“You’re back,” Cattail said when the lift doors opened. It was obvious she’d been waiting, just as it was obvious, West knew, that he and Winnie had been enjoying each other. They were disheveled, late, and glowing, and Winnie was deliciously pink, with her heels in her hand. He knew they smelled like sex.

“We’re back,” he said, hanging up his jacket and then taking Winnie’s. “How was the museum?”

“Wonderful,” Cat said honestly. “How was the . . . opera?”

“Wonderful,” West echoed. There was a gleam in Cattail’s eyes that said she wouldn’t be ignored any longer. “Winnie, it’s late. Why don’t you go to bed?”

Winnie looked shocked, and he realized it sounded like he was dismissing her.

“In my room,” he added to reassure her.

She bit her lip, coloring. He could tell she liked the sound of that. “All right. Well, goodnight.” She ducked past Cattail and disappeared.

Now there was no one there but him and Cat. She was dressed in the same off-the-shoulder dress she’d worn that morning, but it looked even more beautiful in the evening, he had to admit. She was a beautiful girl. She just wasn’t Winnie.

“Let’s go into my study,” he suggested. “Is Amy still here?”

“She is.” Cat gazed at him evenly. “Are you hungry?”

“I thought I’d order us some drinks. Come, follow me.” He walked toward the kitchen, knocked on a door lintel, got Amy’s attention, and asked for drinks. Then he led Cat to his study at the other end of the apartment. It was a handsomely appointed room with an enormous window. Outside, the night was blue and the city was alight.

“Sit, please,” he said, choosing a studded leather chair for himself. Cat threw herself into a chair across from him, tucking her knees underneath her. He had to smile. It was such a shifter posture, so uninhibited, so natural. She didn’t even care—or know to care—that it was improper in a dress. “What do you want from me, Cattail?”

“You’re set on that girl, aren’t you?” Cat asked, not answering him. “That human girl. Winnie.”

“I thought you liked Winnie.”

“I do. But she’s still human. You can’t have her, West.”

“I can, and I mean to.”

“So you’ll hide what you are from her, forever? Is that it?”

West hesitated. “If I have to, then I will.”

“It’s impossible,” Cat said, and he realized there was a hint of pity in her voice. “Why do you want to pretend to be one of them?”

“I don’t pretend to be anything. I came to New York because I was curious about the world outside Washington. I enjoy it here and I enjoy my work.” West leaned forward. “I’m living the life I want. It may be in a human city, but I know that I’m a bear. I’ve never had any illusions about that.”

“But you have an illusion about how much you can keep from her,” Cat said flatly. “You’re dreaming.”

“Maybe,” he admitted. “Do you want me, Cat? Is that it?”

“I don’t know,” she said, slowly. “You’re a strange man. But you’re a strong and virile man, too . . . and handsome.” She unfolded from her chair and slunk toward his, coming to balance on the padded arm of his seat. Her bark-and-berry scent strengthened enticingly. The heat of her freckled skin warmed the air. “I want to see you in your other form.”

“You can’t. Not here.”

“Maybe in the park?” she asked, tilting her beautiful head. “There can’t be anyone there now. Not at night, when it’s so cold.”

“No,” he said, fighting the urge to press his face to her flesh—her neck, her chest, her inner thighs—and inhale her skin-scent like an animal. She was a shifter, too, his own kind, and she was so close, too close. She was fragrant, hot, and wild. A sow. “I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s reckless. It’s not as easy to hide in Central Park as you imagine. We’d be seen.”

She gazed at him. Her eyelashes were long and thick. “I guess you’d know.”

“Cat . . .”

“You should try me,” Cattail said softly. “I might suit you. Spend time with me, West. Talk to me. Stud me. Let’s see if we could make a good pair. I came here to meet you.”

“No,” he said abruptly, standing. Her scent was getting to him. “Cat, try and understand. When I left home, I knew I wanted to make my own life, my own fortune. I’ve done that. I’m an independent man.” His jaw tensed. “I can’t accept a girl chosen for me by the people who say I should never have done it. I won’t allow them to have that kind of control.”

She gazed at him. “But you used MeetYourMate. Winnie was chosen for you by someone.”

“The matching on MeetYourMate is done by elders who don’t belong to my clan. That’s fine. They’re not the ones who doubted me.” He sighed. “But more than that, from the first moment I saw her . . . I can’t expect this to make sense to you.”

“I trust my elders,” Cat said, blinking her gorgeous caramel eyes. “I guess that’s the difference between us.”

“They’ve probably never had a reason to criticize you.”

“Yes, they have,” she said slyly. He forced himself not to smile, despite everything.

“I see. Well, probably never about something so serious as leaving your clan for a life among humans.”

Cat smiled slightly. Viscerally, against his will, he wondered what it would be like to kiss her . . . to taste her . . . to mount her. The animal chemistry between them forced him to wonder. He hadn’t been around another grizzly in years. Certainly not a girl.

“What’s the harm in getting to know me? I’m a shifter like you. I’m a sow.” She stood from the chair arm to face him. “You need a grizzly girl, and that’s what I am. Show me New York, West. Teach me to love it like you do. See if you can love me too, or if I can love you.”

He shook his head. “No. You’re welcome to stay, but I’ve made my choice. Winnie is special to me. I feel something real for her.” His expression hardened authoritatively. “I won’t let anyone separate us. She’s going to be mine.”

There was a knock on the tigerwood door. “Drinks, Mr. Croft.”

“Come in,” he said, opening up the study. Amy came, set down a platter of drinks and roast beef crostinis, and left again. West shut the door behind her.

“Right, where were you?” Cat teased. “Monologuing about not allowing anyone to separate you and Winnie, I think?”

West smiled thinly. “That sounds right.” He gestured to the table. “The pomegranate martini is yours.”

She took it, throwing it back. “Good stuff. We have rye beer at home.”

“I remember the taste. We had that, too.” He tried his whiskey sour. “Mmm. Amy mixes a mean drink.”

Cat popped a roast beef crostini into her mouth. “And she makes mean . . . bread things.”

“Crostinis.”

Cat shrugged. “Look, West, I was told you would be interested in me, or at least interested in a grizzly girl. But if you’re not, then I can’t force you to be. Unfortunately,” she added.

He relaxed. “It’s not that you’re not beautiful, Cat—”

“Thanks.” She ate another crostini, then another. She had a bear’s appetite for meat. “Let me say this, though. I think you’re making a big mistake. Shifters never mate with humans. And there are good reasons for that. Your getting involved with one . . . it’s bad.”

“I won’t let it go bad.”

“West.” She rolled her eyes, having another crostini. “You can’t control everything.” Polishing off her martini, she set it down on the platter and stared into his eyes. He could see the gold rings of her irises thickening. “I’ll just say one other thing.”

“Please.”

“A bull would be lucky to have me. So that’s your mistake, too.”

“A bull would be lucky to have you. But I don’t make mistakes.”

She shrugged. “Thank you for the martini and the . . .”

“Crostinis.”

“Crostinis.” She smiled, a real smile that showed all her pretty teeth, and he saw how lovely she really was. She didn’t need him for a mate. She’d have men tearing each other apart for her when spring came.

“Goodnight.” She walked around him and disappeared into the apartment.