Jared (River Pack Wolves 3) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (6 page)

She made a horrible squeaking sound, deep in her throat. Jared finally turned to look at her with cool, calculating eyes. He was even more gorgeous in his dark tailored suit and polished black shoes than he had been the night before in all his nakedness… but the look in his deep brown eyes was inscrutable.

There was no running away from this.

With great effort, she forced herself into the room, one awkward step at a time. She almost forgot to let go of the doorknob.

Say nothing. Admit to nothing. Don’t tip your hand.

Her mind was reeling, but she managed to reach her father’s enormous desk, where Jared and her father were standing, without passing out.

“I know you like your independence, Grace,” her father said, calmly, “but I hope you’ll consider this with an open mind.”

Grace stared at Jared. He held her gaze, unblinking. No smile. No emotion. Nothing to give away what was going on.

She forced herself to drag her gaze to her father. “Consider what with an open mind?” Her heart was pounding so loud, she was afraid they both could hear it.

Her father sighed. “I’m going to make my announcement for re-election soon, and you know that’s going to be a somewhat contentious announcement.”

Contentious.
As in, extremely controversial. The shifter legislation was designed to be exactly that—a call to arms about the shifter menace among them, and the determined Senator who was going to do something about it. They had been arguing last night about it, but it was supposed to still be top-secret—had he told this shifter about it? Something wasn’t right here.

“As we discussed before, it’s not too late to change course with that,” she said cautiously. What was going on here? Did her father know she was a shifter, or not?

Jared didn’t move a muscle, but his eyes lit up at her words. He couldn’t possibly know what they were talking about—could he?

Her father cleared his throat. Only she would be able to detect the disapproval in that small noise, but it was there. Only it was nothing like the level of raging disapproval, not to mention stunned anger, which would come if he knew what she was.

“And as I said, it’s the key part of the platform.” Disapproval that she’d brought it up; also a touch of impatience. “And I have even more plans beyond that as well.” A warning. “But there are some risks inherent in this course of action. Ones I hadn’t fully considered.”

Grace narrowed her eyes—what was her father talking about? “I don’t think we should—”

He cut her off with a raised hand. “I’m not talking about political risks. I’m willing to take those—that’s what a good leader does, taking the risk to do what’s right. What the people need, even if sometimes they don’t always understand that. Although some certainly do. No, Grace, I’m talking about the kind of risk I really don’t like to take.”

Grace’s head was still swimming.
He doesn’t know.
He wouldn’t be standing calmly in his office if he did. He’d be throwing a fit or throwing books or throwing her out.

Play it cool. Figure this out.
“What kind of risks are those?”

“The kind that threaten my family.” He gestured to Jared. “I think it’s best that you have a personal bodyguard from here on out. At least through the campaign.”

Her eyes widened, and her heart climbed into her throat. “Bodyguard?” Her eyes flicked to Jared—again with the inscrutable face, but she detected a hint of humor in his eyes. A tiny crinkling around the edges.

Her father folded his arms, as if he was expecting a fight from her on this. “This is Jared Bachman. He’s one of Garrison Allied’s top personal bodyguards. They’ve heard some chatter on the street, especially among the shifter gangs, that hinted you might be a personal target. A way to get at me. I don’t know how they know about the legislation, but it’s obviously already leaked in some capacity. And they see you as my soft underbelly. I don’t want you endangered in any way, Grace.” He took a breath. For patience.
“Please.
I know it will be inconvenient, and I know you’re against this in the first place, but I’m moving forward regardless. And I’d feel much better if I knew you were protected at all times.”

Grace’s mouth hung open. She struggled for words, but they simply wouldn’t come. The crinkles around Jared’s eyes deepened. He was laughing at her, on the inside, she would bet her life on it.

She turned to stare him straight in the face. “I guess I can tolerate a bodyguard for a while.” It took everything she had not to give any indication that she knew he was much more, or perhaps less, than a bodyguard of any kind.

What in the world was he up to? And how had he managed to do this? Her head was whirling again, but this time with an unabashed excitement, not fear. Jared hadn’t blown her cover. He’d kept her secret. What’s more—somehow, he had managed to find a way to see her again. Not just once, but an ongoing, 24/7 personal bodyguard.

This was like a very naughty fantasy come true.

Her nether parts were already heating up.

Unbelievable.

Her father clasped his hands together. “Wonderful.” Then he reached to hold her by the shoulders, something he never did. She couldn’t remember the last time her father had hugged her. She almost forgot to hug him back, and only barely managed it before he quickly released her.

“Thank you, Grace,” he said quietly. “It means a lot to me, your support in this. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”

Her father didn’t need her support, at least not emotionally. Or in any other way, really. Of course, she supported him tremendously in being his campaign manager, but that was just a given. Doing her job. Part of Senator Krepky’s vast empire that he used to effect his political goals. There were some privileges in being his daughter—she got a pass on things he’d fired mere employees for—but she knew the bodyguard just meant one less thing distracting him, so he could focus on the campaign. Which was fine.

Even better—her cataclysm had been averted for the moment.

Jared finally spoke up, extending his hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Krepky.” The smiling lines had disappeared from his eyes. Now they were smoldering hot sexiness at her. Or maybe that was just her imagination, sparked by the heat of his hand on hers. It was like an electric shock had bridged the space between them and enlivened her entire body.

“Mr. Bachman.” She dipped her head and hoped the heat in her face wasn’t turning it beet red. Her father had already moved on to attend to some business on his phone.

“Please, call me Jared.” He was holding her gaze so intensely, her mouth went dry. They needed to be alone. To talk.
Now.

“Well, Jared, I have a few things to do yet tonight. I suppose you will be accompanying me?”

He tipped his head in acknowledgment. “I’ll try to be as unobtrusive as possible. And I’ll make every effort to respect your privacy, Ma’am.” He was telling her something—that he was still keeping her secret. Perhaps.

“If you call me
Ma’am,
you’ll just summon the gray hairs to my head at a faster clip. Please, call me Grace.” She was saying this primarily for her father’s benefit, but he wasn’t even listening. Grace stepped back and beckoned Jared with her head. To her father she said, “Great photo-op today, Senator. Tomorrow’s schedule is full as well.”

Her father made a noncommittal nod, waving her off as he attended to his phone.

She had been dismissed.

She gave a wide-eyed look of
What the hell is going on?
to Jared, then turned on her heel, expecting him to follow.

As she strode toward her bedroom, she licked her lips in anticipation. The other security guards generally stayed outside, toward the front—she knew this from the many times she’d slipped out to the forest when her wolf was raging under her skin, wanting to get out. But since Jared was her
personal
bodyguard, she figured that meant bringing him into her bedroom was entirely appropriate. Hot as sin, but completely excusable, if they were caught.

A tight, low, and giddy feeling danced in her stomach. Was this really happening? She didn’t look at him or say anything until they were alone with her door closed.

She whirled on him.
“Oh. My. God.
Do you want to explain this?”

He just stared at her for a moment, then said, “I made you a promise.”

What kind of explanation was that? She threw out her hands in exasperation. “My bodyguard? Seriously? Do I even want to know how you pulled that off?”

“Probably not.” The small lines were back around his eyes, but it wasn’t a true smile. He was like a wall—tall, dark, sexy, and…
closed.

She couldn’t make sense of him at all. “Why are you here? Tell me the truth. And by the way, thanks for not spilling my secret. Then again, I guess I could’ve spilled yours as well.” His inscrutableness was making her testy. That, and the raw voltage sexual tension that had her ready to climb out of her skin. Or climb over his. Or something.

This much she knew: Jared was a spy of some kind. She just didn’t know what kind.

“You said you had some questions.” He dipped his head to peer into her eyes. “I’m here to answer them.”

She gave him a skeptical look.
“That’s it?
Come on, I’m not an idiot. I know you’re spying on my father.” Did he know about the legislation? Was that what this was really about? “And what was that business about the shifter gangs threatening me?”

“Cover story. It’s what I had to do to get here. To be with you.”

“With me?” Her heart was lurching around inside her chest. “And why would you want to do that?”

His face softened in a way that was hard to describe—like he felt sorry for her. Or perhaps he heard the tremble in her voice.

He took a step closer and dropped his voice. “You don’t know anything about being a wolf. You have been trapped here, living a lie, probably your entire life. There are things you need to know. I’m here to teach you.”

His soft, deep voice, his towering form, all muscular and male—all of it was insanely heating every corner of her body. “What things are you going to teach me?” She could hear the breathy neediness in her voice.
God,
she was desperate. Pathetic, really. But here was a man who was sexiness personified, in her bedroom, offering to
teach her things.
Any woman with a pulse would be hoping those things would be happening in her bed.

“What do you want to learn?” The deep timbre of his voice was going straight to her lady parts.

Oh my God.
“I’m… I’m really new to all of this.” She was going to combust if she had to speak anymore.

“Then we should get started right away.” He stepped back and swept his hand to the door, waiting and giving her an expectant look. “How about we go for a run?”

A shiver ran through her that was almost more than she could take.

The scent of Grace’s arousal was making his body tight.

He had that unbalanced feeling again. It had been so long since he had felt anything like the deep churning in the pit of his stomach that she caused. Since he had felt
anything
at all, really. And this was more than simple lust, although there was plenty of that… it was a melting of sorts, like he was coming out of a deep freeze and into the sun for the first time. Only the freeze was the only thing that held him together. She didn’t have to do anything, or say anything, in particular—just her nearness made him feel like he was coming apart at the seams. But her obvious need, the scent of her arousal, was amplifying it a hundredfold, telegraphing straight to his wolf a message that kept repeating—
take me, take me, take me.

As if she could ever belong to him.

They had snuck out the back of her house and were now running across the open field toward the forest. He was right—she done this before. She knew exactly which path to carve across the tightly trimmed lawn to avoid the security cameras and the line-of-sight of the guards patrolling the front. She kept throwing little grins back at him that threatened to melt him a little more. He could’ve followed her with his eyes closed—her arousal cut across the air and grew stronger as they plunged into the darkened trees.

His gut twisted with guilt even as his mouth watered to taste her blueberries-and-cream scent himself. How could he lust after a girl whose father he might have to kill? How could any part of him think about holding her body against his, all soft skin and heated breaths, when his mission was to convince her to betray her father? He had done a lot of bad things in his life, but sleeping with a girl and then killing her father was
not
going to be numbered among them.

No.
He was here to do exactly what he said—teach her what it meant to be a wolf. So she would understand what she truly was and what was truly at risk. He pulled her to a stop as they reached the clearing where they had first met.

“What are you going to teach me first?” she asked, breathless, standing too close and looking up into his eyes too much flirtation. She wanted to be with him, that much was obvious, although it perplexed him. She was beautiful—she could have any man she wanted—and for all he knew, she had a boyfriend already. She was unmarried and obviously unmated, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone in her life. So, why the attraction? Maybe it was simply the allure of a strange man, a shifter. Something exotic that her human side had yet to try.