Page 581 of Love Bites

CHAPTER4

“Well, great balls of fire ain’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Junior shouted, came out from behind his desk and trapped me in a hug that made breathing difficult. “Damn girl, if you ain’t prettier! What do they put in the water up there in Chicago?”

Junior, aka Jacobonly to his mother, was the Deputy Sheriff of Hung Island and the Beta of our Pack. He was also Hank’s older brother. Hence, I wasn’t sure what my reception would be. If the jaws-of-life hug was anything to go by, everything would be just fine. Junior actually should have become Alpha when his dad retired, but he was just a lazy good ol’ boy, so the honor went to his younger brother Hank the Cheater.

Junior was every bit as good looking as his brother, but he never did it for me. However, he apparently did it for most of the women within a fifty mile radius.

“I tell you what,” he drawled. “I am happy to see you. My baby brother has been in a mood since you left.”

“He’s been in a mood for a year?” I snorted in disbelief and again tamped down the excited butterflies in my stomach. “I was sure he’d moved on by now.”

“Gimme a break, sugar. He’s got it so bad for you, it ain’t funny.”

“Well, he sure had a funny way of showing it,” I muttered. Confusion didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling.

“That’s interesting,” a deep, sexier than hell voice added from behind me. “I could say the same about you.”

The air in the room shifted and the seductive power of his voice made me weak. Everything in my body tensed and stood at attention, including my traitorous nipples. Thank god my bra had a little padding—although the padding was useless. Weres could tell everything by scent and there was very little mistaking the cinnamon-laced scent of lust wafting through the room. His and mine. Crap.

Holding my breath, I turned around to face my foe and had to grab onto Junior for purchase so my butt didn’t hit the floor…forget about my jaw. Damn it, why couldn’t Hank have gotten bald, fat and ugly? He was more beautiful than I remembered. Six foot four of absolute perfection. Dark brown hair just a little bit too long hair, full lips, cheekbones that could cut glass and an ass that could stop traffic. The only consolation I had was his sharp intake of breath and the way his eyes turned from crystal green to icy blue. That was what happened to wolves when they couldn’t mask their desire.

I quickly lowered my eyes, not out of respect. I simply prayed my hazel green eyes hadn’t turned blue in response.

“My office. Now,” he snapped. “Junior, hold my calls and don’t step foot in my office unless you hear gunshots. You understand?”

“You got it, little bro-bro.” Junior was grinning from ear to ear and gave me a shove toward Hank’s office. I discreetly made sure my gun was still strapped to my inner thigh. I’d worn a sundress to conceal my weapon,notbecause I knew Hank loved them. Wait. Was he planning on shooting me? He so had another thing coming if he tried.

I made my way into the familiar office and bit back every nasty thing I wanted to say. As the door shut behind me I casually took a seat in front of the massive desk we’d had sex on countless times. Crapcrapcrap. Being alone with him was a very bad idea. Where the hell was my self-respect? I did not need a man who wanted me and half the town. I was better than that.

“You’ve got some explaining to do.” He sat down behind his desk in the chair we’d nicknamed the BJ Mobile and crossed his stupidly muscled arms over his stupidly muscled chest.

“No,” I said as I regained my confidence and professionalism that had deserted me in the lobby. “I don’t. You need to get me up to speed on the case and I need to do what I’ve been trained to do. Period.”

He watched me through narrowed eyes and his jaw worked angrily. Whatever. He had huge balls to think I had explaining to do.

“You left in the middle of the damn night. It took me a week of harassing your granny and massive detective work to find you.”

“You knew where I was?” I was shocked. I figured he was so pissed and horny for all the other gals he’d been seeing he’d have been happy I left.

“I know where you live, your patterns, your friends, your grocery, your place of business and where you order takeout from.”

“Oookay, that’s just creepy.” I rolled my eyes and wondered who he’d sent to watch me. It couldn’t have been Junior. I would have busted his butt in a minute flat. “Who’d you have on me?”

“I was on you, princess. And when I wasn’t, I had a chatty friend who was all too willing to talk about you till the cows came home.” He smiled and I wanted to slap the dimple off of his left cheek.

“You paid someone to watch me?” I shouted. I refused to acknowledge that he’d been in Chicago spying on me.And why in the hell did that turn me on?

“Nope. Didn’t have to.”

“That makes no sense whatsoever,” I snapped. “No one would watch someone for free.”

“If they didn’t know they were watching you they would.”

“When did you go all James Bond?”

“A man does what a man has to do,” he replied.

“Yeah, well most men don’t become the town vacuum cleaner,” I shot back and then slapped my hand over my mouth. Damn it, I wasn’t going to go there.

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