Page 11 of Destined Prey
Mrs. Elgiers’s chin wobbled. “But have you heard what people are saying about that boy, Jackson?”
“I don’t listen to gossip, ma’am,” Greg assured her. “And I doubt there’d be anything they can say that would shock me. Remember, I moved out here from California. You know how soulless us West Coast people are. Total heathens.”
“You’re making fun of me now, but mark my words, people will talk if you take his side,” she warned.
Greg blinked at her as if he were confused. “There’s a war between you two?”
Mrs. Elgiers muttered something about people going to hell, then huffed and shuffled away.
Greg watched her for a moment, then held his hand out to Jack. “I’m Greg Manning, resident for five years, yet still the outsider.” He smiled crookedly. There was a calmness about him that made him seem older than perhaps he was. “Please, continue your shopping. I’m sorry about Mrs. Elgiers. She made my cousin’s life pretty miserable here before Marky passed away.”
“Mark Edwards was your cousin?” Jack asked. He’d had the worst crush on the older, vivacious blond football player back in high school, and had been shocked to hear from Rhett that Mark had died in a bar fight years ago.
Greg nodded. “Yes, he was. I moved here to help his parents with some things, then they decided they wanted to move to Florida.” Another shrug. “And I’m still here. But enough about me.” He arched his eyebrows at Jack. “I’ve heard the rumors and don’t care one way or the other. Most people in town won’t care. If you, Jack, or you, Rhett, need to talk or anything, I’d like for us to be friends. I don’t have many here. I think friendships begin at the twenty-year mark in this town.” His wry smile didn’t quite hide his loneliness.
The simple kindness nearly undid Jack. After so much side-eye and muttering, Greg’s calm acceptance felt like a lifeline thrown across a storm. Jack hadn’t realized how much tensionhe’d been carrying in his shoulders until that moment. Now it drained out of him, leaving him shaky and grateful in equal measure.
“You can count us as two friends,” Rhett said. “Right, Jack?”
“Right. You should come out to the ranch for dinner sometime. Rhett can barbecue.” Jack didn’t think Rhett would mind him offering.
Rhett smiled at Greg. “Yeah, I’m fierce with a grill.”
Greg chuckled, and dimples appeared in his cheeks. “Thanks, I’d like that. Maybe, if the offer still stands, in a few weeks, once I have an assistant manager hired and trained?”
“Sure, that’d work.” Jack spent another minute talking with Greg before that eerie sensation of being watched made his skin hum with awareness.
Greg went back to the registers, and Jack tried to look around as unobtrusively as possible.
“I’m gonna pick out some fruit,” Rhett said. “You want something other than apples?”
“Grapes or oranges if they have any decent ones,” Jack answered distractedly, still searching for the source of his unease.
When his gaze landed on a frowning mountain of a man standing by the lettuce, his heart stuttered. The stranger was looking at him in return.
Jack sucked in a sharp breath when their gazes clashed. Jack’s heart lurched against his ribs, knocking the air from his lungs. Heat shot through him so fast it left him dizzy, his fingers twitching like they needed to grab hold of something, anything. It wasn’t just attraction; it was recognition, bone-deep and terrifying. His cock stirred, traitorous, and Jack clenched his thighs to keep from shifting where he stood. He’d never seen eyes so close to an amber color, light brown but almost lit from within, like a golden light shone under those pretty irises. Thickblack lashes framed those eyes, and wind-tousled dark brown hair lessened the severity of the handsome man’s forehead. He was stern in appearance, yet sexy, strong, masculine in every sense of the word. There were no soft curves, no smooth angles about him.
Jack wanted to eat him up with a spoon, or better yet, lick every inch of his body and see what he tasted like when he came. Would he be a demanding bed partner? Bossy? Dominant?
Jack shivered, despite his attempt to restrain himself.
The stranger’s nostrils flared, and something, some emotion, flashed in his eyes.
Goosebumps erupted all over Jack’s body. He wanted to rub his arms, but forced himself to stand still. He felt, oddly enough, like prey, and admitted to himself that he wouldn’t mind being this man’s sexual conquest in the least.
The sexual desire tugging at his gut surprised him. Jack hadn’t thought he’d want to get involved with another guy for a long while after what he’d gone through with Alex. Apparently, he’d been wrong.
Chapter Eight
Ben had overheard the drama with the old lady. He didn’t know her and was glad of that. She seemed pretty obnoxious. He’d wanted to growl when Jack had winced over the comment about his parents. It’d taken most of Ben’s restraint not to intervene. At least Rhett and the store manager had put an end to the show.
The manager they invited to dinner. The manager that was checking Jack out.Ben stomped down the anger and possessiveness that rose. He had no right to either emotion. Jack wasn’t his, wasn’t property anyway. But Ben would be damned if he stepped back and let Greg have a chance with Jack.
The possessiveness scared him almost as much as it thrilled him. Wolves took, claimed, controlled—he’d spent his whole life refusing to be like that. And yet one flash of Greg’s smile at Jack had Ben ready to bare his teeth. He forced the urge down, hating how close it still sat under his skin.
The sexual tension between Ben and Jack was arcing higher every second they stared at each other. Ben let his gaze travel down past Jack’s pretty green eyes, down the smooth planes of his cheeks, over the plump, kissable lips, past the pointed chin to the strong column of Jack’s neck. He saw the pulse fluttering there, smelled the nervousness and need coming off Jack.
Trailing his gaze down, he saw the bulge at Jack’s groin, the thick press of his erection against the placket of his jeans. Jack didn’t leave his cock dangling down his thigh. He tucked it right up front, and Ben was damned glad of the view it afforded him, because Jack was packin’.
