Ready to Were (4 page)

“What the hell does that mean?” He stood up and was in front of me in a flash.

His scent was making me dizzy and I had the worst urge to jump him, but I gripped the arms of the chair like a vise and maintained my dignity by a thread.

“Nothing. Ancient history. Now that we’ve reminisced, we need to get down to business,” I said coldly, met his gaze and refused to back down.

“Fine. You win round one. On to round two,” he said easily—way too easily. “I don’t want you here. I don’t want you on this case.”

“Tough. I am more than capable and you don’t have any say, buster boy.”

“You did not just call me buster boy.”

I bit back my grin and nodded my head. “I did. Now, do you have files for me?”

“Ester…” he said in
that
tone. Fine. We were going there? I hated my name and he knew it, but two could play that game…

“Yes, Henry?”

“Listen to me, Essie.” He blew out a frustrated sigh and ran his hands through his thick dark hair. “Female Weres are disappearing…possibly dying. I don’t want you anywhere near this.”

Part of me melted, but a bigger part took offense. “Look, Hank, I’m not the same naïve girl I was a year ago. I’m trained and I’m very good at what I do. It will give me great pleasure to destroy whoever is doing this and you need me. I’m here whether you want me here or not. So if you don’t want me going in blind, hand over what you’ve got.”

He gave me a calculated stare and I met it head on. “You’ve changed. You’re hard.”

“Girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do,” I said. He was so wrong about me I wanted to cry, but it was better he thought poorly of me. It would make everything much easier when I left again.

“We’ve kept it out of the papers,” he said in a clipped business-like tone. “Only the Pack knows what’s going on. As far as anyone knowing what you’re really doing here, it’s just me and Junior. I figured you’d be safer that way.”

“I agree. Do you really think the girls are dead?”

“Don’t know,” he admitted. “None of those gals are the kind to pick up and disappear. It all seems connected to the modeling agency.”

“Yep. The town thinks I’m flighty anyway, so no one will be surprised that I’ve come home to be a model.”

“No one thinks you’re flighty except me. The whole town thinks you’re the best thing since sliced bread. The modeling thing wasn’t the best cover for you, so I told the Pack you’ve come back so we could work on our issues,” he replied casually.

“You did what?” I yelled. “You had no right to tell anyone that kind of crap-assed lie.”

“It’s a solid cover and it’s already done. You can’t tell me you haven’t had to do a little acting during your undercover stints. This should be a breeze for someone as
skilled
as you,” he said smoothly.

I closed my eyes for a moment and sucked in some air. I was a big girl. The fact that people were missing was far larger than the small fact that I would have to pretend to be Hank the Skank’s girlfriend again. I could do this. It was a job. He was a job. He meant nothing to me…and I was
not
going to bang him.

“No problem.” I smiled and lied. “It will be fun.”

His eyes narrowed again and he watched me closely. “Fun?”

“Yep, but won’t it be embarrassing for you when I leave again?” I asked sweetly.

“We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,” he answered just as sweetly.

Wait. Did he say
if
? Crap, I didn’t want to ask him to clarify because if I was wrong, I would look like an idiot and if I was right…OMG. Enough. I had a mission and he would not make me lose focus.

“Files?” I held my hand out and waited.

He gave me a sexy half smirk and my stomach flip-flopped. “You’ll get the files after I see you shoot.”

“Would you like me to shoot you in your office?” I inquired politely.

“That won’t be necessary. Junior would be in charge if you killed me and I don’t think he’s up to it at the moment.” He chuckled and sat on the edge of his
desk of sin
. “Meet me at six at the range. It’ll be closed. I don’t want anyone to know you’re packing.”

“No one will know I’m packing, Hank. I carry my gun between my thighs.” With that little nugget I got up and left his office before he could respond. The look on his face was priceless, but I was playing with fire. He knew it and I knew it.

***

“What in the Sam Hill was that?” Junior shouted. “She hit every kill zone twice, then blew his balls to Kingdom Come.”

“Guns down,” Hank said tersely. He walked to the target and examined it. He dropped his head back onto his shoulders and did some deep breathing. He wanted to blow a gasket, but he couldn’t. I’d proved him wrong. “Do it again.”

“Fine,” I said. “Move.”

“That’s right, boy,” Junior yelled. “If you want to keep your nuts, you better haul ass out of there.”

I slipped my ear protectors back on and did a repeat performance. Almost. I hit all the kill zones twice and then I completely obliterated the target’s testicles.

“I’m having a visceral reaction to that shit,” Junior grunted and bent at the waist. “Ease up on the man junk, Essie.”

If I wasn’t mistaken,
and I wasn’t
, Hank was leaning forward too.

“I’m satisfied,” Junior said as he packed up his weapons. “She could shoot the teats off a cow in the next county. You two wanna come to the diner and get a bite?”

“No,” we said loudly and quickly at the same time.

“Have it your way,” Junior said as he moseyed over to the exit. “I’m lockin’ the door behind me just in case you two wanna…”

“We don’t want to do anything,” I said, hoping that came out stronger than it sounded to my own ears. “I have to get home to my granny and my…um, friend Dwayne.”

Junior froze and shot his brother a concerned look. Hank barely responded to my possible involvement with another man. Wait. Had me telling him no really worked? I found that hard to believe, and alarmingly I found it depressing. Junior shrugged his massive shoulders and left.

“We have a few more things to go through and then you can get back to your
friend
,” Hank said politely.

“Um…okay. I proved I could shoot, which by the way was ridiculous. What else do I have to do to convince you?” I put my gun back into my bag, slapped my hands on my hips and gave him a look.

“Hand to hand.” He smirked as he put his gun away.

He was smoking crack if he thought we were going to wrestle. It was all I could do to keep my inner wolf from jumping his bones and flushing my self-respect down the toilet. If I had to actually touch him, I was toast.

“Nope. You already know I can fight. You taught me how to fight. I will not go hand-to- hand with you. Period. Plus, I didn’t bring the right clothes,” I said, indicating my jeans and boots with great relief.

Without looking at me he tossed me some scraps of material.

“Put them on,” he said as he removed his shirt and pulled on a t-shirt. My eyes almost popped out of my head. No one had a right to look like him. The light sprinkling of dark hair on his perfectly tanned chest veed down to the waistband of his jeans in the sexiest way imaginable and made my knees knock. Quickly looking away, I cursed him out viciously inside my head.

The ball of material in my hands looked vaguely familiar.
Hell to the no
. They looked familiar because they were mine. It was the outfit I worked out in the afternoon I left him. I must have thrown it in the laundry and forgotten about it. There was no way in hell I was going to put on booty shorts and a sports bra.

“I can’t wear these,” I mumbled.

“Suit yourself. We’ll go hand to hand in what you have on.”

“Is this your last test?” I demanded.

“For the moment.” He grinned and shrugged.

He sucked so bad I wanted to smack him. He would have an advantage if I were in boots and jeans. The simple fact that I was far more competitive than rational had not served me well in life and I was about to prove that point again.

“Fine. Turn around.”

“Has living in the big city made you self-conscious?” he asked, standing his ground and watching me intently.

“No,” I insisted quickly. Nudity meant nothing to Werewolves. A body was a body. We stripped to shift in large groups—it was natural. I wasn’t at all self-conscious about my body…it was him. No, it was me. I didn’t trust myself and that infuriated me. He meant nothing. So what if I was still attracted to him? He was pretty and built like a Greek god, but he was a cheating loser and I was better off without him. He wanted me to strip? Then I was gonna strip. Slowly.

Turning sideways so I could avoid his eyes, I eased my jeans off my hips and then down my long legs, slipping my cowboy boots off as I went. The air in the gun range was cool and tiny chill bumps covered my body. What was my problem? Well, my inner wolf was one of them. She wanted me to bang him and was making no bones about it. I shoved her down and she pouted. I quickly shed the rest of my clothes. A striptease was going to backfire in a big bad way. I knew his eyes were on me and I yanked on the obscene booty shorts and bra. My fury at myself and him built to a point that I was ready to kick some ass—his, to be more specific.

“I’m ready. Let’s go.”

I was delighted he found the need to adjust himself in his sweats. His erection would be a disadvantage and even though I didn’t care, it meant I still affected him. Considering he was the deadliest fighter I’d ever seen and had at least a hundred pounds on me, I’d take any advantage I could get.

“This isn’t going to work,” he muttered and stared at the ceiling.

“You chicken?” I taunted.

He was on me so fast I didn’t see him coming. Pinned underneath him on the floor, my inner wolf hooker was ecstatic. His hard body pressed against my softer one brought back memories that needed to stay buried. His scent mingled with mine and I closed my eyes and tried to think about the time my third grade teacher threw up in the lunchroom. Oh my hell, that didn’t even work. The need to taste him was overwhelming. I was not going to bang him. I was not going to bang him. I was not…

“Why did you leave?” he questioned as he pushed his knee between my legs. “Why?”

His lips were a breath away from mine. It would be so easy to trace them with my tongue. Maybe if I banged him just once it wouldn’t count. I didn’t have to tell Dwayne. No one needed to know. I’d just bang him and ignore him and then I would…

“Was there someone else?” he demanded.

“Are you high?” I hissed and tried to roll out from under him, but he had me right where he wanted me. Actually, if I was being honest with myself,
which I wasn’t
, I was exactly where I wanted to be. “You have some nerve asking me that, you assbuckle.”

“Assbuckle?” He chuckled and pressed his body closer to mine, making it difficult to form thought. “You treat me with no respect whatsoever. I’m your alpha.”

“I’m no longer part of the Pack,” I said. “You’re just some random guy now.”

His eyes were lit with amusement as he lowered his lips to mine. I jerked my head to the right, inadvertently giving him access to my neck. Of course he knew from experience that it was the most sensitive part of my body. Crapballs. His lips brushed the sensitive skin lightly and my body shuddered with delight in response.

“I could mark you, Essie. Bite you and make you mine forever,” he said softly.

“You wouldn’t dare,” I said in a breathy voice that sounded a little phone sex operator-ish.

“No,” he agreed. “When I mark you, it will be because you beg, but I will leave a little gift.”

His mouth was on my neck and he sucked. The sensation shot through me like a bullet and went straight to my girlie parts. Thoughts were cloudy, but there was a small part of my brain that knew this was a bad idea…why? Why was this bad? How could something that felt so amazing be wrong? OMG. I knew why this was bad.

With every ounce of strength I had, I raised my knee and introduced it to his man jewels. His grunt of pain was music to my ears as he rolled off of me and curled into a ball.

“I am not yours to play with anymore,” I huffed and got to my feet. He was still on the floor. I backed away in case he was bluffing. I knew I’d nailed him, but…

“You are going to explain very soon why your body says one thing and your knee says another,” he snapped and got on all fours. “I don’t buy that you don’t want me and god knows I want you.” He continued to breathe unevenly as he worked through the pain I’d inflicted.

I was fine with that. He’d caused me more pain than I’d ever known I could handle. I was glad to give some back.

“You are unbelievable. You either have amnesia or you’re the smarmiest buttwank I’ve ever known. I owe you nothing. I’ll be at your office tomorrow morning before I register at the modeling agency and then we can talk on a need only basis. Period.”

He was still on the floor and I actually felt a tiny bit bad. However, I was glad he was down and I left before he could come after me and get his payback. This job was sucking so bad and I had a feeling it was only going to get worse.

Chapter 5

“If I told you once I told you twenty times, Blood Sucker. If you hold your needles like that it’s gonna be lopsided,” Granny chastised Dwayne as they knitted up a storm.

“You’re just pissy because I’ve already knitted twelve scarves to your nine, Fido,” Dwayne huffed, knitting like the Devil himself was on his heels.

The living room was a disaster. Yarn, needles and patterns littered the overturned furniture. My BFF and Granny sat on the floor in the middle of the calamity sweating up a storm. Well, Granny sweated. Vampyres didn’t have pores. The scarves were hideous—all holey and messy and weird, but there was a ton of them. Completely unable to piece together any probable story of what had happened, I stood in silence and gaped.

“Close your mouth. You’ll catch flies,” Granny informed me, not even glancing up from the fuchsia thing she was creating.

“Did you bang him?” Dwayne asked while still completely absorbed in his puke green masterpiece. “I have money riding on it.”