~ 

“And you’re still here,” Lana said as she strolled toward her car with an assortment of chocolate bars in her hands and eyed the beta as if she didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. In truth, she didn’t. She didn’t know the man well enough to make a judgment call on his personality or the likelihood of what he was going to do next.

“Well, I am supposed to run you out of town,” Cary said and he winced just a little for good measure.

“I’d really like to see you try,” Lana tossed back.

The man was sex on a stick. He had eyes the color milk chocolate, and she liked chocolate, and with jet black eyelashes that were longer than hers and she was wearing make-up, he was certainly eye-candy.

Lana hadn’t run into a shifter yet that wasn’t built for power and stamina, but this one took broad shoulders and muscles to the extreme. His chest looked as if she could curl up on it like a contented cat, and she couldn’t help thinking about why it would be that she’d be contented and purring.

“Now see, that sounds like a challenge to me, and is it really such a good idea to challenge a beta to a show and tell party?”

“Oh,” she tipped her head to one side and pushed a hip out as she eyed the man from head to toe and back again. “You Wanna show me yours?”

Cary had to admit that sounded wickedly dirty to his ears. Or, maybe it was just his mind playing tricks on him as it raced toward a montage of X-rated imagery that got him hot under the collar as it made his length harden in his jeans.

“I’m thinking that might not be a good idea right now…”

“You mean that whole — you’re a shifter, and I’m a witch thing?” She offered him a wicked grin, and that didn’t help his X-rated thoughts.

“I mean; we’re in the middle of the street,” he said, and he couldn’t help but chuckle when she took a moment to look around them.

“So, it’s nothing to be proud of then?” She teased back and watched as he pulled his head back on his neck and straightened to his full height. She’d known that one would be a hard challenge for his male ego to ignore.

“Oh, trust me…”

“Like I haven’t heard that one before, bragging time, and it usually means you have a teeny-weeny can’t be seeny in your pants.” Lana almost spat out a laugh at the man’s expense.

The look on his face was priceless. There was nothing better than watching a man’s mouth opening and closing like a goldfish while they choked on the ego.

Lana did not doubt in her mind that the man was loaded where it mattered most to him. She couldn’t help but flick a look down to that area and back up again in the split second that it took him to choke on his tongue while trying to find the words to counter her claim.

She was sure that she squeaked in the back of her throat when she saw the bulge in his jeans and realized that his ego had landed. She couldn’t be sure if he usually walked around like that because she’d only just met the man, but it did seem a little strange to her.

Perhaps his not so teeny-weeny — in your face like a weather balloon — had taken exception to her teasing and was making a point on its own. After all, everybody knew that a man’s little brain always overrode his big one. This was probably one of those times.

“Trust me…” He bit out, and she was sure that his deep voice had gotten even deeper. Yep, she’d hit his ego right where it hurt the most.

“Well, as you say — we are in the middle of the street, so I’m going to have to trust your word — not that I care, and just as a matter of record — you’re not running me out of town,” Lana said.

For some strange reason, she no longer wanted to be in the conversation anymore. Normally, she would love to stand there and wind the beta up until his head threatened to implode, or explode, or maybe even spin around on his neck like the girl in the exorcist, but somehow that felt like a dangerous thing to do right then.

The alpha had wanted her out of town. She could get behind that attitude quite nicely.

After all, shifters and witches weren’t natural bedfellows. Unless they were mates, and his reaction to her, in the not so teeny-weeny department had her mind going to that very unlikely situation.

It was only natural to wonder about something like that, especially, when his obvious attraction to her was making itself known. That would be bad — not the thought of spending a night with the man. Obviously he had his charms and could show a girl a good time if he knew how to use it — but, the whole mate thing would be very bad timing on fate’s part.

She certainly wasn’t looking for a man, and she definitely wasn’t looking for a life mate. The trouble with shifters was, once they found their mate, they were like a dog with a bone.

She’d much rather play fetch.

“Oh, sweetheart, I have no intention of running you out of town.” He said, but it was the way that he said it. His tone sounded hungry, and the fact that he’d called her sweetheart wasn’t lost on her.

“Because I’m leaving of my own accord,” Lana rushed out. It wasn’t the only thing she rushed, she rushed toward her car, chucking the chocolate bars in through the open window and debated following them in like that.

Cary’s long legs ate up the distance between them, and he was in front of the driver’s door of her car before she could get to it.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” He growled, just a little, it was subtle, but it was there.

Lana had mixed emotions about that sound. On the one hand, it sounded good, like good to her very soul, on the other hand, it was bad — so bad — because it sounded so good.

What was a girl to do? She’d certainly missed her chance to pitch her body head first into the car.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t think it’s happening,” Cary informed her as he crossed his large muscled arms over the broadness of his chest, and gave her a smug smile.

Smug or not, that smile was worth its weight in gold, and she felt the dance of butterflies inside her — before she mentally squished each and every one of them. She didn’t have anything against butterflies. Actually, she quite liked them, but she did have something against being attracted to a wolf shifter.

That wasn’t going to happen.

“Oh, it’s happening,” she informed him.

There was a little voice inside of her head that said; you can’t leave town you’re meeting Frankie — but there was an even louder voice that was screaming at her to; run, run, save herself.

In whose book wasn’t self-preservation going to win the day?

She could call Frankie from the road and tell the witch to get the hell out of town because that would be the safer bet, but when did Frankie ever do anything rational and smart? That woman was a trouble magnet, and crazy to boot. If anyone tangled with Frankie, then they’d be very, very sorry.

Decision made — Frankie could take care of herself. Lana needed to get out town before the beta made a mountain out of a molehill.

“Would you like me to tell you why that’s not happening?” Cary asked, and he leaned in slightly toward her.

“Would you like me to kick you so hard in the balls that you end up wearing them as earmuffs?”

Lana noted the way that he winced slightly at the thought of it. Then he unfolded his arms, and his hands twitched in the direction of his balls as if he couldn’t quite make up his mind whether to protect them or not. She wanted to chuckle but somehow managed to keep it inside.

“Not really, no,” Cary said as his dark eyebrows pinched together over his nose and he eyed her in much the same way that he’d watch a venomous snake poised to strike.

“Better step aside then and let me pass,” Lana warned him.

But there was another warning that was going off inside his head. That warning was more determined and couldn’t be ignored.

Mine…