at her cold demeanor. He was tiring of these games. He’d given her plenty of space to come around, and was growing weary of tiptoeing around her, around his need for her. “Don’t,” he warned.
Her eyes widened. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t pull away from me.”
“Then don’t touch me unless I invite you to.”
“I will be touching you, Shannon. Again and again and again. Might as well get used to the fact that we’re fated to be together.”
Heat sailed between them like the shock of walking from an air conditioned room to the steamy outside. And just as soon as it hit, it was gone, replaced instead by a gust of cool wind.
Shannon rolled her eyes and pushed hard at his chest. Considering her family lurked right inside, he let go and she stepped back. “Look, Max. Just because we had one night of spontaneous sex doesn’t mean you own me.”
She was wrong. Mating with her had put his mark on her, at least in his mind. She was his now, and always would be. He just had to convince her of that, and as usual with Shannon, he was going about things the wrong way. Maybe she just brought out the primitive side of him, and he wanted to possess her. Just take, with or without her permission. And dammit, she did want him. He knew she did! She was just too stubborn to realize it.
Jamming his fingers through his hair, he let out a forceful breath. “You’re right. Sorry. I’m just…agitated today.”
She frowned and tilted her head as if she didn’t believe this abrupt change. “I understand. I’m a bit agitated myself.”
His agitation was physical. He felt the blood racing through his veins, making him want to shift and take off in a run to pour out some of the adrenaline coursing through him. It was probably because they hadn’t made love for two weeks. The anxiety building up within him had nothing to do with this move or with business. It was one hundred percent attributable to the cool brunette standing in front of him. He wanted her, and she wasn’t giving him easy access. For a wolf…an alpha wolf…that was damned annoying.
He was just going to have to learn to treat her differently, because his normal alpha tactics weren’t going to work on a woman like her. He’d push, and she’d push back. Then she’d distance herself.
No, this way wasn’t working at all. Time to regroup and add some finesse to his seduction technique.
“Anyway, I’m sorry. I really appreciate you and your family coming out here to help me today.”
Responding with a wary glance, she looked at the moving van coming up the driveway, then nodded. “You’re welcome. I’m going inside to help them get started.”
Shannon hurried up the porch steps before Max said anything else to her.
She blew a stray hair out of her face and tried to calm her tormented emotions. God, she really didn’t want to be here today. He’d bet if she hadn’t been browbeaten by her mother, sister and Lissa, she wouldn’t have come.
Since the night they’d had dinner and came out here to look the place over, her emotions had been in turmoil.
Hell, she’d purposely picked a fight with him in the car on the way back. And sounded like a bitch royal in the process.
What was wrong with her, anyway? Why couldn’t she even be civil with him? He was like itching powder sprinkled all over her body, and he was driving her crazy.
And this damn house didn’t help her mental state. She walked through the long hallway in search of her family, once again hit hard with the feeling of home. She’d felt it the minute she’d walked inside that night. It was a beautiful house, but more than that, it seemed to call to her in ways she couldn’t fathom.
She pictured her things in this house, her clothes in the closet, her cross-stitched pillows spread across a comfortable sofa. She visualized sitting with Max on a sliding loveseat out on the screened back porch, watching the sun drop down over the lake.
And that made her want to run. Hard, fast and as far away from Max as she could.
When she entered the kitchen, Lissa told her that her mother and Kaitlyn were upstairs getting the bathrooms ready. Lissa was cutting and lining shelf paper in the drawers and cabinets. Shannon worked with her, hoping this day would pass quickly and soon be over.
Max was prominent in her mind. All the time, day and night. Especially night, when he haunted her dreams, a strange mix of man and that crazy wolf she’d seen that one time. Why she continued to dream of the two as one she didn’t know, and had given up trying to interpret the images that plagued her.
In her dreams, he made love to her. Savagely, passionately, taking her to heights of earth-shattering ecstasy. She’d wake drenched in sweat, the remnants of a climax shuddering through her.
It had gotten to the point where she was afraid to sleep. In sleep, Max took over and possessed her, and she gave up control to him without batting an eyelash.
“You’re quiet today,” Lissa whispered, gently laying a hand on her shoulder.
“I’ve got a lot on my mind.” She cut and fit a piece of drawer liner and slid it in place, grateful for any task to keep her mind occupied.
“Something bothering you?”
“No, not at all.” She turned and graced Lissa with a smile. “Although I’d rather be out shopping, or at home reading a book.”
“I think you’d rather be avoiding Max.”
Now Lissa was getting in on the act? “No, I’m not. I see him every day at work. That’s enough for me.”
Lissa laughed. “I used to feel the same way about Aidan. That man drove me crazy. Still does,” she added with a grinning sigh.
“That’s because you’re in love. And when you’re in love, men drive you to the brink of sanity.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she stilled, knowing she shouldn’t have said it.
Lissa’s eyes widened. “Maybe you’re in love, too?”
“With Max?” She laughed and brushed off Lissa’s comment, reaching for more shelf paper. “Hardly. We’re more antagonistic toward each other than friendly.”
“The night of the cocktail party you were anything but antagonistic.”
Oh, shit. Did everyone know what happened between them? Not that they couldn’t have figured it out after she’d left the balcony. Her hair had been a mess, her lips swollen from Max’s passionate kisses. Hell, her face had beard scratches all over it. She’d looked like she’d been well and thoroughly fucked.
Which she had been. An event her traitorous body refused to forget.
“The night of the cocktail party was a fluke. Honestly, I don’t know what happened out there. We were arguing and all of a sudden he kissed me.”
“Uh huh. Been there, done that. Some men just get to us. Especially the man. The one.”
Shannon rolled her eyes. “Ugh. You’re spending entirely too much time with Mom.”
Lissa laughed. “Maybe. And maybe I just recognize the look now.”
“What look?”
“The I’m-falling-in-love-but-don’t-want-to look.”
If she had that look, then it was a mistake. She wasn’t falling in love with Max. Damn her dreams, and damn her interfering family who seemed to think they knew more about how she felt that she did.
How could she be falling in love? She could barely stand him, and obviously he felt the same way since one minute he was nice to her and the next he was yelling at her.
What kind of relationship could they build on something so volatile? They had no foundation. Hell, they didn’t even like each other! One push and they’d topple.
No way. She didn’t feel anything for Max, and that was that.
Now if she could only stop thinking about him.
* * * * *
Max didn’t have a chance to speak with Shannon alone for the remainder of the day. After his furniture had been brought in and placed around the house, the Storms dug right in, helping him open boxes and set everything up.
Then they’d barbecued and eaten out on the back porch, talking, laughing and arguing back and forth.
They were amazing. Rather like his family, a close-knit pack where everyone did their share of the work. The house wasn’t huge, but large enough for a couple and growing family, even extra space for visitors. He walked from room to room and imagined a houseful of pups, Shannon running after them. Earlier in the day, he’d stood in the doorway to the master bedroom and watched the movers assemble his king-sized bed, his mind visualizing the set-up and hoping everything would fit. Now, his imagination took a different turn entirely.
Tangled sheets, sweat-soaked bodies and the waning light of sunset filtering through the windows filled his mind with an aching desire to completely possess Shannon.
Unfortunately, that would be hard to accomplish unless he planned to resort to kidnapping.
Maybe he shouldn’t hang out in the bedroom right now. He started down the stairs, enjoying the feel of the smooth oak banister under his hand. He could hardly believe it, but the sense of home he felt from this place was comforting.
He liked this house. All wood flooring made the heat a bit less oppressive. There were plenty of screened windows that allowed a breeze to sweep through the downstairs. The living room was plenty big, the white-tiled kitchen enormous.
That’s where he found all the women, arguing over placement of dishware. He leaned against the doorway and watched, knowing they hadn’t seen him.
“Dishes in the cabinet to the left,” Kaitlyn said, drawing a stack of plates and slipping them onto the shelf.
Shannon stopped her. “No, I prefer them on the right. Easier to unl
oad the dishwasher. Plates are heaviest anyway. And the cooking utensils go there, in that drawer,” she ordered, pointing to a long drawer next to the stove. “Mixing bowls should go in the cabinets above the island counter, since that’s where food would be prepared.”
By the time she rattled off her extensive list of what went where, Lissa, Angelina and Kaitlyn had stopped and crossed their arms, staring at her. It took her a few minutes to notice.
“What?”
“You’re acting as if this is your house, and you’re deciding where everything goes,” Kaitlyn said.
Angelina nodded. “You feel at home here, ma belle. It’s obvious.”
Their comments mirrored his thoughts. Shannon had been ordering them around as if she were setting up her own kitchen. Max’s heart slammed against his chest at the realization of how much he really wanted her in his home.
Shannon threw up her hands and shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. I’m just trying to help out. And I do not feel at home here! I didn’t even want to come.” She pointed her finger at her mother. “You made me.”
Max put his hand over his mouth to stifle the laughter that threatened to spill.
“I don’t recall having to twist your arm. Really, Shannon, you’re acting like a petulant child. It’s obvious to everyone that you have feelings for Max, and you’re fighting them.”
Now it was getting good. And he had a ringside seat.
“Yeah, and you’re getting pretty damn cranky about it, too,” Kaitlyn chimed in. “Living with you has been like two weeks with a woman with PMS and on a diet. Lord, you’ve been a bitch.”
“Have not.”
“Have too.”
Angelina rolled her eyes. “How old are you, girls? Really. Shannon, you might as well face your destiny. You know it is inevitable.”
“I will do no such thing. I can’t believe the three of you are ganging up on me like this! I was merely unloading these boxes, and suddenly you have me married off to a man that, frankly, I can’t stand!”
“Methinks thou dost protest too much,” Kaitlyn said, a smug smile on her face.
“Don’t you go quoting Shakespeare to me. You should get busy finding your own man instead of trying to match everyone else up, or you’ll end up alone.”
