She turned to John. The slightly longer strands on top of his head stuck up, as if he’d run his fingers through them. He’d changed out of uniform. Not that she’d have minded seeing him in that. A man in a uniform even ranked higher than suits. He wore a white pinstripe shirt and black pants. The shirt highlighted the healthy golden glow of his skin and fit to his broad shoulders as if it had been made for him.
Looking down at her white shirt and black pants, she clenched her fist. If only she’d had time to go home and change. The first time she met them all, she was in her work uniform after a long day walking the floor. Not her prettiest ensemble and not how she’d envisioned it.
“We have something to get through?” John tilted his head.
“Yeah, I told myself I’d be honest and upfront about what I’d done when I encountered you again, but I really didn’t think it would be this soon.” Leslie pulled in a deep breath, trying to gather her courage. “I don’t want this to come back and bite me on the ass at a later time. I know you might be angry over this and decided that’s okay. You might be entitled to it.”
“How about you stop borrowing trouble and come out straight and tell us what we might be upset about? All you’re doing at the moment is making me wonder what exactly you’ve done, and the list of possibilities aren’t making me calm.” John frowned. The dark eyebrows lowered over his green eyes.
“Yeah, I don’t think calm is much in the cards anyway.” Leslie bit her lip. If she could ever get this explanation out, they could get on with the night. Facing three sets of eyes and that one of them made a profession of being intimidating made it more difficult. “I knew you were my mate.”
“We suspected that you might since you weren’t surprised when Archer came up to you and claimed you were his mate, and all you said was that you couldn’t do this there.” John nodded. “We didn’t know where you would have encountered any of us and us not get a hint of your scent. However that happened doesn’t matter, we’ve found each other now.”
“It wasn’t their scent. I picked up yours before they came back. I wasn’t sure they were here yet until Archer found me in the store.” Leslie waved her hand.
A brown-haired waitress stopped beside the table and put a glass of water in front of Leslie. She handed out menus. “What would you like to drink?
“A glass of wine sounds great.” Leslie ran her fingers along the edge of the menu. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t get her even tipsy.
The waitress took John, Archer, and Judge’s drink orders. She headed back to the kitchen.
With those three here, getting drunk was the last thing on her mind. The central air swirled their scents around her. Each of them smelled distinct and delicious. The simmering arousal flared and burned, tightening Leslie’s stomach. Their house, her house, or a room, just a little privacy. Hunger for food faded. This night was going to drag until she could feel their bodies against her as they claimed her.
No other woman would ever get them again. She sat up straight. Yeah, there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d walk away without having sex with them tonight. Which meant that tomorrow, she’d be moving in with them.
“When did you pick up my scent?” John frowned and leaned forward. The menu lay in front of him, still folded.
Leslie opened hers. The list of offerings blurred in front of her. Fuck, maybe a restaurant wasn’t such a great idea. The men, her, and a bed. Nothing else mattered.
“At a nightclub, I entered just after you left. I caught your scent and followed it. I wanted to rip that blonde you had in your car to shreds that night.” Leslie tightened her fingers on the menu. “I’d never felt more like hunting someone down.”
“That pissed you off, didn’t it?” Archer raised his brows, but a smile stretched across his face.
“I didn’t begrudge him a past or even a sex drive. What pissed me off was that he went through more women in a week than other men have in three months. He was a man-whore, and I couldn’t let it remain that way.” Leslie shook her head.
Her shoulders lowered. That wasn’t the part that would anger him. He might not get too upset that she hadn’t come straight to them, but she’d done more than that. She’d manipulated things and made it impossible for him to continue his uncommitted lifestyle.
“Whoa, you were the man-whore they were talking about.” Archer laughed. “I thought it was just a phrase that suited the way you’d been living.”
“What do you mean he was the man-whore?” Leslie frowned. How did Archer come to that conclusion?
“What do you mean that you couldn’t let it remain that way?” John reached across the table and covered her hand with his. His golden-skinned palm was so much larger than hers.
“Are you ready to order?” The waitress stopped by their table again.
“Yes.” John narrowed his eyes.
Leslie turned her gaze from him to the waitress standing next to him. He’d barely peeked at the menu. A muscle along his jaw flexed. That was one irritated man. Not that she so happy. Her feline’s hackles raised. The woman might want to step back a little. If she so much as touched, she’d be wearing some claw marks.
She studied the menu. Damn, the only way the waitress would go away was if they told her what they wanted. When the waitress came around to her, she ordered Chicken Saltimbocca and a glass of white wine. Judge ordered ravioli, Archer chose sausage orecchiette, and John selected lasagna. Once the waitress left, she looked to John, but Judge put his hand on hers.
“Answer John’s question first, and then we’ll tell you all about where we heard the word man-whore.” Judge eased his chair a little closer to hers.
She blinked. Not quite so soothing and gracious now. Still, not exactly an angry demand. John should have reacted more. Why wasn’t he fuming over how she’d manipulated him?
“Yeah, um, when he kept dating a new woman every damn night, it made me so angry that I decided to show him that he had a mate, but in a way that he wouldn’t know who she was.” Leslie bit her lip. She picked up the fork and turned it. Would he yell?
“I thought that might tie into our explanation about where we heard the term man-whore.” Judge nodded. “You used a certain bear to do it, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, I knew that two of Chloe’s mates would be there and that Logan would come to say hi to her and maybe try to coerce her into going with him, though if she had, they’d never have made it to the bar.” Leslie nodded and put the fork back. “I also called in some of the other female cats to help muddy the scent on him, so he wouldn’t know which cat’s scent it was.”
“Well, Logan apparently heard a toast in reference to man-whores, although, he didn’t know who they were referring to. John caught your scent. We’ve been busy since then making sure that the home you come to isn’t the same one that the other women visited, even if it is physically the same house.” Archer reached out and stroked the skin of her arm just below her elbow.
She drew in a breath. That piece of skin hadn’t been sensitive before. Her body tightened with the soft stroke. Her breasts pressed against the bra, and the fabric constricted the mounds even more than normal. Her nipples stung at the confinement.
John’s grip tightened on her. “Why didn’t you approach us before now? I know you had to realize that I hadn’t taken anyone else home with me in a while.”
“I wasn’t sure that it had worked. I thought I’d hear something about you searching for your mate if you had caught the scent. I was trying to think of ways to make sure that you did get it in another way.” Leslie frowned. The feline rumor mill had fallen down on the job this time.
“We’ve looked for you, but we also renovated the house. As Archer said, we wanted to make sure you didn’t come into the same house where countless women had come and gone. Almost every room has been redone. We put in new flooring, furniture, tile, and more.” Judge rubbed his hand over her shoulder.
“We were almost to the point where we intended to intensify our search since the
bulk of the work is done.” Archer rubbed his fingers back and forth over her skin.
She should pull away from their touch. This was a public place. They should stop. Their palms skimmed over hers. Tingles spread through her.
She drew in a deep breath. They needed some distance between them because otherwise this discussion wouldn’t last even until the food arrived. She’d drag them out of this restaurant to the nearest private area.
“This is strange on a scale I never imagined hitting. I thought you’d be angry about what I did.” Leslie rubbed at her arm.
She bit her lip. The muscles in her shoulders tightened. He should be angry. Why wasn’t he raging about it? She’d set a trap to ensure he knew he had a mate and let him stew with that for a while.
“Well, I’m upset it’s been weeks since you arranged to have that bear carry your scent to me and didn’t approach me before now. I think I know what you were trying to do. I can understand given the circumstances of how you found my scent and what I was doing at that time. We’ll get into that later.” John gave a small smile. “I do like a cunning cat, but there are limits to it.”
“I expected more than upset. Try explosive.” Leslie stared down at the tablecloth. He had a hard reputation and didn’t suffer fools.
“But you’re missing an important fact. We searched for a mate. We’re older than you. If I didn’t think the town had more trouble coming, I might not be here. My cat has torn at me, demanding I find my mate.” John’s hand tightened in a brief squeeze. “So dealing with the other part of it is something I can handle. Delving deeper into the events can wait while I revel in the wonderful excitement of discovering she lives in the same town as me.”
“Since we’ve touched on that issue, when Archer told me about your meeting, part of it caught my attention. Why were you so adamant that it couldn’t be done there, that you could lose your job? He was looking around in the store, and you’re one of the employees. You could simply say that you were helping him.” Judge stared at her. His brows lowered, and his head cocked to the side.
“That would be true if my job and my bosses went by anything approaching logic. That hasn’t been the case for nine months.” She closed her eyes.
It happened in late August. Nine months was correct. Those months had dragged by. That would be about the time that she’d gotten the finalized schedule for the fall semester’s classes.
“What do you mean? Is there something wrong at your job?” John watched her.
“There has been for a while, and it isn’t something I can or want to keep from you.” She grimaced. They were her mates and would notice when she left for the evenings when she wasn’t working. “It started when I asked them to change my schedule so I could take some classes that weren’t available at any other time.”
“You’re taking classes?” Archer leaned forward in interest.
“Yes, I have been for a while, but it’s slow going because I had to do it around my work schedule. Last year, my bosses worked with another person so they could take some courses. I thought things had changed.” She stared at the utensils of her place setting.
“From your tone, I’d guess not.” Judge stroked the skin just below her sleeve.
“Apparently not for most of the workers. They wouldn’t give me another shift on the days I needed it. I had to rearrange my classes around my work schedule. If I hadn’t had to delay classes because they wouldn’t work with me, I’d be finished.” She flexed her fingers.
That day, she’d almost quit. Tingles ran over her fingertips. Claws pushed against her fingernails. She drew in deep breaths. Got to think of something else.
John turned her hand and rested his palm on hers. He grazed her wrist. Once, twice, three times. Her muscles relaxed with each slow slide, but heat built. Their mere presence tempted and teased. If she eased over into one of their laps, it wouldn’t stop at a kiss.
“And that makes you afraid that they’ll fire you why?” The graze of Archer’s thumb along her arm drew her attention to him.
“They started treating me differently after I asked for another shift to take those courses. The atmosphere has grown hostile, and where I used to be part of the team, now I feel like an outsider. At this point, I’m using this job to pay the bills and what college tuition isn’t covered by the grants I get. When I finish with college, I’ll happily quit that damn place, but until then I need it.” She lifted a shoulder.
“What are you studying in college?” Archer asked.
“Accounting. Before the whole thing with the shifts, I thought maybe I could work within the store as an accountant, but I want out of there now.” She reached over and drew her fingers over his arm. Warmth spread over her at his interest. It had been a while since anyone other than her friends had asked about anything to do with her life. “I hadn’t told anyone about that before now.”
“About your schooling, the problems with work, or your major?” John frowned.
“All of it. I know my friends would be supportive, but I’d actually started college right out of high school and backed out of it within months. I wanted to make sure this wasn’t another case of flightiness.” Leslie winced. Those were her mother’s words. She shook her head. She wasn’t flighty.
During her first try at college, she couldn’t decide what she wanted to do. Everything looked interesting, but nothing clicked. The floundering uncertainty built with each day until she’d quit. She’d hated feeling lost. Once she’d realized she’d wanted to study accounting, she set about taking the steps to learn it.
The waitress came back to the table with two bags. She put them down between Archer and John.
“We didn’t order this to go.” John frowned. His eyes narrowed as he studied the woman.
“I heard you say that you recently recognized her as your mate. The kitchen staff and I made an executive decision. We hate to see our good food go to waste. You won’t get halfway through dinner before you leave. So take it home and eat it when you come up for air.” The waitress placed the check on the table.
Leslie bit her lip. Her jaw ached and her chest tightened. She shouldn’t laugh. The waitress had a point.
John’s mouth dropped open, and a strangled sound rolled from his throat. He pulled out his wallet. He handed a card to the waitress, who left them to process it and get the receipt.
“That takes service to whole other level.” Archer grinned. “But it does give us the opportunity to get to know one another in privacy.”
“And I think it’s a good thing overall.” Judge nodded. “We could sit and talk, but they’re right—I wouldn’t have been able to sit much longer. Touching your arm wasn’t enough for me.”
“I honestly don’t know how John was sitting across the table from her.” Archer squeezed her hand. “I wanted to lift her into my lap, but knew holding her wouldn’t last.”
The waitress came back and handed John his card. Judge picked up the bags of food. She stood and looked around. The men waited as John put his wallet in his jacket.
She drew in a deep breath. Things could get strained here. They had to drive to their home. Wherever that was. Although she stalked things on occasion, she hadn’t looked up his address. Had they all brought vehicles to the restaurant? They’d have to travel separately. A pain wrenched through her stomach. She couldn’t leave her car here.
“Did you three each bring your cars? Because I have my own that I need to take with me.” She glanced from one man to another.
“No, we came in one car because we had time to go home and change.” John smiled. “Would you feel comfortable with one of us riding with you? That way you can get directions and not try to follow or keep up with us.”
“Yes, I’d be all right with that.” She nodded. Her muscles loosened.
“And keep it under the speed limit.” John narrowed his eyes at her.
Her mouth dropped open. “You looked up my record. Didn’t you think I told Archer the truth?”
So not fair. The
chief of police searched her driving record. His green eyes glittered. Apparently, he didn’t think her speeding was endearing.
He laughed and led the way out of the restaurant. She stomped after him. Maybe she shouldn’t feel so guilty about what she did.
Chapter Four
Her palms dampened with sweat, and her mouth dried. Sitting in the car with the sweet-smelling man didn’t help.
Okay, so he didn’t exactly smell sweet. If it was possible, she’d snuggle up against him and simply inhale the natural male musk and the rich, almost roasted nut scent, but soon she’d be exploring, discovering the variations of that fragrance all over his body. After following Archer’s directions to their home, she turned into the driveway of a two-story, slate-colored home trimmed with white shutters.
Leslie stopped behind John’s SUV. She reached for the latch. The door swung wide as soon as the locks clicked. She gasped and swung around. John stood there. She exhaled. He held out his hand. His eyes glittered with intensity, and a muscle flexed along his jaw. If she waited too long, he’d reach down and pull her out of the car. She shivered.
She placed her hand in his. His fingers flexed, before closing around hers. He drew in a deep breath and his muscles relaxed a little. She gripped him tighter. He shouldn’t doubt that she was here willingly. They’d barely met each other, and she had a lot to learn about them, but this was where she belonged. Heat ripped through her, urging her closer with every indrawn breath. The questions made no difference.
She wouldn’t have it any other way. The intense attraction and their pheromones increased. Holding back when she’d caught John’s scent had nearly ripped her apart. Her gut clenched at the unnecessary delay.
Why had she waited so long? She frowned. Hell, she shouldn’t have wasted this much time.
Once she started, she couldn’t stop. Yeah, time between that revolving door’s rotation was necessary. She’d been too involved in thinking up different ways to get her scent to John. When Archer found her, the alternate plans stopped. Maybe it ended the way it should. If only she hadn’t thrown away all of those days when she could have been with all of them.
Catching Her Mates Page 4
