Violet watched as the car backed up and disappeared down the winding wooded path. When she thought she was alone, she finally allowed her knees to buckle.

“No,” she said aloud, holding onto the nearest thing she could grab. No, she couldn’t give into Nathan.

But she already did. No, that was wrong. She didn’t give into Nathan; she was the one who pulled him into that kiss. And let him push her back onto the hood of his car. And spread her legs and let him touch her until she—

Mine, her tiger moaned in an unhappy voice.

“We have to stay focused. Remember why we can't stay here.”

Violet pulled the towel closer around her and decided to make her way back to the picnic. Oh dear, it had been embarrassing, getting caught like that by Kate and Sybil. And of course, probably everyone saw Nathan carrying her away. That cad.

But, as she walked through the thick thicket of trees, she couldn’t help but remember the feel of his lips on hers and his tongue on her nipples. The way his fingers touched her and made her orgasm …

And then he left, angry at her. But why was he mad? An unfamiliar, uncomfortable feeling crept into her chest.

Mine!

“Shut up, you horny kitty! This wouldn’t have happened if you could control yourself! You should—” She gasped. That’s it.

As a scientist, Violet was taught to find solutions to problems. And her professors always said that sometimes unconventional methods were necessary. She may have just found a way to solve her problem, both with her tiger and Nathan.

* * *

Come Monday morning, Violet had fully convinced herself that she had found the solution. Now, all she had to do was convince Nathan it would be the right thing to do.

She came to work prepared with what she was going to say. He wasn’t in their shared office, so she went ahead and finished her tasks, gathering samples and checking on potential future veins to mine. By the time she returned to the trailer, Nathan was sitting at his desk, his face drawn into a frown as he stared at his computer screen. When he saw her, his scowl deepened and the room seemed to grow colder. It only convinced her she was doing the right thing.

“Oh good, you’re here.” She dropped the bag of samples on her desk and then walked to his side of the office.

He let out a grunt and looked back at his screen.

“Nathan,” she began. No reaction from him.

“Nathan,” she repeated. He continued to ignore her. She let out a sigh and walked closer to him, walking around his desk so she could stand over him. “Are you just going to ignore me?”

He remained still for a few seconds then looked up at her, his eyes glinting like hard emeralds. “What do you want?”

“Look, I’m sorry about what happened on Saturday.”

“You’ve already said you’re sorry.”

But you haven’t said you forgive me. That thought came out of nowhere. She brushed it aside. “Right. And I mean it. But, I think it’s best if we clear the air. I can’t keep working in an environment where we’re both angry or distracted. So, I’ve come up with a solution.”

His expression changed from indifference to curiosity. “You have, have you?”

“Yes.” She took a deep breath. “The sexual attraction between us is obvious. Perhaps it’s a function of our biologies as shifters. Our animals obviously think we’d be highly compatible partners.”

“Uh …” He looked confused now.

Violet bit her lip. She tended to go on different tangents, so she supposed the more direct approach would work better. “I propose we consummate our relationship in order to satisfy our animal urges and perhaps create a more genial and even productive working environment.”

“Excuse me?”

Oh dear, did this man really possess a degree? Did he not understand the words she was saying? Should she make them simpler? “What I’m trying to say is we should have sexual intercourse to relieve the tension between us.” There, she said it. It was the perfect solution to their problem. He obviously wanted her, and she thought his performance the other day was more than adequate. Okay, a lot adequate. Much more adequate than anyone she’d ever been with before.

His eyes seemed to glass over but when they cleared, she saw a flash of … something in there. He muttered a curse and stood up. “I thought that’s what you meant.” He grabbed her shoulders and flipped their positions, so she was trapped between him and his desk.

“So you agree?” she asked.

“To have sex with you?”

She shivered involuntarily when he touched her cheek with a finger. “Yes.” He leaned in close. Oh, was he going to kiss her now? “I’m free tonight, if your schedule is open.”

“I’ll have to check with my secretary,” he bit out. “So, you want to share your hot little body with me—”

“We would be ‘sharing’ each other,” she corrected. And oh … he was so close she could feel the warmth of his body against her. She wanted to feel the hard muscles of his chest under hand palms again.

“And then after?”

She blinked. After? Did he mean he wanted more than one night? “I think once should be enough, don’t you agree? What more could you possibly want? Besides, I won't be staying in this little town forever.” Blackstone was quaint, but she was needed elsewhere.

The tension in the air broke.

“No thanks,” he said, shoving away from her. “I don’t want anything from you.”

Violet felt like she was doused with a bucket of ice water.

A ringing sound from the desk made Violet jump away. Nathan grabbed the receiver forcefully and answered the line. He said a few brief words and put it down. “Well, I gotta go. See ya around.”

“Oh.” That cold feeling seeped into her bones, into her very core. He was angry at her. Again.

She put her up hands in frustration. “Men,” she muttered as she sat back at her desk.

This is why she didn’t have long-term relationships. Her parents always said sex was natural and encouraged her to explore her sexuality. Many of her previous partners were only happy to be in a casual relationship with her; she usually picked men who had their own goals and were simply too busy to be tied down like her. She thought Nathan would be the same, but clearly she read him wrong.

Mine, the tiger whined.

A flash of memory from Saturday surfaced in her brain. Did he fake that? But then again, she kissed him. Perhaps he didn’t want her to be embarrassed, so he kept going with the charade.

“Ugh.” No, this was it. Done and over. She would just have to get through the next few weeks and hope her funding would come through soon and she could leave this place.

She spent the rest of the day keeping herself busy. It was a good thing she had learned to compartmentalize her emotions, locking them away so she could perform her duties. Even thought her heart wasn’t in it, she still had a job to do and she couldn’t disappoint Dr. Philipps by slacking off just because she was feeling miffed. Nathan never did come back to the office, which suited her just fine. However, she was surprised by the person who walked into the trailer right before she was going to clock out.

“Ben,” she greeted the bear shifter as stood in the doorway.

“Violet. May I come in?”

“Of course. I’m actually on my way out, though. But I can wait.”

Ben sat down on the chair in front of her desk. “I won’t keep you. I just need a couple of minutes.”

“Was my work for the day not satisfactory?” she asked, her brows drawing together. “I know it took me a while to collect those samples, but I wanted to make sure I did them right and—”

He put a hand up. “Oh no, not at all. You’re doing a fine job. It’s not that. Er,” he rubbed the back of his head. “It’s about Nathan.”

“What about Nathan?”

“Well … I was wondering, uh …” He shifted uncomfortably. “He seemed really … upset today. He just left without saying goodbye.”

“Upset?” He barely showed any emotion when he left. He was downright cold.

“Yeah. I was wondering if you said something to upset him. Not that I blame you or anything. Oh shit.” He stood up. “Sorry, this is probably a personal matter. Between you two. I was concerned as a friend, but maybe I shouldn’t be asking you this.”

Irritation pricked at her. “Why would he be upset? I offered him sexual intercourse, and he was the one who turned me down.”

Ben’s jaw dropped. “Right. This really is inappropriate, so I’ll be going now.”

“Wait!” Perhaps Ben could help shed some light on this mystery. “Ben, wait. I’d like to talk to you. As Nathan’s friend and not my boss.”

“Oh. Uhm, I’m not really comfortable—”

“How long have you known him?”

“Er, pretty much since we were kids.”

“So you know him well?”

He scratched his chin. “I guess you could say that.”

“Last Saturday we almost had intercourse in his car. I mean, not in his car, but on his car.”

“Violet—”

“We were interrupted, which is why I had to qualify the event as ‘almost.’ But then I realized we were both attracted to each other, unattached, and obviously sexually compatible. It made sense.”

“As your boss, I don’t think you should be saying the s-word around me.”

Violet continued. “So, when I offered him a no-strings attached sex—, uh, arrangement, he turned me down.”

“Uhm, don’t you have female friends you can talk to about this?” Ben asked.

She stood up and slammed her palms on the table. “Please, Ben, I’m trying to figure him out. What did I say that upset him?”

Ben sighed and leaned back in his chair. “You want to know the honest truth, Violet?”

She sat back down. “Please enlighten me.”

“I’ve known Nathan since we were kids, though I was a grade ahead in school. A year after I went to Colorado State to study mining engineering, he followed me to complete the same degree. Double major, along with advanced math. Most people think he’s some dumb jock because he’s kind of a party animal and has a reputation with the ladies. But he did well in school, even graduated summa cum laude.”

“I never would have guessed.”

“Well, yeah, people tend to underestimate him a lot. He likes to put on a show, see? But I think, well … he’s much more sensitive than that.”

“Oh.” A feeling of dread crept into her.

“Maybe, just maybe, when you offered se—that to him, he might have been insulted.”

It all clicked into place. Violet cursed her bluntness. Not everything was about science and logic. She kept forgetting people weren’t like machines or experiments. While she thought she was being logical and smart about the whole thing, she had inadvertently been cold and clinical. She basically treated him like a piece of meat without any regard for his feelings whatsoever.

“Huh.” She made up her mind. “I need to speak with Nathan. And to apologize. For real this time. Where might I find him after hours? Do you have his address?”

“Uh, well. I imagine he’d be at The Den. It’s a local bar here.”

“Right. I could look it up.”

“I’m actually headed there myself later in the evening,” Ben said. “Penny’s a waitress there and her shift starts at seven. But we’re meeting for dinner. You’re welcome to join us.”

“Oh, I couldn’t intrude.” She supposed a bar would be more of a neutral territory and better than showing up at his house unannounced. “If you give me the address, I could show up when he’s there.”

“I can’t guarantee he’ll be there.”

“It’s fine.” She had to see him, and she wasn’t sure she could wait until tomorrow. If Nathan could find ways to avoid her at work, she might never see him again. “I’ll take my chances.”