by Amelia Jade
She stormed toward the tiny woman. Jet had explicitly told her that she should make her mark here, and not to let anyone run over her as long as she didn't break them or anything of his. It wouldn't be too hard to take care of the miniscule blonde.
"What the hell do you want?" she sneered as Kailee came closer.
"I want you the hell out of this bar, leech," she growled, picking Sandra up by her shoulders and bulldozing her way toward the door. "You speak about being driven, but all you do is follow in the footsteps of others, hoping to ride the coattails of their success. You'll never amount to anything you useless, snivelling, spoiled brat."
With that, she tossed Sandra out the door, watching in the fading sunlight as she landing sharply on her rear in the gravel parking lot. She cried out in pain and then began to whimper, but there was enough venom left in her glare that Kailee knew she wasn't permanently injured. Unfortunately, if the words she uttered next were anything to go by, it would seem that Kailee and Jet hadn't seen the last of her.
"You better watch your back, cow. Just because you're a shifter doesn't mean you're invincible."
Kailee snorted, flexing her arms and reaching out to her side. Just to the left of the door was a bench made for four. Without any apparent effort, she reached down and lifted the one end clean off the floor. It was an impressive feat of strength, suitable enough to leave Sandra without any more ridiculous threats. She rolled her eyes once more at the ridiculousness of it all, set the bench down and turned to go back inside to finish her shift.
As it turned out, that was the most excitement for her night. After Sandra was unceremoniously shown the door, several things happened. First, Tom left, though he promised to come see her again so that they could continue their lovely chat. She hadn't even acknowledged that, simply ignoring him and focusing on her job.
The second thing that had happened was that word got out that she wasn't to be trifled with. The men, despite becoming rowdy and boisterous, never once gave her any trouble. If anything, they respected her and tried to include her in on their games, instead of using her as the target or butt of their jokes.
Several times throughout the evening as she interacted with the regulars she caught Jet looking at her, a little smile of satisfaction visible, a look that never seemed to go away the entire night. Kailee did have to admit, that if this was her first night working there, it boded well for the future.
The lone blotch on the evening couldn't necessarily be filed as such either. At one point late into the night, a man had stood up, clearly inebriated, and had made a grand gesture of love, telling her that she should come home with him. He promised to show her a good time. Although she was more than capable of defending herself, Jet had been closer.
He had promptly picked the man up by the scruff of his neck and tossed him out on his ass. She had done her best not to blush furiously when she had heard Jet comment under his breath that 'she was his and not to touch her'. Whether he had meant that as in she was an employee or as something more, she wasn't sure, but it had been kind and attractive nonetheless.
She had to admit that she and Jet worked well together. In fact, the chemistry between them was incredible. The entire night they had very few problems and the few that did come up were simply because she didn't know everything yet. They both seemed to take to the chores that the other didn't. She wasn't a major fan of making food and pouring drinks, but she did enjoy cleaning. Jet was quite the opposite, having a love with preparing food and drink, but hating the cleanup process.
Kailee forgot to mention it to him at the end of the night, but on her way home she made a mental note to mention to him about the paperwork situation. It just seemed like another way that they would work well together. He could handle the financial aspect of it all, and she would ensure it was kept neatly organized.
Despite all her claims of not wanting to fall for Jet and that she needed some time alone before dating again, Kailee fell asleep to thoughts of them spending a lot more time together. She tried to tell herself that it would be all very proper because he was her boss, but she couldn't focus on the thought enough before sleep claimed her.
That night she dreamt of Jet, and much to her chagrin in the morning, none of it was very proper at all.
***
Chapter Seven
Jet
"Did you want me to start on the kitchen now?"
"No, let's get the rest of these tables cleaned and the chairs stacked. Then we can tackle it together. I'll wash, you can dry," Jet responded. She nodded and moved out from behind the bar she had just finished wiping down.
Kailee had been working at the Quencher for almost a week now, and he couldn't be happier about his decision to hire her. She had turned out to be an incredible helper, far more involved and driven then Sandra had ever been. Her help had allowed him to get on top of a number of things that had been lagging behind for months on end.
The only place he hadn't been able to get ahead was with her. She was polite, friendly and hard-working, but never anything more. He desperately wanted to ask her out on a date, anything that might allow them to spend some time together when they weren't working. Nothing had helped, however, and he didn't want to push it too far, because he didn't want to abuse his position as her boss in any way. If something was going to happen, he didn't want it to get off on the wrong start.
His other desire for wanting to spend time with her, to see if she was involved with his old gang, had not borne any fruit either. He had come upon her several times without warning but never once had she seemed to be doing anything untoward or sneaky. In fact, if anything she had made it somewhat clear that she was rather averse to anything that ran afoul of the law.
"You really have picked this up very quickly, Kailee," he remarked as they began to lift the wooden chairs up onto the tables so that they could mop later.
"Well, I didn't mention it in the interview, but I waited tables for six months while I was in university. If you've worked one, you've worked them all, and it came back to me fairly quickly." She smiled at him, her tone teasing as she brought up the fact that she had never, in fact, had an interview of any sort.
"I'll have to ensure that I ask my next employee a more thorough set of questions."
"Oh, already interviewing to replace me, are you?" she joked, throwing her damp rag at him. He caught it deftly and tossed it over his shoulder, pretending for all the world that nothing had happened. She giggled at that, a sound that made him feel as if he were on cloud nine, floating through the paradise.
"So, what brought you all the way out here to Bear Bluffs then? You're smart and capable with a college degree. Why here?" He forced the question out, trying to make it sound nonchalant though he knew he had failed. Thankfully she didn't seem to mind talking about it, which made the past week's build-up seem pointless.
"Well, I got out of college and moved to a new city for a job. It was rather daunting, and when a smooth talking, good looking man came across my path, I fell head over heels for him. I fell so hard I should have known better."
He could practically hear the pointed reference there that she wasn't going to do the same thing in a second city. No wonder she had been so reluctant to allow him in closer. She was afraid that he would be the same as the last man in her life. His knuckles were going white as he squeezed his fists closed, trying to keep his anger at whatever this man had done to her in check.
She paused for a moment of retrospection, her mind shifting into the past so clearly he could see it written on her face. Several emotions flashed across her face, none of them happy ones. The final grimace lingered there for some time until she began to speak again.
"It started out fine, the courtship, the engagement, the wedding. All of it was perfectly enjoyable. Then one night he came home drunk. Said he needed money. It turned out he'd had a gambling problem, which he'd managed to hide from me somehow. I still to this day have no idea, despite trying to look over our entire life with a fine-toothc
omb."
"Anyways, this got worse. He started to take out his anger on me, no matter how much I gave him. He also began to do things that were illegal. He would often come home with things that weren't his," she winced at her own memories as the words came out. He wanted to hold her and promise to never do those things, but it wasn't the right time. For now he needed to be understanding and to appreciate the fact that she was opening up like to him like this at all. That in and of itself was a huge victory, something he had not been able to achieve the entire previous week.
"Finally, I woke up one day with bruises and a black eye and realized I needed to get the hell out. I was tired of the city life, I was losing touch with my bear by the day, and I decided to try a shifter community. The Bluffs ended up being the place I chose."
Something in her voice told him there was more to that last sentence than she was letting on. He wondered if perhaps it was her father's hand that was evident in her decision process. Either way, no matter how he felt about her, he needed to figure out if this was all one giant coincidence, or if Occam's Razor applied to the situation.
Occam's Razor was the theory that generally the simplest explanation was the one that applied. In this case, that meant that One-Eyed Jack had, in one way or another, influenced Kailee's decision to move to Bear Bluffs. In reality, that meant that he was coming after Jet and his intentions were hardly likely to be pure.
"So now," Kailee was saying as he focused on her once more, "I'm just out here to relax, rediscover my bear, and see whatever life sends my way."
"Well, hopefully it's nothing but relaxation and upstanding men," he replied, doing his best to make it light-hearted and not hint at himself.
"I certainly hope so. I'm not interested in any disreputable men. I was so disappointed when I found out that Donald, my ex-husband, had succumbed to the criminal way of life. It's so pathetic, really. There are so many other avenues of leading your life, that to descend to those levels is sad."
He was caught off guard by the anger in her voice and the unshakeable attitude she seemed to have regarding those that crossed paths with law enforcement. Jet contemplated asking a question, something to do with those who have erred but now recognize their mistakes and are making an attempt to rectify it. In the end, however, he decided he wasn't sure he was ready to hear the answer. She seemed rather unwavering in her disdain of people like him.
Her entire attitude about it was going to be a problem. Jet didn't see an immediate way around the issue, but perhaps if he didn't mention his own past for a while long, she might build up enough of an image of him as the person he was now, to realize that leopards can change their spots.
Then he was hit with a startling realization. She was either an astoundingly good actress, or she had no idea what her father did for a living. Jet, having spent a number of years around people who lied and acted for a living, went with his gut instinct this time; Kailee was ignorant about her father’s true occupation. He wondered idly what kind of lie he had managed to cook up that she had believed.
The discussion had lasted long enough for them to finish putting away all the chairs, and so they moved toward the kitchen, Kailee in the lead. Jet watched from behind at the way her hips moved, the mesmerizing sway of her hair as it swished back and forth. His bear surged forward, almost overwhelming his controls as it scratched and pawed, roaring at him to let it out so that his mate could be claimed.
It hated him for keeping her in such proximity to him without the freedom to do what it felt was the right thing. The worst of it was that he agreed with the bear, that she was perfect for him. The longer they spent together, the more he became convinced that she truly was the other half of both of his souls. Everything seemed to just click with her, falling into place without either party seeming to put effort into it.
Then there was the physical aspect. Jet found her so astoundingly gorgeous it was hard to put words to it. Each time she walked through the door to start work his heart began to pound, thundering inside its cage, forcing blood through his cock, until he was forced to work the nights in a constant state of semi-hardness. The occasional flick of her head to get her hair out of her eyes, or the small laugh she shared with him when something funny happened and a dozen other things she did drove him absolutely wild.
“So Jet, did you grow up here in Bear Bluffs?”
He tried not to panic at the sudden inquest into his own past. It was just a normal question he told himself, not an interrogation about his prior life and the parts of it that he had tried to leave behind. Forcing calm into his voice, Jet did his best to answer without betraying his sudden worry.
“No, I moved here several years ago. Bought the Quencher from the retiring owner and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Thankfully she didn’t pursue the questioning any further than that. Jet had every intention of coming clean to her in time, but that time was not just yet. Waiting for the right moment would be key, to ensure she didn’t apply an incorrect label to him. He was already facing an uphill battle to win her over, the last thing he wanted was another obstacle to overcome, especially one that had the potential to be insurmountable.
“I forgot to mention, Jet, my father is in town. Do you think I could leave a little early today? He’s visiting and although I told him to make himself at home in my place, he insisted on simply hanging out until I got home.”
Jet’s heart nearly jumped out of his throat when she spoke up later on after they had finished most of the dishes. Thankfully he had not been holding anything as it was likely he would have dropped it. Scrambling to find his voice, he made an overly dramatic gesture, holding his hand to his chin, pretending to ponder the situation while he recovered internally. In addition, he mentally filed a note to himself about how she did not seem overly enthused by the situation.
“I suppooosseeee,” he said, dragging it out teasingly, “that just this one time, I could see my way to letting you go a little early.”
“Thank you!” She smiled, going to give him a high-five, until she realized her hands were filthy. She paused for a moment, like a deer stuck in headlights, before stepping close and giving him a quick peck on the cheek instead.
She jerked back, shock at her actions evident in her eyes. Then she blushed furiously and ran to the break room to grab her belongings. Jet watched her go, his hand absentmindedly rising to his face, touching where she had kissed him. He wondered what had brought that on though he wished she wouldn’t have run away. As she came back out, trying to slink her way out like a sullen cat, he walked over to her.
“I’ll walk you out,” he said by way of explanation of his actions.
“You don’t have to do that,” she protested, but he waved her down quickly.
“I know, but I’m going to anyway, so you may as well accept it.” He wasn’t in the mood to accept her false sincerity. It was late at night, and although he wasn’t worried about anything, it only took him a handful of seconds to ensure she got into her car safely. She had told him about the threat Sandra had made, and that, combined with her father being in town, had him on edge.
The walk was silent, neither party saying anything. Jet took that time to muster up his courage for what he was about to do. Kailee had given him the opening with her actions earlier, and he intended to take it. It might backfire on him, but he would never know unless he took the leap of faith and tried.
Some people were worth the fear of failure.
He took an extra long stride to get ahead of her as they approached her truck so that he could pull open the door for her. She smiled at him demurely, until he grabbed her hand. The tension ratcheted up another level between them as he did. Despite their working in close proximity to each other, very little in the way of physical contact had occurred.
“What are you doing, Jet?” She practically whispered, her voice was so quiet, full of nerves.
Just like him.
She was facing him now, standing in the space between the door and
body of her truck. The moon’s brilliance illuminated the scene in soft light, its stark white rays giving Kailee the faintest of glows, accentuating her beauty to him. He became hard, his body raging full of desire for her.
He stared at her, drinking in her beautiful azure eyes, taking a long look at her, before he gently pulled on her hand. She didn’t resist, caught up in the spell between them she pressed herself up against him. There was no way she couldn’t feel his rigid cock pressing into her stomach, but there was no reaction from her.
Tilting his head, he leaned in toward her without saying another word. Her eyes widened in shock before closing out of habit as she raised her lips to his. At the last moment, he closed his eyes, just before his lips brushed against hers. The connection was made and lightening exploded behind his eyelids, sensation warring with emotion as he and his mate shared their first kiss.
Jet waited that precious extra heartbeat after they first made contact, to see if she pulled away from him. When she didn’t, he pulled her tighter, melding her to his body. The kiss deepened between them as he ran his fingers up her back, holding her tight against his body. He shivered ever so slightly as her hands gripped the thick hair at the back of his neck, holding him close as she parted her lips for him. He greedily explored her mouth, wanting nothing more than to spend the entire evening learning his way around her.
Then, without warning, she pulled back from him, putting some distance between them. The look of shock returned to her eyes in a flash as her hand flew to her mouth. She touched it to her lips softly, before looking at the milky-white skin, as if expecting to see a visual reminder of him there.
Her eyes flashed over to look at him, a brief moment of contact before she fled into her truck, slamming the door closed. Jet was so caught off guard he didn't manage to get a word out before the engine roared to life and the truck took off down the road, carrying the woman he loved with it.
The truck faded into the distance as he watched in stunned agony, his heart, and soul rent asunder by her departure. He continued to watch even as it rounded a corner and was lost to his sight. There was a brief moment where he almost jumped in his own truck to chase after her, but something told him that now wasn't the time for such a move. Kailee needed some space, some time to ponder what had just happened and accept what was going on between them.
