Page 10 of Wild in the Woods
He looked at her briefly. Didn’t meet her eyes.
“Oh, yeah. I saw. How about if I teach you a few tricks?”
There it was again. Something in the air. Glancing around the crowd in the bar, he hoped to spot whatever had flagged his attention. A low rumble tossed around inside him as his grizzly woke up. Whatever it was got his attention, too.
A pool stick was thrust into his hand. Ryker stared him down, trying to communicate with his eyes alone by looking sideways at the woman.
“Jett and I can wait.”
Fox didn’t take the stick. Ryker grabbed Fox’s hand and opened his fingers, thrust the stick into his palm, and closed his fingers around it.
“What? No.”
Distracted, he thrust the stick back at his brother. Everything inside him went haywire as he caught the full-bodied scent on the air. It grew stronger, the cloud of it blanketing him like a moving, breathing thing.
Feminine.
Some kind of expensive perfume.
Heated skin, with notes that seemed familiar though he knew without a doubt that he’d never smelled them before.
Lightly scented lotion. More coconut hair oil. A deep, rich, earthy scent that coated his palate and caused tingles to burst all over his body.
His rib cage vibrated internally with the roar his bear let out. It was awake.
And it wanted out.
His hairline heated; shivers raced down the back of his neck. His cock jerked, shocking him back into awareness.
Ryker moved beside him, so their shoulders touched. “You look like you’re about to shift. What’s up?” He whispered, scanning the room with Fox, but with more intensity as if expecting trouble.
“Nothing. Just a strange scent—”
A woman walked out of the crowd, heading toward the pool tables with a coat over one arm. She was small and petite, but with full hips hugged by a short, black skirt that swayed around shapely thighs as she walked. Her breasts pushed against a gray sweater; her glossy brown hair pulled into a braid over her shoulder. Long boots looked sexy as hell. Bar lights shone behind her as she moved, giving her an almost otherworldly appearance.
The scent was coming from her.
“Oh, look. It’s our friendly Chicago reporter.” Jett nudged him.
Fox shook his head helplessly. No.
Not the reporter.
Anyone but her. Spinning, he looked for the blonde, but she was in the corner, pressed up against some guy. Breathing hard, he turned back around.
His heart fluttered. Every nerve in his body went on high alert. Her scent caressed him as if her fingers slowly moved over every spot of exposed skin, working down his body, over his chest, his abdomen, to his—
“Hey, Fox. Funny running into you here.”
Olive. Where the hell had she come from?
“There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Olive had her arm through the reporter’s, who was more spectacular up close than he’d realized. Tawny skin, so smooth, so ripe with the scent that was literally driving him mad. The bear inside him growled low as it stirred with curiosity over the scent. Fox had to do something.
He had to get out of here.
“Not today,” he said. And stormed to the door.
