Juneau Heat (4 page)

Kotori’s
eyes widened. “Do we want to do that? We’ve never deliberately set out to make
a woman fall in love. We’ve always made it plain it’s about the sex and nothing
else. Neither of us wants a mate.”

“It’s below
the belt, I admit, but she knows her family’s intentions, doesn’t she? She came
here knowing if she learns what we are, her father or his men will try to kill
us. Should we give a shit if she gets hurt?”

Kotori
stared out the front window and rubbed the scar on his neck. Birk knew he did
that when he mulled over a decision that could cost him, just like the one that
caused him to get the wound in the first place.

“You
already have feelings for her,” Birk said.

“I do,”
Kotori admitted. “A little, but I’m never going to mate with a human, and she
will never come before family. Period.”

“Okay.
Let’s do it.”

Shiya
walked into her suite and shut the door. She leaned on it with her eyes shut
and waited for her heart to stop pounding. Their kiss was everything she had
imagined and more. In what world, what fantasy had she ever come up with that
meant being involved with two men at once? Two men who knew about it and were
okay with it? Her sexual experience wasn’t vast. Hell, it consisted of one man,
and as scared as she felt at going through with this idea, she would do it.
Maybe tomorrow night.

She pushed
off the door and bent to remove her boots. Then she carried them to her room.
Sitting on her bed, she paused to touch her lips, amazed at their numbness. She
didn’t even know they could swell from just a kiss. Yet they had. She bent down
to remove her socks and tossed them on the floor.

When Birk
touched her face, she felt like he took total control of her body just from
that spot. All she wanted to do was tilt her head back and let him have what he
wanted. She’d basked in the sensation of his lips moving over hers, and the
taste of his tongue sweeping her mouth. He held her close, but what wet her
panties was the meaning in his touch, as if he laid claim and all she had to do
was spread her legs. In fact, in that moment, she’d wanted him to unzip her pants,
snatch them down, and just fill her full with his cock.

Where
Birk’s kiss and touch were possessive and made her head spin, Kotori’s could be
defined only as untamed. He’d been rough in lifting her off her feet, his mouth
on hers unyielding yet demanding. Fear had swept her being when he dragged her
closer and squeezed her ass, because it seemed like Kotori held himself in
check by a thread. If he let go, the man might break her, and she was ashamed
to admit that she craved his wildness. She wanted him to manhandle her. Just
like with Birk, she had longed for Kotori to rip her clothes off, bend her
over, and fuck her brains out.

“I must be
insane,” she muttered to the empty room and stood to stumble over to the
full-length mirror on the wall. With flushed face and heavy breaths, she stared
into her eyes. “They’re not human, Shiya.”

The reality
of her affirmation refused to clear her clouded mind, and when someone knocked
on the door, a buzz of excitement rose inside thinking it might be them come
back to demand more. She grinned as she went to answer. With her hand on the
knob, she sucked in a breath and schooled her expression not to appear too
eager. She opened the door and froze.

“Joe.”

“Hello,
Shiya. Can I come in?”

She
remained where she was, saying nothing. When he called earlier, she’d hung up
on him and didn’t answer his texts, except to write, “I’m fine.” She should
have known he would show up, but then her dad never told her he’d assigned Joe
to watch her. Both her sisters were assigned a team to assist them on jobs, one
man ordered to stay closer than the others just in case. On more than one
occasion, her sisters had been saved by their protector, even though both women
could kick ass themselves.

“Why are
you here?”

He stepped
forward, and she backpedaled a step to keep from brushing him by accident.
“You’re on a job, aren’t you? Your first?” He said the words as if a child
should get the reasoning, and she frowned at his back.

She slammed
the door and put her hands on her hips. “I mean why are
you
here? I know you’re not my protector.”

He scanned
the room as if looking for someone lurking in the shadows. She passed him and
shut her bedroom door. The chastisement in his glare at her didn’t mean a damn
thing.

“I am your
protector now. I asked your dad to put me on it when you didn’t check in.”

“I’ve been
here exactly twelve hours. I haven’t had time to—”

“You’re
supposed to check in before takeoff and after. Then again when you make
contact. You did none of those.”

“I spoke to
my sister.” Why the hell did he make her feel like a disobedient child? Then
again, he’d always had that ability, and maybe she gave him the power in the
past—since he had been her first. Not anymore. “Like I said, I haven’t been
here long, so that really didn’t give you the time to find out I wasn’t
following procedure and to get a plane out here.”

He sighed.
“Shiya, the team is in Anchorage. Do you really think we’d all sit on our
thumbs in San Diego waiting for you to confirm whether these men are shifters?
Or do you doubt your skills? You all but confirmed with that computer thing you
do before we even cleared you to take this job.”

“
We
didn’t clear me to take it. My dad
did, and I don’t want you here.”

He moved
closer to her, and it took everything inside to stand her ground rather than
run away from him. She knew the power he used to hold over her, and she could
tell herself he no longer had that ability, but testing it would not happen
tonight. When he touched her cheek, she smacked his hand away. The love
reflected in his gaze drove her nuts, and she gritted her teeth.

“What
happened to us, Shiya? We were good together.”

She rolled
her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, we were good, all right.
Your ambition to be my dad’s right-hand man got in the way.”

His jaw
tightened. “There’s nothing wrong with ambition, and me moving up in the ranks
could only help us. I make more.”

“I don’t
need your money.”

His lips
thinned into a straight line, and she took in his features. Joe stood at six
foot one, and his pale blond hair, coupled with green eyes, used to make her
heart pound. He worked hard on his build, and she had to admit he still looked
good, but she would never be the priority in his life.

At twenty,
in college, she’d fallen for the man she’d thought was so sexy, so badass
because he worked for her father. Ten years ago, Joe seemed larger than life,
and when she found the boldness to ask him out, she’d been over the moon
because he accepted. Her sister Shae, her closest sister, told her to be
careful of her heart, but she hadn’t listened. For a while, nothing mattered
except Joe, and when he took her virginity, she gave it willingly because he
already owned her heart.

Looking at
his mouth now, she recalled his kisses. Joe’s loving held tenderness with every
touch, and because of it, she’d comforted herself with the fact that he cared
about her. Loving her more than the job was the problem.

He turned
and strode away from her. She wanted to tell him to get out, but some part of
her desired him to stay.

“I want us to
get back together,” he said, and she gasped. He faced her, determination in his
eyes. “That’s why I’m here. I told your dad my plan, and he agreed to make me
your protector. He knows I will die to keep you safe.”

She bit off
a screech and balled her hands into fists. “Are you serious? When are you and
my dad going to get it into your heads? I run my life, not you. I make
decisions about whom my lover will be, and it’s not going to be you, Joe. We
broke up three months ago. You should have moved on by now.”

“Like you
have?”

She blinked
at him.

“I saw you
let those things kiss you.”

“It’s part
of the job,” she bit out. “My sisters do it all the time.”

“This is
your first assignment. You can’t afford to take chances. I think—”

“I don’t
give a rat’s ass what you think. Get out of my room.”

“Shiya.”

“I mean it,
Joe. Get out!” She stomped over to the door, yanked it open, and waited for him
to pass by. He didn’t move. “If you don’t leave, I’m calling my dad right now
and telling him you’re here for me and not taking your job seriously.”

“He knows
me better than that.”

“Do you
want it in his head?”

He frowned.
“We’ll pick this conversation up again. Check in. Follow the chain of command,
Shiya.”

She
resisted yelling “fuck you” and slammed the door behind him. After clicking the
lock into place, she removed her clothing, threw on a robe, and grabbed a mini
bottle of alcohol from the refrigerator. She didn’t even check to see what it
was before she poured it over a glass of ice. With the lights turned low, she
sat in the alcove by the windows and raised the blinds so she could look out at
the water. The liquid gave a satisfying burn as it slid down her throat, and
after a few sips, she began to mellow out.

Was it wise
to jump into bed with Birk and Kotori with so many unresolved emotional issues
over Joe? She didn’t know, but then again, if her heart was taken, she couldn’t
fall in love with them. She could leave this at sex, and why should she feel
guilty either way? Any man who felt fine about sharing his woman with another
did not love her. Birk made the offer. He admitted to doing it before. She was
nobody special to him, and she wouldn’t dare consider a serious relationship
with a shifter. Enough said.

* * * *

The next
morning, the knock on the door revealed Kotori, and Shiya smiled up at him.
“Hey, you, where’s Birk?”

Kotori,
smoking hot in jeans and black jacket, exuded a magnetism that drew her into
his arms for a quick kiss. That she did so surprised her, but neither of them
resisted the impulse. Rather than push his tongue into her mouth, though, he
left it at parted lips and a brief suck on her lower one. All kinds of
delicious sensations stirred in her lower region as she pulled him inside so
she could get her coat.

She thought
she saw a frown on Kotori’s face as he breathed in, but it disappeared as fast
as it surfaced. “He had an emergency surgery, but he will catch up with us
later.”

Shiya
paused in pulling on her coat. “Aw, is the animal okay?”

He stared
at her for a minute.

“Kotori?”

“He’ll be
fine. Birk’s good at what he does.”

“A regular
Dr. Dolittle?” she joked and then chided herself. She had to stop making these
stupid mistakes, insinuating that he could talk to animals because he was one,
or they would catch on to her.

She
submitted when Kotori did what Birk had done. He buttoned her coat for her and
lifted the collar to be sure she would stay warm. Not wanting to think of what
would come later when her job concluded, she pushed the darker thoughts aside.
Kotori hadn’t bothered to respond to her question.

She
wondered about what he’d said the night before about always speaking the truth.
Was that his method, to not answer anything he would have to lie about?

“You wanted
to ride the tram?” he asked instead.

“Yes! I
think it will be fun to look down on Juneau. I hear the view is breathtaking.”

They left
the room, and Shiya noted, instead of Birk’s SUV, they rode in a Bronco. The
massive tires with deep tread screamed Kotori. She had to climb to get into the
passenger seat, and he shut the door behind her. When he sat behind the wheel,
he turned over the engine and shifted gears.

“I noticed
both of you have stick shifts. Is that just boys and their toys, or what?”

Kotori
drove to the street, threw on his turn signal, and turned right. “No, most
vehicles here in Juneau are stick shift. Most are four-wheel drive because of
the weather in winter. You don’t want to get into trouble trying to drive on
snow and ice with anything less.”

“That makes
sense.” Shiya hesitated and then reached across to put her hand on his thigh.
The hard muscles contracted beneath her touch, and she chewed her bottom lip.
She watched in awe as the front of his pants tented. He must be massive under
there, and she couldn’t wait to have him stretching her walls and plowing as
deep as he could go. She would wait for Birk to be with them, though. If this
fantasy happened, she’d have it all.

They
arrived at the tram station and found parking. Kotori paid the admission fee,
which included all-day unlimited rides. Looking up at the top, she wondered if
she’d even want to ride again after one time. Her stomach stirred with
butterflies, and Kotori took her hand.

“Don’t
worry. It’s only seventeen hundred feet up.”