Page 8 of Juneau Heat (Urban Heat 1)

Kotori stared out the front window and rubbed the scar on his neck. Birk knew he did that when he mulled over a decision that could cost him, just like the one that caused him to get the wound in the first place.

“You already have feelings for her,” Birk said.

“I do,” Kotori admitted. “A little, but I’m never going to mate with a human, and she will never come before family. Period.”

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

Chapter Three

Shiya walked into her suite and shut the door. She leaned on it with her eyes shut and waited for her heart to stop pounding. Their kiss was everything she had imagined and more. In what world, what fantasy had she ever come up with that meant being involved with two men at once? Two men who knew about it and were okay with it? Her sexual experience wasn’t vast. Hell, it consisted of one man, and as scared as she felt at going through with this idea, she would do it. Maybe tomorrow night.

She pushed off the door and bent to remove her boots. Then she carried them to her room. Sitting on her bed, she paused to touch her lips, amazed at their numbness. She didn’t even know they could swell from just a kiss. Yet they had. She bent down to remove her socks and tossed them on the floor.

When Birk touched her face, she felt like he took total control of her body just from that spot. All she wanted to do was tilt her head back and let him have what he wanted. She’d basked in the sensation of his lips moving over hers, and the taste of his tongue sweeping her mouth. He held her close, but what wet her panties was the meaning in his touch, as if he laid claim and all she had to do was spread her legs. In fact, in that moment, she’d wanted him to unzip her pants, snatch them down, and just fill her full with his cock.

Where Birk’s kiss and touch were possessive and made her head spin, Kotori’s could be defined only as untamed. He’d been rough in lifting her off her feet, his mouth on hers unyielding yet demanding. Fear had swept her being when he dragged her closer and squeezed her ass, because it seemed like Kotori held himself in check by a thread. If he let go, the man might break her, and she was ashamed to admit that she craved his wildness. She wanted him to manhandle her. Just like with Birk, she had longed for Kotori to rip her clothes off, bend her over, and fuck her brains out.

“I must be insane,” she muttered to the empty room and stood to stumble over to the full-length mirror on the wall. With flushed face and heavy breaths, she stared into her eyes. “They’re not human, Shiya.”

The reality of her affirmation refused to clear her clouded mind, and when someone knocked on the door, a buzz of excitement rose inside thinking it might be them come back to demand more. She grinned as she went to answer. With her hand on the knob, she sucked in a breath and schooled her expression not to appear too eager. She opened the door and froze.

“Joe.”

“Hello, Shiya. Can I come in?”

She remained where she was, saying nothing. When he called earlier, she’d hung up on him and didn’t answer his texts, except to write, “I’m fine.” She should have known he would show up, but then her dad never told her he’d assigned Joe to watch her. Both her sisters were assigned a team to assist them on jobs, one man ordered to stay closer than the others just in case. On more than one occasion, her sisters had been saved by their protector, even though both women could kick ass themselves.

“Why are you here?”

He stepped forward, and she backpedaled a step to keep from brushing him by accident. “You’re on a job, aren’t you? Your first?” He said the words as if a child should get the reasoning, and she frowned at his back.

She slammed the door and put her hands on her hips. “I mean why are you here? I know you’re not my protector.”

He scanned the room as if looking for someone lurking in the shadows. She passed him and shut her bedroom door. The chastisement in his glare at her didn’t mean a damn thing.

“I am your protector now. I asked your dad to put me on it when you didn’t check in.”

“I’ve been here exactly twelve hours. I haven’t had time to—”

“You’re supposed to check in before takeoff and after. Then again when you make contact. You did none of those.”

“I spoke to my sister.” Why the hell did he make her feel like a disobedient child? Then again, he’d always had that ability, and maybe she gave him the power in the past—since he had been her first. Not anymore. “Like I said, I haven’t been here long, so that really didn’t give you the time to find out I wasn’t following procedure and to get a plane out here.”

He sighed. “Shiya, the team is in Anchorage. Do you really think we’d all sit on our thumbs in San Diego waiting for you to confirm whether these men are shifters? Or do you doubt your skills? You all but confirmed with that computer thing you do before we even cleared you to take this job.”

“We didn’t clear me to take it. My dad did, and I don’t want you here.”

He moved closer to her, and it took everything inside to stand her ground rather than run away from him. She knew the power he used to hold over her, and she could tell herself he no longer had that ability, but testing it would not happen tonight. When he touched her cheek, she smacked his hand away. The love reflected in his gaze drove her nuts, and she gritted her teeth.

“What happened to us, Shiya? We were good together.”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, we were good, all right. Your ambition to be my dad’s right-hand man got in the way.”

His jaw tightened. “There’s nothing wrong with ambition, and me moving up in the ranks could only help us. I make more.”

“I don’t need your money.”

His lips thinned into a straight line, and she took in his features. Joe stood at six foot one, and his pale blond hair, coupled with green eyes, used to make her heart pound. He worked hard on his build, and she had to admit he still looked good, but she would never be the priority in his life.

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