Jared didn’t intend to slam the door as hard as he did. To be honest, he didn’t mean to slam the door at all. He just needed to get away from her before he did something he would regret. When he found her in the living room wearing nothing but a thong he wanted to grab her and shake her. Did she prance around naked for the other guards to see her? Did she not understand how much of a temptation she was?

When she smiled at him, like she did every day, and asked him to bring her the wine, he almost put her over his knee and smacked her ass. But instead he did as she requested and brought them to her. When he walked in he could tell she was surprised because her eyes widened. She actually looked happy to see him. Then she leaned forward and her firm, perfectly round breasts came above the water line, a droplet sat at the edge of her hardening nipple and he almost lost the little bit of control he had and licked that tempting drop.

Jared would never admit that he had just run away from a naked woman in the tub, but that was what he did. Ally had gotten under his skin like no other woman before her. He wanted to say it was because she was so infuriating and spoiled. It wasn’t because all he could think about when he saw her was grabbing her and putting her over his knee for a good spanking.

Maybe he needed to request some time off and go on a date. Spending time with a willing female would help get rid of this raging hard-on that seemed to… pop up every time she was around. He heard his dragon growl in protest letting him know it didn’t like the idea. The dragon and Jared seemed to be on different sides when it came to Ally. The dragon wanted to take her and make her his while the man was determined to try and ignore her. He didn’t want a woman who cared about money.

Jared had been so busy with his guard duties he couldn’t remember the last time he had been on a date. Several female guards had asked him out but he didn’t want to sleep with girls he worked with on a regular basis. The few times his family did speak to him it was always after they’d just met the perfect girl for him. Those women seemed to mimic his family’s agenda of getting him to leave the guard. They were pretty enough, but shallow, and he knew with one glance they were not his mate.

The image he had of his mate was warm and inviting. But, with his family constantly threatening to disinherit him if he didn’t quit he needed a woman who was okay with a modest lifestyle. Jared had enough money on his own that he had a nice sized house and could afford all the things they would need. He liked his life simple. There were more important things than money and his mate would love him for who he was, not because of his family’s giant bank account.

With his cock still rock-hard Jared stepped into the shower. As the water cascaded down his back he gave in to the urge to relieve himself, knowing tonight he would not be able to walk away and take care of his needs. An image of a round tempting ass sticking up in the air came to mind and he growled as he began to stroke his cock. He imagined how it would feel if he were able to reach out and grab it, a lovely shade of pink and maybe just the hint of a hand print from where he smacked it.

He stroked himself faster as he remembered the way the drop of water hung from her breast, begging to be sucked. He imagined picking her up to do just that. He would suck and lick those full breasts as she arched her back, putting them in his face as he wrapped her legs around him and took her right there. He fantasized how it would feel to finally be deep inside her warm, willing body and he felt his body tighten before he came in the shower.

Jared rarely indulged in those images of Ally but seeing her today he couldn’t fight the urge. He would have to be blind not to notice those curves, or how perfectly she would fit against his body. His hand itched just being near her. Wanting to touch her, see if her body responded the way he had imagined. He could picture her perfectly rounded ass coming up and begging for a light smack, or her back arching as her pink nipples hardened begging for him to suck them into his mouth. Jared kept trying to convince himself she was cold and would be boring in bed, but he saw the spark in her eyes when she wanted something, and he just knew that it would carry into the bedroom.

Jared growled as his cock hardened again. Once he dropped her off at the doorstep of her house he was going to find a curvy, willing, woman and bury himself so deep inside her. He would hear her scream his name repeatedly and he would enjoy every minute of it proving to himself that all he needed to do was get laid.

Jared dried himself off, went into his room and got dressed to go out. He would sit at the bar and keep an eye on Ally and her date then chauffeur them around. He knew the shifter was rich and considered a ladies man. It was even rumored that this shifter wasn’t looking for a mate but a match that would raise his ranks among the shifter world, and Jared wondered what that meant for tonight.

As he stepped from his room he noticed Ally’s door was open. A glance around showed her standing on the balcony. She must have grabbed her bags because she was in a terrycloth robe as she stood outside with a glass of wine in her hand. Her hair was hanging down her back and blowing in the wind. From here he could see her profile and wondered what had her so deep in thought. She glanced down at the watch on her wrist and turned to see him standing there. Without a word, she disappeared, and he heard the soft click of her bedroom’s balcony door closing behind her.

They wouldn’t be leaving for a few hours, so Jared decided to use that time to work on his laptop. They had been watching for reports about strange house fires in small towns. The fires were spread out, all in small towns, and in different states. No reason for the government to link them. Even the way the fires started were different. The one link was that the families belonged to shifter or other supernatural families. The only reason they caught it was because several of those families had reached out for help. That was when they figured out the Orion Hunters had been setting those fires in their attempt to get rid of what they thought were abominations.

Jared was happy that no one had been hurt, but the growing number of attacks worried him. Since they seemed to happen in small towns, finding the reports were harder because smaller newspapers didn’t rank on the front pages of search engines. Jared often found himself scrolling through pages of information to find one attack and that made him wonder how much he was missing.

Losing himself in his work, he was surprised when he heard a gentle cough pulling him from his thoughts. He looked up and saw Ally standing before him. She had chosen the perfectly tailored emerald dress and was holding it up in the front. “I hate to bother you but, would you mind helping me with this,” she asked, her eyes never meeting his.

Jared nodded, standing up and walking to her. She turned so her back was to him. Reaching out he slowly zipped her up and whispered in her ear, “Is there anything else, Princess?”

He stood so close to her he felt her shudder. There was a feeling of satisfaction in her responding to his touch. Ally shook her head and took a step away before she looked over her shoulder at him. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Jared nodded as he watched her walk back to the bedroom. The dress hugged her curves perfectly and he could see her grab her heels. She put them on and he watched as she checked herself out one more time running her hands along the front of her dress.

When she caught him watching her, her cheeks became a lovely shade of pink. “Are you ready to go, Princess?”

She gave him a smile that showed how excited she was before nodding. When he got to the door he held it open for her and the two of them headed down in the elevator. Jared didn’t like giving out his location, so they were meeting her date at the restaurant for dinner and then he would take them for a carriage ride in the park. He gritted his teeth because the only thing worse than being the third wheel was being a third wheel that is forced to watch. He couldn’t walk away or leave them at any time, he always had to be aware of what was going on.

The drive to the restaurant was quiet and he could see her occasionally adjusting the dress or her hair nervously. He wanted to tell her she looked beautiful but that was not his place. He tried his best not to look at her in the rear-view mirror and chose instead to watch the traffic before him.