I got the feeling Nick was pretending to snooze though I couldn’t cite a specific reason. He hadn’t moved beyond breathing. Men tossed in their sleep at least a little bit, didn’t they? Who knew if this man did since he’d slept on my floor and his sofa in order to avoid me. Now he avoided me a different way.
If I’d had proof, I’d have gone off on him. Maybe. I did still ache from his thorough fucking. He deserved a little undisturbed rest after a performance like that.
At some point I fell asleep, and when I woke, light filtered in above the thick curtains to my right and Nick was missing. Water running downstairs hinted he was still around. I made myself get up and head for a shower. Dressed and fresh, I plodded down.
On the gray and white marbled breakfast bar four sliced bagels rested on a large plate. Three little tubs of cream cheese in two different colors waited nearby. I crossed the room and sat in front of the spread. Nick shuffled about the little kitchen, grabbing knives, napkins, and two smaller plates.
He slid them in front of me, and then stood back. “Pick your poison.”
I lifted a blue-tinted bagel and the plainest looking tub of cream cheese. Nick handed me a knife and took his own pink bagel. Moments later we were munching the crunchy offerings.
“Do you go out for lunch?”
I paused in the act of biting. Setting the bagel aside, I took a breath and met Nick’s shuttered expression. “Sometimes. And sometimes I just go to the deli downstairs.”
Nick finished chewing his latest bite. “The deli that’s on your building’s street level?”
“Yes.”
“Will you go out for lunch today?”
I lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t know. I usually decide when it’s closer to lunch time.”
He pulled in a noisy breath through his nose. “Call me if you decide you’re going out.”
Dropping my bagel to its plate, I said, “Why?”
“Because someone wants to kill you, Shelby.” He let his bagel plop, landing cream cheese side down. “I can’t protect you if I don’t know where you are.”
I gestured at the window. “I have a police escort. Well, I would if I hadn’t ditched them to come here.”
He snorted and deposited the remainder of his bagel in the trash. “Where was your police escort when that guy tried to shoot you through your back door?”
“Watching the front?” I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Nick snatched his plate, and then swiveled, tossing it into the sink. “And a guy can’t come in the back of whatever restaurant you go to for lunch?”
“I guess he could. If I’d told the police about the first one coming in the back, they could have—”
“Put me in jail for murder,” Nick said, tone hard and snappish, “and you in protective custody that wouldn’t stop a determined mafia boss.”
How could I argue against that? Instead, I scowled. He flipped on the water and rinsed his plate. I pushed mine forward because I wasn’t hungry any longer. Working would be preferable to hanging out with a pissy Nick.
Had his mood turned because he regretted last night? I didn’t regret it. Not one bit. In fact, if I’d been able to persuade him, I’d have called in sick so we could stay home and repeat last night into next week.
Nick collected my plate once he finished with his. With his hands under the steaming water, he said, “Shelby, call me if you decide to leave for lunch. At least a half hour before you leave.”
I opened my mouth to tell him he wasn’t my keeper, but bit down on the words. He’d been protecting me. I owed him my cooperation at least until the situation was resolved.
Could it be resolved?
“Nick,” I said, not quite knowing how I’d finish my question.
He turned off the faucet, grabbed a towel, and then faced me.
“How is this going to end?”
He studied my face as he patted the terry cloth. “How is what going to end?”
“The mafia boss. The guys trying to kill me.” I made an undistinguishable hand gesture toward the window. “How does it end?”
Nick’s mouth thinned. “I’m beginning to think it’ll end when my Alpha gets involved.”
“Your…Alpha? Like…” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word even though I thought I knew what he meant.
“Werebear Alpha.” Nick strode to the edge of the kitchen, pausing to glance at me. “But I don’t know that he’ll get involved unless there’s a threat to the pack.”
“I see.” I wasn’t pack. But Nick was. Would the pack get involved if the mafia tried to kill him?
He watched me for a beat, and then strode for the stairs. “We need to leave so you’re not late to work.”
I nearly argued until I remembered we still needed return to my apartment and pretend I’d been there all night.
How long would I have to live looking over my shoulder?
A selfish part of me whispered that the longer I lived that way, the closer I could get to Nick.
Trade offs sucked.
A leather-bound menu buckled between my hands as I gnawed my lower lip, pretending I didn’t recognize the man who had burst through the door. Nick halted at the hostess station, and stared across the crowded restaurant. At me. Or glared, more accurately.
Was it my fault I’d been dragged out for a group lunch to celebrate a birthday everyone had forgotten until the last minute? No. I wasn’t part of the party planning committee, if there was such a thing. So he could just chill. I’d said as much in my text messages to him.
Air puffed into my ear as my boss Joseph leaned in and whispered something about the appetizers. Nick’s eyebrows crimped into a sharp V, his dark gaze fixed on the mouth an inch from my skin. I winced at the storm building there and mouthed, my boss. Nick’s shoulders lifted, but just barely.
The hostess gestured for Nick to follow. He jerked and dragged his attention away. They walked to a table behind me. That was either a great move or the worst. I wouldn’t know until later. I had better not find out until later. If Nick made a scene in front of Joseph and my co-workers, I’d skin him and make a fluffy rug for my apartment.
“Got plans for Thanksgiving?” Joseph asked as soon as we’d put in our orders of swanky food I was glad I didn’t have to pay for.
I shrugged, avoiding the probing looks from the others. “Probably going out somewhere with my dad. How about you?”
“The wife’s fam makes a huge spread.” He flicked the glass dish of sugar substitute packets. “And then my mother makes a bigger spread. I gain twenty pounds every November.”
“As long as it’s worth it.” I picked up my water, sipping so I wouldn’t have to talk. I envied him his well-adjusted family life, even if it meant holiday weight gain. Then again, he hadn’t said they were well-adjusted, just that they made food.
“I’m going home for the holiday,” Greg said, letting loose a burp. “Gotta get some of Mom’s sweet potato pie.”
“We have everyone to our house,” Joseph’s personal assistant said. “I cook for two days straight.”
I tuned her out as she described, in detail, the ingredients for her famous turkey stuffing and cranberry sauce. The thought at the forefront of my mind was whether or not my situation would be resolved by the holiday. Would I still be hiding in Nick’s apartment two weeks from now?
Did I want to be?
Our food came before I tuned back in. By then the discussion had switched to theater productions. I picked at my food, uninterested in both it and the topic.
The water I’d chugged came back to visit with a vengeance. I stood, mumbling that I needed to use the restroom. Without a glance behind me, I made my way toward the arched door I assumed would take me to my destination.
“Shelby?”
A hand caught my arm halfway to the destination. I froze, snapping my gaze to the fingers curled over my skin. Veined, thick, and tan, they were larger than a woman’s. I lifted my attention to the face that went with them.
The blue eyes squinting up at me were achingly familiar. The kind of familiar that made my bladder almost as weak as my knees. I skimmed the rest of the face that went with it—rugged and scarred yet somehow wholly attractive. The square features of this man matched the one who had all but broken my heart years ago.
“Hale,” I said, croaking his name.
He got to his size-fourteen shoes, towering over me by almost a foot, and then he brought the entirety of his considerable bulk against me. Enfolded in Hale’s strong arms, I felt half my curvy size. His clove and musk scent tore memories out of the please God let me forget these bucket and flashed them liberally across my mind’s eye.
I didn’t want to remember the feel of his mouth on my neck or his body above mine. And I certainly didn’t want to see the recognition of my reaction in his crystal blue eyes when he pulled back.
His scrutinizing gaze caressed my body. Whatever he saw must have been good because he licked his lower lip. “You look amazing.”
The quarter inch patch behind my left shoulder—the only part of me not flaming at around two-hundred degrees—heated with the rest. I picked at my rayon, knee-length skirt. “Business casual is required at the new job.”
Hale grinned, showcasing his aligned, white teeth. “I like it.”
I made myself take in his lunch partner, giving her a small nod. The prim brunette in a pant suit tilted her head and regarded me in return. Her lack of a glare made me guess she was a work colleague rather than a paramour. For now.
“This is Belinda,” Hale said, “a new junior associate at the firm.”
“New?” She gave a throaty chuckle, tossing her silky hair over one shoulder.
I spotted the ring on her finger—the explanation for why Hale hadn’t already screwed her. These were the thoughts I needed to recall when my toes threatened to curl and lift me into his arms.
His beautiful eyes remained intent on my face. “It’s been a while, Shelby.”
I swallowed and nodded.
What I really wanted to say was that it hadn’t been long enough. Hale was the last person on Earth I’d wanted to see, except perhaps the two clingy exes that had come after him, or the mafia guys who wanted me dead. Though if someone had given me the option a week ago, I’d have said I’d rather have a gun in my face than Hale standing in front of me.
Yet my insides hadn’t exploded like I’d thought they would if I’d ever confronted him again. That was progress. And I was a little worried about why.
I gave Hale a tight-lipped smile. “I know it’s been a while.”
He rubbed his cheek with the side of his hand, chuckling. “You’re not still sore about what happened, are you?”
“Sore?” I swallowed the insult I’d been about to utter. Instead, what came out was worse. “You mean when you had a threesome with the brand new junior associates?” Hiking one eyebrow to what I hoped was halfway to my hairline, I said, “In the restroom at the restaurant I worked at? And were so loud that someone called the cops to rescue the woman who was surely being raped?”
He ran a thumb over his lower lip. “So you are still sore.”
I rolled my eyes, snorting. “Nah, I’m over it.”
Hale had the audacity to reach for my arm. “You know it meant—”
“Nothing,” I said. “And now I know you haven’t matured a bit over the past…however long.” Holding my head high, I marched for the restroom.
Body heat chased me as if Hale hadn’t let me charge away. “Four years,” he said, “ten months, and twelve days.”
I hadn’t counted the days, but I was pretty sure the last time I’d seen Hale had been in the summer. Sweating had definitely been involved, and our shouting match had taken place behind the restaurant’s dumpster. A broken heater hadn’t been the cause. His math didn’t match up with any of that. More than likely he’d pulled a number out of his ass in the hope I wouldn’t recall the exact date.
Hale curled his palm around my arm, stopping my rushing gait. “I’ve missed you every day, Shel.”
I hated that nickname. I hated hearing him use it more. Gnashing my teeth, I said, “Get away.”
“C’mon.” He purred the word against my temple, his big body coaxing me into a wall. “I’m a better man now. Let me prove it to you.”
“No.” The only thing I wanted proof of was that I could resist him. “I swear to the Lone Star State I’m going to destroy your testicles with a hair brush if you don’t get away from me.”
Hale hooted out a laugh. “You always did have a way with words, Shel.” He leaned in, brushing his mouth against my cheek. “Tell me what else you’re going to swear to Texas for.”
There was little worse than a man who didn’t take a woman seriously. Hale needed a little education.
I lifted one foot, aiming carefully and drove it down. My shoe slapped against the polished cement surface with a jarring thud that sent me off balance. The groin I’d been about to pummel like a fast ball across the center plate flew back as if a backhoe had hit its owner in the gut. The lithe guy holding Hale by the scruff of his thick neck supplied the explanation.
Nick’s pinched eyes and quivering body…everything didn’t bode well. The fingernails digging into Hale’s lilac dress shirt might even be longer than humanly possible. Or I could have been seeing things.
Nevertheless, I glared at Nick. And not the eye roll, boys-will-be-boys soft glare. This expression had Hale’s eyeballs bulging. Though, his panicked reaction might have also been the way his leather loafers no longer touched the floor.
“Nick,” I said, not disguising my sharp tone. “Put him the fuck down.”
Nick’s eyeballs joined in the bulging action as if both men had a special button on the back of them an intrepid boy need only activate to see the effect. “Put him…” Nick’s mouth opened and closed but didn’t finish the sentence. He shook his head without jiggling the large man dangling from his hand. “He was fucking all over you even after you told him to get away.”
Interesting word choice. Maybe.
“I was about to take care of him,” I said. “You didn’t need to get involved.”
“You took your sweet fucking time, Shelby.”
Hale made a gurgling sound at the back of his throat.
Nick cast a disgusted look his way. He curled one arm around Hale’s neck, bringing him within a kissing distance. “Shelby is dead to you. Do you understand? Nod and say ‘yes’ or I’ll slice open your belly and hang you with your own intestines.”
My eyebrows shot up at that ruthless statement.
The eager nod and terrorized eyes Nick received made me almost snort. How in the world could a guy who looked as big and badass as Hale act like such a coward?
Giving him one last scowl, Nick threw Hale to the ground. My asshole ex scrambled and scratched his way out of the corridor.
I folded my arms across my chest, leveling whatever expression was on my face at Nick.
He huffed out a breath. “So I’m allowed to rescue you sometimes but not all the time?”
Casting a quick glance around, I answered only when I was sure no one else listened. “When weapons are involved, sure. When it’s ex boyfriends, I’d prefer to handle it myself.”
“What about ex boyfriends with weapons?” His eyes glinted though I couldn’t tell if that was from amusement or something darker.
“This isn’t a Venn diagram.”
Nick shook his head, lips puckering tight as if he were holding back…something. I hoped it was a smile, except then he’d be smiling at my expense.
I edged toward the exit. Though Nick didn’t move, he also didn’t let me pass.
“I need to get back to lunch,” I said. “Since this is a work thing.”
Nick grabbed hold of my shoulders and crowded me against the wall much as Hale had. But where Hale had made me regret ever being involved, Nick’s solid frame pressed to mine made me regret leaving his bed. I barely kept from melting beneath the warm lips that swept over my neck. He glanced up from my collarbone, and then covered my mouth with his in a move that consumed. My brain went blank as his tongue coiled above mine, my breath stalled while his invaded, and the feel of anything beyond his touch washed away in a torrential downpour of need. When he pulled back, I couldn’t recall why I’d wanted to walk away in the first place.
Nick rubbed his thumb over my lower lip, smirking as he did. “Your mouth looks like someone has been ravaging it.”
I edged out from in front of him, and he let me. Of that I was certain. Still, I couldn’t resist one last comment. “And my coworkers will think Hale was to blame.”
His eyes flashed with dark emotion. “I’m going to fuck his memory out of you, Shelby.”
A flare of excitement shot through me at those words. I made myself walk away, but not before I had one startling thought.
You already have .