Page 37 of Callen's Captive
“You didn’t like Big Foot, so ‘Bear’ is a close second. I mean, you’re as big as a bear.”
“I’m a wolf if anything. Nothing like a bear,” he said with a slight pout.
She smiled. He was a wolf shifter who was easy—and fun—to bait. She’d miss that once he left.
“You could call me Callen.”
“And you could call me Kate, but such is life.”
“You’re difficult.”
Kate donned her biggest smile. “That’s the sweetest thing you’ve said to me.”
Callen shook his head and mumbled, “Difficult and confusing.”
“Feel free to return to your pack anytime, Callen. I won’t think any less of you,” she said in a knee-jerk reaction that quite frankly wasn’t warranted. Something in her was making her lash out anytime she thought of him leaving, and it made no sense. From the moment he proposed this arrangement, she had known it was temporary.
“My pack will be fine without me.” He resumed scanning the streets and buildings as they passed. He was always on guard, watching out for Briggs and anyone else who could cause them trouble. “It’s getting dark. Do you have any place in mind where we can snag a few hours shut-eye?”
“If I can get to the coffee shop on main street and log into their Wi-Fi, I can score us a room at any hotel of your choice.”
“Will the WSSO be able to trace it?” He looked skeptical, and he had a right to be. The WSSO had a few tricks up their sleeve she hadn’t anticipated, and anything she did online was risky. Getting a roomshouldbe straight-forward. She’d create a new account, do a little hacking into the hotel’s reservation system and voilà, a room for two.
She patted his arm, her hand lingering a moment too long on his nicely sculpted biceps. Bright eyes caught her, but she had no desire to remove her hand. Just the opposite. Let them linger there, to see what he’d do. . .
The intensity in his eyes deepened as he watched and waited for her to do whatever she wanted. Hell, what exactly did she want from him?
Without question, she was definitely attracted to Callen. Beyond his gorgeous physique and with how gentle he was with her, however, there was a part of him that she hadn’t figure out yet, the part he kept tucked away. Without forethought, her hand began gliding up and down his arm. That wouldn’t give her the answers she craved, but feeling his muscles, having that intimate skin-to-skin contact was absolutely divine. And he wasn’t pushing her away.
“I trust you,” he said, his eyes caressing her in a way that made her melt, that made her believe maybe he felt something for her. “Do what you need to do, Princess.”
Were they still talking about the hotel? She hoped not. Yeah, she was a fool, letting herself get attached to him, to anyone, but a little short-term fantasizing wouldn’t hurt anything.
“I’ll pay them back eventually,” she added, to get them back on topic. Callen would consider taking a room from a hotel without paying stealing, period. “I can’t risk tapping into any WSSO accounts or even my own at this point.”
“You have your own accounts?”
“Sort of.” Her stomach chose that moment to growl. “I’m gonna order some food online, too. Are you hungry?”
His eyes locked on her. “I could eat just about anything.”
More than her stomach shivered with need now.
As he closed that gap between them, his lips parted. “I won’t hurt you, Kate.”
“You don’t have to keep telling me that.” She shoved the laptop into her backpack and headed in the direction of the business district.
Callen wasn’t following. She turned around. He was staring off toward the woods, again. Her heart melted for him. He only stayed because of some misguided sense of duty toward her.
With a forced smile, Callen tore himself away and took her hand. “Lead on, Princess.”
They didn’t talk much on the way to Jo’s, a coffee shop with decent Wi-Fi, and it only took her a few minutes to secure a motel room and dinner. The motel was two miles away and the diner a short walk from there. Callen reached for her hand, and she pulled away, a knee-jerk reaction. Her thoughts were elsewhere, back on Janie and how Brad had killed her. Her gentle shifter needed to go home, to get away from the humans who had already tried to kill him, who would kill him if they caught him again.
By the time they reached the Sunrise Motel, darkness had descended on them like a burial shroud. Callen did a perimeter search of the hotel, checking out escape routes and anything else that would prove useful to know while she headed inside to check in.
The desk clerk raked his eyes over her. Kate held back the icy cold shudder running down her spine. Despite her desire to avert her eyes, she straightened her posture and waited for the clerk’s eyes to meet hers. Some of Callen’s courage was rubbing off on her.
The creep started getting all flirty with her. That was something she had experience with at least. Twice, she shut him down or tried to, rather. The thirty something-year old with an unkempt and unevenly groomed beard sobered up the second Callen walked in. His hand reached under the counter.
