The Heir (21 page)

The sight of her sitting there like that,
twisted something inside of him. He turned around and walked a
couple of paces away. Taking deep breaths he began to calm down.
"I'm sorry," he murmured with his back to them.

He turned around and Jessica watched as,
little by little, his eyes began to return to normal. She knew that
the storm had passed when the wolf-Matt- sat back and wagged its
tail. Nick sat down on the curb of the sidewalk and the wolf went
to him and licked his chin.

Nick laughed, scratched the wolves head and
murmured, "Thanks." Then looked at Axel and Christian and praised
their commitment to her. "I'm glad to know that I made the right
choice when I chose you two to protect her." They both bowed their
heads and relaxed a bit but Nick wasn't done, "but don’t make the
mistake of forgetting that I'm your Alpha ever again."

They nodded again but his concentration was
no longer on them; it was on Jessica. He always seemed to be on
uneven footing around her and he told her so after he apologized.
"It's just that, I've never done this before." He explained to
her.

She raised an eyebrow and Nick took it as a
good sign that she was no longer glaring at him or trying to sink
into the wall.

"I've never had a mate before and this is all
new to me." He confided "No one ever told me how hard this whole
mating stuff would be. I ache to be close to you." He placed a palm
on his chest. "And I went nuts when you said no to me. I've never
asked a girl out either." He admitted to her.

Her eyes widened and she looked at him
skeptically, "never?"

He shook his head, "never."

The admission brought her up short and did
all kinds of crazy things to her insides. Even though she refused
to put a name to the feeling, she'd hated thinking of him with
other girls and had tortured herself all evening thinking that
maybe he'd decide to go find someone else when she didn’t hear from
him again.

She scooted up to sit with him at the curb,
the wolf between them and Axel and Christian standing behind them,
and did something she rarely did. Looking down at her shoes she
apologized.

Smiling, Nick looked at her over the wolf's
head-she could have sworn he was smiling too. "What? Can you repeat
that?"

Jessica raised her head, their eyes connected
and she apologized again. "I've never gone out on a date before,"
she admitted to him, "and I was too scared that maybe I wouldn't
measure up and that's why I said no."

Nick laughed and stood up. "Well at the risk
of being rejected twice," He extended a hand towards her and asked.
"Will you go out with me tonight?"

Jessica placed her hand in his and he helped
her stand up, smiling at him she asked. "Nothing fancy?"

He shook his head and agreed. "Nothing
fancy."

"Then it's a date." she told him with her
usual confident smile.

"Mind if we take your bike?"

She looked at him then over his shoulder.
"How did you get here?"

"The same way Matt did." Her eyes widened and
she looked down at the wolf. Nick chuckled and added. "Running, I
meant running."

"But you can." She waved her hand towards
Matt. "Do that?"

Nick chuckled. "We all can. Even you." He
added.

She shook her head. "No, I can do some crazy
stuff but I've never had the urge to pee on a tree or lick myself
clean."

Nick threw his head back and laughed, the
earlier anger long forgotten, she had that effect on him. She made
him feel care free. "Come on, let’s get out of here. One of these
days, when you are ready, I'm going to teach you to shift."

"But not today." She she didn't think she was
ready for that.

"Not today."

They made their way towards her bike and she
stood back while he got on and scooted forward to make room for
her. When he was set, he smiled and stretched his hand out towards
her. She smiled back, took his hand and jumped on; scooting forward
until he was flushed against him and wrapped her arms around
him.

He gave her hand a tight squeeze and turned
toward Axel and Christian, Jessica was amazed to find that she'd
forgotten about them. Nick seemed to take up all of her attention
when he was around and everything and everyone else became
irrelevant.

"Take the rest of the night off," he told
them, "she will be safe with me." He looked down at the wolf Matt,
"you too."

Axel and Christian smiled and nodded while
the wolf just wagged its tail. They were off with one last wave of
their hands towards their guards. Jessica leaned her head on his
back and sighed, now that she knew that whatever they did wasn't
going to be a fancy affair, she could relax and enjoy whatever was
to come.

Nick was thinking along the same lines, now
that she was in his arms- or he was in her arms?-he could finally
relax.

He took them to the woods on his land. When
they reached a clearing he pulled over and they got off to walk the
rest of the way to his favorite spot. It was late and dark and Nick
took that opportunity to hold her hand. Jessica smiled at him until
they reached a large boulder by the river.

To her surprise, there was a basket, a
propane lantern and a blanket awaiting their arrival.

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow,
"Mighty confident weren't we?"

Nick laughed, shook his head and placed a
palm over his heart. "No, I swear I didn't have anything to do with
this, I didn't even know what I was going to do when I reached
you." She kept looking at him skeptically "Ok I planned to kidnap
you" He admit it, "but that was all."

"That was all?!"

He shrugged. "You make me do crazy things."
He admitted and gave her a quick kiss on her lips.

Acting as it that brief touch hadn't just
singed his insides; he went about setting the blanket and pulling
the food out of the basket. He didn't know who'd done this but he
had an idea and planned to thank him-them-when he saw them
again.

He pulled out a couple of water bottles,
strawberries covered in chocolate, a couple of pieces of cake one
red rose. He handed the rose to her.

"No real food, I think they're expecting me
to have you as the main course."

Jessica had just taken a drink of water and
it all came flying back out to land on his chest. Mortified she
tried to wipe the wet spots with her hands, thankful it was dark
enough for him to miss the twin red spots on her cheeks, and
apologized. Nick laughed and trapped her hands against his
chest.

"It's ok," he assured her, "and if it means I
get to feel your hands on me, then please, do it again."

Jessica looked away; feeling flustered by his
words and Nick placed a finger under her chin and turned her to
face him again.

“Sorry if my candid speech embarrassed
you."

Jessica shrugged, "its fine, I just don’t
talk about that stuff much."

"Ok how about we talk about the lighter
things then, get to know each other, our likes?"

She readily agreed and they spent the next
half hour talking about their favorite music, books and many other
topics until her cellphone started ringing. It was her mother. She
answered it, apologized for not calling to let her know she'd be
home late and promised to be home soon.

She hung up, pocketed her phone and looked at
Nick sheepishly. "Sorry, time for me to go home." She started to
help him pick everything up but he stopped her and pulled her
up.

"Leave it," he told her, "I'm sure someone
will be here soon to pick it up." He reached for her hand, "Come on
let’s get you home."

They walked back to her bike in silence. When
they reached it, instead of hopping on first Nick told Jessica to
get on first. When she asked him why, he said "Because it will be
my excuse to hold you."

Jessica didn't know what to say so she got on
and scooted forward. He got on and wrapped his arms around her, the
way she'd done earlier, and pulled her back until there was no
space between them. He placed his chin on her shoulder and told her
"Ready."

She gave a shaky sigh, started her bike and
took off.

It was the most torturous half hour of her
life! When they reached her home they got off and he walked her to
the door. She asked him if he'd like to take the bike but he turned
her down and as soon as he did, a car drove up and parked behind
her bike.

He smiled wryly down at her. "My ride is
here."

Flabbergasted she looked at him and then at
the car. "How did they-?"

He chuckled. "One thing you will come to find
out is that as an Alpha, you are never alone." He looked down the
street. “And look at that, your guards are here too."

Jessica looked and sure enough, here they
came. "How, what?-"

"Later." He promised. "Right now I want you
inside before your parents come out." He looked down at himself. "I
don’t think I'd make the right impression." Jessica looked down too
and turned red when she realized what he meant. He laughed. "I'm
sorry, that's what I get for riding behind you."

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I should
of-"

He laughed again. "Fine, if you’re really
sorry, then put me out of my misery." Her eyes flew open and he
chuckled. "Not like that!" He shook a finger at her. "Say you'll go
out with me again, you can pick where. And give me a kiss
goodnight, and I'll consider the discomfort all worth it."

Jessica nibbled on her bottom lip before
nodding and going on her tip toes. He met her half way, it started
out light but then he nibbled on her bottom lip before soothing it
with his tongue. Jessica sighed and sank her hands into his hair.
Jessica was feeling weightless, gravity had lost its power over her
then suddenly the sound of someone coughing brought her down to
earth.

Jessica pushed herself away and together they
turned to look at Axel and Christian.

"I just thought you should know that your
family seems to be enjoying the show." Christian informed her, each
word laced with laughter.

Jessica turned around and sure enough, they
were all staring at them from the living room window. It wasn't
possible for her to turn any redder, Nick groaned and Christian and
Axel laughed. She told them to shut up and buried her face in
Nick’s shirt. He gave her a tight hug before pushing her back and
giving her one last kiss.

"I better go, call me?"

Jessica nodded and he bent down to kiss her
again.

"Tell them, I'd like to meet them next
time?"

Jessica nodded again and he kissed her
lightly again.

"Promise to call?"

Jessica nodded, he kissed her again and she
laughed and pushed him away. "Yes, yes, I'll call, I promise now
go!"

He kissed her one more time, said goodbye to
Axel and Christian, waved goodbye to her family and strolled down
to the awaiting car-whistling the whole time. Jessica shook her
head and watched him go. When he was out of sight, all three turned
and went inside.

Standing before them, Jessica blushed and
everyone laughed, together they walked back into the living room
where she gave them the minimum amount of details of their date.
Afterwards she said her goodnights and to her surprise discovered
what thoughtful parents she had. They'd prepared a room for Axel
and Christian to sleep in. She'd forgotten about that and to
Danielle’s apparent displeasure the room was the guest room across
from Jessica.

She huffed away in annoyance and everyone
watched her go. "Did anyone figure out what her deal is yet?"
Jessica asked.

Everyone shrugged and Jessica decided that
she would find out tomorrow. Tonight she felt too good to risk
having her bubble popped. After saying goodnight again, she
sprinted up the stairs, took a shower, she was in too good a mood
to be mean to her goons so she did it in silence, put on her
pajamas and went to bed.

Chapter 15

"Dani, I don't like this one." Making an ugly
face, Jessica looked at herself in the dressing room mirror from
top to bottom and added. She was trying to find a dress for her
date with Nick and so far she’d had no luck. "I'm not going to
prom."

"It's not a prom dress; it's a long evening
gown."

"It's not a gown; it’s a contraption for the
mentally ill." Jessica grumbled, trying to reach the zipper in the
back.

Giving up she threw the door open, turned
around and asked. "Can you please unzip?"

Dani got up from where she was sitting but
Christian, who'd been standing by the door, waved her back and
unzipped the dress himself. Glaring at him, Dani sat back down,
crossed her arms over her chest and asked. "Why does he have to be
in here?"

"You know why.” They’d already gone through
that and she didn't want to go through it again. Instead, Jessica
looked over her shoulder at her. "Do you guys have a thing going on
or something?"

Dani snorted. "I prefer them less harry and
with more brains."

No one noticed the slight pause of
Christian’s hands before he continued to unzip the dress. He looked
over at Dani with that playful smile of his in place and asked her.
"You know what they say don't you?"

Dani raised an eyebrow in question.

"Those with the fur know how to make the
kitty cat purr." He wagged his eyebrows, earning him a killing
glare from her and a laugh from Jessica.

Trying to avoid an argument between the two,
Jessica hurried back into the dressing room, shimmied out of the
dress, flung it over the door and asked Danielle to return it and
bring her something less formal. She waited, holding her breath
until Danielle grabbed the dress and promised to be back with
something else soon. Only when she heard her walk away did she
slowly release the air in her lungs and sat down on the dressing
room bench.

"Christian?"