Page 103 of The Pack Next Door
I showed her what a lie that was, picking her up with one arm and shutting her laptop with the other. Her keys were on the desk, which made it easy for me to exit the office and lock it behind me before she scrambled free.
Gods, she was beautiful when she was pissed.
Her eyes flashed and her colour was up, making me want to kiss those lips until they were even more swollen. They were so damn soft. Maybe she’d part them, let me in, and then…
“You need to eat.” I put up one finger. “You told me if I was a good boy and got all my work done, I could feed you. I fulfilled my side of the bargain.” She smiled despite herself. “So now I get to indulge my praise kink and take my best girl for dinner.”
“If I promise to tell you what a very, very good boy you are…” Her hips swivelled in a very distracting way as she moved closer, my breath freezing in my lungs as she slid a hand down my shirt front. One button was eased open and a single fingertip burned a trail down my chest. “Can you open the office and let me back in? We can order pizza and?—”
“Nope.”
I rolled down the door of the warehouse, locking that up as well, and then flicked off most of the lights. Then she was back in my arms and I carried her out to her car after I did the final lock up.
“You know you don’t have to carry me,” she said with a sigh. “I admit defeat. You win.”
“Yes, I do.” I wasn’t good at serious, because when I stopped smiling, everything I thought and felt was right there on my face. She saw it now, her own grin disappearing. This was a real moment of connection, small and fragile, and so easily shattered into pieces with how new it was. “It’s taking everything I have not to turn up to your place every morning in fur and run you to work on my wolf’s back.”
“OK, not that.” She took the keys from my grip and then wriggled free, walking around to the driver’s side door. “Get in, stud, because I am no passenger princess.”
I slid into the other car seat without a word, because hey, she knew the way better than me. We travelled down street after street, the scent of the sea growing more pronounced as we drew closer to the pier. The street was packed with cars, something that had me stifling a growl, but she found us a park, slotting the car in with ease. I was out before we’d even rolled toa stop, grabbing her door for her. That pleased little smile was everything, so I held out my arm for her to take.
“Milady…” I strolled us up to the fish and chip shop, then ushered her in.
“If you start bowing, I’m out,” she warned. “I’ll leave you by the pier and you’ll have to run all the way back to the place you’re staying in fur.”
“Are you getting hangry?” I made a show of inspecting her closely. “Because I’m pretty sure I told you that you need to eat.”
A shove to my chest got me stumbling into the fish and chip shop, the delicious scent of deep fried awesomeness hitting me as soon as I got inside.
“What’ll it be?” a harried looking man behind the counter asked, and so I was forced to focus on the menu above the deep fryer. Briar rattled off her order and I glanced her way with a smile.
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
Which was apparently the wrong thing to say. We sat down on a bench that ran along the back of the shop, but when I moved closer, she looked up at me. Serious now, there was something apologetic in her gaze.
“Look.” Yeah, nothing good came after a woman said that. Turned out my instincts were right. “I was thinking about things after lunch.” Her hands started to shift in her lap, so mine reached out, linking my fingers with hers. She gave me a little squeeze, but it wasn’t in encouragement. “I really appreciate all the work you guys did and I’m happy to pay?—”
“In cuddles and back rubs?” I croaked out, trying for a smile and failing. “Because sorry, that’s the only currency I accept.”
“In money.” Her reply was firm. “Because this…” She pulled a hand free to indicate the two of us. “Isn’t gonna happen. I went along with your plan to take over Moon River because it made sense. You wanted a town to run, and I…” A long sigh had hershoulders sagging. “I’ve built a life that doesn’t have space for three alphas.”
My heart beat too hard, too fast, as I just sat there and listened to her rejection. Once, playing footy, I got slammed in the solar plexus and dropped to the ground as my body fought to suck in air. That pain, that feeling of my body struggling to do something it’d always managed automatically, had my whole world spinning. I shifted, ready to pull my hand away. To nod and say I accepted her decision, but instead, my lips moved of their own accord.
“Pretend I’m not one of the idiots who completely fucked everything up. Imagine that I’m one of your girlfriends.”
Her eyes went wide at that.
“Oh, you do not want that.”
“Sure, I do.” I pulled back and placed my head on one hand. “Tell me what’s going on. What’d those men do, sis?”
Chapter 51
Briar
I was trying to let Jace down easy, but that winning grin, the way he made a show of listening to every word, had me smiling despite myself.
Didn’t change the conversation I needed to have with him though. I sucked in a breath, ready to make my case when the cook called out, “Thirty-two!”
