by Lyn Brittan
But for now, he brought a little much needed excitement to her life. She didn’t trust him to stay interested, no man ever did, but that knowledge somehow freed her. Why not enjoy him? There was no good reason to reject what he offered. She just had to keep a little emotional distance.
Walking into work went mostly how she expected it would. Hushed whispers and sidelong glances greeted her before she put her bag down. What she hadn’t anticipated were the ‘embarrassed for you’ looks.
Tony eagerly filled her in as to the cause. He tugged at the hem of his pinstriped jacket and straightened his neon pink tie. The man’s pale face reddened all the way up to his bleached blond roots.
“Belinda’s telling people you paid him to say those things. I defended you, of course, but it is going around. I thought you should know what you’re walking into.”
His eyes widened in hopeful expectation of her response. She didn’t give him one. Flipping traitor. She’d prepared herself for every question or comment but this one and made a mental note never to underestimate the bitchy pettiness of Belinda again.
“You do realize she’s lying, right?”
“She says the same thing about you, girl.”
“Try not to enjoy this so much.”
“I’m not. Hey, I stood up for you.”
Maybe he had. Tony came loaded for drama, but deep down she knew he cared. Still, the image of being talked about and laughed at behind her back turned her stomach to knots. Made her defensive. So long, confidence.
The first customers of the day provided welcome distraction and she threw herself into her work. Still, the eyes of her coworkers burned holes in her skull. If they’d watched her this hard in the past, she’d have had that promotion already.
It would probably never happen now.
Baron was right. She needed to put as much distance between herself and this place as possible. Kate had said as much for ages, but from Baron, it meant a little more. He hadn’t spent every year of his life telling her what to do. He’d simply spoken about how he saw things.
This whole mess was his fault and yet she couldn’t quite blame him for any of it. His weird interruption in her life rushed along a realization she was bound to come to at some point. While Miles wasn’t the size of New York City or Albany, the town wasn’t tiny. She had financial skills. There were tons of banks or other county offices she could slip an application in, and would, as soon as she got the chance.
Her eyes drifted to the clock on her computer between customers. Every timestamp brought her closer to Baron.
She scented him around one thirty. He reeked of sweat, but sported a bright grin from ear to ear. He didn’t bother coming in - he just sorta waved to her from the door, paint smeared hands and all. She wasted no time in closing her till and clocking out.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
“Ditto, but I’m glad you did. I could use a bit of un-stressing,” he said and locked his arm around her waist.
It was too familiar a move for someone she just met, but something deep inside her inner wolf told her this felt all right for now. She even dropped her head on his shoulder, content to let this fantasy play out. “Tough day? You smell.”
“Like a man? And yes. I spent the first half of the morning getting a new loan package. That took forever. Then I had to rush it over to the scumbag realtor – never trust a Connecticut elf – but at least the thing is closed and I’ve got the keys. Been cleaning for the last two hours. I don’t care, at least it’s mine, ya know? My business, my rules. I don’t know how you do it. It’s crazy to work at a place you hate.”
She stopped in her tracks. The truth did that sometimes…just slapped you upside the head.
Baron jerked to a stop right along with her. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Doesn’t matter how you meant it. You said it and you’re right. I was considering my exit strategy this morning. Don’t take this in a weird way, but maybe I needed your brand of crazy to shake things up.”
“Really? Then we both have something to celebrate. Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“A surprise?
“Eh, okay, I’m making it up as I go.”
“But what about lunch?”
“Oh c’mon. We’ll grab something.” His warm hand locked onto hers and he ran, looking back with a fool’s grin. She was sure she matched it and followed him to his black Jeep a few streets away. They drove to the park on the edge of town, one backed up against acres of forest. The day was too beautiful for it to have not been packed with families, many of them eating on blankets and chairs. “A picnic?”
“I was thinking a run.”
“Are you insane? It’s the middle of the day! I have work.” But she may as well talk to the trees. He shook his head harder than the wind moved the branches above them.
“I’ve already checked out these woods. We go in deep.” He slid his palms across each other. “And then we take off. Unless you know a better place for this?”
“Not this close to town. Anyway, I don’t really have time for that these days.”
“For what?”
“Runs.”
Baron’s nostrils flared. His cleft jaw clenched. In full few view of at least two dozen men, women and children, he pulled her close and sniffed. “That’s what we do. How long since you’ve been in your fur?”
Of the crazy things that had happened to her over the past forty-eight hours, this was sure to be the most humiliating. So she punted.“ A while.”
He didn’t let her get away with it. “Try again. Days? Weeks? Aw, come on! Months? Holy hell.”
“It’s not my fault.”
“Pretty sure it is.”
“I used to shift all the time, but you know, people grow up.”
“Grow up? I’m not hearing this.”
“Life happens. Mom and Dad started traveling, Michelle moved away and Kate’s…well…Kate. I didn’t have anyone to run with.”
“You’re so lucky I came into your life.”
“That’s awfully cocky of you.”
“There’s a joke there, but I’m letting it go because I’m the mature one.” He jerked his head toward the woods. “March!”
There was no point in lying to herself. Her thighs and fingers prickled at the memory of reshaping into lupine form. They walked until the fields gave way to weeds, and the weeds gave way to brush so dense that they might as well have been in an undiscovered jungle.
“I promise to have you back at work before nightfall.”
“Baron!”
“You’re quitting anyway.”
“Well, not this minute.”
“One hour, Johanna. I promise. Less even. I’ll have you back in forty minutes.” He lifted the gray tee shirt over his head and tossed it to the ground below.
Just as she expected. The man really was cut from rock, with every muscle pronounced and piggybacking on another one. She knew she’d been busted staring when he flexed his pecs. “Your turn.”
She readied herself to fake up some confidence and found she didn’t need to. Odd. She’d always struggled to shift in front of others. The nudity, the half-second of vulnerability between forms often suffocated her.
Often, but not now.
Not with him.
His desire hit her with the heat of a volcano. She made that happen. Every current rolling off him was her doing. That wicked part of her was back again and she didn’t shoo it away. “Help me?”
Without a word he knelt before her, lifting the hem of her black dress up, up, up. He took in a very audible breath as her own scents started flowing. He didn’t stop though, pulling the rest of the dress until it joined his pile of discarded clothes.
Either of them could have shifted by now, but he yanked her tight against him, her breasts pinned against his chest. Impossibly large hands ran down the length of her back until they cupped her cheeks. “You’re built for a wolf. You know that?
”
“Is that codeword for chubby?”
“That’s codeword for perfect.”
Then he kissed her and the heavens damned near opened for glory. Total situational overload. His tongue, raw heat, begged for permission at the corner of her mouth. She didn’t have the will to deny him.
She also didn’t have enough hands for what she wanted to do, but Lord knows she tried using what she had. She touched his face, clawed his chest and gripped his cheeks until one of her hands found its way to his manhood.
She’d never been this forward before. Everything in her human mind told her to stop. Reminded her that she didn’t know him.
Luckily for her, her wolf took precedence.
He groaned into her mouth and nipped at the side of her lips when her hand closed around him. Well, as much around him as it could. Laid across a QWERTY keyboard, the man was ASDFGHJKL and maybe the ENTER key too.
She wanted to see what she held, but that would require her mouth leaving his. Neither of them seemed intent of having happen. Instead, his hands wandered down until they lay upon the damp hair between her legs. His fingers didn’t enter her, but he rubbed his rough palm against her core until her knees threatened to give way.
“You’ve been like this – ready for me since the moment we met. I’ve smelled it on you and been waiting to find out what it tastes like.” He dragged his hands against her one last time before pulling back to look her in the eyes. He shifted his tongue - just his tongue - and licked off the evidence of her lust from his hand, before sending it back for seconds. “You told me to lick you from top to bottom. I intend to.”
In the seconds it took him to drop to his knees, she told herself to keep her heart in check. No expectations.
Just this.
Just him.
Just now.
And just for the moment, she felt womanly, desired and gave herself permission to be free and to harbor no regrets.
His mouth honed in and rational thought transformed into a slippery, tricksy thing impossible to hold on to.
Baron buried his face between her legs. She slid down the tree he had her locked against until she straddled him, her knees on either side of his head.
He licked, sucked, bit, and pulled every inch of her.
Her orgasm built. She felt it pressing against her inner walls as surely as she felt his tongue.
But that wasn’t the only thing pressing.
Baron snuck his hand around until he managed to shove two fingers inside her.
Three.
And they weren’t just pressing. They were massaging, hooking to hit the area that turned her muscles to mush.
“Please, Johanna?”
“Huh?”
He mumbled something back about ‘mouths,’ but she was too far gone to make it out. She pushed and rocked until it hurt. Her core burned, screaming for relief. If it didn’t happen soon, she’d explode. When her body had nothing more to give, her thighs quivered and she screamed out her release into the man between her legs.
Best. Lunch break. Ever.
“Are you okay?”
“What?”
“I need you to tell me that you’re okay, Johanna.”
“Yes.”
“Good girl.” Then he leaned forward and told her every single thing he wanted to do to her. She might have begged for it.
He might have laughed.
But he also pulled away, keeping his eyes on her while he handled his erection.
“You don’t have to do that. I mean we can…”
“When I make love to you for the first time, Johanna, it won’t be in the woods.” He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth before pumping and spilling himself on the grass, seeding the air around them in an aroma of sweat, need and lust. He crawled on all fours to her and together they fell against the trunk of the tree in a jumble of arms and legs.
Satisfaction? Yep.
Fear? A little.
Regret? Nope.
He spoke first. That was good. She was aware that things called ‘words’ existed, but in her bliss had no clue of how to put them together right now.
“Two things,” he said, rubbing his head against hers. “First, I got hung up on licking in one place. We’ll have to try the head to toe thing later. Second, ditto for the run.”
Chapter Five
“Who does the walk of shame in the middle of the workday?”
Johanna readjusted her dress. “Shut up, Tony.”
His pen tapped against the counter and his eyes twinkled with delight. “I mean, damn girl.”
“We went out for lunch.”
“I can figure out what he ate.”
She hated life.
Bullcrap. She loved life, but this was embarrassing.
Bullcrap again.
This was awesome.
Well, a fairly grin-inducing mix of the two.
She was incredibly late, but a business meeting kept Belinda tied up and no one else seemed to care about the whens as much as the hows and whats.
She gave them nothing, even though the little devil on her shoulder did cartwheels each time someone asked what happened.
She spent the next half hour going back and forth to the bathroom to pat herself clean and convince herself to stop smiling. Both efforts repeatedly and ultimately failed.
Closing time couldn’t come fast enough. In exchange for her coworkers’ silence, she agreed to do the closing on her own tonight. She’d take that deal any day. By the time the cleaning crew arrived, she wanted nothing more than a glass of wine and a bed…with a wolf in it.
She fingered a spot on her neck that he’d paid such glorious attention to. Would he call her? Should she call him? Nothing worse than looking desperate and yet her hand itched to reach for the phone.
In between the hemming and hawing, she grabbed her keys and headed for the door, sensing the object of her lust before she stepped outside. “You’re back?”
“Should I leave?”
“No! I just thought that, you know…”
He pulled a small bouquet of red and orange roses from behind his paint-smeared pants. “Time got away from me. It was either change clothes or not catch you before you left. Sorry?”
Her concerns about Baron getting free milk didn’t work against these roses. She dipped her nose into the petals and kicked away the last twinges of doubt. “They’re lovely.”
“I wasn’t too rough with you today, was I?” He pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, then took a sudden interest in staring at the sidewalk.
She toed his sandaled foot with the tip of her flats. “No. I’m just happy I didn’t suffocate you.”
“Can’t imagine a better way to go. Um, about that. I came back to invite you to dinner. A tasting. You didn’t exactly get to eat during our lunch. I did but…”
She elbowed him in the stomach and turned toward the garage, pausing a half second for doubt to set in. But neither it, nor its frequent companion, indecision, reared their ugly heads. “I haven’t moved my car in a while because of you. Do you promise to bring me back to it tonight?”
“I promise to do whatever you want, remember? So what about dinner? I’m willing to beg.” He shot her the dopiest puppy dog look ever.
“I suppose I can schedule you in.”
“Awesome, because I’ve got most of it on standby. Had a feeling you’d say yes.”
“Getting comfortable already?” She winced at her own words, but he let it go with a shrug and led the way.
His restaurant wasn’t very far, less than six blocks. One might consider that convenient if they were dating.
Which they weren’t.
Must not forget that.
She remembered the site as a Mexican joint, but Baron had a different vision if the smells wafting out from the newspapered windows were an indication. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Actually, I did. I wanted to get a feel for the equipment. Might as well have some fun while I do it. This was a turnkey o
peration, but you’ve gotta test stuff out, ya know? So, look, picture a 1920s speakeasy. That’s what I’m shooting for. The interior brick walls will still work. I won’t have to change anything but the paint trim and the menus.”
“And the décor and the furniture.” She tried wobbling the wooden table. “These are fine I guess, but you need new tablecloths, or at least refinish them with a wash of gloss. Your project manager’s handling that I guess.”
“Stop.” He popped open a bottle in a chiller on the next table and poured her a glass. “Take seven and a half minutes to write down everything you think needs changing. I’ll finish cooking and be right back.”
Five minutes in and she had a list sixteen points long and growing. She grabbed it, her wine and headed to the kitchen. Baron leaned over an industrial sized stove, flipping over various slabs of chop licking meat.
Her Baron.
Mate.
She shook that nonsense out of her head. He was just a man like any other. One who shared her wolven secret. One who her made her feel like the hottest thing on the planet. One who smelled right.
And one who looked at her with unabashed pride at what he’d put together here.
“My nose is loving this, Baron.”
“Me?”
“The food! You’re not bad though. I can’t wait to try it.”
“Me?”
“Hush.” She waved her list in front of his nose. “Everything in the back of the house looks good, I guess. I don’t know, but the front is another story.”
“I can agree with that. This equipment’s old, but solid. Makes no sense to change it. But what don’t you like out there?”
He looked good here. A natural, blending in like a wolf in the woods, as if this was as much his environment as any place else. She had to know more. “Tell me about yourself. How did you get into this?”
Impossibly, the rascally grin deepened. “I’m the middle of five. Not old enough to be catered to and not young enough to be babied. If I hadn’t learned to cook, I wouldn’t be half the strapping man you see before you.”
“Five, hmm? Quints?” It wasn’t uncommon among their kind, but he shook this off.
“Naw. The eldest is forty-two, the youngest is twenty-one. Quite a spread. Daddy’s proud.”
