Jared (River Pack Wolves 3)(9)

But Kylie was right about him being out late—the dark circles under his eyes told a tale of club dancing and that scotch he liked. “Hard night picking up women?” Grace asked with a smirk.

He eased his hip onto her desk, glancing around with that same curious look that Kylie had, probably wondering why she was hiding out. Then his sparkling blue eyes found her again. “Grace Krepky, you know the only woman I want to pick up is you.”

She waved away his standard flirtation, even though she knew it was true. “That doesn’t seem to slow you down.”

He leaned toward her, bracing his elbow on his knee to dip his head down. Definitely the bedroom eyes this time. “I’m just marking time, Gracie. All you have to do is say the word, and I’m yours.” His voice was soft, and she knew he meant it.

He just didn’t know it would never be possible. “We’ve got work to do, Nolan Pearson.” She stood up, not least to move away from the temptation to do something she would regret. Especially when the agitation between her legs just seemed to keep growing.

He made a motion like she had just stabbed him in the heart, then staggered from his perch on the desk. “I am a serious glutton for punishment hanging around you, Grace Krepky. Someday, I’ll wise up and go work for that other Senator. The one with the bad hair. I hear he has a nice daughter, one that won’t torment me.”

She smirked. “Someday you’ll find a supermodel who’s a policy wonk, settle down, have two kids, a minivan, and a hipster estate in Bellevue.”

“Well, you don’t have to be nasty about it,” he said with a horrified look. “You could just say you find me terribly unattractive as a man. Or that you and Kylie have finally decided to consummate your lesbian love affair.”

Gracie snorted, a totally ungracious sound, but that was one of the best things about Nolan—he made her laugh. “Well, both of those would be lies, and as the Senator’s daughter, I’m sworn, at all times, to tell the absolute, complete, and total truth.”

He mock-scowled at her. “You need to work on your skullduggery skills if you want to be a proper politician’s daughter.” But she could tell she was forgiven. For now.

“Back on task, Pearson,” she said with her best drill sergeant voice. “I need you to write something up for the Senator to say at the VA hospital today.”

“We’re doing that? Excellent. Saw that on the news. Whole thing royally pissed me off.”

Grace smiled—Nolan really was just the right kind of guy she could settle down with. As if settling down would ever be in the cards for her. But he was sweet and passionate about all the things she cared about, unlike the grim, dark, and brooding shifter in the forest. Jared didn’t even crack a smile the whole time. It was sexy as all hell, she had to admit. Maybe, if she got lucky, she could stamp her V-card and convince him not to spill her secret, all at the same time. If she could somehow mash together sweet and charming Nolan with a brooding and sexy shifter like Jared, they would make the perfect man for her.

But there would never be a perfect man for her. She knew that already.

Grace kept her smile bright for Nolan. “I’ll have some policy details for your speech in an hour or so.”

Nolan nodded. “Perfect. I’ll sketch up a skeleton speech for now, and we can plug in the details later.” He made for the door, then paused at the threshold, turning back to her. “There’s a new Belltown wine bar I was looking to try out. Want to be my arm candy?” He gave her a small, tenuous smile. The kind that came with promises she had a hard time saying no to.

“I’m booked up for life,” she said with a resolute nod. “But if this week doesn’t look up, I might need some libations at the end of it to get me through.”

He frowned and stepped back into her office. “Something wrong?”

“No,” she said quickly. She shouldn’t have said anything. “Nothing I want to talk about.” A small flame of hope burned in her that maybe, someday, she could share everything with a man like Nolan. Today was definitely not that day.

He nodded and hesitated before turning back to the door. “Just say the word, Gracie.” Then he took his sexy half-grin with him, and Grace fell back into her chair.

She should bury herself in creating a policy statement about VA hospital funding improvements… and worry about Nolan and the hot shifter guy, Jared, later. All of that was moot anyway. Her real problem was the fact that she was the shifter daughter of an anti-shifter politician, and that fact was going to come out soon.

Very soon.