by Mia Harris
“Well, give me an example of what you think your perfect woman is,” Thomas said, grinning.
“Well, I don’t mean to embarrass anyone, but… that girl standing right over there,” Marcus replied, pointing.
He was pointing right at Trina and Emma, and Emma felt hot tears stinging her eyes. She turned and hurried out of the room, telling Trina that she had to go and get more coffee for the writers. It was one thing that the billionaire had kept staring at Trina, but for him to just point over at her and say how she was the perfect woman with Emma standing right next to her the whole time… well, that just hurt.
She turned and looked over her shoulder as she left, and saw Trina posing, pretending to be nonchalant as she lapped up the attention. Marcus suddenly looked embarrassed and withdrew his pointed finger before changing the subject.
The rest of the day flew by in a blur, and at five o’clock, Thomas called her into his office.
“Explain your behavior today, Emma,” he said sharply.
“What do you mean?” she asked, suddenly nervous.
“You went racing out of the interview room like that, all because a billionaire said you were his perfect woman. I think you embarrassed him.”
“What? I thought he was pointing at Trina!” she replied.
“No. I asked him afterwards because he seemed so embarrassed after you left, and he specifically said he was referring to you. He asked me to apologize to you on his behalf.”
“Apologize?”
“Well, he assumed you were embarrassed by what he said. Red faces all around, wasn’t it?”
Emma sat down, wondering if Thomas was playing some sick joke on her. Why would he be interested in me? I’m just a lowly intern. He’s a billionaire… surely he could meet someone more on his level.
“I guess it’s not that big of a deal,” Thomas said, chuckling. “It was actually kind of cute. Anyway, the other reason I called you in here was because I have a special job for you.”
“Oh, okay. Sure.”
“Well, we don’t really believe him when he says he isn’t a major player. I mean, the guy is thirty-five, and he expects us to believe that he hasn’t been involved with a single woman? Yeah, right.”
“So what do you want me to do?”
“I think he’s definitely hiding some secret harem of women at his house outside the city. I want you to take one of the cameras and stake out his house. If you can get pictures of him and just one mystery woman for me, I can guarantee you a permanent position here after your internship is finished.”
“Umm… isn’t that illegal?” Emma asked, nervously twirling a strand of her hair.
“Not really. The cameras have very good zoom capabilities. If you just park yourself out on the street, you aren’t trespassing or anything. Snap some pics, bam, you’re done. How do you think the paparazzi get all their photos of celebrities? Besides, he liked you. If he catches you, he’s less likely to try and press charges or anything.”
“I still think it’s a bit of an invasion of privacy,” she said.
“Hey, if you don’t want to do it, then I’ll send another intern. I chose you because you’re my favorite so far, but if this isn’t your thing….”
Thomas’ sentence trailed off, and he looked at her expectantly.
“Fine. I’ll do it. Tonight?” she asked.
“Yes. And tomorrow night. As many nights as it takes to get something. You can come in to work as late as you want during the day. I don’t want you losing sleep because you were up all night outside some guy’s house.”
“Okay,” she said.
After she left his office, she took a camera from the media room and considered how she would tell her parents what she was up to. They already thought that she spent too much time at work, and now she would be spending all night basically stalking a man at his private residence just for the sake of gossip. I guess I’ll just tell them that I’m going out with friends, she thought, already feeling bad for the lie she was going to tell. It wasn’t normally in her nature to lie, especially to her parents, but she badly wanted the permanent position at the magazine. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Thomas had managed to obtain Marcus Winter’s address, and she didn’t even want to know how. After dinner, she told her parents she was going out with a girlfriend and wouldn’t be home until quite late, and then got in her car and headed out. The billionaire’s house wasn’t even that far away from their house; although, it was in a much nicer area up in the hills.
As she drove, she noticed how much darker it seemed up here. The hills area was renowned for its forested areas, and the roads were lined with trees. The tree cover blocked out a lot of the moonlight, and the moon was currently behind a cloud anyway. Overall, it had the effect of making the whole area eerily dark at night. It’s nice, though. It seems so peaceful and quiet out here.
She decided to park a fair distance from his house, so she didn’t raise any suspicion, and then grabbed the camera and walked the rest of the way. When she was almost there, she crept up to his gate as quietly as possible and peered through. She had been expecting an enormous mansion with a long, winding driveway, but the house was nowhere near what one could call a mansion. It was large and surrounded by a large expanse of forest, but not exactly what she pictured a billionaire living in. I guess he’s a modest guy. That’s actually nice.
As she looked through the gates, she could see that lights were still on in the house. Okay, he’s definitely in there. She tried to use the zoom function of the camera, aiming it at the windows, but the curtains were all closed, making it impossible to see anything. Frustrated, she crouched down on the ground and decided to simply wait until she saw or heard anything. If he has a woman over, she’s bound to leave at some point, and I can get a picture of her then.
It suddenly occurred to her that if he did have a woman over, she might stay the night with him, making this a fruitless endeavor. Feeling a pang of jealousy as she considered this, she grabbed her phone and started playing games on it, looking up every few minutes to see if there had been any changes.
After four hours, she was ready to give up. She had never been so bored in her life, and it was getting very cold out, especially seeing as she was still wearing a dress. No job is worth four hours of freezing my butt off. Although, maybe I could actually wear jeans if I froze it off, she thought, giggling to herself.
Shivering, she put her phone away, and just as she had packed the camera up, she saw some movement out of the corner of her eye. Oh, crap. It was Marcus himself, heading down his driveway.
Creeping away from the gate as carefully as possible, she hid herself behind a large tree, holding her breath so that he wouldn’t hear her. Her heart was thumping so fast that she was certain that he must have been able to hear it, but he strode right past her and headed over to what appeared to be a small trail that led into the forest.
When he was a safe distance away, Emma decided to follow him down the trail. For all she knew, he was meeting someone there for a late-night hook-up. As she considered this, she almost giggled again. Why the hell would a billionaire be sneaking off into the woods to meet a woman? That’s hardly romantic!
Creeping along the trail as quietly as she could, she kept up with him, maintaining a safe distance behind him at all times. It was dark, but she could still see his white shirt and light grey pants as he walked. Thank god he isn’t wearing black. I would’ve lost him ages ago, she thought.
When it felt like they had been walking for at least fifteen minutes, he stopped in a small clearing. Emma ducked behind a tree, scared that he had heard her, but he didn’t seem to have as he took his shirt off. Okay, he’s definitely meeting someone here, she thought as she quietly got the camera out and used the zoom function to check out his upper body. Mmm… he is so gorgeous.
His abdomen and arms were tightly muscled, and a small sprinkling of dark, curly hair covered part of his broad chest. He turned around and started to t
ake his pants and underwear off, and Emma decided against taking any photos just yet as she checked out his taut behind. She wanted to wait until his secret girlfriend arrived. Still wondering why on earth he would come all the way out to a forest at midnight to see someone, she yawned and rubbed her eyes.
Seconds later, her mouth dropped open again, but this time it wasn’t a yawn. Something was happening to Marcus. His arms and legs seemed to sprout huge amounts of hair, and as he turned around again, she saw that his usually green eyes were seemingly glowing a bright yellow color. His ears turned to points, and before she knew it, an enormous grey and white wolf was standing in the clearing. He’s a werewolf? What the…. I thought they were just old legends. Oh god, what the hell is happening?
As Emma took in what she had just seen, she pinched herself to make sure that she wasn’t dreaming. Realizing that she was definitely awake, she watched as the wolf began to sniff the air, and a terrifying thought occurred to her. Wolves can smell really well. I need to get out of here now!
She tried to creep away through the trees as quietly as possible, and then cursed herself as she heard a large twig snap beneath her. A snarling sound from behind her alerted her to the fact that the wolf had heard her, and she ran for her life, taking herself back down the trail as fast as her petite legs could carry her.
Turning her head over her shoulder for a second, she screamed as she saw how close the wolf was now. Its eyes blazed as it bounded after her, and seconds later she felt it lunge at her from behind, tackling her to the ground. Landing on a pile of moss with a thud, Emma tried to catch her breath, and then shrieked in terror as she felt herself being flipped over onto her back.
To her surprise, the wolf was gone, and Marcus was holding her down, breathing heavily and glaring at her. His eyes were still yellow, and his canine teeth seemed more elongated than usual, but aside from that, he was back in his human form again.
“Please, let me go!” she cried. “I won’t tell anyone what I saw!”
“That’s right, you won’t,” he hissed. “I have your scent now, and if you even try, I will hunt you down and tear…”
His words trailed off as the moon came out from behind a cloud, illuminating the area, and his voice and expression immediately softened.
“It’s… it’s you,’ he said.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“You’re that girl. My dream girl from the magazine today. I’m sorry. Please, accept my apology. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He released her arms from where he had been pinning them to her side, and his yellow eyes dimmed until they were their usual green. He didn’t get off her, though. Instead, he reached down and pushed a tendril of hair out of her face and behind her ear, before trailing a finger down the side of her face.
Emma was freezing cold, but his hand was uncannily warm. As his finger stroked her cheek, she felt a warm sensation building in her chest, and although still scared, part of her wanted him to keep touching her. Werewolf or not, he was still the gorgeous man that she had been so attracted to earlier, and his touch was providing her with some much-needed warmth.
“You’re a werewolf,” she whispered, still almost unable to believe that the mythical creatures really existed despite the fact that one was right on top of her.
“Yes,” he said, his eyes beginning to glow again. “I bet that’s a surprise, huh? I come out here where no one can see me to go for runs, as wolves like to do. I had no idea that I’d be followed by my dream girl, though.”
“Why are you calling me that?” she asked, shaking from the cold as he withdrew his hand.
“Because that’s what you are. Don’t you see what this is? It’s destiny,” he replied, his melodic voice sending another frisson of warmth through her system.
“I don’t understand.”
“When I saw you today, I thought that you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. You ran away, though, so I assumed you weren’t interested. But now you’re right here with me. It’s destiny.”
“No, I was sent to follow you,” she admitted. “My boss wanted photos of you.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s still destiny. Us wolves believe in it very strongly. I was born under the stars, and an elder wolf told my parents that I would find my one true mate under the stars. Look.”
He looked up, and Emma followed his line of vision. The clouds had cleared away, and the moon and stars were shining brightly above them now.
“I still don’t understand,” she said, confused. “I’m just an intern. I’m not your dream woman, or whatever you seem to think I am.”
“Yes, you are. If you would let me, I would take you as my mate right here, right now. I’ve never taken one before. That’s how sure I am that you’re my true mate,” he growled, leaning down and nipping at her ear.
His touch sent a jolt of electricity through her veins, and Emma couldn’t help but let out a soft moan. She was unbelievably confused, but her body was responding to him like crazy. Even though he was still lying on her, she wasn’t trying to struggle. Having this gorgeous man –or werewolf – on top of her somehow felt right.
“What would it mean if you took me as your mate?” she asked, wondering if she was ready to make such a drastic change in her life. Only a few minutes before, she hadn’t even known that werewolves existed, and now one was asking her to be his mate? It was all happening so fast.
“Wolves mate for life. I’ve never taken a mate before, because I hadn’t met the right woman, but if you agreed to be my mate, then I would never leave you,” he murmured against her ear.
His warm breath against the side of her neck was making streams of heat course through her body, and Emma considered his words. Up until this moment, she had never even considered settling down with one person, like her father had always wanted, but this man was driving her crazy.
“I don’t want to give up my life. I’m too young,” she finally answered, realizing that her career was still more important to her than a man she barely knew.
“You wouldn’t have to. Keep working at the magazine. Hell, I’ll buy you a magazine,” he growled. “I just want you to be mine. You can have whatever you want.”
His offer was tempting, but Emma still wasn’t sure.
“I don’t even know you. And I want to make my own career. I don’t want to have it all given to me, just because you’re a billionaire with lots of influence.”
“As I said, you can have whatever you want. If that’s what you choose, then that’s what you can have. All I want is you. I know we don’t know each other, but wolves can just tell these things. You’re my mate. The only one.”
“What if I say yes, and then I realize later that it isn’t right for me?”
He pulled his head back, and then gave her a wolfish grin.
“Even though I said we mate for life, I’ll make you a deal. I am so certain that you are right for me that I promise you this… if for some strange reason I am wrong, then I will let you leave me,” he said.
“You’re that certain that I’m the right one… your true mate?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yes.”
His eyes began to glow a deeper shade of amber, and he stared down at her.
“If you say no, then I will take you home. If you need time to think about it, then I will respect that too. I’ve waited thirty-five years to find, and I can wait another hundred years if that’s what it takes to convince you,” he growled.
Emma knew how much her life was about to change as she uttered her answer, and yet it felt strangely right.
“Yes. My answer is yes. I don’t need time to think about it,” she said, instantly worrying that she had made the wrong call.
His eyes blazed with bright passion as he stared down at her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Take me as your mate.”
Marcus growled and got up, and was about to pick Emma up when she reached out and touched his leg.
“Wait
,” she said. “Take me right here. Under the stars.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. Pouncing back on her, he began to paw at her dress, running his big hands up and down her full cleavage and curvy hips and stomach before sliding one arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him.
“I knew you were the one for me,” he whispered, before leaning down and kissing her.
As his mouth pressed against hers, Emma knew that she had made the right decision. His lips were scorching against hers, and she felt fireworks seemingly explode everywhere throughout her mind and body as she parted her lips to him, allowing him to deepen the kiss.
His tongue hungrily explored her mouth, dancing past her teeth and entwining with hers before he pulled back and nipped gently on her lower lip. Emma had squeezed her eyes shut when he first kissed her, and as he broke away, she opened them, staring into his yellow eyes as he looked down at her with a mixture of adoration and a barely-controlled desire to ravish her.
