by Diane Leyne
Ginger nodded. She’d noticed that he’d phrased his answer very carefully. He didn’t say explicitly that he was on vacation. He just implied it. She picked up an advertising placard off the table showing the special desserts this week and glanced quickly at his brothers as she pretended to study it. Lupo’s had had the same menu since she was in high school. She didn’t need to look at it to know what it said or what she was going to order. She used it to surreptitiously study Sully and his brothers. They were just as alert to their surroundings as he was, although all three men were trying hard to appear casual.
Just then, Mindy walked up carrying a tray with four glasses of water and a Diet Coke, which she placed in front of Ginger. She then handed menus to each of the men and asked for their drink order.
“I’ll have a draft beer,” declared Sully before frowning. “We need another menu.”
Mindy laughed. “Ginger’s having a hamburger medium well with crispy fries, a green salad with ranch dressing, and another Diet Coke halfway through the meal. What would you other gentlemen like to drink?”
* * * *
Nate rested his left arm along the back of the booth so that it lightly touched Ginger. He had to force himself not to wrap his arm around her shoulders and pull her tight. Baby steps, he reminded himself.
“Come here often?” he teased and then enjoyed her blush.
“Maybe now and then.”
Mindy laughed. “Ginger waited tables here from the time she was sixteen. One of the best waitresses we ever had. Great attitude. Good with the customers and never complained about sore feet. I keep telling her she’s wasted in real estate. Now you gentlemen take your time with the menu and I’ll be right back.”
“What do you recommend, Ginger?” asked Ben.
“The burger.” She laughed. “Actually, it’s all good. Bessie, the cook, is a whiz, but she only does lunch and early dinner. She’s gone by seven so she can spend the evening with her kids. If you come here at night, choose carefully. The night cook is barely competent at bar food, but then again, at that time, everyone’s drinking and loses their critical faculties.”
Nate let his fingers touch her bare upper arm, just the lightest of touches, but he could feel the shiver it provoked. He slid closer so their bodies were touching from shoulder to knee. He leaned back and made eye contact with his brother, who looked like he wanted to growl. Nate smothered a smile." You snooze you lose. With his arm around Ginger, Nate effectively blocked Ben. Sorry, bro.
“I think I’ll have Ginger, I mean, what Ginger’s having.” Nate grinned at his brother.
Nate could feel Ginger jump, and Ben gave him the eye. Clearly he’d moved in closer on her other side, and it looked like his right hand was under the table. The bastard was probably grabbing her knee. Why didn’t I think of that? he thought as he felt her shiver again. Just what was his brother doing? Whatever it was, Nate hoped he’d keep it up. With his arm around Ginger, if he leaned back slightly, he could get a good look down her tank top and see the swelling tops of her breasts, and if he leaned forward, he could see her jutting nipples.
He could also smell the odor of arousal wafting up from her pussy. Good old Ben. They’d taught him well.
Smiling, he looked across at Sully, whose eyes were glued to Ginger’s torso. He looked frustrated since he couldn’t touch her from where he sat, but too bad for him. He’d had her beside him in the SUV, and it was Nate and Ben’s turn now.
“The burger it is,” agreed Ben, and Sully made it unanimous. “So,” he began. “What do you do for fun around here?”
“You mean besides dancing at Lupo’s in the evening?”
“Yes, besides that.” Ben smiled. “I, myself, love to dance, but these two clods have four left feet between them. I’m the only one with the rhythm gene.”
“I want to object, but baby brother is right. Sully and I couldn’t carry a tune if you packed it in a bag and handed it to us, and if you dance with us, your toes will be at risk. We excel at, how shall I put it, horizontal activities!” Nate felt Ginger stiffen in shock as she turned to look at him with wide eyes. “Hey, no one ever called me subtle.” He reached out and captured her right hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it, and then brought it down below the table, pressing it against his growing erection. Ginger let him for a second before she snatched her hand back, clasping her hands on the table in front of her, her respiration speeding up, and small beads of sweat breaking out at her temples. Damn, he wanted to lick them off her. He could also smell a fresh wave of arousal wafting up from her pussy as she reached down with her left hand, obviously dislodging Ben’s grip on her thigh. When Ben brought his hand up, resting it on the table as he rubbed it with the other, she returned to her hands-clasped pose.
* * * *
Ginger pulled her hand away, equal parts shocked and aroused and determine to let neither emotion show. On one hand, these were two pretty darned presumptuous wolves with their wandering hands. And as for the Alpha sitting across from her staring at her breasts, she got the feeling that if they were alone it would be him rather than his brothers that had her on her back first. If she let him. That was one of the good qualities about wolves. They may be as horny as all get out and they’d go after what or who they wanted, but they never forced a woman.
Mating, either small m mating as in just having sex or big M referring to the formal ceremony, had to be one hundred percent consensual. Wolves did not force themselves on unwilling women. Of course, most wolves were so darned sexy that women threw themselves at them, even human women. Or maybe it was especially human women who just knew that the men were hot, had large cocks, and could go all night. Females with shifter blood knew it was the wolf pheromone that was making them horny, although that didn’t make them any less susceptible, like now.
Ginger clasped her hands in front of her. She wanted to wrap her arms around her to hide from Sully’s gaze. His eyes had not once strayed off her jutting nipples except for the merest polite greeting when Mindy had stopped by their table. He looked like he wanted to eat her up instead of the burger he had ordered. Was this what Little Red Riding Hood had felt when confronting the Big Bad Wolf in the fable?
“Maybe we…” She hated that her voice came out almost as a squeak. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Maybe we should call your sister?”
Sully smiled, and both Ben and Nate reached down to clasp her knees. She jumped as Ben whispered in her ear, “Relax. We just want to touch. We’ll stop when our meal comes.”
“What if I don’t want you to touch?”
“If that were true,” whispered Ben, “then your pussy wouldn’t be so wet.”
Ginger turned to him in shock. In the short time she’d known them, she’d come to expect such comments from Nate, but Ben?
“Whoa there, baby brother. Now you’ve shocked her.”
“If she’s shocked by that, then she’ll be really shocked when I put my face between her legs and taste that cream that I’ve been smelling since we got into the SUV.”
Ginger felt her face go flaming red. She opened her mouth to deny it, but no words came out. For the first time in her life, she was attracted to shifters, really attracted, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She’d long since realized that none of the wolves of Harmony were going to be her Mate and she’d come to terms with finding a human Mate, but she was feeling something here with Samantha’s brothers and she wasn’t sure if it scared her or thrilled her.
One thing was for certain. She wouldn’t let them rush her. She knew wolves. Ben wasn’t joking. They were all clearly attracted to her, and if she gave them an inch, they’d have her naked and spread out between them in a second.
Her pussy spasmed at the thought. What would be the harm? They were only visiting town. It might be nice to be the center of attention for three randy wolves. She’d never actually been with a wolf before. She only knew the stories her friends had told her. She’d had one semiserious relationship with a human in
college, but he’d moved back east after graduation. She’d dated Tim Ramsay, for a while, but that hadn’t gone anywhere. He was a couple of years younger than her, but after a while, it seemed like he was getting less, not more mature. He’d been more attracted to her than she was to him, and when she realized that he wanted more from the relationship than she did, she ended it. It had not been a pleasant conversation as he asked her to give him a chance, and she tried to tell him that she would never love him like he deserved.
She had been celibate for longer than she wanted to admit, more due to lack of opportunity than choice. There weren’t too many single guys that were acceptable as potential partners in the tri-state area, and there was something about her shifter blood that made her intimidating to most human males.
She felt their hands moving higher up her thighs, no doubt trying to take advantage of her temporary distraction. Reaching down, she’d gripped both their index fingers and started bending them backward. Ben had clearly learned from the first time and immediately pulled his hand away. It took a little extra time with Nate, but soon, he too was nursing his sore finger and looking at her with respect and a grin of appreciation. Damned wolf.
“I love a woman who can take charge. It makes mastering her so much the sweeter,” he whispered.
“What makes you think you’re going to get the chance?” To her surprise, it was Sully who answered.
“Because you want us as much as we want you!”
Chapter Four
Sully smiled at the expression on Ginger’s face. She clearly wanted to refute what he said, but she wasn’t going to lie so she was caught between a rock and a hard place, or rather two wolves and their Alpha.
He smiled again, looking over at his brothers who were nursing sore fingers and looking admiringly at Ginger. They were as hot for her as he was. They’d taken this job only because it gave them a chance to see their baby sister and grill the wolves she was now Mated with and give her a hard time for not letting them vet the guys first.
As for the investigation, it didn’t seem like it would be that difficult. Human officials were having trouble because they hadn’t put together the fact that only shifter-owned or shifter-friendly businesses were targeted, so they thought they were all separate incidents. He and his team knew better, and with support from Judd’s team back at the home office, they shouldn’t have too much trouble with this job.
But now a routine assignment looked like it was going to be a lot more enjoyable than they had expected. He wasn’t looking to settle down even though he was at the age where most wolves were in Mated relationships. He and his brothers didn’t even always date the same woman. They were triplets and they were wolves, but they generally dated human women and they generally didn’t share because they were attracted to different types, which made the possibility of being Mated remote at best since they would all have to agree on the woman in question. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time the three of them had agreed on a woman.
Until now. He looked at his brothers. Clearly they were just as smitten as he was. Okay, smitten, not a good word, not at all. They were hot for her, that was all. She was beautiful and smart and didn’t take any wolf nonsense from them. And she had shifter blood, so they could be wolf in front of her and not freak her out.
He watched as his brothers flirted shameless with Ginger and she flirted right back just as hard. He felt his cock stir. Damn. They were supposed to be here on business, he told himself, not start something they wouldn’t be able to finish. Ginger wasn’t the type of woman that one had a one-night stand with. Damn it, she was special. He’d only known her an hour and he already knew that, just like he knew that if she slept with them, it wouldn’t be casual. She wasn’t that type of a woman. Hell, he wasn’t that type of wolf and neither were his brothers for all their posturing, not even Nate.
He felt his cock throb with need. He barely knew her. A cold shower. That was what he needed. A long, cold shower. Maybe a Niagara Falls-sized shower. He had to get himself under control, and then he had to talk to his brothers. Getting involved with Ginger West was not a good idea.
But how often did something like this happen, the three of them agreeing on a woman, wanting the same woman? Sully might be the Alpha wolf, but they were a pack and he had to share. They all did, when it came to their Mate.
Holy shit, where did that come from? Sully shocked himself, sitting back in the chair abruptly and seeing the other three look at him with puzzlement.
“Um, excuse me. I’ll be right back.”
Sully fled. There was no other word for it. Sullivan Anderson, Alpha, fled into the men’s room and locked himself in a stall. This was not happening. It wasn’t. They’d agreed when they turned thirty that this Mating nonsense was just that. Nonsense, like their grandfather and father had always told them. Sure, some, okay, all the other wolves they’d met like their boss Judd had Mated a single female and were blissfully happy. But that didn’t mean it was for everyone. They were each going to find their own wife of the human variety. But that was four years ago, and none of them had been in a serious relationship with any of the women they’d occasionally dated. In fact, Judd was starting to tease them about having taken a vow of chastity, but the fact was that none of them were promiscuous. Sex had to mean something, and that need had become stronger in their thirties.
Sully unzipped and pulled out his erect cock. Spitting into his hand, he braced himself with his other and started to jerk himself off. Maybe if he could jerk off, he could think clearly again. Obviously he was horny and Ginger was hot, and he was probably just losing his mind.
* * * *
Ben grinned at Sully’s departing back. Big brother was clearly hooked and wriggling on the line. Ben and Nate had exchanged a few whispered words in the back of the SUV and were on the same page. Something about Ginger called to their inner wolf and she was clearly attracted to them. Therefore, they were going to see where it went. They’d go slow if that was what she wanted, but they’d prefer to go fast, right back to her bed. But they would have patience if they needed to.
Ben looked up as Sully resumed his seat. He smiled at big brother. He had a pretty good idea of what Sully was doing in the men’s room because he, Ben, had been thinking the same thing. However, he wasn’t giving up his place beside Ginger, so he suffered with his cock pressing so hard against his zipper that he was sure he’d have teeth marks down its length.
“So,” Ginger was saying, “are you guys just passing through, or are you planning on staying for a while?”
“Well, it’s not something we’ve really discussed, but Burt, our boss has been talking about opening up a branch office to handle the West Coast. I was thinking that Harmony might be an option. We’ve got family here. And I don’t know about my brothers, but I like what I’ve seen so far.”
Ben heard Nate’s words, and it was like he’d just taken a punch to the gut. He looked at Sully and saw the same reaction. Nate was right. This was the perfect solution. Harmony was only an hour from a major airport and driving distance to a number of major cities in the northwest, so it was a great base of operation. And it had Ginger. Dang. Why hadn’t he thought of it?
“Nate. Sometimes you are a genius. Sometimes you are also an idiot, but this time I’m going with genius. So what do you think, Gin? Would you like to have us around all the time?”
He watched her eyes widen slightly as she took in his words. He watched as her nipples, which had softened, immediately hardened again. He waited for her answer.
But before she could speak, her attention was captured by the man walking in the front door. Ben’s eyes narrowed. This must be the chief of police. He saw a man in a spit-and-polish uniform, gun strapped to his side, dark glasses covering his eyes, and star on his chest.
And he was walking straight toward their table.
“Ginger.” He nodded at her, tipping his hat with old-fashioned courtliness before turning to the brothers. “And you might be?”
/> Sully stood and held out his hand. He was half a head taller than the portly chief and weighed probably fifty pounds less. He looked to be in his mid to late fifties, his complexion florid, and his eyes sharp with intelligence. His reluctance was clear as he shook the proffered hand.
“I’m Sullivan Anderson, and these are my brothers Nathan and Benjamin. We’ve come to visit our sister Samantha and check out the McAllister brothers. You know, see if they are good enough for our sister.”
The chief dropped his glasses, and he looked hard at Ginger before turning back to Sully. Ben smothered a grin. Sully could be the most taciturn guy he knew. Mostly it bugged him, but right now he was going to sit back and enjoy the pissing contest.
Sully shrugged and sat back down as Mindy arrived with their burgers.
“I met the guys at the Daniels place. I’ve got a key and…”
“And we’ll be visiting our sister this evening. She’s on a deadline for a book she’s working on, and she told us she’d have us gelded if we interrupted her, so we can’t go over to her place until after five p.m.” Nate grinned and picked up his burger. “Ginger is just being hospitable.”
“Be that as it may, I don’t want any trouble between you and the McAllisters. Gabe McAllister is mayor. I may not have voted for him, but I respect the office and I will not have him bothered. Understand me?”
“Sam’s our sister. We don’t care if he’s president of the United States. He’d better be treating our sister right!” Nate’s righteous rant was interrupted when he sat abruptly. Ben realized that Ginger had tugged him down.
“Chief, is there some kind of problem?” Ginger asked.
“I got reports of three unfamiliar wolves running out near the Daniels place, and when I saw these three here, I put two and two together. That your SUV outside?”
