Page 279 of Branded
Because I couldn’t have it.
Because—
“Jules?” Matt asked from down at the end of the hallway. “You okay?”
And seriously, now I could kiss my boss.
“Not really,” I called.
A heartbeat later, he was at my shoulder, heat drifting along my spine, soaking in through my clothes, his male scent filling my nose.
“What the fuck?”
I froze.
Because…not Matt.
Oh. Boy. That wasn’t Matt.
I whipped around, saw Cas standing there. But I’d already known that it was his heat soaking into me, his scent in my nose. Beyond his big, strong frame, I saw that Matt was pushed against the wall, as though he’d been shoved there and was now regaining his balance.
Because Cas had been in a hurry to get to me.
Me.
I inhaled, my insides going melty. They’d begun to thaw at the sight of him crouching in front of Ethan, talking about hockey, offering up his time. That melt had continued when he scooped up Sparky and carried his sleepy pooch just because his dog was tired. And now?—
“What. The. Fuck?”
Thoughts of melting disappeared.
Because…shit.
“Luca, baby,” Chelsea began.
I turned back and saw that Chelsea’s gaze had gone…oh, man, it sent a prickle down my spine. It had been crazy before, but now it had gone really, really…bad. This was not a woman who was going to give up easily.
Not now that her prey was in her sights.
Right. On that note, I was out of there. Clearing my throat, I inched along the wall, said, “I’ll just go?—”
Cas’s fingers wrapped around my wrist, and he started to pull me toward him.
Gently, but angling his body so that I could stand behind him, so that he was between me and the crazy in front of him.
And that settled somewhere deep inside, sanded off the rough edges, warmed me, set the melt going again. But before I made it all the way behind him, he went tense and something scary—or scarier—emanated from him, filling the air, filling the hall.
On instinct, I froze.
Cas lifted my arm, and the scratches, the blood dripping along my forearm hit the light, suddenly much more visible, suddenly much more obvious, and that scary in the air increased. It looked worse than it was. Yeah, it hurt. For sure. But the dripping wounds looked…ghoulish.
And Cas’s face…
Was frightening.
“What the fuck?” he said a third time before he finished drawing me behind him.
“Cas,” Chelsea began, “I need to?—”
