by Paige Tyler
“That’s not the point. I thought you were going to have some say in picking my next partner.”
Kendra scowled. “You guys were great together on the course. Stop being so closed-minded.”
Ivy finished off the cookie she’d been nibbling on. “I’d better do some damage control before our next round. I might have to depend on Landon to save my ass again.”
She grabbed her Gatorade and got to her feet, almost smacking into Declan as she turned around. She really must be preoccupied if she hadn’t heard him come up behind her. The bear shifter wasn’t exactly stealthy. He was, however, one of the sweetest guys she’d ever met.
Ivy smiled up at him. “Hey.”
“Hey. I just met your new partner. He seems like a good guy.” Declan turned his baby blue eyes on Kendra. “Um…Hi, Kendra.”
Ivy hid her smile behind her Gatorade bottle as she took a sip. Poor Declan. She couldn’t believe a guy who was this big and tough could get so tongue-tied when it came to talking to a woman. But he had a serious crush on Kendra.
“I was…um…wondering if you…might want to…you know, grab something to eat.”
Kendra frowned in confusion. She looked down at her empty tray, then up at Declan. “Thanks, but I already ate.”
He flushed beneath his tan. “Right. I knew that. I just…you know, thought you might want to go out to dinner this weekend.”
“Dinner? Oh.”
Kendra glanced at Ivy, looking helpless and in desperate need of a life preserver, but Ivy wasn’t tossing one to her. If Kendra was going to give him the brush-off—yet again—she was going to do it without Ivy’s help. Something Kendra must have quickly figured out because she turned back to Declan.
“Thanks for the offer, Declan, but I’m kind of swamped right now with training and everything.” Kendra gave him a small smile. “Maybe after Ivy and Landon are certified.”
As brush-offs went, it wasn’t rude, but from the way Declan’s shoulders sagged, Kendra might as well have told him he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever going out with her. Ivy couldn’t blame him. What she couldn’t understand was why he kept asking Kendra out after she’d shot him down so many times. Wasn’t doing the same thing and expecting different results the definition of insanity?
To his credit, Declan didn’t let the hurt show. He even managed a grin. “Sure. Sounds good.” He gave Ivy a nod. “See you around.”
He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something else to Kendra, but after giving her one more puppy-dog look, he turned and headed for the cafeteria’s big double doors. Ivy frowned as she watched him go. He looked even more upset this time than he usually did when Kendra turned him down. She’d have to tell Tate to keep an eye on Declan. She didn’t want the shifter getting himself or someone else hurt because he was in a depression-induced fog.
Ivy looked at Kendra. “Why don’t you just give the poor guy a break and go out with him?”
Her friend’s brow rose. “Declan? You’re not serious?”
“Why not? He’s obviously crazy about you.”
“I know. Which is why I feel awful turning him down every time he asks me out. But he’s just not my type.”
Of course he wasn’t. Kendra’s type was Clayne, a guy who didn’t have the time of day for her. As a result, Kendra missed out on what could be a good thing with Declan. And Clayne was missing out on a good thing with Kendra because he only had eyes for Ivy. And she wasn’t interested. In him or anyone else.
Sometimes she wondered if the DCO was a high-speed government covert-ops organization or a dysfunctional soap opera.
Chapter 4
Ivy braced for a confrontation with Landon, but he was as nice to her after lunch as he’d been before. Either Foley hadn’t said anything nasty about her, or Landon hadn’t believed him. She hoped it was the latter. Although she was dying to know what the two men had talked about, she didn’t ask. The curiosity, however, was enough to distract her.
Luckily, that afternoon’s training didn’t require a lot of concentration. It was physically demanding, though, and by the end of the day they were both dirty, sweaty, and exhausted.
“Man, I reek,” Landon said when they got to their dorm.
Actually, he didn’t reek at all. He was half covered in mud and soaked in sweat, but he was far from stinky. To her, he smelled of musk and masculinity. The combination was so delicious, she had to keep from burying her nose in his neck so she could take a closer whiff.
Sometimes, she really hated having an enhanced sense of smell.
Cheeks coloring, she reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you want to flip a quarter to see who gets to use the shower first?”
Unless you want to share. Like she’d trust herself enough to be in such a confined space with all that potent masculinity.
“Nah. You can go first.” His mouth edged up. “I might stink like a pig, but I’m still a gentleman.”
And underneath all the mud and sweat covering her, she was enough of a lady to appreciate the gesture. “Okay. Thanks.”
Grateful to put some space between her and his sexy scent, she grabbed her robe and toiletry bag from her suitcase, then ducked into the bathroom. Unfortunately, the door didn’t do a thing to shut out the pheromones he was emitting. She should have jumped in the shower and turned on the water full blast, but instead she stood there with her mouth partially open, breathing in his scent and getting more aroused by the second.
Ivy closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, moaning as warmth pooled between her thighs. She’d never had such a strong reaction to a man before. Not even the ones she’d slept with.
She pushed away from the door. Stripping off her uniform, she climbed into the shower and turned it on full force. It was cold, but she didn’t care. Hoping the coconut-scented body wash would help mask Landon’s scent, she squeezed some into her palm and lathered up. As she ran her hands over her breasts and down her stomach, she imagined it was her new partner washing the sweat and dirt away. The fire between her legs engulfed her whole body and she slid her hand down to touch herself.
A few circular motions on her clit with her fingers and she’d orgasm. But she couldn’t. Not here. Not with Landon just outside.
She caught her bottom lip between her teeth to stifle a moan and reluctantly pulled her hand away. Why the heck hadn’t she thought to pack her vibrator? On second thought, maybe it was better she hadn’t. Masturbating while thinking of her partner was not a good idea.
Regardless of how scrumptious he smelled, she was not going to fantasize about having sex with Landon. And she was most definitely not going to give in to her animal side and actually have sex with him. No matter how intoxicating he smelled or how hot he looked in his uniform.
***
Landon had to stifle a groan when Ivy came walking out of the bathroom. Seeing her in nothing but a short robe with her long, wet hair hanging down her back and her slender legs bare was enough to make him go hard in his pants. Now he understood why the army didn’t allow women on the A-teams. To say they’d be a distraction was an understatement.
Disappearing into the bathroom before Ivy could see the tent he was pitching, he took off his boots and uniform, and jumped in the tub. He showered quickly, turning the water all the way to cold in the hope it would get rid of his raging hard-on. Thankfully, it worked. Though he wasn’t sure how long the effect would last if Ivy was still wearing that robe when he went back into the living room.
Fortunately, she wasn’t. Unfortunately, she was wearing something just as sexy—shorts and a tank top. The kind that showed lots of skin and hugged every one of her curves. His cock immediately stiffened in his jeans.
Ivy turned as he walked into the kitchen. Landon’s gaze locked on her perfect breasts. He swore under his breath and forced himself to focus on her face instead. Or more precisely,
her beautiful, brown eyes. A guy could get seriously lost in those eyes.
“I was just going to make a sandwich,” she said. “You want one?”
His stomach growled at the mention of food. He hadn’t even realized he was hungry. How could he? He’d been too busy thinking about what his partner looked like naked under her robe. “Sure. Thanks.”
“Peanut butter and jelly okay?”
“That’s fine.”
Actually, it was better than fine. He hadn’t had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich since his forward operating base got a big shipment of care packages in from the States. That had been months ago. Most people didn’t think much of peanut butter and jelly, but it was something you sure missed when you couldn’t get it.
He leaned against the counter, watching as she spread peanut butter on a slice of bread. “Can I ask you something?”
She dug more peanut butter out of the jar for the second sandwich. “That depends on what it is.”
Fair enough. “Well, I guess we won’t know unless I ask, so at the risk of offending you, I’m just going to come out and say it. Are you some kind of government experiment, like on X-Files or something?”
Ivy stopped spreading peanut butter on the third sandwich to look at him, surprised. Then she burst out laughing. “No. I’m definitely not a government experiment.”
He waited for her to continue, but she only finished up with the peanut butter and started on the jelly.
“If you’re not a government experiment, what are you then? Other than an extremely valuable asset to the DCO, I mean?”
She shook her head, the hint of a smile curving her lips. “The DCO loves their labels, don’t they? You’re a norm. I’m a paranorm. You’re valuable. I’m extremely valuable.”
Paranorm. That sounded like something from the SyFy channel. “What do you prefer to be called?”
She gave him a smile. She had a gorgeous smile. “Ivy works for me.”
He grinned back. “Ivy it is then.”
She set the plate with the sandwiches on the small breakfast bar. “There’s bottled water in the fridge. Can you grab a couple?”
“Wouldn’t you rather have milk? It goes better with peanut butter.”
She made a face. “I don’t like milk.”
Who didn’t like milk? He grabbed water for her and milk for himself, then sat down on the stool beside her. “You didn’t answer my question. About what you are.”
She chewed on her bottom lip as if debating whether to answer or not. “I’m a feline shifter.”
A feline shifter. As in cat. Okay. He’d been right about her eyes then. Shouldn’t she like milk then? “Were you attacked by a werecat?”
She coughed up the water she’d been sipping. “A werecat? You watch way too many movies.”
Now that he thought about it, the idea was pretty ludicrous. But she’d just told him she was a feline shifter. What the hell was he supposed to think? He picked up his sandwich and took a bite. “I’ll take that as a no.”
“I was born a shifter,” she explained. “And no, before you ask, my mom didn’t have sex with a lion.”
“The idea never crossed my mind.”
Like hell it hadn’t. In addition to watching too many movies, he sometimes had a very twisted imagination.
Ivy bit into her sandwich, chewed, then washed it down with water. “The scientists at the DCO said that somewhere in the past, feline DNA got mixed in with one of my ancestors’ DNA.”
Landon felt his mouth twitch. “Ah. So, your great-great-great-grandmother slept with a saber-toothed tiger?”
She made a face at him. “No one slept with any saber-toothed tigers. According to the geneticists, there’s a little bit of this mixed-up DNA in everyone. Even you.”
He downed the rest of the first sandwich and started on the second. “Yeah? Then how come I can’t do what you can do?”
“Because the genetic coding didn’t become active and cause changes in your physiology when you were a teenager like mine did.”
“Changes in your physiology. Like claws and cat’s eyes?”
Her eyes, soft and brown now, went wide. “You saw my eyes change? When?”
“When you latched on to my arm with your nails on the confidence course. They changed for a second, but then went back to your natural color so quickly, I wasn’t sure I’d seen right.”
“I usually only do that at night so I can see better. But they can change whenever I’m stressed. Or emotional.” She looked at him sheepishly. “I feel awful about clawing you. It was an instinctive reaction. I really am sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. They don’t even hurt now,” he said. “Any other feline superpowers I should know about?”
“Well, I’m a lot stronger and faster than a woman should be,” she admitted.
He grinned. “Yeah, I kind of figured that when we were sparring yesterday. Anything else?”
“I can heal twice as fast as a normal human. So, while that fall from the rope bridge would have hurt, it wouldn’t have killed me.”
“Damn.” That would be one hell of nice superpower to have in Special Forces. “What else?”
“I’m more athletic and agile than a regular person.”
“Right.” He chuckled. “Like that graceful demonstration on the rope bridge this morning.”
“Not quite.” She blushed. “That was me showing off. When you didn’t freak out after seeing me climb a wall, I got a little carried away. I’m not normally that careless. Especially out in the field. So, no worries.”
Was that her way of telling him she wasn’t going to let what happened to her previous partner happen to him? Whatever that was. He should have asked, but right now he was more interested in learning about her animal side.
“Can you turn into a bobcat or lion, or whatever breed your DNA is from?”
She laughed. “You really do watch too many movies. No, I can’t turn into a bobcat. Or a lion. Or a cheetah.”
He’d been hoping she could. That would have been really cool.
Ivy pushed her plate away so she could rest her forearms on the counter. “Okay. How come you’re not freaking out about all this? About me and what I am.”
Good question. He shrugged. “I don’t know. Would you believe me if I said I’ve always been a cat person?”
Ivy smiled, giving him a glimpse of perfect white teeth. “Maybe. If I didn’t know you were lying.”
She was right. He was more of a dog person. But it was either lie or come clean and tell her he’d always had a thing for Catwoman. An image popped into his head of Ivy dressed in a shiny leather catsuit complete with ears and a long tail. Now he was hard again.
“You can’t read minds, can you?”
She laughed. “No.”
“What about the other shifters at the DCO?” he asked, partly because he was curious and partly because he had to do something to get the sexy image of a leather-clad Ivy out of his head or he was going to really embarrass himself. “Do they have feline DNA, too?”
“Some of them. But others have wolf, bear, whatever.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Working for the DCO? About a dozen or so.”
“Have you ever been partners with any of them?”
She shook her head. “The DCO doesn’t pair shifters with other shifters. They say it’s because their studies show pairing a human with a shifter creates the strongest teams, but I’m not sure I buy that. I think it’s because they don’t trust two shifters to work together without adult supervision.”
Or the people in charge were worried one shifter wouldn’t carry out orders to kill the other if he or she became compromised. Landon wanted to ask Ivy how she could work for an organization that would rather see her dead than have someone know they had people like her on their payroll, bu
t he changed his mind. He didn’t want her thinking he was focusing on it. That situation was never going to happen because he wasn’t going to let it happen. So there was no reason to talk about it.
Landon glanced at his watch. As much as he hated to cut the conversation short, he needed to get moving if he wanted to see Jayson before visiting hours were over. He slid off the stool.
“I’m going to take off for a while,” he told Ivy.
“Oh.” Was it him or did she almost look disappointed? “Okay.”
He picked up their empty plates and carried them over to the sink so he could wash them. Ivy’d made the sandwiches, so he figured it was only fair for him to do the dishes. She followed, leaning casually against the counter as she watched him work.
“Thanks,” she said. “For not freaking out about me being different.”
The way she said it made him think she didn’t get that kind of reaction from people very often. That wasn’t surprising. It wasn’t every day you ran into someone who was part cat. “Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me.”
She gave him a small smile. “It’s not like I had a choice. You’d find out anyway, and it was better you found out from me. I’m just glad you’re okay with it.”
Was he okay with it? He didn’t know. Maybe he just hadn’t wrapped his head around it yet. Or maybe he was still too sleep-deprived to care.
Setting the plates in the rack beside the sink, he grabbed his keys and headed for the door. He opened it to find himself face to face with Clayne, the guy who’d showed up at the confidence course that morning and gotten under Ivy’s skin. While the man wasn’t quite as big as Declan, he was still taller than Landon. Did that make him a shifter?
Clayne looked past Landon as if he weren’t even there, his gaze going to Ivy. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She walked over. “Landon, this is Clayne Buchanan. Clayne, my new partner Landon Donovan.”
