Protect and Service (3 page)

Either way, I didn’t care. Didn’t care that he’d kissed me so thoroughly that I’d forgotten totally where we were, or that most of the night’s guest list had seen us. Didn’t care that it wouldn’t have taken much for me to throw caution to the wind and gone for it there and then on the hood of the car.

Instead, all I cared about was the man who held me tightly, his embrace a combination of protective and possessive as he smiled down at me. Amusement flitted across his face as he cocked an eyebrow, his expression easy to read. How far did I want to take this?

Look before you leap
. My Nanna’s favourite saying came instantly to mind. Almost immediately the thought was mugged and dragged off into a darkened corner of my mind by temptation. How far did I want to take this, in front of smug-bastard Pete? All the fucking way, baby.

I blinked as though just coming to and smiled as I stroked a finger down the open V of Jared’s shirt. The slight hair on his chest tickled my fingers as I played with the button, threatening to pop it. His expression tightened at my coy look up through my lashes, feral heat flaring in his eyes.

“Down boy, we can play again later. Be nice now,” I murmured, wondering where the hell the smoky-husky voice had come from. I sounded like a cross between Jessica Rabbit and a phone sex-worker.

Jared played along, dropping his head back and closing his eyes for a moment as a shiver wound through his large body. When he looked back at me an amber ring outlined his eyes, the first evidence I’d seen of the other side of his nature. I wanted more. Way more.

“Eloise! Explain yourself!”

The sharp demand brought my head around with a snap. Pete stood just shy of the rear bumper of Jared’s car, his hands on his hips. Pushing forty, he prided himself on keeping in shape. The usual middle-aged spread caused by erratic hours and an on-the-go diet was blunted by his endless workouts. Old taunts about my weight flitted through my mind, all sneered in his somewhat nasal whine. I ignored them. Compared to the lean, mean hunk of man who effortlessly wrapped an arm around my waist as I moved, Pete was nothing more than a vain bully who projected his own failings onto others.

“Explain myself?” My voice dripped ice. Jared chose that moment to lean in and nuzzle along the soft skin of my throat but apart from tilting my head to allow him greater access, I ignored him in favour of glaring at Pete. “Whatever for? It may have escaped your notice, but we’re divorced. I don’t have to explain myself to anyone, much less
you
.”

“B-b-b… This is an
outrage
!” he spluttered, his colour rising in ugly red splotches across his neck and cheeks, reaching up under the thinning hair across the top of his head. Red under bleached blond? Not a good combo.

“Oh, I quite agree.” I hid my smile as I made Jared put me down and slid my hand onto his arm again. “You’d have thought they’d have started this thing a little later to give us all time to…ahh, get ready.”

One thing could be said about Pete: he wasn’t unintelligent, or slow on the uptake. His gaze flitted between me and Jared as he drew the conclusion that I wanted him to make; that I’d dragged Jared away from bed to attend.

“Hey babe, can we go inside?” As though he’d read my mind, the werewolf at my side moved closer and slid his arm around my waist, effectively cutting off my view of my spluttering ex. “The quicker we show our faces…the quicker we can leave and I can get you out of those clothes.”

* * *

My smile lasted clean through the usual introductions and banal conversations that were normally associated with functions such as these. Like all the other spouses and ‘plus ones’, Jared was duly attentive at my side, polite when spoken to but without dominating the conversation. To my relief, he was also somewhat reluctant to discuss his profession, turning all queries aside with a vague comment about working as a consultant with law enforcement. A claim that had the two clerical staff who had joined our group cooing in appreciation.

Mandy and…

I scanned my memory for the other woman’s name but came up blank. Both were blonde, but if the carpet matched the drapes in either case I’d be very much surprised. With the pseudo skeletal look of the permanent dieter, both looked hungry, but since they were casting eyes toward my date for the evening, I doubted it was for food. Bitches.

“Law enforcement? How exciting,” Mandy giggled, sliding her arm onto Jared’s and pressing what little she had in the way of tit against his triceps. I had to bite back the snort. From our little encounters earlier, I knew he was a breast man. No way was her little offering going to cut the mustard.

Her voice dropped suggestively. “And I’ll just bet you have a gun?”

Fuck me. If she was going to pull the whole ‘is that a gun in your pocket?’ routine, I’d piddle myself here and now. She shot me a bitchy look as I tried to cover the noise with a sip from my glass.

Brazen bitch. Annoyance surged through my veins as she turned back to Jared and gave him a hot look, as though the fact his date was less than two feet away was neither here nor there. I knew all about women like Mandy. The ones who took what they wanted and screw anyone else. “So…do you have handcuffs too?”

“I might have.”

Jared didn’t look that bothered, smiling down at the blonde leech with a warmth I recognised. How stupid was I? Realisation froze my heart in my chest as I watched my stupid fantasies about Jared and I crash and burn in front of my eyes.

Of course he’d find a blonde bimbo like Mandy more attractive. Didn’t all men? His pretty words earlier…yeah, that must have been boredom. I was something to play with until a better option came along.

Desperate to get away for a while, to compose myself, I threw back the rest of my drink, hissing as the alcohol burned all the way down, then mumbled something about the ladies room. Dropping my glass on a nearby table with a clunk, I ignored Jared’s call and high-tailed it out of Dodge.

The ladies room was of course packed, but most seemed to be re-applying makeup rather than waiting for a stall so I ducked past the chattering group at the mirrors without making eye contact and achieved the sanctuary of a cubicle.

Fucking wank shit fuck balls bollocks and just for variety, crap
.

Seated on the folded down toilet seat, I leaned my forehead against the flimsy wall and told myself I wasn’t going to cry. And I wasn’t. I’d been done with men since Pete had been a tosser, so why I was getting upset now I had no clue. Certainly not because I’d gone all gooey-eyed over some cute guy who spent half his time bloody furry.

“And have you
seen
that dress? Practically skin tight, I don’t know what she was thinking.” Five minutes later Mandy’s harpy-like voice filtered through the chatter as I rearranged my clothing, trying to get more of the girls covered up again. How odd, when I’d thought Jared was genuine, I hadn’t been bothered. But now that I knew better, my inner prude was trying to resurface with a vengeance. I stopped mid-struggle with the girls. Was this neckline getting lower?

“Yeah, I know,” the other girl answered. I could imagine them both at the mirror, reapplying lashings of mascara and lip gloss. Like Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, they were practically clones of each other. “I’d kill for a bust like that though, wouldn’t you? Do you think it’s natural?”

I stopped dead in surprise, my hand on the door latch. Had I just heard that right?

“Oh god, yeah. Bitch has it all, doesn’t she? Those tits, that hair and
ohmygod
that guy? Did you know he turned me down flat?
Me
? She must be bloody amazing in the sack. Fucking lucky cow. You ready?”

I felt my eyes grow as wide as saucers as the voices of the twin blondes faded, cut off by the sound of the closing door.

It’s said an eaves-dropper never hears well of herself, but that had been one snippet of information no
way
would I have wanted to miss. Mandy and her twin were jealous of me. And Jared had turned her down…when had I slipped into a parallel dimension? He’d turned her down. A warm feeling spread out through my body as I unlatched the door and, feeling ten feet tall, swept past the mirrors to sashay my extra-padded booty out the door.

Chapter Three

He was waiting for me.

I knew as soon as I re-entered the main hall. I could feel his eyes on me as I stood just shy of the doorway scanning the crowds but I just couldn’t see him.

The ball was in full swing now. Some guests were still seated at their tables while others circulated. Although the music had started there were only two women on the dance-floor. I tilted my head slightly as I watched them. What was that…the Funky Chicken?

As one fell against the other in a fit of giggles, I spotted Pete and his girlfriend doing the whole networking thing. His arm was around her waist and—surprise, surprise—he wasn’t talking. Instead she was talking ten to the dozen to a group of other surgeons, and patted his arm when he tried to say something. The ‘be quiet darling and let the grown-ups talk’ pat that he’d treated me to so often. I couldn’t help the small burst of smugness; served him right to be on the receiving end of crap like that.

A shadowy figure pushed off from the wall and claimed my attention. Claimed? He kidnapped it like a barbarian invader and carried it off back to his lair like some sort of slave girl.

Jared.

He had changed. The suit was the same, the same slightly mussed hair and dark stubble, but the laughing, joking charmer I’d arrived with had gone. He stalked toward me, violence and danger in every line of his body and a feral cast to his features as he emerged from the darkness of the shadows.

My breathing hitched, arousal swimming through my veins thickly as I read the lust in his eyes. Read the hard control written into every line of his body as his hand shot out to capture my wrist, fingers like iron manacles around my tender flesh. He yanked and I stumbled, free hand spread over his solid chest as I caught my balance.

Amber ringed his eyes and a soft growl worked loose from his throat. His free arm wrapped around my waist, holding me tight against him. A little too snug for comfort but I didn’t care. It was the ‘I’ve got you and I’m not letting you go’ kind of hold. His body heat beat at my skin. Wolves obviously ran hotter than humans. I filed the nugget of information away as I met him look for look.

It didn’t occur to me to run, despite the fact that he was a werewolf. A lethal, paranormal killing machine. My mom would have freaked, screaming that I was a couple of seconds from a horrific death at the teeth of a maniacal furball, but I felt…safe.

Desirable. Wanted.

“Dance with me.”

It wasn’t a request, nor did he wait for an answer. Almost before the words had processed in my addled brain he let me go, towing me toward the dance floor with the single-minded force of a tsunami. As we reached it, the music changed, the rhythm that of the tango. He spun me around into his arms where I expected the close hold shuffle to the music I was used to from my previous boyfriends.

Instead he pulled me closer and started to dance. Like seriously dance. Holding me tight in a ballroom hold, he led me into the opening steps of a very saucy tango, smiling a little at my gasp as I stumbled to recall the steps from last year’s dance lessons. With a good partner though, my body remembered faster than my mind and moved of its own accord as he dipped and twirled me about the floor.

He could
dance
.

He moved easily, with a grace I hadn’t expected, our bodies less than an inch apart as the music surrounded us. He picked a diagonal across the floor, empty save for us. His thigh shoved between mine, a strong column of strength as he turned us lightly and easily. Totally in control of me and my body, he shifted his hold and dipped me back over his arm. His heart beat against mine as he pulled me upright. Our gazes locked for a second until he moved again and we were off.

I loved to dance, loved the feeling of connection with the music and with my partner. But this…this wasn’t dancing. This was seduction to music. Pure, carnal eroticism wrapped in a veneer of civility and sophistication.

Fuck. Me.

I was done for.

He nudged the speed up, the steps faster and the spins tighter as the music built into a dramatic crescendo. At the last minute, he twisted and pulled me into arms. We were nose to nose with our arms around each other. My breathing rasped with exertion as I held his gaze. No embarrassment, just honesty. My breasts mashed against his chest. The feeling of the crisp cotton shirt, rubbing against my skin above the dress as I breathed, was an unexpected turn on. The music crashed to a close. Applause exploded around us and I blinked, realising that the whole room had been watching.

“No, don’t,” he ordered. I tried to pull free, anything to get off the dance floor and away from being the centre of attention. “You were amazing. Don’t hide.”

I looked up, met his gaze fully. The wolf was still there but I didn’t care. Not even when a predatory smile flitted over his lips.

“Don’t look at me that way, sweetheart.”

“What way?” I couldn’t help it; I pouted a little and widened my eyes for effect. Now I knew that he’d turned Mandy down, and with
that
dance, I felt more comfortable. Liberated. Sexy.

He grinned, a white flash of teeth that had nothing to do with humour.

“You know. I’m a wolf, remember? Carry on and I’ll be forced to eat you all up.”

“Oh god, I do hope so.”

The comment slipped out before my brain could get in on the act and decide it was a bad idea. The effect was instantaneous. His breathing caught, big chest hitching as darkness flared in his eyes. He’d been hard already, but his cock jerked at my words. Pressed together chest to thigh, I could feel every long, hard inch of him.

I wanted some of that.

“Home. Now?” I suggested.

“
Hell
yes.”

* * *

The ride back to my place was warp speed compared to the ride to the ball. Jared didn’t speak. His tall, muscled body was tight as a wire as he guided the powerful sports car through the streets at break-neck speed. I didn’t argue. I just clung to the seat and watched the streets zoom by. Awareness throbbed between us, making the air in the car thick and alive with tension. Sliding my gaze sideways, I studied him. He was gorgeous, especially with the steely light of determination in his eyes and his jaw set as he put his foot down to eek through ahead of a red light.