by Diane Leyne
Anyway, things were crazy at work and she was only now getting out after another long day at the office. She realized that she hadn’t told Sam she’d be doing the inspection today. She had a key, so that wouldn’t be a problem, but she should really let Sam know that she’d have the report for her tomorrow. She dug into her purse. No cell. Then she checked the car and between the seats before remembering that she’d left it on her desk charging when she’d made the impulsive decision to come out and do the inspection. She’d promised Sam a week ago, and she knew that if she didn’t do it now, she’d probably end up delaying again. Sam had already called twice today, and Ginger had avoided her calls. She wanted to have the report done when she called back, hence the evening visit. She just sent her a quick text and headed out.
Not that she liked the leasing business. She preferred sales because once they were done, they were done, unlike leases, which could extend for years, but she was a full-service broker and this was one of the services the agency she worked for offered.
Getting out of the car, she stood for a moment looking at the house. It really was a nice place. Her last leasing clients, the picky brother and sister that had driven her crazy, would have loved this place. It had the privacy they were looking for as well as being close to the main road. But this was deep in wolf-shifter territory, and she probably wouldn’t have shown it to them, even it had been available then. There was something about them she didn’t like, and she really hoped they didn’t renew their lease.
Just then, a movement caught her eye. Coming around the side of the house was a wolf. No, make that two wolves. No, three.
And they were strangers to her. To non-shifters, all wolves pretty much looked alike, but to her shifter eye, there were differences and she knew she had never seen them before, and in her job, she met a lot of people.
She sniffed. Her senses weren’t wolf-dog keen, but they were better than a human’s. There was something vaguely familiar about their scent.
She stood still as they circled her, sniffing her, their eyes wary. The leader let out a slight growl, but she didn’t feel threatened by it. No, she rather thought he was giving orders to the others.
She was right. One of them bounded off around the back of the house. A moment later, a tall, shirtless, bearded man appeared walking toward where they stood. He was fastening his jeans and carrying two more pair over his arms. He tossed them to the two remaining wolves. Quickly, Ginger turned her back.
A moment later, she heard a laugh. It was warm and rich and just ever so slightly mocking.
“You can turn around now. We’re all decent!”
She could see that the three of them were clearly related, triplets, likely. They had the same dark hair and eyes, but the leader who had just spoken had a neatly trimmed beard. Another had hair long enough to tie back, and the third was clean shaven with hair almost militarily short.
“Speak for yourself, Sully. I prefer to be indecent. In fact, I can be positively wicked!” It was the long-haired one, Nate, flashing a grin that matched his words. Wicked, indeed.
“Nate! We’ve just met. Can you not wait until we’ve all been introduced before you hit on her?” The third brother, the short-haired one, sounded embarrassed. But the long-haired one, Nate, just grinned at Ginger and growled enticingly, wiggling his eyebrows as he smiled while Sully just rolled his eyes.
Ginger laughed. Nate responded by making an exaggerated sexy face at her and waggling his tongue suggestively but with such good humor that she wasn’t at all offended. She also noted his quick glance at his brother. He was definitely trying to push his buttons.
It seemed to have worked. One moment the short-haired brother was glaring and then next he was a wolf and tackling his brother from behind. Nate went down hard, and then he, too, was a wolf and they were wrestling. If she hadn’t grown up around wolves, she’d have been terrified by the growling and biting, but she had. Her cousins played like this all the time growing up.
She laughed harder when Sully glared at his brothers and then rolled his eyes before wading into between them trying to break up the fight. Suddenly, he, too, was wolf and they were all going at it. Ginger chuckled. She had a feeling that they did this a lot.
Going around to the side of the house, she returned quickly to find they were still at it. A couple of turns of the nozzle and the hose was spraying ice-cold water on the battling wolves. It only took a few seconds to stop the fight, and because she was enjoying herself immensely, a few more seconds to soak them completely.
Now there were three dripping-wet, hot, naked men standing in front of her. She realized now, with their hair wetted down and slicked back, that they were definitely triplets, identical triplets, hair and beard differences notwithstanding. Not that multiple births were unusual in the wolf-shifter world. And they were all wickedly handsome, if one liked tall, dark, handsome, and lupine. She placed their ages in their early thirties, just a good age for her, if she was looking, which she wasn’t. And if she was, she was definitely not in the market for wolves, although a little voice inside her head whispered that there was nothing wrong with a little fling.
Shut up, voice. These men are strangers, naked strangers.
Naked, well-hung strangers, and they are looking at you like they could eat you up! What would be the harm in giving them a little taste? Think of the fun you could have with three randy wolves.
No. I’m alone with them at Sam’s house that can’t be seen from the road, and my cell phone is back at the office. I’m not getting naked with them. I’m not, no matter how damp they make my panties.
The more she looked at them, the more familiar they seemed, but she knew she hadn’t met them before. She sniffed again. They were definitely familiar.
And then it came to her. Nate. She she’d heard that name before. He had to be Nathan Anderson.
“You’re Samantha’s brothers. I’ve heard about the three of you. Sullivan, Benjamin, and Nathan, right?”
“Sully, Ben, and Nate. Only Sam and our mother, when she’s mad at us, use our full names.” The bearded one stepped forward with his hand extended. “You must be Ginger West. We’ve heard about you, too. I’m Sully Anderson.”
Ginger stepped back and looked down to his naked groin area. Sully had the grace to blush. He seemed angry that he was blushing, which just seemed to make him blush harder. Ginger smothered a smile.
“Why don’t we save the introductions until you three have your pants on again,” she suggested, turning her back.
“You can turn around now.”
They all had their pants on now. Their jeans had gotten soaked, too, and clung to lean hips and rode low, exposing three lovely sets of six-packs and the beginnings of the treasure trails leading down toward…Sam jerked her eyes up to meet Sully’s now laughing eyes.
“I am. I mean, I’m Ginger. Sam didn’t tell me you three were visiting.”
“She didn’t know. It was all very spur of the moment. We finished up a job and had some time off coming to us, so we decided to visit our baby sister and check out these Mates of hers. It all happened so fast.” She saw by the expression on his face that her cousins were going to get a grilling. She hoped to be there to see it. Good. Her five cousins had teased and tormented her unmercifully growing up. It was nice to see someone give them a taste of their own medicine. Sam had taken no prisoners when dealing with the unruly McAllister brothers, and it seemed like the Anderson triplets were cut from the same cloth.
She started. Sully was still talking, and she’d zoned out.
“Anyway,” Sully continued, “she didn’t know until we called her this morning to tell her we were on our way.”
“That sounds kind of impulsive.”
“What can you say about wolves? We’re creatures of impulse.” It was the long-haired one again. “And while we are talking about impulses, are you free for dinner tonight?”
“I, er,” Ginger stammered. Nate had taken her by surprise.
“Please!�
�� It was Ben this time, his eyes shining with youthful sincerity. She wasn’t sure how he managed that since the three men were the same age. Maybe it was the short hair and clean-shaven face. Clearly, though, he was the baby of the family, even if only by hours or even minutes. “We owe you for costing you your fee for finding tenants for our sister.” But then he smiled, and his look was just as wolfish as his brother’s. “Feeding you is the least we can do!”
Ginger couldn’t help but smile back. They seemed to take that as a yes because the next thing she knew Ben was hustling her to the side of the house when their SUV was parked. The trunk was open and some clothes were strewn on top of a pile of suitcases. The men certainly didn’t travel light. This must have been how they were able to retrieve their clothes so quickly.
“No key?”
“Nope. Sam said you were heading out this way to do the inspection and could give us a key, but wasn’t sure what time you were planning on being here. We went for a quick run and spotted your car and then headed back to meet you.”
Ginger reached into her purse and extracted the house key and held it out. Sully, naturally, took the key from her.
“Thanks. But I’m thinking lunch first. We can unpack later.” And being the arrogant wolf he clearly was, he walked her over to the front passenger seat of his SUV and opened the door, just assuming, in his arrogant wolf way, that she’d just acquiesce.
“Lunch is fine, but I can drive myself.”
“But we won’t fit in your car. And we have a lot to talk about. You know, about the town and where to shop for groceries. Where to go when you have a hot date. You know. Important stuff.”
Before she knew it, Ginger was sitting in the passenger seat, as Sully reached across her lap to fasten her seat belt, and his lips hovered near hers for a moment as his hands rested on her hips. Then his right hand slid up her arm until it reached her shoulder and then her chin. For a second she thought he was going to kiss her, and her heart started pounding in her chest and her pussy clenched. She had to force herself not to reach out and touch his smooth, muscled chest.
But then he pulled away, grinning as if he could read her mind. Damn him and his wolf senses. He could probably smell her arousal. Then he straightened up and shut the door.
And then he was gone and she collapsed against the back of the seat and tried to get her breathing under control. Her pussy, on the other hand, still dripped moisture into her panties. She hoped his brothers wouldn’t notice, but had little chance of that with their enhanced sense of smell. The three of them were probably well aware of how she was reacting to them.
She saw him walk around the back of the SUV and collect a T-shirt from Ben and don it as he walked to the driver’s door. Damn. Not that she expected him to drive topless, but it would have been nice.
She glanced behind her. All of them now had T-shirts on. But they were tight T-shirts that highlighted their flat abs, defined pecs, and bulging biceps.
She protested as Nate and Ben climbed in the back.
“They’ll do fine in the backseat, Ginger. The SUV has plenty of legroom. Your Prius, on the other hand, while practical, would never fit the four of us.”
Sully looked at her, clearly waiting for something. Had he spoken? She had to stop zoning out. These were hot guys, but she’d been around hot guys before.
Not three hot wolves, her inner voice whispered. Hot single wolves!
“A recommendation? Where do you want to eat?”
“Uh, oh. How about Lupo’s? It’s a shifter-owned bar and restaurant not far from here. Lupo’s. The Mates of a friend of mine own it. She’s the town vet.”
* * * *
Sully looked over at Ginger sitting in the passenger seat. He had no idea if Ginger was her birth name or a nickname because of her flaming red hair, but it suited her to a T. The red hair looked real, too. Her personality was clearly as hot and spicy as her hair, and it had taken all of his self-control not to show just how much she’d affected him when he was standing naked in front of her. And he couldn’t wait until she was naked in front of him so he could verify that the carpet matched the drapes before kissing her senseless and then fucking her brains out.
And it was all he could do, now, not to kiss her when he’d fastened her seat belt. She had very kissable lips. He knew he would dream of those lips tonight. He’d dream of them pressed against his, and he’d dream of them wrapped around his cock.
He knew his brothers felt the same way. He didn’t need to be telepathic to know that. He could smell their arousal. He just hoped Ginger couldn’t. Female shifters’ senses were keener that than of humans but not nearly as strong as their male counter parts.
They didn’t shift either, regardless of what books and movies would have their audience think. And shifting wasn’t just done during a full moon. The males could shift at will. Of course books and movies got most things wrong, but that ignorance wasn’t limited to shape-shifters, so he didn’t take it personally. In fact, it was probably better if the media continued to think of shifters as fictional creations of unlimited power who lived these exotic lives instead of being just regular citizens, holding regular mundane jobs, raising families, just liked everyone one else.
“Lupo’s sounds good to me! Guys?” He tried to sound casual, but Lupo’s was on the list of places they wanted to scout out partly because, as Ginger had said, it was owned by the Mates of Lena Winsor, the vet whose clinic was targeted, and partly because it was the number one shifter gathering place in town. When they’d both answered in the affirmative, he said, “Let’s do it then. Ginger, can you navigate?”
He snuck a quick look at Ginger, his eyes dropping when he scented her arousal. Her nipples were hard and pushing through the fabric of her top. She tried to shift her body in her seat to hide the fact, but they were clearly visible. Sully smiled to himself and started the engine before reaching down to turn on the air conditioning. Let’s see just now prominent they could get.
“Have you always lived in Harmony?”
“I, uh, yes. I was born here. I went away to university, but after I graduated, I came back.”
“Why?”
“It’s home. It’s where my family is.” Sully snuck a glance at Ginger’s face. She was smiling now, obviously caught up in a pleasant memory. He felt a surge of longing. He and his brothers and sister had grown up in Florida with a grandfather who’d hated his shifter heritage, a shame he’d passed on to his daughter, their mother. Their father was a nice man, if somewhat dominated by his father-in-law. They didn’t have a bad childhood, but there were no other shifters around and they’d had secrecy drummed into them. Maybe that was part of the reason for their current profession? They were used to hiding what they were, pretending to be human.
But from the moment they’d met Ginger, they’d felt free to be themselves. Hell, they’d roughhoused in front of her like they were pups, not grown wolves. Sully snuck another peak at her protruding nipples. Caught up in her memories, Ginger had lowered her arms. Sully felt his cock harden as he thought of suckling those prominent buds poking through her shirt and then tried to get control of himself. They were there to do a job, not fool around.
He checked the rearview mirror. His brothers were all too quiet. He could see their expressions. They met his eyes in the mirror, their eyes reflecting the same desire he was sure his did. He glared warningly at them, inclining his head toward Ginger, but Nate just stuck his tongue out and even Ben shook his head.
Okay, this assignment just got harder, much like his cock, Sully thought ruefully. He was happy that they were now at Lupo’s as he followed Ginger’s directions and pulled into the lot.
Chapter Three
Ginger reached for the SUV door and pushed it open. Her hasty exit was stopped by her seatbelt, which she’d neglected to unfasten. Damn, they’d flustered her. She looked up as she felt Sully’s warm hand on her own.
“Let me get that.”
Efficiently, he unfastened the belt, and then she fe
lt a presence on her other side. It was Nate drawing the belt from across her lap, and then Ben reached in and took her hand, helping her out of the vehicle.
Damn. She swallowed hard as she stepped out, hearing Sully’s door open and close and then he was standing in front of her. He reached out and took her hand, drawing her toward the front door while his brothers took up flanking positions, following them.
Lupo’s was the hangout in the evening, with live music and a great atmosphere. During the day, it was more subdued, but still busy. It was near the highway, so it got a lot of business from the surrounding area as well as people on their way to someplace else, not just local Harmony folks. Ginger looked around. She only recognized maybe twenty-five percent of the patrons.
On the other hand, she recognized all of the staff. Mindy and Joy were waiting tables. They’d worked there for years. Burke was behind the bar, and she was willing to bet that Bessie was in the kitchen.
The men hustled her toward a booth in the corner. It was a semicircular booth that fit three on the bench and allowed everyone a view of the door and had space in front for two more chairs.
She was sandwiched between Ben and Nate, leaving Sully to one of the chairs, which he promptly angled so he could see the door, too.
“If you really want to see the door, we can change places,” she offered just to see what the response would be.
“Don’t even think about it,” warned Nate. “Sully got to sit beside you in the truck. It’s our turn now.”
“But he’s going to get a crick in his neck twisting like that to see the door. I assure you, Sully. We’re not likely to get attacked during lunch. The dinner crowd’s a bit rougher though.”
“That obvious, huh?”
“Uh, yeah. You a cop?”
“No, ex-military police, currently in private security. Even on vacation, old habits die hard.”
