by Jaci Burton
Her body remembered. Despite wanting to forget what happened between them, her body was keenly aware of every touch, every kiss, every thrust of his huge shaft in her cunt. She heated from the inside out, her face flaming in mortification as she realized that he had mesmerized her in some way, had stolen her free will, her right to choose.
"No!" She pushed hard at his chest, using her magic to propel him backward as a gust of wind threw the door back and slammed it against the wall.
Shannon glanced at the door, then back at Max.
He wasn't the least bit concerned over her weather-related tantrum. In fact, his eyes darkened and his wicked smile led her to believe that he was rather turned on by her show of strength.
"You're like some dumb caveman," she said, hoping to irritate him enough that he'd leave. "Are you so thickheaded that you don't realize that I don't want whatever it is that you're selling?"
He shrugged and moved to the doorway, pulling the door away from the wall. "I just asked you to come with me and help me find a place to live. You're the one who got all emotional over it."
"I got...ooooh! You're incredible, you know that?" How could he be so dense?
Leaning against the doorway, he crossed his arms. "Thanks. I was hoping you thought it was as good as I thought it was."
"I'm not talking about sex, you idiot. I'm talking about your balls of steel."
"Aww, shucks, now you're embarrassing me. But thanks."
She stopped, realizing she'd meant to insult him, only it had come out a sexual compliment. "I give up. You win this round. I can't match wits with the witless."
"Whatever you say. Now, will you come and look at the house with me?"
Her first thought was to say no, but he'd probably never leave her alone. She'd go with him, and tell him the house was horrible. "Fine. When?"
"I'll pick you up about six-thirty. I thought we'd grab some dinner and then look the place over."
"Whatever. Six-thirty is fine." She jotted down her address and handed the paper to him. "Now, please, I beg you. Get out of here and let me finish up for the day so I can go home and change."
"Yes, ma'am. You're in charge, ma'am." He winked and walked out.
In charge, her ass. She'd never felt less in charge anything as she did right now.
*
Max watched the confusing mix of emotions cross Shannon's face as they ate dinner in an out of the way place that catered to the locals. She frowned, mumbled to herself and shook her head a lot. Rather amusing, actually.
A pile of shredded crawfish shells littered the newspaper tablecloth in front of him. To her credit, Shannon had polished off quite a few, too. Watching her tear into the shellfish with her fingers, then suck the juicy meat out had him eating his own dinner with a raging hard-on.
Butter glistened on her bottom lip, and she swiped her tongue over her mouth to lap it up. Fantasies of her going down on him with such eager zeal only made the torment worse. A sudden need to see her tongue licking up his juices had him shifting uncomfortably in his chair.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
Like she'd notice. She'd barely looked at him through dinner. He took a long swallow of beer and shook his head. "No. Food's great."
Grinning, she nodded. "Yeah, I know. This place has the best seafood in town. Nothing fancy, just a great seafood and beer joint."
And the fact she found a place like this so enjoyable told him a lot about her. In Boston, he'd dated a lot of women who were all about society and culture and wouldn't be caught dead in a restaurant with rough-hewn wooden floors and rickety tables that wobbled when you set your glass down.
But he liked the atmosphere. It was noisy, Cajun music filled the room, and families gathered here. He could already envision he and Shannon and her family crowded into one of the long tables in the back of the room. Or even better, he and Shannon and their children.
If someone had told him a year ago that he'd be daydreaming about a mate and pups, he'd have said they were talking about the wrong guy. Because those sure as hell hadn't been in his goals then.
The drive to mate had come upon him suddenly. Surprisingly, right about the time he was invited to New Orleans and began researching the Storm family, specifically Shannon. One look at her and he'd felt a squeezing in his heart. Right then he'd known there was something about her that compelled him.
Now he was looking at buying a house, choosing a mate and settling down to have babies. Good thing his brothers couldn't see him now. They'd laugh their asses off about how the mighty king had fallen.
Well, except for Jason, of course. He'd led them in falling for a woman. A human woman, too. Not lycan. Jason hadn't been remotely ready to settle down, and then suddenly...bam! Out of nowhere he'd shown up in Boston, head over heels in love and his fiancee, Kelsey, in tow. If Jason could do it, he sure as hell could do it, too.
"So, tell me about this house you're thinking of buying," Shannon said, pushing her plate to the side. She took a long swallow of her beer, then wiped her mouth and sat back against the wooden chair.
"I was out for a drive the other day and came across a house right on the lake. Really nice. Lots of land, great looking two-story frame with a huge, wraparound porch, screened and shuttered."
"All the houses are screened and shuttered because of the potential for hurricanes. You know we get those here. Very dangerous. You might want to think twice about settling down here."
He coughed and took a big gulp of his beer to disguise the laughter. When he could speak again, he said, "I'll take my chances."
"The bayou and wetlands are breeding grounds for mosquitoes."
"I like bugs."
"Oh." She went silent then, flicking the empty shells of the crawfish with her fingernail. Then she looked up at him. "I've heard there are wolves in the area. Actually, I've seen them. Scary suckers, too. Very dangerous."
Now he did choke, so hard he was gasping for air and his eyes filled with tears.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes," he wheezed, trying like hell not to fall on the floor laughing.
"Don't you think it might be wise to rent somewhere first, in case your plan to move here permanently doesn't work out? What if you buy a house now, then decided you hate it here? Lots of people hate it here, you know."
From her encouraging look, he got the idea she was hoping it wouldn't work out. Too late. He already knew this was where he belonged. "Not at all. I'm ready to buy. No sense throwing money down the drain on rent when I can get into a buy right away. Then I can concentrate on getting Devlin Public Relations up and running."
"Oh. Well, whatever then."
It was hard not to laugh. Shannon's emotions were so transparent, at least to him. Clearly she wasn't happy he was moving here. That could be both a good and a bad thing. He understood her need to keep her distance. God knows he'd done it himself plenty of times in the past, although not for the same reason. He'd easily kept his emotions at bay because no woman had been able to draw them out of him.
Shannon sure knew how to push his buttons, though. It was true that he didn't know her background in depth, he knew enough just by sensing her emotions. Her distress whenever she was around him meant that she felt something for him, and that was a very good thing.
They drove to the house and waited out front for the realtor, a very enthusiastic woman named Marcy with a lot of blonde hair piled high on her head. After Max convinced her that he really just wanted to walk through the place on his own, she agreed to stand idly by instead of taking him on a room by room tour.
Not like he was going to steal anything since the place was empty. He'd done his homework. He knew the owners had moved out of state over a month ago.
He'd snuck inside a half open window the other night and had a look around, so his decision was already made. What he really wanted to gauge was Shannon's reaction.
She walked through the rooms, her sandals flip-flopping on the wood floors. He admired the womanly curve
of her body silhouetted by the dress she wore, a cool blue sundress with tiny straps. He itched to peel those little straps slowly down her arms. Then again, the material was so flimsy it would probably rip easily under his hands.
A hard-on was not a good idea right now. He adjusted the crotch of his jeans and tried to keep his mind focused off the sway of her hips and onto her emotional reactions to the house.
She walked through the entire place and didn't say a word, then waited at the front door.
"Well?" he finally asked.
"Well what?"
"What do you think of the place?"
She shrugged and glanced around. "Too big for just one person."
"Imagine a family here."
She lifted her brows in question. "Family? Is your family moving down here?"
"No. But someday I'll have one of my own."
"Oh."
Silence. He felt a strange rumbling from within her. A quiet unease. Soft, yet stirring him in subtle ways that were inexplicable.
Then she turned to him, narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "There's no room for you to do your corporate climbing at The Rising Storm, Max."
"Huh?"
"If your intent is to slide into a partial ownership or takeover of my family's business, you can forget it. My family runs this hotel. Not outsiders."
She'd lost him about two sentences ago. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not interested in The Rising Storm other than as a client."
"Uh huh. I've heard that one before. But suddenly you're really interested in me, then you want to move here. You've got your future all planned out, don't you? Well let me tell you, it won't be at the expense of my family. Go make your fortune elsewhere."
Shocked, he could only stare at her. Then, he threw his head back and laughed out loud. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
When he could finally speak again, he said, "I already have."
"What?"
"I said, I already have made my fortune. My family has more money than...well, actually, more than yours. The last thing I need or want is any tie-in financially to your hotel. Relax. I'm not out for your inheritance."
"Then why do you keep pushing to spend time with me?"
Her question shocked him. Surely someone as beautiful and intelligent as Shannon couldn't be that unsure of herself. "Because I like you, Shannon. I want to be with you, not your money, not your family. You."
Her face colored a deep pink. Very cute, actually. She turned and opened the door, mumbling something about needing to get back home because it was late and that she'd wait by the car. He shielded his eyes against the setting sun, chuckling at her obvious embarrassment.
After speaking with Marcy and making plans to put in an offer on the house, he met Shannon at the car and unlocked the door for her.
They drove silently for a few minutes. But he couldn't hold back. "Feel pretty stupid about now, don't you?"
Studying her hands, she said, "I was merely protecting my family."
"I told you I'm not out to hurt your family. You're unbelievable, you know that?"
She half turned in the seat and glared at him. "I have no reason to trust you."
"And I've never given you a damn reason not to. You've got this mindset that I'm out to get you. Tell me, do you treat every man like you treat me?"
"No."
"I don't buy it. I'll bet you don't get many guys warming up to the cold front you put out."
Her eyes widened and she looked away.
"I don't get you, Shannon. One minute you're steaming hot, next you're giving me this great freeze-out for no reason."
"I don't need a reason. I just know men like you."
He made the turn into her condo lot and pulled into a parking spot, then turned off the engine and looked at her. "Men like me?"
Finally, she met his gaze. "Look, Max. We had sex. It was great. How many times do I have to tell you that it's over? Quit stalking me, quit trying to get me to go places with you and quit trying to...to..."
"To what?"
She flicked the lock and threw open the door. "Nothing. Just stay the hell away from me unless it's about work."
With a hard slam of the car door, she walked away.
Dumbfounded, he sat there for a few minutes, having no earthly idea what had just happened.
Shannon was a complete mystery. Hell, maybe it was because she was a woman. The problem was he'd never gotten close enough to one before to get into weird little arguments like this. Maybe he should call his sister. Chantal might be able to give him some insight into the female mind.
Although she'd probably laugh at him. The great playboy Max Devlin, confused about a woman's emotions. Chantal had always accused him of conveniently forgetting that women even had emotions.
Well Shannon sure as hell had them. And they were like night and day. Was this normal, or was it just Shannon?
How was he ever going to convince her to become his pack mate when he couldn't figure her out? Normally he was good at reading people's emotions. Okay, maybe not women he dated, but most people he could figure out. Shannon confounded the hell out of him.
Her hard headedness could be a stumbling block. Yes, he wanted a strong mate by his side. She couldn't be alpha female of the pack without having the balls to be in charge. That wasn't a problem with Shannon.
She'd have to learn to bend to his will, and that's where he knew they'd battle. She was not the type of woman to give up control easily. He'd just have to convince her that he was the alpha male of the pack and she'd have to do what he said.
Yeah, right.
Sure as hell figured that the first woman he'd ever wanted to make his mate had to be the one who didn't even want to give him the damn time of day.
Good thing he enjoyed a challenge.
Chapter Eight
Max was amazed at how much he'd managed to accomplish in a couple weeks. Not only was the PR campaign rolling along, but he'd closed on the house.
He'd spent two weeks making arrangements for his furniture to be shipped down, and his attorney managed a quick closing on the house. Keys in hand, he was ready for move-in day.
Everything was going just as he'd planned, with one exception--Shannon.
During the past two weeks, she'd avoided him as much as possible. Her emotions ran like the finicky fall weather. Steamy one day, chilly the next. It seemed as if she couldn't make up her mind how she wanted to react to him.
But he knew one thing. If he didn't do something and soon, they'd never have a repeat of the "hot" night they'd spent on the balcony at Lune de l'amour.. Things between them had been a bit too frosty lately, and he meant to change that.
The urge to mate was foremost on his mind now, and he needed to reveal to her who and what he was. How he was supposed to do that when she wouldn't even talk to him was the problem.
For someone who'd always maintained control of women, Max was damned irritated that he couldn't seem to handle Shannon.
He paced the front of the house while waiting for the moving van to show up, trying to figure out how to finesse his way back into her bed.
Well, hell. For that matter, they'd never ever done it in a bed. Not yet, anyway.
She refused to have dinner with him, had point blank told him that she wouldn't be seeing him socially, and had kept her distance during their business meetings.
Other than a pounce and attack approach, he wasn't sure how he was going to get past the cold shields she'd put up.
Then again, maybe he wouldn't have to, because several cars pulled into the long driveway and stopped in front of him. They were filled with Storm family, from Angelina and Galen to Logan, Kaitlyn, Melissa, Aidan and bringing up the rear, looking reluctant as hell...Shannon.
"What are you all doing here?"
Angelina hugged him and kissed his cheek. "We couldn't let you move in by yourself. What kind of southern hospitality would that be? We've come to help you."
To s
ay he was stunned was an understatement. "I don't know what to say."
Logan smiled. "It's our family's way of welcoming you. When Shannon told us you had bought a place, Mom made arrangements for a moving day barbecue. It's kind of a tradition."
"Don't bother trying to get rid of us," Kaitlyn said as she swept by, arms filled with bags. "We won't listen. You're practically family anyway now that you're moving here. Where's the kitchen?"
Speechless, he mumbled something about through the front door and down the long hallway. The rest of the family followed Kaitlyn inside, Shannon dragging the rear.
"Shannon."
She stopped and turned to him, offering the phoniest bright smile he'd ever seen. "Yes?"
"You've been avoiding me."
"I have not. I've seen you every day at work."
"I'm not talking about work. You've been avoiding me after work." He sounded like a lovesick boy. He was disgusted with himself.
She sighed. "Max, I don't want to get into this again, okay?"
"Why did you even come today if you don't want to be here?"
"I don't know what you mean by that. The Storms are always happy to help."
He wasn't buying it. He could chisel that frozen smile off her face. "Is it that awful to be around me?"
She shrugged. "Again, I have no idea what you mean."
Unable to resist, he reached for her and pulled her against his chest. She stiffened. Anger rose within him at her cold demeanor. He was tiring of these games. He'd given her plenty of space to come around, and was growing weary of tiptoeing around her, around his need for her. "Don't," he warned.
Her eyes widened. "Don't what?"
"Don't pull away from me."
"Then don't touch me unless I invite you to."
"I will be touching you, Shannon. Again and again and again. Might as well get used to the fact that we're fated to be together."
Heat sailed between them like the shock of walking from an air conditioned room to the steamy outside. And just as soon as it hit, it was gone, replaced instead by a gust of cool wind.
Shannon rolled her eyes and pushed hard at his chest. Considering her family lurked right inside, he let go and she stepped back. "Look, Max. Just because we had one night of spontaneous sex doesn't mean you own me."
She was wrong. Mating with her had put his mark on her, at least in his mind. She was his now, and always would be. He just had to convince her of that, and as usual with Shannon, he was going about things the wrong way. Maybe she just brought out the primitive side of him, and he wanted to possess her. Just take, with or without her permission. And dammit, she did want him. He knew she did! She was just too stubborn to realize it.
