The Beast in Him (20 page)

“What about Walt?”

“Unpleasant. Rude. A real redneck. Last I heard he’d taken over his daddy’s trucking company, but he ran that into the ground.”

“You think he needs money?”

“He always needs money. He has a real nasty gambling habit. And he doesn’t borrow from full-humans. He borrows from bears. Polar bears.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Yeah, one time they broke both his legs when he didn’t pay up. His mate finally had to borrow from her own kin.”

“What do you know about his mate?”

Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Polly June Taylor. A most unpleasant woman. But she’s loyal to him.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Well, you just let me know.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes until Ronnie asked, “So that’s her, huh?”

“That’s who?”

“Jessie Ann. I saw her on the monitor at the museum, but I didn’t have time to ask you about her.”

With such a short amount of time to pull everything together for that museum job, Ronnie Lee offered to help out. Mostly she’d been handling their payroll, but she did a damn fine job of working the surveillance truck too.

“Yeah, that was Jessie Ann.”

“And then she shows up at the office and decks your sister.”

“Yup, she sure did.”

“It seems you’ve been seeing a lot of Jessie Ann.”

“Maybe.”

“Even after she popped your sister?”

“Definitely after she popped my sister.”

Ronnie laughed. “You Smith males do like ’em mean. So what’s going on with you two, Bobby Ray?”

“I don’t know. I like her.”

“You always liked her.”

“Yeah, but... It’s different now.”

“Of course it is. You’re adults now. But don’t play with her, Bobby Ray.”

“Why do you think I would?”

“I don’t think you’d mean to, but don’t string her along. Since I can remember, when I’d see her in the school library reading those ridiculous romance books, that girl has had ‘forever’ written across her forehead. I’d hate to see her hurt ’cause you’re just scratching an old itch.”

“I can’t promise anything.”

“Then just don’t be stupid.”

Smitty smiled and winked. “I’ll work on that.”

“Stop. Please stop. For the love of all that’s holy, stop!”

But they wouldn’t. They just kept going.

While Jess sat on Phil’s desk, the rest of them shook their pom-poms and cheered. May actually did a split. She was a very flexible gal. Thankfully, Jess hadn’t brought the pets with her because the additional dog howls would have made her insane.

They wouldn’t even have those stupid pom-poms if it hadn’t been for her dumb idea after too many dark truffles one late night. “I know! Let’s go to the Halloween party as Satan’s cheerleaders!”

“I’m leaving,” she warned her friends.

“One more,” May begged. “Just one more.”

They turned away from her and started another cheer that didn’t remotely rhyme and involved way too much violence.

Placing her hands on the desk behind her, Jess relaxed back. “Hey, Smitty.”

“Hey.”

Then Jess screamed and scrambled off the desk. “Where the hell did you come from?”

“The Lord.”

She glared at him. He stood there, that perfect ass resting against Phil’s desk, his arms crossed over that massive chest. He’d even taken off his jacket. How could they not notice the man in the room?

Taking a deep breath to calm her shattered nerves, Jess demanded, “Why are you here?”

“Two reasons.” He looked at her friends. “What y’all cheering about?”

“Nothing,” they all automatically answered. All except Sabina who said, “Actually—”

But May slamming her heel into Sabina’s instep elicited a lovely silent scream.

May gave her prettiest smile. “How are you, Bobby Ray?”

“Fine. And you?”

“Pretty good. Thank you kindly for asking.”

Unable to tolerate the Southern politeness anymore, Jess snarled, “What two reasons?”

Taking his time answering, Smitty looked her up and down before saying, “First, I heard from Mace that y’all want us to secure your den. He went over to check out the location, but we have one problem.”

“Which is?”

“The pups. The mobile ones are going to be a problem. Especially if we’re going to do a top-to-bottom overhaul.”

“A top to bottom?” She figured a couple of cameras and stronger doors. “Why are you doing that?”

“’Cause y’all need it.”

“And how much is that going to cost us?”

“A lot.”

Jess’s eyes narrowed. “So what do you want?”

“Any way you can give us complete access to your house for a few days. The less distractions, the quicker we can get this done.”

“I’m sure there is. We’ll come up with something and let you know. And the second thing you came here for?”

“When can I expect you tonight?”

Presumptuous timber wolf! “Who said I was coming over tonight?”

“I did.”

Jess folded her arms across her chest. “So sorry to disappoint, but I have plans tonight.”

“Plans?” She could see his entire body tense even though he never moved his ass from that desk. “What plans?”

“Plans with my Pack—”

“You should come,” Phil cut in.

And all of them turned to him, shocked.

“I should?” Smitty asked.

“Yup, definitely.”

The man truly was evil. Evil incarnate.

Smitty glanced at her. “Jessie Ann?”

“Sure,” she said after clearing her throat. “You should come.”

“No—”

But Sabina cut May’s plea short by slapping her hand over the woman’s face. “We’d love for you to come,” Sabina chimed in, even while she struggled with May. “Yes, you will be there. Nine o’clock.”

Phil jotted down the club information and handed it to Smitty. “Yup, nine o’clock.”

Smitty stared at the piece of paper. “Caleb’s Corner? Never heard of it.”

“It’s a nice place. You’ll love it.”

We’re all going to hell.

Jess could tell by the look on his face that Smitty knew damn good and well they were setting him up, but he had no idea how. And Jess knew that after tonight, Smitty might actually end it all with her. He might never speak to her again. Ever.

Smitty slipped the paper into his pocket and slowly walked over to her. “See you tonight,” he said.

“Yeah, see ya tonight.”

Then his hands gently grasped her jaw, framing her face. No way. He wouldn’t kiss her in front of her Pack, would he? They’d never said anything about keeping their sexual relationship secret, but Smitty had never been an outwardly affectionate male to the women he slept with. At least not when she knew him. But before she could analyze it anymore, he was kissing her. It was a sweet kiss but, at the same time, claiming. Making it clear to anyone within a thirty-mile radius exactly whom Jess belonged to. Whom she belonged to at the moment anyway.

After he’d completely melted her bones, Smitty stepped back and winked at her. He turned and headed to the elevator, glaring at Phil the entire time until the elevator doors closed.

An awkward and large silence followed his departure. Until Sabina stated the obvious, “He’s worried about you and Phil?”

“I guess so,” Jess replied, completely fascinated. “It was a definite Smith ‘this is my bone’ move.”

Jess and Sabina stared at each other for several seconds before they burst out laughing.

“Me? And Phil?”

Sabina released May so she could bang on the desk. “That’s hilarious!”

Phil cleared his throat. “I don’t appreciate the humor here. I’m definitely a threat to the male population.”

That just pulled more laughter from his wife and best friend.

“Maybe you should let it go,” Danny suggested. “You’re just embarrassing yourself.”

“Wait!” May ordered. “Just wait. What about Smitty? You can’t have him come tonight. It’s not fair!”

Now all of them but May were laughing, leaving the poor She-dog to dramatically storm off on her own.

CHAPTER 17

“Why am I here?”

Smitty didn’t even spare a glance at Mitch. “Because I’m pretty sure this is a gay bar Jessie has me coming to. And you’re much more gay-friendly than I am. You’ll distract them from my amazing body.”

“So... I’m your beard?”

“I don’t know if you’re using that term correctly, but I also don’t care.”

Smitty grabbed Mitch’s jacket and pulled him to the bar called Caleb’s Corner. There was a bouncer out front, but he barely looked at them. And there was no line waiting to get in. What a lame-ass gay club. Still, Jessie was here. Which meant he was going to be here.

But once they got inside, all Smitty wanted to do was turn around and run. Run for his very life. Lord in heaven, Jessica Ann Ward was the meanest female on the planet! And she should burn for this. Burn!

“Wait. I thought you said this was a gay bar?” Mitch sounded as horrified as Smitty felt.

“I thought it was.”

“Well, it’s not, and I’m out of here!”

Mitch tried to make a run for it, but Smitty grabbed his jacket collar and yanked the big cat back. “You’re not deserting me, Shaw.”

“Like hell I’m not. You may have that military connection with Llewellyn, but I’m from Philly. There’s some things we won’t do for anyone.”

The two were seconds from pulling out claws and going at it in the middle of the bar when Jessie suddenly—and literally—jumped in front of them.

“Smitty!” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. And in that second he knew he wouldn’t leave. She smelled too good.

When she pulled away, she looked over at Mitch. “Oh... you.”

“And I’m happy to see you, too, beautiful.”

Jessie stepped back and gestured around. “As you can see, we’ve pretty much taken over the place, but we’ve got some bears and a few jackals hanging out tonight, so you two shouldn’t feel too out of place with all these dogs.” She pointed toward an empty booth. “Why don’t you guys grab a table and sit back and relax.”

“Sure. After we stop at the bar first.”

“Oh.” Jessie scrunched up her face. The action annoyed him because she looked so goddamn cute doing it. “I forgot to mention. Caleb lost his liquor license a week ago. So, at least for now, soft drinks, virgin margaritas, and Shirley Temples only. But the Shirley Temples are to die for.”

Smitty worked hard not to grit his teeth. “There’s no liquor here?”

“Nope.” And she grinned, evil female that she was. “I’m sorry, Smitty.”

No, she wasn’t. She wasn’t sorry at all!

“Don’t worry about it, darlin’,” he lied. “We’ll survive.”

“We will?”

Smitty shoved Mitch into an empty booth. “We’ll be just fine,” he insisted, unwilling to show any weakness in the face of such travesty.

“Okay.” Jessie’s head snapped up. “Oh, there’s my cue. I’ll talk to you guys in a bit.”

Smitty watched Jessie Ann run across the dance floor and up on the stage. The crowd roared her name; apparently this was not a once-in-a-blue-moon event. The Kuznetsov Pack were regulars.

The music for “Coal Miner’s Daughter” started to play and Jess stepped up to the mic.

“Oh, Lord in heaven.”

“A karaoke bar.” Mitch glared at him. “You dragged us to a karaoke bar?”

“She didn’t tell me it was karaoke.”

“You know it’s bad enough having to listen to you guys howl all the time. But this... this may be asking too much. Dogs. Singing.” Mitch turned to the bar and lashed Smitty with another glare. “And no goddamn liquor. You know, as per shifter law, I could legally kill you.”

He almost wished the whining cat would.

Jessie opened her mouth to start singing and Smitty cringed, waiting for those first tragic, painful notes... but he ended up blinking in surprise. Even Mitch looked shocked. Jessie Ann was good—and she sounded exactly like Loretta Lynn, the Grande Dame of Country Music.

“I never knew she liked country music,” Smitty said in awe.

“Yeah, that must make her prime mate material for a Smith. She’ll fit right in at one of your hootenannies.”

Smitty glared across the booth. “Please. Give me one reason to kill you. Just one.”

Jess belted out that last note of “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and the crowd jumped to their feet, chanting her name. Okay, so she’d never make it to the Grand Ole Opry in this lifetime—her secret dream only her closest friends knew about—but who needed that when she had dogs barking for more?

She bowed to her adoring fans and jumped off the stage. Immediately Danny replaced her for his rendition of .38 Specials “Hang on Loosely,” which always made his wife swoon.

To her surprise, Smitty and Mitch hadn’t bailed yet. She thought for sure Smitty would run screaming into the night as soon as he realized it was a “dry” karaoke bar. Wolves may love to howl, but nothing they hated more than to hear dogs sing. And dogs loved to sing. Add in no tequila and that was not a wolf’s idea of a good time. More like one of their nightmares.

Yet how he kept Mitch Shaw locked into place, she’d never know. Cats really hated hearing dogs sing. It rankled their fur.

Jess sat down next to Smitty and smiled.

“You could have warned me, Jessie Ann.”

“I could have—but how would that be fun for me?”

Teeth gritted again and she even elicited a slight sneer. Feeling pretty good about that, Jess turned to Mitch. “How’s that nonalcoholic beer doing it for ya, Mitch?”

Really, you haven’t lived until you’ve been hissed at.

“So how long does this thing last anyway?” Smitty asked, probably trying to distract her from toying with Mitch.

“Until two. Usually.”

“In the morning?”

Jess barely held in a laugh. He sounded so... despondent. “Would you prefer I said afternoon? Besides, you don’t have to stay. In fact, feel free to go.”

“Rock on.” Mitch went to stand up and Smitty reached over and shoved him back in the seat.

“Is there a reason you’re being mean to me, Jessie Ann?”

“Other than I’m enjoying it? Not really.”

“You know, Jessie Ann,” he growled, “when you’re being mean like this you do nothing but make me hard.”