by Leela Ash
He came one more step closer, rendering futile her efforts to put some space between them. He was so close that his shirtfront was almost brushing the front of her clothes.
His grin widened and, in that moment, she noticed that he had slight dimples in both cheeks and flecks of gold in his black eyes. His eyes were mysterious and as she stared into them, she felt as though she were drowning in them.
His gaze dropped to her lips for a heartbeat, then lifted to hers, their depths stormy. Jeanine felt every cell in her body respond to the raw heat in his eyes. Wetness pooled in between her thighs in a dizzying rush and she couldn’t hold back her gasp.
And that was before he whispered, “Care to bet that I can’t read minds? Would you like to hear what you’re thinking about right now?”
Jeanine swallowed and jerked her eyes away, her cheeks hot. She would not give him the satisfaction! This was Beaufort Kent and he was still the most infuriating man alive. She focused on the surrounding hilltops and tried to think of something annoying and distracting like people who wore panties longer than their bum shorts to move around the mall.
Bo’s hand beneath her chin forced her gaze back to his and she looked at him, her expression mutinous.
He chuckled, “How short anyone wears their bum shorts is none of your business. And yes, I know you were trying to stop thinking about how good my lips would feel on yours.”
Jeanine stared at him in mute fascination. He had read her entire mind like a damned billboard!
“Here’s a preview,” he whispered, his voice dark and sinful, as he bent his head and melded his lips with hers.
The kiss made every last one of Jeanine’s toes curl and all her senses seemed to shut down at once. She lost sense of time and place as Bo’s tongue boldly delved into her mouth. His hands stayed at his side, yet it felt almost as though he had wrapped her in them and was caressing every inch of her because she felt as though she were on fire all over. Her nipples budded into hard nubs beneath the lacy cup of her bra and she groaned and started to press against him, silently seeking more of his touch. Her phone vibrated in her back pocket just then and she jerked backwards and stared up at him, amazed that he had made her lose her senses in a matter of seconds.
In that moment she understood why she had never liked Bo. He was a dangerous man. She hadn’t realized it consciously, but her subconscious, feminine side had known by instinct that he was trouble. He was a danger to her, to her emotions and to her heart. It would be very easy to fall in love with him because he was the exact sort of man she had always fantasized about as a girl and always admired, in secret, as an adult.
That realization shook Jeanine to the very foundation of her soul. She felt the earth tilt at the staggering realization that she had developed feelings for Bo, in between teasing him and insulting him.
She didn’t realize her mouth had been open as she stared up at him and gulped in much-needed air until he looked down at her and chuckled. “You look like a cute, tiny goldfish with your mouth open like that.”
She sputtered furiously and he bent his head and kissed her again, smiling against her lips in masculine triumph.
8.
The crash of the front door against the wall made Jeanine and Bo spring apart like guilty children.
Bo shot a furious glare at a grinning Derek, silhouetted against the front door of the house, and reined in his temper with great effort. Derek, that bastard, had done it on purpose. Bo was forever teasing Derek about the woman he had fallen in love with, Kelly. And now Derek, of all people, had caught him smooching a woman — and a human at that— right in the driveway and in full view of whomever cared to look out the windows.
A glance showed him everyone had cared to look out the window. Joshua’s head was mashed comically between Kelly’s and Jack’s at one window, all of their eyes bright with interest. Luke and Drake were jostling for position behind the smaller window and cussing each other out as each elbowed the other out of the way, while Derek remained planted in the doorway, grinning like an idiot.
“You must all be jobless,” Bo snapped, stalking towards the house like a volcano and leaving Jeanine to follow if she cared.
Derek got out of Bo’s way with gratifying and mollifying speed as Bo stalked up to the door. Then he ruined the effect by calling to Jeanine, “And you darling? Weren’t you coming in?”
Jeanine stared thoughtfully at the tall handsome man framed in the doorway. He was even taller than Bo, she saw at a glance. His eyes danced with merriment, as though he knew a secret no one else knew.
She was no one’s fool; it was easy to see he was enjoying needling Bo. She had also spied the rest of the family chuckling or grinning through the windows.
With a toss of her curly head, she strutted up to the doorway and offered the tall, dark-haired man her hand, “Jeanine Lourdes.”
He hesitated for a fraction of a second before he took her hand. That slight pause told her Bo had mentioned her name a time or two. The surprise on the other man’s face made it apparent he had heard enough horrible things about her to be surprised finding Bo kissing her in the driveway. She was also stunned herself — stunned and more than a little regretful that he hadn’t kissed her sooner, preferably where they had a little more privacy.
Jeanine stifled a groan at that last thought. Seriously, what was wrong with her mind these days?
“Derek Cavanaugh,” the tall man offered. His eyes were assessing and analyzing as though he were looking straight into her soul to know who she was. Then he smiled suddenly and Jeanine could have sworn she had just been given the stamp of approval. “I’m Bo’s brother,” he added.
“Cavanaugh?” she repeated, pointing out the different last names.
“Still,” he replied, without offering any more explanations.
“A pleasure,” she breathed, and she meant it. Derek was likable. Something about him made her feel she had known him for years. He had these unsettling grey eyes that made one want to stare into them for hours and they were wide and open and friendly. Plus, he was so handsome, clean and presentable. She’s always had a thing about people being clean, it put her off otherwise. But he also had that indecipherable air of danger around him. That same unnamable quality that clung to Bo: danger, danger and more danger.
Exciting danger.
“Come in please,” he said in a cultured voice ringing with sincerity and courtesy.
As soon as she entered the house, two things struck Jeanine: it was unlike any other home she had ever been in, and it had a different…vibe. A different feel.
Everyone trooped forward at once to greet her. One quick glance around the house showed Bo had vanished.
“You have a lovely family,” she told Joshua smiling at him.
“Thank you, Jeanine. You’ll join us for lunch, yes?” he asked.
She nodded and he took her hand and led the way. Everyone else immediately fell into step behind them. It wasn’t until they were all seated that Bo showed up and she couldn’t help noticing that he was careful to choose a seat as far from hers as it was possible to get.
“What do you want to eat? Jack’s whipped up a variety of dishes,” Joshua announced cheerily.
Jeanine cast a dubious look at Jack’s arms as thick as tree trunks and voiced the question uppermost in her mind, “Can he cook?”
The moment the words left her lips she realized how rude they sounded. Bo worsened it with a flippant, “How you manage to talk with your foot permanently wedged in your mouth is beyond me.”
Jeanine colored but she faced Jack with an apologetic and gracious smile, “Don’t pay attention to Bo. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. I meant you seem…uh, intensely masculine and cooking just seems so…”
“Careful,” Kelly sang, her eyes twinkling.
“Kelly is a closet feminist,” Derek informed her with a deep laugh. “You don’t want to offend her views.”
“No closet here. I’m out in the open. Gender roles must be redef
ined,” Kelly laughed.
Bo threw a fond look at her, “So Joshua’s insistence that we all know how to cook is a victory for feminism?”
Kelly wrinkled her nose at him.
“We need to talk about the strays. I assume that’s why you’re home so early, Bo,” Luke observed, his non sequitur giving everyone momentary pause.
Kelly fought down the distinct feeling that Luke did not approve of her much. Perhaps she was imagining the hidden meaning in his words that the faster they discussed the strays the faster she could be out of their home.
Bo threw her an unreadable look before he launched into speech, “Yes, Jeanine is a vet. I thought she could help me round up the strays. We haven’t discussed it yet though. I brought her home for lunch so we could talk about it.”
“Oh,” Joshua said in a very disappointed tone. He didn’t leave Jeanine guessing for long. “You’ve never brought a woman home before, so I thought she was your…” he trailed off.
“She isn’t,” Bo intoned.
Jeanine wasn’t sure why that hurt since it was the truth, but it did. “Beaufort is nothing more than a —”
“Lemme guess, friend?” Luke offered.
Jeanine stared at him amazed that the one word could be laden with so much sarcasm. She shook her head, “On occasion, we’re quarrel buddies.”
Silence fell and everyone looked at her, including Bo. “That’s a new one,” Luke allowed, before turning his attention back to his steak with unhidden relish.
Jeanine looked away, she was a vegetarian but she didn’t get offended by other people’s palates. However, something about the way Luke’s strong white teeth were tearing that piece of meat apart made her feel as though she were watching a wild animal tear its prey to bits. She found it disturbing.
Now you’re being silly, her subconscious scolded. Luke doesn’t like you and now he reminds you of a wild animal? Get over yourself, Jeanine!
She turned to Bo, “What do you want from me, exactly?”
“I think you might understand animals more. I want you to work with me so we can round up the strays,” he said flicking his dark unfathomable gaze to her face.
“I understand the environmental need to clear them up, but last I checked you’re in construction. So why is it of particular concern to you or your family?” Jeanine returned.
Silence fell around the table — a silence so awkward and tense it was almost as though she had clambered onto the dining room table and offered to dance a jig for them naked.
“Well?” she persisted.
“Uh… Jeanine? That part is a family matter. We can’t involve you,” Kelly told her. Seeing Jeanine’s frown, Kelly shrugged helplessly and added, “You’re an outsider.”
Luke gave Jeanine a smug, satisfied look at that one.
“Guess again. You’re already involving me,” Jeanine bit out, goaded into anger by Luke’s smug expression.
Uncomfortable silence fell and Jeanine promptly felt like a heel. Kelly had been nothing but smiles and warm welcome and she had responded by almost biting the other woman’s head off!
“Maybe the mistake was ours, then,” Luke offered.
Jeanine stared at him. Then she looked up and discovered she wasn’t the only one staring at him in amazement.
“Luke? You’re usually the peacemaker. What’s going on?” Joshua demanded.
Luke didn’t respond.
Jeanine picked her napkin and dabbed at her lips as she rose to her feet. “I think I had better go.”
“Wait. Don’t pay any attention to Luke. He’s got a bee in his bonnet, sure, but it’s not about you,” Derek told her.
The warmth of his smile melted away some of her pique and she smiled back as she replied with quiet sincerity, “It’s past my lunchtime anyway. I have to get back to work. Thank you for having me, you’ve all been so…hospitable,” she said. She couldn’t help flicking Luke a meaningful look as she said that last part letting the irony sink in.
Then with her head high, she turned and walked out of the house.
9.
“So, spill! Why don’t you like her?” Bo demanded as soon as Jeanine cleared the doorway.
Luke threw his brother a mocking look, “When did I say so?”
“You didn’t have to. It was plain as my furs!” Bo spat.
“You’ve got it bad, haven’t you?” Luke demanded, giving him a disparaging glance. “She’s got you pussy-whipped!”
“I. Have Not. Laid. A. Finger. On. Her!” Bo exploded.
Silence reigned for a minute and then Bo heard Luke’s “Yet” as clearly as though he had spoken aloud. With a mighty roar, Bo charged, shifting into his bear form in the blink of an eye as he crashed into Luke.
The other man hadn’t been expecting the attack and he toppled over. The chair beneath him crashed into tiny bits beneath the weight of Luke’s weight and Bo’s bear form.
“Bo, get off him!” Kelly screamed.
Bo bared his teeth and tried to sink his claws into Luke’s thin neck. His claws skidded off smooth fur as Luke also changed into his wolf form.
The two animals tangled, rolled and sprang apart their teeth bared as they glared at each other. The dining table flipped upwards in the momentum and landed unnoticed on its side.
Bo’s bear form was so large that he dwarfed everything in the room. But the house had high walls and large spaces, so their shifter forms did not do too much damage.
Still Joshua was furious. “Boys! Stop this nonsense now!”
The front door sprang open just then and Jeanine stumbled back inside, in great concern at the noise that had started emanating from inside the house. Her eyes widened with shock and fright as she saw the bear and wolf snarling in the middle of the living room she had just walked out of.
“Bo!” she gasped, her eyes wide with fright.
“Fuck!” Derek snapped and he bounded towards her with supernatural speed and grabbed her by the shoulders holding her bound in place before she even had time to react.
His grey eyes drilled into hers sending a message to her brain and her subconscious. In seconds, Bo and Luke had changed back into human form.
When Derek released Jeanine, she had forgetten everything she’d just seen. She felt weak and a little afraid, but she wasn’t sure why. She looked at the entire family, all staring at her as though they expected her to grow horns right there.
Her gaze fell on the broken chair and upended table, “I—Is everything alright?”
“Yes, there’s no problem Jeanine,” Bo offered. “Luke and I were just settling some scores. We’re fine now,” he told her.
The words fell into the silent room and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had just been lied to again.
She took a step back, distancing herself from him mentally and physically.
Bo held out a hand to her in an unconscious gesture, “Wait. What about the strays?”
The strays again. That was all he cared about. That was all they all cared about. Bo and his family just wanted to use her for her skills and nothing more.
Well, what had she expected? Her dad had always used her as a bargaining chip and her mum had always used her to win every argument. Even Megan seemed determined to climb to the top with her stilettos firmly planted in the middle of Jeanine’s back.
People used people. She knew that, so it shouldn’t hurt that just when she was discovering a very much unwanted attraction to Bo, she was also discovering that all he was interested in was her skills as a vet.
She blinked back irrational tears and met his gaze head-on as she proclaimed, “I will do what needs to be done. See you around, Bo.”
Something raw and hot kindled in his black eyes, intensifying the gold in their depths. She felt the arc of electricity fling from his body into hers. Desire slammed again and that new, inexplicable fear in the pit of her stomach reared its head anew.
Jeanine suppressed a shiver, and without another word she stumbled out of the house and drove bac
k to work, breaking every speed limit as she went, her hands shaking the entire way.
That evening, Jeanine could still feel the tendrils of fear in her heart as she stood at the window in her bedroom upstairs, overlooking the streets. She wasn’t sure just what had happened to her, but she knew that since lunch in Bo’s place, there was this bone-deep fear that just wouldn’t go away.
The crisp evening air played with her senses, teased her nostrils, and made her smile and forget her disquiet for a moment. There was something about the smell of the great outdoors that spoke to her soul.
Just as Jeanine straightened to go to bed, she saw the creeping shadow of a man pass beneath her window, stealth in every movement of his body.
Her senses went on high alert and she leaned forward to see better. He headed towards some shrubs carrying what looked like dog biscuits and the darkness closed around him.
Her heart thudded in her chest as she whirled away from the window and grabbed her cellphone. She dialed 911 and took the stairs two at a time as she descended. Thankfully her mother wasn’t home, she had gone on a spa weekend in the city with some friends. Dolly wasn’t the best person to have around in a crisis.
Jeanine dashed into the kitchen, grabbed a rolling pin from its place and eased the front door open. Her bare foot scraped against sharp pointy stones and she cursed under her breath. She had forgotten to wear flipflops!
Her eyes strained through the darkness as she looked for the intruder. Everywhere was still and silent.
Had she imagined seeing the man, she worried? If Sheriff Anderson sent his men over and they didn’t see any intruder he would never let her hear the end of it!
On silent feet, she tiptoed around the house until she was beneath her upstairs window just as the intruder had been.
Then she heard the gentle and unmistakable sound of Bo’s voice as he called out, “Here Kitty, Kitty. Come on, girl.”
Jeanine could not believe her ears. He had come to her house at this time of the night to catch strays?!
