Chapter 11

A lot of people are only alive because I shed too much hair to get away with murder.

-Everyday women problems

Raven

“You’ll stay with me,” Wolf said abruptly, turning his head to face me.

I shook my head.

“I can’t stay with you. I have a couple renting my place right now, but I’ll go home as soon as I give them the notice that I promised to give,” I said. “And these sheets are so soft.”

To prove my point, I rubbed my face in the sheets, and then transferred my face to Wolf’s chest.

Wolf’s hairy chest.

“The sheets are so much softer,” I informed him.

He snorted and pushed me off, picking up the discarded condom from the floor and dropping it in the waste paper basket right next to the desk before heading to the bathroom.

“That’s gross,” I told him. “You need to take that and wrap it up in some toilet paper. Then flush it.”

He shut the door on me and did his business, and I laid back and snuggled into the bed while I waited for him to come back.

I was sexually satisfied, tired, and full.

That was the perfect combination for a full eight hours of sleep, had Wolf let me close my eyes for more than five seconds.

“Do you want to go get breakfast?” he called after I heard the toilet flush.

“No,” I murmured, getting more comfortable by reaching for the sheet and pulling it up and over my head.

The light from the nightstand was interrupting my ability to fall asleep.

If I could just get up and block out the light…

“Ack!” I squawked when Wolf fell down onto the bed beside my prone body, propelling me inches into the air before I landed back down in my previous position. “What the hell, man?”

Wolf chuckled as he yanked the sheet away and tossed it to the floor.

“You can sleep in my thousand thread count sheets,” he said. “Later.”

“I don’t want to do it later. I want to do it now. It’s still dark out,” I informed him, pointing to the windows where there was absolutely no sun shining through the slats of the blinds.

“Those are blackout curtains,” he told me, getting up and yanking the window open. “See?”

I flinched at the sun that was peeking up over the clouds, and groaned.

“Please,” I whined. “I only need an hour tops.”

“It’s already seven. I slept beside you for four hours before I woke you. I have to be at the office at nine, and if I hurry I can drop you at my place and we can get breakfast,” he said.

“I have to find a job,” I told him.

“Come work at the office,” he offered. “I need someone to do the filing and answer phones, besides me. You can even bring your dog with you.”

I gave him a look, but it was lost on him since he wasn’t looking at me.

Instead he was looking down the plane of his chest and belly as he buttoned his jeans.

“I have to suck in when I button my pants,” I said.

He looked up and grinned at me but wisely chose not to comment on that statement.

When I reluctantly started to move out of the bed, he leaned one muscled forearm into the bed and leaned over until he could place his mouth on mine.

“What was that for?” I asked breathlessly as he pulled away from me.

My breathing was ragged, and he hadn’t done much more than touch his lips to mine.

“I’m happy,” he said.

I blinked.

“You’re not normally?” I asked carefully.

He shrugged.

“I am and I’m not. My life is one of murder and mayhem. It’s nice to have something in it that’s soft and understanding, and who likes spending time with me. Oh, and who’s over the age of five,” he teased.

I reached up and ran the palm of my hand over his beard.

“I can’t get enough of you. I lose my mind when you’re on top of me, but if we don’t hurry, we’ll miss breakfast,” I whispered.

He leaned down and kissed me one more time, taking me all the way down to the mattress.

His hard body pressed against mine, and it took everything I had in me not to wrap my legs around his waist.

However, he was wearing pants already, and I wasn’t sure he’d appreciate wearing a wet spot courtesy of my pussy on his pants while we ate.

The town talked as it was; there was no reason to give them any more ammunition than they already had.

“I’m considering the merits of breakfast,” I swallowed. “Are you sure you’re hungry?”

He nodded against my lips.

“Yep. Starved. Took me two hours last night to find you when I could’ve been sleeping beside you,” he informed me.

I laughed and rolled until my back was to him.

Standing up, I stretched my arms up high over my head, groaning when all of my sore muscles un-bunched and stretched out.

“Ughhhh,” I groaned. “I’m going to be dead by eight o’clock.”

Wolf got up and headed for his shirt that was across the room, but his eyes stayed on me.

Well, my breasts, not me in particular.

But I enjoyed it anyway.

“Do I have time to shower?” I asked.

He shook his head.

I rolled my eyes.

“You just want me to smell of you, don’t you?” I teased.

His brows rose.

“There something wrong with that?”

I shook my head.

“Not a damn thing.”

***

“I was being serious, you know,” I told Wolf. “I’m not working for you.”

“Just trust me,” he said. “You’ll understand why I need the help the moment you walk inside, okay?”

Rolling my eyes, I walked in the door that Wolf held open for me, then promptly blushed when I came face to face with Griffin, Wolf’s Texas Ranger partner, and another member of the MC that Wolf was a part of.

“Hello, Griffin,” I said to the large blonde Viking. “How are you and Lenore doing?”

Griffin grinned, his eyes zeroing in on the hickey on my neck.

“Fuckin’ awesome,” he replied. “And you?”

I blushed beet red and shrugged. “Been better.”

It was true.

I’d tried to sneak around and pay for breakfast with my card earlier at the diner and was promptly told by the waitress that my card had been declined.

I then had to go back to Wolf and tell him what happened.

His face had frozen, and he’d leaned over and withdrawn a couple of twenties from his pocket and placed them both on the table before standing up. Slowly. Then he’d proceeded to take my hand and drag me out of the diner with everyone and their brother watching him do it.

He’d not said a word until we’d pulled into the parking lot of his office, where he proceeded to say that I would be working there and not to argue.

Which led us to now, and my inappropriate attire for a person that was going to work at a law enforcement office.

“Wolf said you were going to file and answer phones. That true?”

I blinked, then nodded my head. “For today, anyway.”

A slight grin tugged at the corner of his mouth, and I could suddenly see the hardness of his features melt away into something devastatingly handsome.

“You’ll stay if you do a good job today,” he responded.

I rolled my eyes and moved out from between the two men, freezing when I saw the state that the office was in.

“This is…disgusting,” I told them. “Don’t y’all know how to use a trash can?”

Wolf chuckled as he walked in the direction of what I assumed was his desk.

However, there were so many coffee cups, chip bags, candy wrappers and fast food containers that I wasn’t sure I would classify it as that.

Then there were the files.

Stacked at least two feet high all the way around the room.

“Where exactly are these file cabinets that you want me to file these in?” I asked the two men.

“In the back room,” Griffin said as he passed, heading to his desk, which didn’t look much better than Wolf’s.

Although it looked like he at least managed to get most of his trash into the large trashcan beside his desk, even if it looked like he hadn’t emptied it in weeks.

“Don’t y’all have a cleaning crew to do this?” I asked them.

“Don’t trust anyone right now,” Wolf called. “Come here and let me show you something.”

I moved to his desk and stopped beside him.

He was pointing at his computer, and I leaned forward, my breasts brushing his muscled forearm, as I read the email he had pulled up.

“So Travis thinks that you’ve pissed off someone who’s computer savvy?” I surmised once I finished reading. “Why does it have to be someone computer savvy? Why can’t he just pay someone to do all this?”

“Because fucking with multiple people's lives, especially the majority of those people being in law enforcement, isn’t something that a run-of-the-mill hacker would want to get involved in. Simply being paid wouldn’t be enough of an incentive for this.”

“True,” I allowed. “But what if you pissed the computer person off, too?”

Wolf’s lips thinned. “I think it’s someone that’s connected with the case that I’d been working on before you and my sister got involved. It was a large-scale sex trafficking ring, and they kept their inner circle very small and tight. I made a significant dent in their operation by pinning Jensen and Barrett. I got too close, and now he’s warning me to back off by showing me his considerable power and just how far he can reach.”

I pursed my lips.

“I don’t even know what to say to this,” I told him. “I have no intimate knowledge of stuff like this besides what I’ve read in romance novels.”

His lips twitched.

“I’m showing you this because I thought you’d want to read the bottom part,” he said, smiling.

His smile was so fucking sexy that I wanted to kiss it off his face, but I could hear Griffin typing away at his computer, so any hanky panky would have to wait until later. Much later.

Wolf’s son would be staying with him tonight since it was Friday, and he’d have him all weekend.

“I don’t want to work with him,” I told Wolf. “He’s mean.”

Wolf chuckled and pushed my bottom forward.

I took the hint and moved until I could plop down into his lap.

“What’s the problem?” Wolf asked softly. “He said you can do this from home. Which means you can do both jobs from here. You’ll be getting paid twice. Works out well for both of us, to be honest.”

“He fired me. I can’t believe he fired me,” I said, surprised because it was true. I still couldn’t believe he fired me.

I’d come into the office, and he’d called me into his sanctuary where he immediately ripped out my heart by telling me I had to leave. Not just my job, but my home as well.

“He never meant it to be permanent,” Wolf said gently. “He wanted you safe, and he can’t make you safe without being with you every hour of every day. Something that he just couldn’t do.”

I pursed my lips and chose not to answer.

That didn’t mean much to me. I could’ve continued to work my job and go home just like I’d been doing. What had changed?

“How do you know all of this?” I asked him suspiciously.

Wolf grinned.

“We talk about you,” he said, no apology whatsoever coloring his voice.

I narrowed my eyes.

“Why?” I asked. “Y’all don’t even get along.”

He nodded his head in agreement.

“We don’t,” he agreed. “But we’re still willing to work together to make sure nothing happens to that pretty little face of yours.”

“So you’re only with me because of my pretty face?” I asked, fluttering my eyelashes at him.

He rolled his eyes and pushed me off his lap.

I took the hint before he dumped me on the floor and headed to the other side of the desk while he moved his big body around to where Griffin was standing.

He said something to the big man who was on the phone, then headed to the back of the room where he disappeared into the door.

Griffin finished up with his phone call and headed in the same direction.

I leaned my butt against the desk and wondered what I was supposed to do now.

Then my question was answered when the two men came back out with a filing cabinet between them.

Setting it down between the two desks, they turned and disappeared into the next room.

I guess that answered that.

They wanted me to work.

Did I want to work? For Wolf? That seemed like a breach in protocol. There had to be a law somewhere that said a woman who had no clue what the hell she was doing couldn’t work for two Texas Rangers without first getting some proper training.

Shouldn’t I be sworn in or something? Promise to keep all their secrets or they have the right to remove my tongue from my head?

Obviously there wasn’t, because once they got the last of the filing cabinets—eight total—Griffin headed back to his desk while Wolf headed to me. “You’re ready to work.”

I hid my smile.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be…I don’t know… read my rights?” I asked.

He chuckled. “I don’t know. Should you?”

I didn’t like that smile on his face. The fact that he was laughing at my inner turmoil had my chest expanding and my eyes narrowing as I placed both of my hands on my hips.

“You don’t have to make fun of me!” I informed him haughtily.

His grin disappeared. “I’m not making fun of you. I’m wondering what you’re holding back from. This is the exact same shit you did at Hail Auto Recovery. Travis said as much.”

I sighed.

“I’m nervous. I don’t like change,” I admitted. “Are you sure you want me here? And in your house? That seems like you’ll see me too much.”

Wolf snorted.

“I’m in my office about twenty percent of the time, if not less. Usually only for lunch and then I’m gone.” He pointed to his desk in an as-you-can-see gesture. “I work about sixty hours a week. You’ll be safe here, though. The Uncertain Saints have this office wired, as well as practically the whole block.”

He took my hand and led me to the window.

“You’re safe going across the street to the diner. You’re also safe in Lenore’s shop,” he pointed to a building down the road.

“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t realize that she was this close to you,” I admitted.

He rumbled in agreement.

“You’re also safe at Annie’s hair salon there.” He pointed at another building next to Lenore’s shop.

Relief started to seep into me.

Knowing I wasn’t trapped really did a lot for my anxiety level.

“What about when I’m done here and want to go home?” I asked.

“Then I’ll take you. Or, if I’m not available, one of the boys.” He led me back to his chair. “You can take my desk until we can get you a new one. Sometimes Mig’s office is here as well, but his shit’s in the backroom so you won’t need to touch that area unless he asks you to. Okay?”

I nodded my head.

“Bathroom?” I asked, just thinking of the idea.

“Backroom,” he said, pointing at the door across the wide-open room.

While I was looking, he bent down and placed his mouth on mine.

I gasped and he took advantage of the situation, delving his tongue into my mouth.

I lost my balance and ended up on the desk, which he took one step further and leaned me backwards.

Old food bags crunched, and something heavy knocked to the floor by my foot, but I was too lost in that kiss to notice…or care.

When he let me back up for air a few moments later, I gasped and stared up at him in shock.

“You can’t do that when we’re at work like this!” I hissed, pushing off the desk and away from him.

I looked over to see if Griffin saw but realized that the filing cabinets hid us from his view.

Thank God.

The windows to the outside, however, were open wide.

Anyone who wanted to look in could see.

“Don’t do that again,” I ordered him.

Wolf’s smile was wide, and he shook his head at me.

“If I want to fuck you on that desk with the whole world watching, you’ll let me,” he taunted me.

My brows likely raised to the roof on that statement.

“What the hell makes you think that?” I crossed my arms over my chest and started to tap my foot.

“Because you can’t get enough of me. You like me. You lose your mind when I’m on top of you, my body down the length of yours. You won’t be able to help yourself,” he teased.

I rolled my eyes.

I’d said those words this morning to him while we’d been fucking.

“I’m going to stay silent during our lovemaking if you don’t watch it,” I pointed at him for emphasis.

He flashed his white teeth before yanking on my finger that was outstretched toward him.

I went, liking my finger attached to my body, and landed against him with a hard thump.

Breathless from the kiss already, I lost what little I had left and glared.

“I’m going to go to work. If you want food, call the diner. They’ll deliver. Tell them to put it on the Rangers’ account, comprende?”

I gave him a thumbs-up, even though both of my arms were around his back.

“Good.”

Then he was gone, Griffin following him a few moments later, leaving me alone in the office staring after them.