~

 

Rayner didn’t normally mind the fact that men underestimated her because then it was easier to blindside them and get exactly what she wanted, but this man?

There was just something about his disapproval that niggled at her last nerve. She’d had one hell of a day up to that point, and she wasn’t in the mood to be told that she was a puny human female who shouldn’t be doing the job that she was doing.

She tended to get her mean on when stuff like that happened, and she didn’t see how this would be an exception to the rule. Just because Mr. Muscles was one hell of a sexy, growly, naysayer, it didn’t make it any the less palatable to hear – if anything, it was riling her up even more.

“I’d like to see you do it again,” Dane growled.

That sounded like a challenge in her book, and boy did she like those. Liked to prove herself.

She had an urge to kick the guy in his balls again just to hit home her point, and yet – she knew he’d be expecting that – couple that with the fact that she was kind of caged in with nowhere to go, and she didn’t have much of a chance at getting a good shot in with him.

Maybe she’d wait for a while and blindside him again.

“You need to let me go, and then you need to call off your brother so I can get my money and get the hell out of here,” she informed him, ignoring his challenge for now.

“That’s all?” Dane asked.

His eyes were starting to turn back to a nice ice blue, and that held her gaze spellbound for a long moment.

She liked the black on some level that appealed to the badass inside of her. But she liked the blue more, especially when he turned his head like an inquisitive beast, and she got the full force of that look – the one that said he was more than interested in her.

“I could make a list,” Rayner offered back, and she probably could to.

To her surprise, the big shifter dropped his arms from around her body, and she immediately took a long step back from him. That little bit of distance didn’t do hardly enough to null the attraction that she felt towards him.

Hell, her damn traitorous body wanted to sway right back close to him again, but she refused to let that happen. She was there to do a job, not get sidetracked.

Then Dane folded his big arms across his chest, and that pushed out those biceps even more, and she was hooked on looking. Like a cat that saw a fish in a bowl.

Rayner licked her lips. The pink tip of her tongue shot out and traced the fullness, and his eyes darted down to take that move in.

There was a low rumble of a growl that rolled through his broad chest, but it never reached his throat. Shame, she would like to have heard it again, maybe not right against her ear like the last time … hell, who was she kidding – that’s exactly how she wanted to hear it.

What did it say for all of her denials that what she actually wanted was to feel those big, strong, musclebound arms wrapped around her body again?

The hell if she knew, but she was more than intrigued.

“Good enough?” Dane asked, and snapped her out of herself.

“What?” she asked, her brow furrowing just a little. Had she missed a part of the conversation?

“I let you go – good enough?”

“Sure, brownie points,” she offered back.

Rayner didn’t know if it was particularly hot inside his cabin, but she was certainly feeling the heat, and parched too. She ran her tongue over her lips again, and that time his growl did reach his throat.

“You gotta stop doing that if you want me to behave myself,” Dane warned her.

“Doing what?” She was lost again. She had no idea what he was talking about that time either.

“Licking you’re lips,” Dane’s voice was full of his beast.

His cock was raging hard for her, and his body was set to full steam ahead. Somehow, he didn’t think it would be that easy.

“I’m thirsty…” she barely got the words out of her mouth when he dropped his arms to his sides and padded off for the sink.

Rayner watched him go, watched him work on getting her a cool glass of water, reaching up for a glass, his back muscles moved under his shirt, stretching, and it made something flutter inside of her. For a big guy, he was quite graceful in his movements – she never expected that.

Most big guys that she’d had dealings with over the years, usually over Bute’s cash, were big old thugs that swung first and didn’t bother with the questions before or after. They certainly didn’t possess a certain amount of grace like Dane did.

She had to admit, only not to him – that she was sort of impressed. Although, she could have done without the giant damn grizzly outside the cabin door.

Dane stalked back towards her carrying the glass. His eyes were fully intent on her and only her. She should have been even more impressed, but she was still mentally calculating a way out.

“I should have asked,” Dane said, handing over the glass, as she made sure that she didn’t touch his fingers and start those damn tingles again.

He’d berated himself for the way that they’d met. He’d berated himself for his screw up of a brother, and he’d berated himself for the full-on, adrenaline filled rush to introduce himself as her mate.

Now, it was his turn to berate himself for not seeing to his mate’s needs. He’d left the woman standing there dying of thirst.

That certainly wasn’t in his DNA.

His protective gene had kicked in the moment that he’d spotted her on Bowie’s porch. She was small and fragile, and his brother was a monster – they all were – just different shades of monster.

Then he’d pulled in her scent. Isolating it from everything in nature around them, and he’d known, known like the knee to the balls that she’d delivered to him that she was his mate.

That protective gene had hit level-red alert status. And yet, he’d been a dumbass and not taken care of her needs.

“It’s not a social visit that I’m on.” she frowned back before sipping at the cool water.

Dane watched her like she was the prey that he wanted to bring down. In reality, she was.

The truth was that she was just different prey to what he was used to dealing with. The way that he wanted to bring her down was in his arms with his cock buried so damn deep inside of her that he was lost.

Mine…

Damn, but he could almost taste the need for her on his tongue. That need was strong, overwhelming in its magnitude.