I bolted upright, clutching at my head. Fire hot pokers skewered my eyes, drilling into my skull, and something had crawled into my mouth and died. Peeling my tongue from where it was firmly attached to the corner of my mouth, glued there by a patch of dried drool, I blinked, waiting for my vision to come back online. “What time is it?” I managed, my voice bouncing around inside my head like a roar.

“Too early. Go back to sleep,” the covered mound next to me mumbled, a hand snaking out of the sheets and slapping at me.

Finally able to see, I squinted at the extreme amount of sunlight streaming into the room. Nita’s house. Copious amounts of vodka. Girl talk. Drunken singing. More girl talk. Dissecting the males of this town in vivid, descriptive detail. More vodka.

Wait. Did I have a … hangover?

I slapped out at Nita, who I was now certain was the person hiding beneath the covers. Thank God. “What the hell did you give me last night?”

Inching the cover lower to reveal the top part of her face, she squinted at me, obviously resenting the light just as much as I was. “Shifter moonshine.” She huffed, then winked at me. “Good stuff, right?”

Already, the hangover was starting to fade, though not as fast as I would like. Shifter metabolism for the win. “Hell, yeah. Who? Where?” I made gimme motions with my hands.

“The cats have been experimenting and they decided to share.” Translation: Nita either flirted it out of them or went all alpha lion on their asses. “If you decide to stay then you can have all the moonshine you want.”

My gaze landed on her alarm clock and I bolted out of bed, sifting through the pile of clothes on the floor and yanking mine on. “Now you’re talking. Bribery, I like your style.”

Rolling over, she peered up at me, her corkscrew curls springing out all over her head with a mind of their own. “You late for something?” At my blank eyed stare, her lips curved into a grin. “Or late for … someone? Like a certain smoldering, green-eyed, hot for you wolf?”

Internally, I groaned, managing to keep a straight face. Oh, yeah, we’d totally done the girl talk. “I’m back in control of my senses today.”

She stretched, looking very much like the cat she was. “Honey, I’d like him to be in control of all of my senses.”

My snarl was unexpected. I bit it off, eyes widening as Nita let out a peal of laughter.

My—

“Don’t,” I muttered, hopping into one boot, then tugging on the other. I was talking to Nita and my dragon, who were both too much for me to handle with the hangover that had suddenly roared back to life. “Just … don’t.”

“Have fun with your wolf,” she called, rolling back over with a little wave.

* * *

The kitchen was silent when I snuck through the door. Work surfaces polished and not a crumb or dirty pan in sight. The smell of bacon and eggs hung in the air, a faint tang of grease clinging to the edges. My stomach rumbled, my hangover demanding sustenance.

“You missed breakfast.”

I almost tripped over my feet and head-butted the pantry door. Swinging around, I spied Owen lounging once again in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest, causing his muscles to bulge and strain the tight t-shirt he wore, an eyebrow arched in my direction.

I considered bricking that doorway up. That would teach him. Leaning a hip against the counter, I pushed a hand through my hair, wincing as my fingers snagged on more than a few tangles. “Looks like you managed fine without me.” No way was I saying sorry, especially not with the look he was giving me. It was all disappointed and dominant, all rolled up into one big bundle of not my problem.

“It’s your job.”

“I’d better get started on lunch, then.” Ignoring him, I yanked open the pantry, scanning the shelves but not really seeing them. Behind me, silence strained the air, but no footsteps indicating he was leaving. Couldn’t a girl catch a break around here? I’d taken one night to have a mini freak out, and now I was getting my ass reamed. I took a deep breath, readying myself for even more censure, realizing my mistake immediately. The scent of wolf flooded my senses, carrying with it Owen’s particular brand of sensual torture. Leather with a zing of lime. Fresh with a hidden warmth, it always threatened to bring me to my knees.

It also meant he was close. Really close.

I heard him inhale, the ghostly fingertips of his breath teasing wisps of hair at my nape. Heat from his body seeped along my spine, sending tingles racing along my arms and up into my cheeks as my blood rushed and pooled beneath the surface.

I could turn and face him, align my body with his, fit my curves to all his hard places. My fingers dug into the door. Steal a kiss. Then another. Learn his taste. Savor it. Damn, it had to be the dry spell I’d been having.

“You were with Nita.” His words were a low rumble, adding to the sensations that washed over me, muddling my head.

Then his words filtered through.

Or, rather, what he wasn’t saying.

“Who did you think I was with?”

His silence told me everything I needed to know.

Who did he think he was? Checking up on me! “You’re not my keeper, wolf.” Like he had any say in what I could or couldn’t do. Or who, for that matter.

My elbow flew back without giving him a chance to try and talk his way out of things, bouncing off his firm stomach and earning a small grunt. Probably of surprise, because the man had steel for abs, that’s for sure.

Resisting the urge to rub my poor elbow, I spun around and gave him my best glare. One that should have him withering in his boots. “You don’t own me.” No one does.

At least he had the decency to wince, but he didn’t back away. Didn’t move an inch. Just continued to stare at me, as if trying to see inside my head.

Yeah, good luck with that, sucker!

I don’t know what warned me, if it was something in his eyes, a twitch of a muscle, or some kind of sixth sense, but my hand flew up stopping him in his tracks.

His face was closer, eyes burning with barely banked heat, a hunger straining his features as he bit back a growl.

He’d been about to lay one on me. After acting like a caveman with control issues he thought I’d just pucker up and take it. After I’d just told him he didn’t own me!

“No.” I made sure my voice was firm, as if talking to a two-year-old.

A line formed between his brows. “No?”

Almost as if he’d never heard the word before.

“Uh huh. Nope.” I dragged the word out, ending it with a pop of my lips.

Poor thing, he looked confused.

He tilted his head, the mannerism more wolf than man. “Why not?” His voice was husky and deep, tugging at strings inside me that he had no right messing with.

Because then I might lose myself to you. Let myself forget that you don’t own me, possess me.

“Because I work for you.”

A tilt of his lips was my only hint. “You’re fired. Effective immediately.”

I almost choked on my answer, “You can’t fire me!”

He let out a dry laugh. “Last time I checked, I’m the boss around here.”

I blew out a stream of air, wondering how the hell I’d gone from fending off a kiss to being jobless, and therefore homeless. “I’m not going to kiss you just so I can have my job back.”

“You’re scared.”

Oh no, he didn’t. If I could spit fire from my eyes, he would be missing his eyebrows. Drawing on my inner badass—my Zen craving dragon, of course—I rolled my eyes. “Of you?”

Of course, he didn’t back away, didn’t curl up into a ball and weep. No, he moved closer, smothering me in leather and lime until with every inhale I was consuming him. “You’re scared of the truth.”

“Spit it out, I haven’t got all day to play your inane games.” I examined a fingernail—stupid talons always ruined my manicures—and curled my lip. “I’ve got some job hunting to do.”

Snagging my hand, he brought it to his mouth, his words brushing against my skin, “We’re meant to be together.”

Every synapse in my body had fired, racing to my hand to revel in the sparks of sensation that burst from where his lips brushed against my skin. Who knew the hand was an erogenous zone?

Wait, what? We’re meant to be together? He couldn’t mean… I tried to form the words, but nothing came out. He was toying with me. Playing the ultimate seduction perfectly. Whispering the one thing that every little shifter girl fantasized about while growing up.

His eyes locked onto mine, pushing his next words into my very soul, “I knew you were the one fated for me the second I laid eyes on you.” His gaze softened, filling with the kind of wonder I’d only ever heard about.

And never directed at little old me.

But I wasn’t destined for a mate; it had never been my dream. Other girls may have fantasized about their perfect match, but I had spent my days surviving. Learning. And, in the end it had come down to waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself. I definitely hadn’t been waiting around for a man to come save my ass. “No.” There was that word again, and like before, he didn’t seem to like it very much, his eyes darkening to a golden hue.

Any thought I’d ever had of kissing him, of maybe taking him out for a test drive, were smashed to pieces, and I silently mourned the loss. But, if what he said was actually true, then he would never willingly let me go.

And I would have to break his heart when I left.

So, my answer was no.