McNamara eyed her warily, but she knew he’d trust in her track record. Unlike her brothers, she’d never once tried to cut out on her protection. They’d run off from home several times, evading their guards to go to stupid frat parties. That had never been El’s style.
She was too boring for that.
Sighing at the fact she was so predictable, her security found no issue in stepping away as she’d requested. She turned to Ryan with apology written into her expression. “They have to scan anywhere I visit.”
“Okay,” he replied softly, his smile gentle as he lifted a hand and cupped her cheek.
The move was tender, intimate. Not one that reflected the short space of time they’d known one another. She was a fool, she knew it, but El let her chin tip into his hand so that he could better caress her cheek.
His thumb moved, swiping along her cheekbone before angling down to tap the corner of her lips. “We can travel in your vehicle, and they can go into the house before we do.”
“Y-You don’t mind?”
“Why should I? I’m breaking all kinds of protocol by doing this… I haven’t even fed you yet.”
She bit her lip. “S-Should we stay?”
“It depends. Do you want to know more?”
Her nod was hesitant. “Why could I see that?” What was it even called? Magic? Fairy dust? Jesus. Had she taken acid without realizing it?
“Because of what you are to me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have. Just like everyone else in the restaurant didn’t who isn’t like me.”
“Like you? What are you?” she breathed when he dropped his head and let his mouth hover over hers. She felt the weight of his lips against hers, but he didn’t kiss her, just let her feel his heavy presence there.
“I can’t tell you. Not here.”
Her eyelids fell shut and she swallowed as he nipped at her bottom lip.
“Come home with me.”
She wanted to, she realized. What did that make her? She knew what her friends would say if she went back to his place and they had sex.
“Not for sex,” he said, seeming to realize what she was worried about. “I mean that. Hand on heart. This… it goes far deeper than sex.”
“It does?” Had she ever heard a man admit to something like that? Hell, she didn’t know why she didn’t expire from shock.
“Yes. It does. You can spend the night at my home, and I won’t touch you.”
She frowned. “Why not?”
He grinned. “I’m glad to know the notion is disappointing.”
Her cheeks flushed bright pink. Again. Dammit. “Well, I mean, that’s unusual, isn’t it?”
“I’m an unusual man.”
Why she decided to have faith in him, El didn’t know. But she pulled away from Ryan—saw and was relieved by the flash of disappointment in his eyes when he thought she was rejecting him outright—then turned to face McNamara.
That look was all it took for her guard to approach. “Ryan will tell you where we need to go.”
McNamara turned to her date. “You are aware that before Maryellen can enter your home, we’ll need to do a full sweep of the property?”
Ryan barely blinked at what, she knew, was a damn cheek. “I understand. I have nothing to hide. However, I have guards of my own or I’d send you on ahead and let you check it out beforehand.”
McNamara seemed to appreciate that idea. “Is that not possible?”
“They need to see me agree to letting you onto the grounds before they’d allow you to do a sweep of your own.”
“Of course. I can understand their caution.” He held out a guiding hand. “If you’d step this way?”
Ryan nodded but grabbed a hold of El’s hand. When his fingers slid through the spaces between hers, bridging them, she felt warmth settle in her belly.
It was warmth of a different nature to what she’d experienced before. This wasn’t the heat of arousal, the burning need of a passion shared. It was bountiful, somehow. Generous.
And she knew that in no way explained what the heck was going on with her, but that’s just how it felt.
She might have thought he was taking her for a ride, literally and in a jerk-male kind of way, but she didn’t. Couldn’t.
This was… well, it was all too real.
What she’d just seen, and his earnestness? For the first time in too long, she had faith, and somehow that was more terrifying than anything else.
Hope was a wonderful and horrible thing. She was leaving herself open to a world full of hurt, and while it undoubtedly made her sound like ‘poor little rich girl’, she’d already experienced enough hurt in her lifetime to wish not to add to it.
But Ryan made her want to try, and try she would.
The press of their hands together made Ryan gleeful.
Well, it was a mixture of glee, bewilderment, excitement, and concern.
He didn’t want to mess this up, and there were so many ways in which this could be messed up that he was really on a downhill streak from the get go.
But he couldn’t think of that. Couldn’t contemplate it. Just had to focus on their hands. Joined, united. At last.
He’d found her.
They had found their mate.
He hated that he hadn’t fed her, that he wasn’t looking after her, but he knew if he ate anything, he’d probably puke. The only person he’d ever admit that to was himself. To the Pride, he presented a consistently strong façade. They expected it, and would have been scared if he’d shown even a hint of weakness.
His Triad brothers, Trip and Marcus, weren’t so bad. They knew he was as full of failings as they themselves were. They didn’t expect him to be a living deity like a lot of his family and Pride did, but they weren’t supposed to share their weaknesses with one another.
That was for a mate.
The softness to their hardness.
He shuddered at the thought.
Alone. They’d all been alone for so damn long. But not anymore.
Well, not if he didn’t fuck this up totally. Even then, she was their mate. She couldn’t stay mad at him for too long, right?
Huh.
He rubbed his nose with his free hand after he held the door open for her to pass from Feral LA into the gardens beyond. It was the whole package here. Not just inside but out. The terrace was one of the reasons a lot of their regulars remained regular. With the endless lanterns and thousands of candles, it was regularly tagged on Instagram as the place in the city for a proposal. He could understand, and when El sighed at the sight of it, his lips twitched.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Beautiful,” she confirmed, peeping up at him through long, dark lashes. Those glittering green eyes of hers made his goddamn heart stutter in his chest.
Jesus, how could she have so much power over him already?
Thirty minutes in her presence and he was turning into a fucking pussy.
Well, not literally. That he could do too though. And would. In front of her at some point.
The nerves. Christ.
“My partner, Marcus, designed it. He did an excellent job. Just don’t tell him I said that,” Ryan told her with a wink, a wink that had her giggling. What a giggle.
Heart. Melt. Alert.
He tightened his fingers about her, wondering why he felt as nervous as an adolescent in the throes of his first crush, then shrugged it off as normal.
This woman was his one. If there was anyone deserving of his nerves, it was El.
She eyed the landscaped yard that had bright white tables and chairs interspersed among more of the orbs the Feral brand was famous for. There were thousands of them. Big, small, tiny. Some opaque, others transparent. Then, they had custom lanterns drifting overhead on invisible lines so, in the light polluted city, it was like the stars were twinkling all around the lucky diners who ate out here—the wait list for a terrace table was insane.
They were booked out here for the next eight months.
See? I
nsane.
Pride filled him at her look of awe because she was a Forsythe-Drew and their billions went back to the days when railroads were being built in this country. No, he wasn’t as rich as that, and would never be, but damn, the business he, Trip, and Marc had created was worthy of her. She had something to be proud of when it came down to it.
What else mattered but her being proud of them?
Nothing. That’s what.
The stepping stones that led to the parking lot had her treading cautiously in her high heels. She was curvy, beyond curvy actually. Rounded in all the right places, bountiful in others. She had an ass made for plowing, and legs that he couldn’t wait to have squeezing his face when he ate her out. Her breasts were large handfuls, and he’d know—his hands were large. They’d fill his palms perfectly, and his mouth watered as he pondered if she had cherry-colored nipples or pale pink ones. He wanted to know every inch of her. Discover every secret she had.
In her little black dress, he saw the dimples behind her knees and wanted to drop to his feet to lick that delicate piece of flesh before heading higher and taking advantage of the easy access her skirt gave her. It clung to her hips in all the best ways, before shaping her tits into a sweetheart neckline that let him, from his height, peer down her cleavage. She wore a simple gold chain with a little cross on it that settled in her collar bone and diamond studs in her ears. Her face was beyond beautiful. High cheekbones, hair like russet with streaks of chestnut and gold interspersed in the mix. She had pouty lips made for sucking his cock, and a small button nose that was cuter than anything but in no way detracted from her beauty.
They were lucky.
He knew that. She was beyond gorgeous.
Grateful for her heels as she clung to him as they treaded down the path, he murmured, “You look beautiful tonight.”
Her eyes flared at that and she looked up at him, a gratitude burrowed within that hurt him somehow. She ducked her head a little, gaze casting down to the floor. “You think so?”
She wasn’t being coy. Wasn’t asking for compliments.
God, he hated LA sometimes. With its superficiality that lauded only the stick thin and those with washboard muscles, and denigrated those who had a bit of padding. Sure, he’d fucked skinny chicks. But he’d fucked curvy girls too. He’d never put a woman down because of her size, but he’d admit to being glad his mate had something to grab hold of. Something for him to plow and fuck, and all without worrying she’d break if he gave her all he had to give.
“I know so,” he told her softly, loving the twitch of her lips as she heard and accepted the compliment.
She blew out a breath then pointed to a large SUV. “That’s our ride.”
“Well, it’s not as fancy as my Lexus,” he pointed out with a grin. “But it will do. I’d have loved to see you with the wind blowing through your hair.”
She grinned. “You have a soft top?”
“One of the perks of having money in this godawful city,” he told her, holding her hand and helping her into the SUV when McNamara opened the back door for her.
“You don’t like LA?”
He shook his head. “It’s not my scene.”
She grimaced as she settled in the other side, letting him climb in next to her. He wasn’t exactly happy at the lack of privacy screen, but hell, it didn’t matter. If this got her onto Pride land, then it was all for the good. He could only shift there, and he needed to show her all of him if she was going to understand what she was to him. To his Triad.
This was the calm before the storm, he knew, and he intended to enjoy every moment of it before the tears and recriminations.
And that wasn’t negative thinking either. What else would her reaction be to the sight of him changing into a fucking lion?
He wasn’t exactly expecting tears of joy.
“It’s not my scene either, and I’ve lived here all my life.”
As he fastened his seatbelt, McNamara climbed into the car too and another guard. There’d been three at the table though?
She must have seen his confusion because she murmured, “Enrique travels behind me.”
His eyes rounded at that. “Wow. You have heavy duty security.”
El bit her lip. “I know. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say it for that, I’m just stunned.” Then it came to him, and with it, terror. “You’ve been threatened recently?”
“El!” McNamara barked her name, making her jump and prompting Ryan into glowering at the guard behind the wheel. “That’s nobody’s business but ours.”
El gulped, but she reached for Ryan’s hand as they steered out of the lot and squeezed. Once.
The lack of privacy ate at him, and he was hard pressed not to fire questions at her. The need to know more filled him. The need to protect his woman was an overriding urge that demanded his all.
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “It isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last.”
McNamara blew out an irritated breath and turned up the radio. El grimaced, but settled back into her seat. As they reached the end of the drive that led to Feral, the guard asked, “Where to, Mr. DeSoto?”
“Abbey Grange, over on the Hills.”
“Impressive neighborhood,” El congratulated him, then she grinned. “Although, should I expect any less with… How many are there now? Eight Ferals all over the country?” She giggled. “A few up and down the coast? More like over half a dozen.”
He smiled at her chiding of him. “They’re not all mine.”
“No?”
“Well, I have a lot of family. I start them up with my partners and then hand them over to siblings. Theirs or mine. The ones in California are the restaurants we manage.”
“That’s an interesting business premise,” she teased. “I’m not entirely certain my brothers would be so generous with their babies.”
He snorted and turned in his seat so he could see her better. “They’re not my babies. They’re something to do.” Well, they’d been an outlet. Before her.
The brand employed Pride members, so it was imperative the restaurants remained successful, but now she was in his life? Nuhuh. Feral would go on the back burner.
He had enough crap to deal with where the Pride was concerned. The restaurants had been a kind of release for his Triad. A chance to mess around and dirty their hands without having to deal with Pride politics too. But with her at their side, they had a better way to vent.
Between her legs.
Or her on top. Whichever suited the moment, he thought wryly.
“That’s an interesting choice of words,” she said softly, breaking into his not so innocent thoughts. “Are you independently wealthy, Ryan?”
“Perhaps.” His grin was as teasing as hers had been moments before. “Nothing to your scale, mind.”
That had her grimacing. “It isn’t my scale. It’s the family’s.”
“Because you’re not a part of the family?” He cocked a brow at her disbelievingly.
“I sometimes think they wish I wasn’t.”
Her soft, sad words had McNamara letting out a long breath. It grabbed Ryan’s attention, and he saw the pity in the man’s eyes. So, her statement wasn’t wrong. The guard believed El was right.
It also showed that he liked El. Had more than just a professional interest in her.
Before his Lion could get riled, McNamara quietly murmured, “You know they’re just different to you, El. Not better, nor worse, just different.”
She turned her face to the side. “Thanks, Shawn.”
McNamara shook his head, apparently sensing like Ryan had that her words were more by rote than anything else, and he turned his focus on the road once more.
Ryan squeezed El’s fingers. “Family can suck sometimes. That’s why friends are better. At least you can choose who you ignore.”
She snickered at that, her gaze returning to him. “That’s a unique way of looking at it.”
About to reply, he felt the subtle revving of the engine and the rapid increase in speed. He shot McNamara a look, saw the other man was peering into the rear-view mirror.
“Shawn? What is it?” El had noticed the increase in speed too. Ryan wouldn’t lie—the awareness she had of her environment impressed him.
Few others would have noticed what had just happened. Not without prompt.
“Someone’s tailing us. And it’s not Enrique.” The man’s mouth firmed into a thin line as he began maneuvering through the early evening traffic. It was approaching eight, so the roads weren’t as jammed from the commuters, but it wasn’t exactly quiet either.
The sun was setting, sending shards of purple and gold throughout the sky. It was still a bright ball though. Enough for McNamara to scramble for his shades as he sped up once more, then began nipping in and out of the lines of traffic.
He knew this road like the back of his hand. So, looking back, he tried to discern which of the cars was trailing him, and proffered, “There’s a turn off coming up in under a mile. If you take it, it brings you out onto the—”
“We’re aware of the turn off, Mr. DeSoto,” the guard beside McNamara muttered, his attention on the road ahead. Then, he stunned the shit out of all of them by bringing a gun out of his pocket, pointing it at McNamara’s head, and demanding, “That’s why you’re going to take it, Shawn. And don’t mess me around or I will pull the trigger.”
El let out a sharp cry. “Jamie? How could you?”
The guard, Jamie, turned back to look at her. “I’m sorry, El. I need the money.”
The sorrow in her eyes tore at Ryan like nothing else could.
“You could have come to me,” she whispered. “You know I’d have helped.”
“To the tune of two million bucks?” Jamie scoffed. “I have debts. No way you’d have helped me that much.” His lips tightened. “This was a sad necessity, but it doesn’t have to end badly. When your folks pay up, you’ll be safe as houses again. We just want the cash.”
“You fucking idiot, Jamie. You think it’s as simple as that when we know who the fuck you are? You’re going to have to leave the country.” McNamara’s was almost a palpable entity.
“That’s on my itinerary,” the bastard said smugly. “My money can last longer in Ecuador, and lookie here, there’s no extradition agreement between them and the US.”
Finding Luna: A Lion Shifter Reverse Harem Romance (PRIDE Book 1) Page 3
