Four
Jameson frowned and stared at Rex, Gemma, and Nina in turn. He quickly looked away from Nina. He wanted to let his gaze linger a little too much. Even now, as he glared at Rex, he saw the after-image of Nina imprinted on his mind. Skinny jeans hugging long legs, a t-shirt with a beer logo, soft wavy hair piled high in a ponytail. And those hazel eyes, flashing with irritation and something more.
She was like a kid compared to him—she couldn’t be twenty-five, even, and he was thirty-six.
He shouldn’t stare, but his damn eyes kept going back to her.
It made him feel like a cranky old lech.
Worried that his staring was becoming obvious, he bit out, “She didn’t even know about the sanctuary rule.”
“She did too,” Rex insisted. “Or, at least, she does now.”
“Asshole,” Jameson said.
“So I claim sanctuary,” Nina was saying in that melodic voice of hers. “What does that mean?”
He bet she could sing. He bet she could make lullabies weep. He bet she could read a poem and bring even his antsiest class of freshmen students to tears.
He wanted to hear her read. He wanted to hear her sing. He wanted to hear her moan his name while his lips were locked on her shoulder and his cock was buried deep inside her—
Shaking himself out of the daydream, he frowned. This wasn’t okay. He didn’t want this. Willow had wanted him to move on, but not like this. And even if he did move on…no. Given the state of his clan right now, with Asshole Jake messing everything up and Nolan having those weird premonitions, nope. He couldn’t let Nina stay.
“Listen,” he said to Gemma, Rex, and Nina. “This isn’t going to work. You don’t actually need sanctuary.”
“Do too,” Nina said. “My alpha’s going to be pissed I cut out on the pride.”
She bit her lip, and Jameson held back a groan of desire.
“Who’s your alpha? What pride?” he asked.
“Corona,” she said.
“Shit.” He knew Marlana by reputation. If he didn’t take care of Nina the right way, he’d have the Corona Pride on his back, trying to take more territory. He’d have the attention of a badass group of mountain lions. His clan was messed up enough as it was. “Shit. Fuck.”
“So…that barbecue?” Rex asked, unhelpfully.
“I gotta go,” Jameson said. “Evening patrol.”
“We’ve got Nolan and Margot on that,” Rex said.
“I’ll relieve them,” Jameson said. “And you,” he said, pointing at Nina. “If you’re going to stay, you’re going to earn your keep.”
“I have money. Name your price for rent, I’ll pay it.”
“Don’t want your money, kitty,” he said.
She opened her mouth like she was about to argue, probably thinking he had some sick sexual fantasy he wanted her to play out. The thought wasn’t unwelcome in his mind…except it was, because he was determined not to think about her and sick sexual fantasies.
Maybe later, in the shower.
He held a finger up. He wanted to press it to her lips but was afraid of touching her, afraid of igniting the lust that already felt all-consuming. “I’ve got chores around here that need doing. I don’t need money, just labor. So you can work off your rent.”
“Fine,” she said, her cheeks pink at the apples, probably with annoyance.
Ooh, he liked her all fired up like this. “Fine,” he repeated.
Her voice was sassy when she said, “What do you need, hmm? Dishes? Laundry? I don’t fold underwear.”
“Nope, nothing indoors. I can fold my own underwear.” He smirked. “Or I would, if I wore underwear.”
Her cheeks got even pinker. He loved that.
“No,” he said, wanting to crowd into her space, but all too aware of the audience of his clan members around them. “Our property is looking pretty scraggly, over on the portion behind my cabin. Lots of old dead trees that need to be cleared. That’ll be all on you.”
Her face fell, and now he let his own expression shine through. He felt it. Smug.
With that, he tore off his shirt and walked toward his cabin. He chucked his shirt at the door, then his shoes and pants. Naked, he let the bear burst free until he was all grizzly. He let off a roar at the forest behind his cabin, and charged through.
This…this mountain lion woman. She shouldn’t be here. She was going to make it even harder for him to achieve that tenuous balance of community and leadership that his clan needed. Worse, she was messing with the balance inside of him, the balance of getting over Willow’s death and leading this clan the way it needed to be led. He had enough problems and concerns on a daily basis. Adding someone new to the mix was going to mess everything up.
Awful, all of it.
Awful the way she’d bit her lip in concern when she’d mentioned her alpha. Awful how he’d wanted to bite that lip for her. Taste the flush on her cheeks, trail his mouth over the soft skin of her neck. How pretty. How warm.
He bet she was warm and tight.
And his bear, oh, the grizzly wanted her.
He ran through the forest, eating up the miles. An hour passed, maybe two. Nolan and Margot’s daily patrol was probably long over, and everyone would relax for the evening. He came back around to stand behind one of the cabins and shifted back to human.
His clan had built a fire, and everyone sat around it. Nina was getting introduced. Jake’s eyes were locked on Nina, and neither Jameson nor the grizzly inside him liked it.
He watched while Jake brought Nina a beer and sat next to her. Too close. Jameson bit back a growl. Tried to look away. Couldn’t.
What was this? What did it mean? He hadn’t been so obsessed with a woman since…hell. Since Willow. He hadn’t even looked at a woman since Willow. What was this? He couldn’t answer. He had no answers, and he was afraid to answer.
Jake did the stupid, classic maneuver of stretching his arms out and trying to settle one around Nina’s shoulders.
Jameson held back a laugh, because Nina clearly wasn’t falling for it. She scootched down the bench on that biteable, heart-shaped ass of hers. Jameson wanted to see her naked so bad it hurt. Literally. His cock was straining, and he had to get this under control.
Suddenly Rex called out, “Come on over, alpha! We’ve got plenty of hot dogs and wieners. Lots of wieners.”
Everyone laughed. Jameson shook his head. He needed to cover up his own wiener before he went over there.
“Be right there,” he said, and calmed himself down before walking into his cabin. He used the back door, so nobody would see his aroused state. Caused by Nina.
It wasn’t like there were no available women in the clan. The sisters, Margot and Erena, were both single, although he thought Erena and Jake had something going on the side. Maybe not, if Jake was trying to pick up Nina.
Hell, none of this would go over well. His clan had tentative allegiances at best, barely holding it together after the challenge that had brought about Jameson’s victory and Willow’s death, and matters hadn’t improved two years ago with Jake’s arrival. Now this young lioness came waltzing into the Ring of Fire and damn if she wasn’t going to stir up all kinds of trouble.
He pulled on a pair of pants and a t-shirt. No need to pretend the crisp night air had any effect on him—it didn’t. Especially not with Nina’s proximity making his blood run hot.
He thundered out the front door and took stock of the campfire scene in front of him. It should have looked idyllic, a small crowd of eight—nine, counting him—huddled around a fire, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and drinking beer. Instead, there were clear divisions. Gemma, Rex, Nolan, and Nina stayed on one side, with Jake obviously butting in where he wasn’t wanted. Erena, Margot, and Carl sat on the other side of the fire. There wasn’t much conversation crossing over from one group to the next.
Nina was smiling at something Gemma said, and seemed to be doing her best to ignore Jake. Jake stood up, stretching as if the sight of his rippling abs would do something to help his cause. Nina looked past him, saw Jameson. Gave Jameson a tentative smile.
Oh hell. It did things to him, that smile. Her teeth just visible, white and sharp, he supposed. He wanted to feel them scraping against his shoulder while he pounded into her. He wanted, he wanted, oh, he wanted.
Without a word, he strode over to the fire until he stood right in front of her, blocking Jake’s body from her gaze.
Rex looked like he might say something, and Jake too, but Jameson gave them the death glare. Jake huffed derisively but moved to the other side of the fire pit, and Rex turned to give his attention to Gemma.
Nina stared up at Jameson in puzzlement. Her wavy hair was down around her shoulders, and she wore a hooded sweatshirt that shouldn’t have been sexy but somehow was.
“So, the alphahole finally shows up,” she said. Smirking, but her bewilderment was clear as day on her face.
“Yeah, the…alphahole? What do you mean?” he narrowed his eyes.
“It’s just the term I use for walking clichés such as yourself.”
He ground his teeth together. “A walking cliché, huh?”
“Uh…” She looked from him and back to the bottle of beer in her hand. “Shit. Sometimes my mouth says things before my brain can think them. Especially when I’m drinking beer, also known as truth serum.”
“Oh, then you’ll fit right in here,” Gemma said with a laugh. “This is a clan without filters.”
Jameson sat down on the bench next to Nina. So close he could feel her body heat. “Does your runaway mouth ever get you into trouble?” he asked.
She stared at him as he carefully wiggled the beer bottle from her grip. “Um, yes. Sometimes.”
He kept his eyes on her, knowing there was a dare written on his face. Stop me, Nina, he thought, as he lifted up her bottle and took a drink. His lips pressed to the same place her lips had been just moments before, sharing her taste, something flowery and dusty and intoxicating.
Nina’s gaze was glued to his mouth, and her fingers worried the frayed ends of her cut-off jeans. Did she want him as much as he wanted her? If so, it was a miracle neither one of them was jumping on top of the other.
Passing the beer back, Jameson said, “Didn’t taste like truth serum to me.”
She finally looked away and laughed. “I guess you get to keep all your secrets, then.” She took a drink of her beer, keeping her eyes on Jameson’s. The way her lips wrapped around it—hell. He needed to stop this. Now.
“Gotta go.” Jameson shook his head, turned around, and went back to the woods.
Rex called after him, “What the hell, J? Come back and have some dinner.”
He’d rather crawl into his cabin and pull stale leftovers from the fridge than be confronted with a woman who had the power to crowd out visions of his dead wife’s face. This wasn’t right, it wasn’t okay. He shouldn’t want to be with her so much.
And that saucy little smirk as she goaded him—if he wasn’t careful, she could probably get him to do anything.