Chapter Two

Joselyn stared at her phone one week later, flipping it around and around and then gripping it tighter to smooth her thumb over the text she’d received two minutes ago from Alton.

Can you talk?

He would text her like that first without calling. He wasn’t insensitive to the fact that she lived with her parents and would need to ensure she was alone in her room to take a call.

At the moment, she was alone. It was nine thirty at night. She had retreated to her room as she did most nights to read or watch television.

She stared at the message again. She wanted to hear his voice. Desperately. But was it a good idea?

Discussing work would be totally off limits. They’d established that rule when they finished school and returned to Silvertip to join their respective family breweries. But the situation at her job was currently far more stressful than usual, and no way in hell could she bring it up.

Talking to Alton made her feel like a traitor to her pack. While her family was in the beginning stages of developing a fresh new competitive product, leaking even one detail would be devastating.

At the same time, any conversation with Alton in which she intentionally chose not to discuss her pack’s business would also feel unfaithful to him as even a friend. It made her cringe.

She should not be speaking to a member of the competition for any reason. And she sure as shit should not be experiencing such a dry mouth, tight nipples, and wet panties at the prospect of hearing his voice while she lay in her bed under the covers. She moaned out loud as she rubbed her legs together. Fuck.

Thoughts of Alton always made her horny. She used him as her muse every time she masturbated. It was unavoidable. His image crept into her head against her will.

She’d never so much as touched the man, but the effort to avoid doing so took an immense amount of willpower.

What was the worst that could happen? She asked herself the question for the millionth time, knowing full well what the answer was. Sparks could fly, igniting a passion she was powerless to avoid. And Heaven only knew where one touch would lead. Undoubtedly in seconds, they would find themselves naked, their bodies pressed together at every possible point of contact.

Could they flush the need out of their systems and move on with life? She’d asked herself that question a million times also. And the answer was undoubtedly no. She feared he was right and they were meant to be together.

But why would Fate play such a cruel joke on them?

She came from a close-knit family. She loved them. As the youngest of three and the only daughter, she had spent her life doted on by her parents and brothers. Though she rarely heard them speak directly ill of the Tarbens, she couldn’t be sure how they would respond to finding out she had befriended one of them.

The same was not true of the rest of her pack. Her father’s two younger brothers held on to their feud with the Tarbens as if their life depended on it. She’d heard so many ridiculous stories in her lifetime that she had no idea which were valid and which were total fabrications.

The bottom line was that at some point more than one hundred years ago, the two families fought over land and water. Someone from one pack claimed someone from the other pack encroached on their property, and an all-out war began. Every time any member of one family ran into a member of the other pack in town, they would end up in a brawl.

Over time, tensions grew until blood was shed. Joselyn shuddered at the memory of the lore. She hated thinking about it. It gave her a sick feeling in her stomach every time. Until both packs were willing to come to a truce and let the past go, nothing would ever change.

And yet the animosity survived. Relationships between the packs were strictly forbidden. Even friendships. Who knew what would happen if something even more serious resulted from communicating with a Tarben?

Joselyn shuddered, still staring at her phone.

In her soul, she didn’t believe any member of her immediate family would deny her whatever her heart desired, but the rest of her pack was another story. The feud ran deep. Fraternizing with the perceived enemy would cause a battle. Sleeping with one of them would cause a war. And she couldn’t imagine what would happen if she bound herself for life to a Tarben. Half the pack would probably self-combust.

She should not take his call. Pure torture. She should send him a snarky message and nip the idea of renewing her friendship with him in the bud.

It was one thing to hang out with him while they were at U of C. No one was around to discover them. But they were back in Silvertip now. Those days were over. So was that friendship. Why the hell had she agreed to renew communication with him last week?

She thought about her response. Spun the phone around in her hand for a few minutes. She should ignore the text. Tell him no. Tell him to stop stalking her. Tell him to find someone else to badger.

Instead…

Sure. She hit Send on the text before she could chicken out.

Two seconds later, her phone rang. She took a deep breath and answered. “Hey,” she whispered. Her voice came out unintentionally husky. It wasn’t as if her parents could hear her conversation from the other side of the house. She cringed, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

“Hey, yourself.” He sounded winded. “How was your day?”

“Busy.” She soaked in his voice as if she could store it for later. Every tone was memorized anyway. She had no trouble conjuring his words in her mind anytime she desired. And judging from the pulsing of her clit between her squeezed thighs, tonight would require a vibrator and memories of his soft voice filtering into her mind before she could relax enough to sleep.

“Me too. Why did I ever think two engineering degrees was a reasonable decision? Some days I’m pulled in two directions like a rubber band. It’s possible I might snap.”

She smiled.

For several moments, neither of them spoke. She heard his rapid breathing. It matched her own. Her stomach was in knots. She needed to shore up her libido and keep her feelings to herself. This friendship thing wasn’t going to work. She could already tell. She should never have taken his call.

Work. Vague work conversation was a good thing.

“You think coming home to take the spot of marketing director right out of college has been a walk in the park?” she asked. “Seems like I spend more than half my time proving myself. I have to work twice as long and twice as hard to get my job done. At least half my family doesn’t think I can do the job, nor do they trust me. It’s infuriating.”

“Damn. I’m sorry. At least I don’t have to contend with that. My family respects me. Do you think it’s because you’re a woman?” he asked. She could hear the tentative tone of his voice. He didn’t mean to insinuate they would be right. He was merely inquiring.

She sighed, pressing her thighs together as she closed her eyes. Why did he have to be so damn kind? “Probably. Plus there’s some grumbling of nepotism.”

He chuckled. “Nepotism? That’s crazy. Everyone working in your brewery is a member of your pack. Same as mine. How could anyone accuse you of benefiting from nepotism?”

He was right, but he didn’t understand the dynamics. “Because my father’s the CEO and pack leader. He gave me this job. Two of my uncles think I spend the day coloring.”

“What?” Alton’s voice rose in anger. “What ignorance. My father is also pack leader and CEO, but no one has accused me of being incompetent.”

“Probably because your degree is in a respectable field with visible results,” she pointed out.

“Marketing is respectable. And do they not realize you worked your ass off in school to also get a business degree?”

A flutter that started in her belly when she answered the phone crawled up to include her heart. Why did he have to be so reasonable and supportive? She needed to end this call before she said something she would regret.

“Jos?” The way he said her name made her breath catch. It always did.

“I’m still here.” She sighed. “I should go.”

“No. Please, Jos. Don’t hang up.”

She bit her lip, fighting a new emotion—sadness. His tone was desperate. This thing… This thing between them had to stop. Why did she keep torturing herself like this?

“Jos?” His pitch was higher this time.

“Yeah.”

“Meet me somewhere.”

“That’s not a good idea. If someone caught us…” It was a bad idea for many reasons far more important than anyone seeing them.

“No one will catch us. I stumbled upon this old rundown cabin. It’s just one room, hidden among the trees. No idea how long it’s been there or who it belongs to, but whoever it is hasn’t been to it for years.”

Was he asking her to meet him in private in the mountains?

“I’m gonna clean it up a bit. I want you to meet me there.”

She groaned. “Alton, that’s a horrible plan, and you know it.”

“What I know is that we’re more than friends. What I know is that I need a bigger piece of you. What I know is that it’s futile to deny the pull and ignore it forever. We’ve played that game. It’s not working. Meet me.”

“And do what, Alton?” She pushed herself to sitting on the bed, one arm going across her chest to squeeze her puckered nipples as she chased thoughts of being alone with Alton from her mind. “You think if we secretly start meeting somewhere, things will be all better between us?”

“I think we owe it to ourselves to explore the possibilities. Yes.”

She shook her head, drawing her knees up to press more firmly against her breasts. “No.” The cost of giving in to his demands was too high. Her pack. Her family. Her job. Her life. She couldn’t do that to herself or her family.

“Jos.” His voice was softer. Gentle. “I have so many questions.”

“Alton.” She mimicked him. “I don’t want the answers. They won’t change anything. In fact, they’ll make things worse.”

“Baby, please.”

She jerked, her spine straightening at his use of such an intimate endearment. He’d never used that word before. It was too familiar, insinuating they had something much deeper than a passing secret friendship.

She couldn’t breathe. She pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it as if it were personally responsible for contaminating her with an incurable disease. To avoid the possibility, she ended the call and dropped the phone on the bed next to her.

For long moments, she stared at the cell, holding her breath. Finally, she gasped. Tears ran down her face. Why?

Because that one word reached inside her and clutched her soul in its grip. She was lonely and probably depressed. For months she had ignored those facts, but speaking to Alton brought them to the surface.

She needed more out of life. She deserved more. And as long as she allowed herself to hold on to even the illusion of a friendship with Alton Tarben, she was holding herself back from happiness.

She had to stop talking to him. End this madness. After years of skirting the edge of something she couldn’t deny happening between them, it was time to cut the strings and pull her life together.

She reached for the lamp next to her bed to turn it off and slid back under the covers. There was no way to ignore the voice in her head. Baby…

One word.

A plea. A breath. A sigh. Possessive. Endearing. Cherishing.

He had no right to claim her.

The pulsing between her legs grew as the word rang out over and over in her mind. She spread her knees apart and reached between her thighs to stroke herself over the thin barrier of her panties.

Oh, God.

Tipping her head back, she bit her lower lip to keep from making any noise. Her parents were nowhere near her room, but she didn’t like to take chances with them.

Why was she still living at home? She made decent money. Could she get a place in town and have some privacy?

She knew the answer to the question. Answers, really. For one, Alton had talked her into returning to her parents’ home when they’d left university. He said he didn’t like the idea of her being alone somewhere. It wasn’t safe. He insinuated he would feel the same about his sisters or any woman.

Or had he only wanted to know where she was and ensure it was harder for her to date?

She moaned as she dipped her fingers under the lace of her panties and tapped her clit. Squeezing her eyes shut, she admitted to herself that Alton’s desires matched her own. She had no desire to date another man. Living with her parents made it that much more challenging.

She was twenty-four years old, a grown woman. She had a fantastic job and was banking every dollar she made. For what?

No way in hell was she going to answer that question.

Instead, she let her mind go, stroking her finger over her clit. Her thoughts went to Alton, as they always did. Visions of him touching her even though he’d never once touched her skin at all.

A part of her assumed she had blown up any contact with him to the point that actually having sex with him would be a disappointment.

Yep. She would continue to tell herself that. Keep him at arm’s length. No. Push him further away.

When she dipped her finger into her channel, wetness ran out to coat her hand. She added a second finger, imagining the two of them being one of Alton’s. What would it feel like to have him inside her, his mouth on her ear? Baby…

She dug her heels into the mattress and lifted her hips off the bed as she removed her fingers from her pussy and flicked them rapidly over her clit. Lately, she didn’t even need a vibrator to get off quickly. The addition of that one word to her mental repertoire would have her coming easily for weeks. And it wasn’t even imaginary. It was real.

When she reached the edge of sanity, tipping over, she flattened her fingers against her clit and pressed firmly against the pulsing. Slowly, she lowered her butt onto the bed, still gasping for air.

Baby…

She definitely could not meet Alton Tarben in a secluded cabin.

She removed her fingers from her panties, pulled the covers over her shoulders, and curled onto her side. Her body still shook from the intensity of the orgasm. Sweat coated her skin.

Concentrating on nothing but breathing, she finally slid into a deep sleep.