Love Bites (Bitten Book 4) (4 page)

“That won’t be necessary,” she answered tartly. “Now, I have a little list of things I’d like you to take care of today. I’ll go over it with you before I leave for my lunch date, which I’m going to be late for, thanks to you.”

She turned and stalked back into the store room. I finally allowed myself to roll my eyes at her back before I followed her. The ‘little’ list that she put together for me was almost a page long and, in realistic terms, would have taken me at least three days to complete. Still, I accepted it without complaint because I knew it was her way of punishing me for the ten minutes she’d been faced with the possibility of doing some actual work.

Grateful for the solitude, I turned on the store’s stereo system. Though Candy kept the channel tuned to a Top 40 station, it was nice to have something upbeat in the background. The peace lasted for two glorious hours before she returned.

It seemed today would a be slow one, so I managed to knock out a third of the list she left me. I doubted that my boss would be impressed, though. When she sashayed through the door of the boutique, she seemed much happier, almost smug. I wondered if her lunch date had been code for a nooner because she was positively mellow compared to her usual high strung self.

She didn’t speak to me and headed straight to her office as was her habit. I smirked at her predictability and kept working. There were a few customers, but the store was deserted. At five-thirty, the bell on the door sounded and I looked up with a smile on my face.

“Welcome to Candy’s.” When I saw who stood there, I froze. “What are you doing here?”

Calder stayed where he was, his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. “Can we talk?”

“Not now. I’m working.” When I realized what I’d said, I shook my head. “No, we can’t talk. Period. Please leave.”

It was just my luck that Candy chose that moment to come out of her cave. “Ricki! That’s no way to speak to a customer.” All smiles, she came forward. “Well hello there. What can I do for you this evening?”

Though the inflection was friendly, I knew Candy chose her words for their double meaning. I felt all the muscles in my shoulders tighten painfully. God, I was going to have to watch my boss flirt with the man who just last night had claimed to be my mate.

Calder nodded politely at Candy. “Thank you, but I’m actually here to speak to Ricki.”

“Really?” My boss’ eyes were speculative and cold when she turned to glare at me. After a pause, she continued speaking as she stared at me. “Surely Ricki told you that she isn’t supposed to have visitors while she’s on the clock.”

Shrugging and grinning sheepishly, Calder dipped his head, looking every inch the charming, self-effacing guy. “I’m sorry. I thought Ricki was off work at five. I waited outside for her, but when she didn’t show, I got worried. That’s why she was telling me to leave when you came out, she knew that it was against store policy.” The affable facade effectively disguised his predatory nature. It also fooled Candy completely. I, however, was immune.

“Oh.” Candy’s reply was abrupt and I knew her well enough to recognize the angry undertone to that single syllable.

I forced a laugh. “I, uh, get off at six tonight. Do you mind waiting until then?”

Before Calder could respond, Candy spoke up. “I’m terribly sorry, but I need Ricki to stay late tonight.”

My eyebrows rose. On Sundays, Candy was usually shoving me out the door so fast that there was a trail of smoke behind us.

The friendly gleam in Calder’s eyes chilled into something else. Something that made me shiver. “That’s fine. I can wait.” His gaze moved to me and I realized that he wasn’t just telling Candy that he was willing to be patient, but me as well. It didn’t feel reassuring. In fact, it felt like a threat.

I saw the muscles in my boss’ jaw clench in anger before she forced herself to smile. “You know what, Ricki so rarely goes out after work. I’m sure I can spare her this evening. She’ll be done at six.”

I blinked rapidly. What? Candy was actually being considerate? Calder nodded and turned to leave.

Assuming that he couldn’t hear her, my boss turned to me, arching a single brow. “Well, well, someone’s been keeping secrets,” she murmured. A condescending smile on her face, she patted my arm. “Enjoy it while it lasts. A man like that will get sick of a skank like you within a couple of weeks.”

While Candy had always been bitchy and downright mean, she’d never attacked me so viciously or on such personal terms. Usually, she read me the riot act when I made a mistake or didn’t complete tasks to her exacting standards. She could be a Grade A pain in the ass, but it was always about work, which I could deal. However, I couldn’t believe she had the gall to call me a skank.

I stiffened at her words. My mind went blank when I tried to decide the best way to respond, but I was distracted from my mental fumbling by the sight of Calder turning on his heel and stalking toward us.

Desperately, I shook my head at him, unsure what he intended to do. While she had just crossed the line, I couldn’t let him hurt her. He glowered at me, but stopped his forward momentum. Crossing his arms over his chest, he planted his feet apart and latched burning green eyes onto my boss.

Confused, Candy glanced over her shoulder and squeaked when she saw his angry stare focused on her. I almost felt sorry for her, seeing as she was the one used to intimidating people, not the other way around. Still, she had finally done the one thing I hadn’t thought her capable of; she pissed me off enough that I was finished dealing with her. No amount of money was worth this. I would rather take a drastic cut in pay than continue working at the boutique at the expense of my self-respect.

Since this would likely be my only shot at giving her a piece of my mind, I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for her to face me again. I intended to make this count.

Candy’s face was pinched when looked at me, but my expression must have conveyed exactly what I was thinking, because she scowled at me. “What?” she asked defensively.

“Skank? Really?” I uncrossed my arms and put my hands on my hips before I really cut loose. “I have put up with your nasty, bitchy attitude for too long now because I valued the security this job gave me more than I valued my pride. Actually, even more than I cared about my self-respect.”

Candy blinked at me, her mouth agape.

I leaned forward slightly. “Guess what? Your little snit changed my mind. I quit. Good luck finding someone else to take your shit and act as store manager without the benefits or pay, because it won’t be me anymore.”

The surprised expression faded from my boss’ face, replaced with fury and ugliness. “Get out of my store.”

“My pleasure.” I marched to the lockers in the back room to get my purse. I could hear Candy right behind me. I also felt Calder’s presence, though his footsteps were silent.

After I pulled my purse out of my locker, I turned to find my boss, well, ex-boss standing behind me.

“Don’t expect a final paycheck,” she sneered.

I shrugged, but Calder’s deep voice rang out. “Ricki should receive it in the mail within the week or you’ll be hearing from an attorney.”

This time it wasn’t just Candy gawking at him, but me as well. Quickly, I shut my mouth and dodged around her, heading toward Calder. He lifted a hand and pulled me against his side, winding his arm around my waist so that his fingertips rested on my hip.

“Fine,” Candy snapped. Her blue eyes were glowing with rage when she looked at me. “You’ll have your paycheck in the mail by Friday.”

I nodded and let Calder lead me out of the store without another word. When our feet touched the sidewalk, the finality of what I’d just done hit me. I’d quit my job. I managed to keep walking until we turned the corner and were no longer visible through the front windows of the boutique.

Calder didn’t even miss a step when I stopped suddenly and bent at the waist, breathing hard.

“Oh my God, I just quit my job,” I gasped.

A warm hand rubbed up and down my spine in a comforting caress. “Was she that bitchy all the time? If so, how in the hell did you last more than a week?”

I huffed out a breathless laugh and straightened. “She pays a helluva lot more than any other high end boutiques in the area. I’ll be hard pressed to find another job in a boutique and make even close to that amount of money.”

He studied me for a moment. “I have some friends in retail. I can ask if any of them are hiring.”

I shook my head. “No, I can get myself a new job.” I sighed. “So why were you really at the store tonight?” I asked.

His green eyes softened and I found myself swaying toward him slightly, entranced by the tenderness in that look. “I thought about what you said last night. I shouldn’t have sprung all that on you without anticipating a strong reaction. It never occurred to me that you wouldn’t feel the same way I do.”

I frowned a little and tilted my head to one side. “Feel the same way you do?”

Calder took a step closer until we were a few inches apart. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Every waking moment, in my dreams at night, you’re there. Sometimes I swear I can smell you and it’s as though you’re sitting right next to me.”

A strange melting sensation made its way down my body. Without thinking, I lifted a hand and touched his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin and the heavy thud of his heart beneath my palm. Calder cupped my biceps, lifting me on my toes, his head coming down slowly. My eyes began to drift shut and I could almost taste him, our lips were so close.

“Calder!”

The spell was broken by a woman calling his name. Growling softly, Calder lifted his head and twisted around to see who had yelled for him. I followed his gaze and felt my eyebrows raise. The girl, and she was definitely a girl, looked no older than sixteen. She was tall and slim as a willow branch. Her cropped shirt was just clingy enough to reveal that she wasn’t wearing a bra and short enough to reveal the gleaming ring in her belly button. Long brown hair streamed behind her as she trotted up and flung her arms around Calder. Then she kissed him.

Thankfully the kiss was short, but when she pulled back, the girl looked down at me with curious eyes. “Who’s this, babe?”

I looked up at Calder, barely managing to control my flinch when I saw the pink lip gloss smeared across his lips. I didn’t get as far as his eyes because I didn’t think I could handle seeing the guilt there. In less than a week, I’d witnessed him with one woman in her underwear and teenage jail bait. I was stupid for not listening to my instincts when they screamed at me to stay the hell away from him. Obviously, all that mate talk last night had been a bunch of bullshit. Donna warned me about wolves and I hadn’t listened. Now I was paying the price.

While part of me wanted to stay right on that sidewalk and confront him about his bald-faced lies, the rest of me wanted to get the hell out of there. We barely knew each other. I had no right to demand an explanation or play the victim. Though I wanted to throw a raging hissy fit, I didn’t have a leg to stand on. So, for the second time in twenty-four hours, I turned and ran from Calder, determined it would be the last time I saw him.

Calder

“G
oddammit.” I started
to go after Ricki, but the look she shot me was so full of venom and hurt that I knew it would be useless to try and reason with her right now. I wondered what could have happened to my mate in the past to make her so distrustful of men. Though I had to admit, to a human, seeing me with a half-naked woman would appear damning. She didn’t understand that nudity wasn’t a big deal to shifters.

I had been getting through to her, until…

“Calder, who was that little human?”

Baring my teeth in a snarl, I rounded on Brittany. The bitch knew exactly what she interrupted and had done so with malicious intent. For several years Brittany Hayes tried to get my attention by flirting and flaunting her body in front of me. Though she didn’t look older than a sixteen or seventeen year old human girl, she was twenty-five and considered fully grown in the pack, though barely. Her behavior was not that of an adult shifter but of a spoiled, coddled pup. Her father, George, was one of the more dominant wolves in the pack and had challenged me twice for the position of beta. He’d lost the fights with embarrassing speed both times. After the last humiliating defeat, Brittany’s attitude toward me had become less sexually provocative and more hateful, and this time, she’d gone too fucking far.

“What the fuck are you playing at?” I growled. I moved forward, letting my anger lead. Her platform shoes put us almost at eye level. When faced with an enraged wolf, most females would be smart enough to lower their eyes and take a submissive posture unless they were issuing a challenge for his position within the pack. Brittany kept her eyes steady on mine, though I saw the muscles in her jaw tighten as she fought the instinct to cower under the weight of my aggressive behavior.

“Who is she?” she asked again.

Though I normally tried to handle the younger pack members with fairness and patience, Brittany’s insolence snapped the hold I had on my temper. Such an open display of insubordination required punishment, regardless of the wolf’s gender. Though we cherished our mates, females received no special consideration when they ignored the pack hierarchy and behaved badly toward a more dominant member.