Ever After (16 page)

“My mother had credit card debt. After a while she, apparently, faked my signature to take out some loans. I know, it sounds really bad. She had some mental problems. I’m working on forgiving her.”

“You can go ahead and do that.” Dead or not dead, he wouldn’t be letting that woman off the hook. “How much money do you owe?”

“Oh.” She sighed loudly, sticking her key in the lock. He hated the paint peeling off the walls, the smell of mold wafting from the stairwell. The landlord needed to be reported for not up keeping the place. His mate did not belong here. “Who knows anymore? I shouldn’t let you in. Only you drove me here. I fell asleep in your presence. It’s probably too late to start being cautious now. Besides, Matilda likes you. I’m hoping that means you’re not dangerous.”

She had no idea just how
dangerous
he could be. Only never to her. “Give me a ballpark figure.” There was no way that she didn’t know.

“A few hundred thousand. Look, it’s not your fault or your problem.” Her back stiffened, and he nodded. Lilliana had her pride. He wouldn’t step on it anymore that night.

Her apartment appeared clean. She clearly took care of what little she owned. There were small touches everywhere that spoke to her tastes. A small figurine of an angel positioned in the center of a coffee table, a music box in the corner of the room. Hung on the wall, two fairies in mid-flight. His mate had whimsical tastes. He wanted to spoil her and would.

“Why are you so interested in me?” She put her hands on her hips. Physically, her latency might put her at risk, but no one would make his mate cower emotionally. He grinned, and she cocked her head. Travis figured he must seem crazy to her.

“Why do you think?”

“Look. I really don’t get it. I’m not that pretty, kind of plain, actually, but lately men can’t seem to get enough of me, and I’ve sworn off meaningless relationships. If nothing else, I can take care of how I feel about myself. I appreciate you walking me in, but nothing is going to happen here.”

He held up his hands in mock surrender. “Have I made a move on you?”

“Kind of. With your
why do you think
remark.”

“You don’t back down.”

She shook her head. “Never.”

“Good.”

They stared silently at one another, and his hands itched to reach out to caress her. He put them in his jacket pockets.

“Listen, I don’t mean to be so tense all the time.” She crossed to the refrigerator. “Can I get you something to drink? I don’t have much. Maybe two diet sodas.”

“No. Thanks. I’m fine.” Tomorrow her fridge would be full. He’d see to it. His mate wouldn’t go hungry or thirsty. That much he would insist on, with or without her consent to his interference. Basic necessities had to be taken care of.

She pulled out a can for herself, opened it, and took a large sip before speaking again. “I get a little defensive when it comes to my family. I can’t help it. I was adopted, and sometimes I wonder what my life could have been like if I’d ended up somewhere else. Then I feel badly for even considering that, and it starts this whole nasty cycle.”

“No one gets hurt from your private thoughts. If that’s how you’re feeling, you’re entitled to go there in your head, if nowhere else.”

She shrugged, her blonde hair rising and falling on her shoulders. “People really do talk to you, don’t they? All the time.”

“It comes with the job title.”

That was only part of what she didn’t know about her heritage. Perhaps the fates had been kind giving her no wolf to shift into. What would her human family have done if every full moon their daughter had gone furry and torn up the house? He shuddered to imagine it.

“Owners of repair shops give out a lot of free advice, do they?”

“Bartenders. Repair shop owners. Psychiatrists.” He smiled. Bantering with her proved to be a lot of fun. He wanted more. It wasn’t his nature to go slow. Waiting for Lilliana would either make him a better man or destroy him in the process.

“Would you do something for me?” He pulled at the necklace he always wore around his neck. Most of the time he kept it hidden beneath his shirt, as all the Wolves in his pack did if they were lucky enough to have their own totem.

“If I can.”

“Smart girl. You don’t make promises you can’t keep.” On the string, he had two figurines, one female wolf, one male. They lay side by side. If he’d had any siblings one of them would have the female wolf, but as he’d been an only child, he’d inherited both totems when his parents had died. He’d found his mate, and although she wouldn’t understand the significance of what he offered her, he wanted his mother’s ancestors to watch over her when he couldn’t be with her.

“What did you want me to do?” She stared at his hand.

“I want you to wear this. Don’t take it off, not even in the shower. It belonged to my mother, and it’s kind of a…good luck charm.”

“Oh.” Her eyes got huge. “I can’t take your mother’s necklace.”

“Yes you can. We need to get to know one another, but I can tell you’re going to be very special to me. Call it instinct. I want you to wear this. I want to know it’s keeping you safe.”

Her hand came up to touch her neck where the female totem would touch it.

He put his male totem in his pocket. He’d find a new chain for it later. She turned and raised her hair off her neck. “I should be saying no.”

“Then why aren’t you?” He tied the necklace beneath her blonde strands and admired from his vantage point behind her the way it sat right above her breasts. Beautiful, supple….

“Because, until recently, I tended to have good instincts too. I want to be important to you.”

She turned around and leaned up to kiss him. He knew she meant it as a light thank-you, but after that beautiful answer she’d given him, how could he treat it as such? Travis kissed her back, deepening the kiss in the moment until she melted against him.

He pulled back to look at her. “That’s one kiss. You said no sex, so I need to respect that.”

She growled, but he doubted she recognized the sound for what it was. “I take it back. I take it all back.”

Lilliana leapt at him.

****

He stumbled but didn’t fall. She had to give him credit. Travis was strong. And he smelled like…. She took a deep breath to confirm the scent she’d gotten earlier…sandalwood. What was it about that smell that made her so horny?

The thought brought her up short. She leaned back so she could see his face. He held her in her arms, and he hadn’t uttered a word when she’d stuck her nose against his body to get a good whiff. He must have noticed, and now she’d have to explain.

“I’m sorry.”

He raised a dark eyebrow. Really? So much perfection shouldn’t be allowed on one man’s face.

“For what?”

“You know.” Her cheeks heated up. “Launching myself at you. Sniffing at you like some kind of animal.” Her cheeks heated up, and she squirmed until he set her down. She wiped away the errant sign of weakness and busied herself moving around her apartment. There had to be something to straighten up while she waited for him to get the hint and leave her to her embarrassment. “I’ve always had behavioral problems. I simply can’t act like everyone else all the time. Then I slip into some kind of weirdness I’ve never been exactly able to manage—”

Travis interrupted her speech with a loud growl. He pulled her against him. “You will not speak of yourself that way again. Do you understand? I have a good mind to throw you over my shoulder and take you back to Philly with me until I’m sure you won’t.”

“Look, that’s very nice of you to say but…” She paused, his words sinking in. “Philly? You’re all the way from Philly? Did it take you two hours to get here?”

He shook his head as though he wanted to clear it. “About that. Have you never been there?”

“No. You came to New Jersey to have a meeting at Matilda’s diner?”

“It serves my purposes.” He walked toward her. “Can we get back to the subject at hand, please? You do not have behavioral problems, and any time you want to go ahead and sniff at me, you do so. I really like it. When you did it a few seconds ago, I got hard as hell.”

Her eyes traveled downward to the evidence of his hard cock bulging through his pants. He wasn’t kidding.

“You got hard like that because I wanted to get your scent deeper into my body?” She wished she hadn’t used that phrase. It sounded weird. Why did she do that? Why couldn’t she simply say because I wanted to smell you?

“Yes.” He crossed his arms, and she admired the way his muscles looked when he moved. Bulk on Travis worked. She might start drooling if she wasn’t careful.

Maybe she had finally found a crazy to match her own. Lilliana grinned. When was the last time she’d felt so completely happy in another person’s presence?

She walked to him. “You’re pretty fantastic, aren’t you? Too bad you live so far away.”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. I’m going to come see you every day.”

“How—” Travis cut off her question by pressing his mouth gently to hers.

He tasted of mint and iced tea. After a few seconds, he deepened the kiss. She’d never been so okay with letting another person dictate an encounter. She grabbed onto his shirt, wanting to be closer to him.

Travis pushed his tongue into her mouth. She moaned. How could he feel so completely right when all he’d done was kiss her?

With his hands on her cheeks, he pulled back. “I should go.”

She blinked, trying to clear up her head, which had gotten foggy. “Did you just say you should leave?”

“You want to wait. I don’t want to take advantage of you.” He shook his head. “Although you can’t imagine how hard this is.”

Lilliana suspected she could. Her panties were soaked, and she ached to find completion in his arms. “I take back that statement.”

“No.” He grinned. “The side of me that just wants to rip your clothes off could deal with that, but my conscience would never let me forget. You’re going to see me every day, and I hope that doesn’t freak you out because you’re simply going to have to get used to it.”

She shouldn’t like that he spoke to her like that…except she did. He kissed her, pushing her up against the wall while he did. She moved against him, loving the way his cock pushed at his pants. He must be huge for her to feel him so completely while they were both dressed.

This time when he pulled back, he was breathing hard. “You’re going to make me shove all my good intentions out the window.”

Lilliana had never felt so powerful before. If she wanted him, she could have him, or he would go home because she preferred that. Maybe other people were used to having their wishes obeyed, but to simply know they would be struck her as a rare gift.

“He rubbed his nose against her forehead, and she shivered. “What time do you have to be at work?”

“I worked twelve hours today. She’ll only let me work eight tomorrow.”

He snorted and shook his head. “Not for much longer.”

“What?” Did he know something she didn’t? Had Matilda decided to fire her? “Do you know something about my work schedule that I should know?”

“No. Not at all. I’m sorry, I’m muttering to myself. Go on. So eight hours tomorrow. Starting when?”

“Ten.”

“I’m going to be here at eight in the morning. I’ll pick you up. Don’t worry. Your car will be here and fixed when you wake up.”

“Please don’t do that. I can’t possibly afford it.” The thought of money descended on her shoulders putting an end to the la-la land she’d resided in for a few minutes. “It will cost a fortune, and I’m not sure I can—”

He waved his hand in dismissal. “It’s being done for you by my people, and I can assure you that it is their
pleasure
to make this happen for you. More than you can yet understand.”

“Only—”

When he kissed her neck, nipping down lightly, all thoughts of arguing went away. “No buts on this matter. I want to take care of you. It’s part of who I am, and you may not know understand what I mean by this yet, which is why I’m picking you up tomorrow morning. I need to begin to show you. Okay?”

His voice moved over her, a warm blanket covering up her strained nerve endings. “Okay.”

“Come on.” He picked her up. “I’m putting you to bed before I leave.”

She didn’t even remember her head hitting the pillow. She dreamt of wolves, two of them, a male and a female, running together through thick, lush woods. When she awoke, her pillow was wet with tears.

She wiped at her face, looking at the clock, which told her she had a half-hour to get ready before Travis would arrive. Why had a dream about wolves, so clearly brought on by the necklace he’d given her, have made her weep in her sleep?

Darting from the bed to head for the bathroom, she stopped in her tracks to look out the window. As he had promised, her car, which looked like it had been washed, sat outside of her apartment building in her space.

How had he known that space belonged to her?

She shook her head. The romance of the night before shifted inside of her. Why had she fallen so head over heels for him so fast? What did she know about him other than he was Matilda’s special customer and he lived in Philly? Maybe it had been the fact that he’d also lost his parents or the way he hadn’t flinched when she’d unleashed her temper on him.

Now all she could focus on was the way she’d launched herself at him. Where had her resolve gone? Thank goodness he’d been respectful. She rushed into the bathroom to take a shower. Hopefully, she’d know more about him today and would also be able to keep her clothes on in his presence. Maybe they made a medicine that helped with this kind of a thing. Not that she’d be able to afford to take it.

She bathed, dressed, and made herself as presentable as possible before he rang her doorbell. As he requested, she’d not taken off her wolf talisman. It was beautiful, but she had to give it back. How could she have taken it to begin with? Still, as she walked to answer the door, she fingered it. The wolf felt right around her neck.

Already, she knew it would be hard to let it go.

Chapter Three