“It’s easy access.”
She swallowed hard as an image of him making use of her easy-access skirt filled her with dirty thoughts. “This is going to be a damn long two weeks, isn’t it?”
“Hell yes.” He sighed.
She took a deep breath. “Let’s go grocery shopping. It’s not just me fending for food for myself anymore and I’m guessing you’d like to eat regularly while you’re living with me.”
His gaze raked down her body and then back up. “There’s a lot of things I’d like to do regularly while living with you.”
They stared at each other for a good minute. Mika’s body responded to him as her nipples hardened and her belly quivered. “Shit. How many days do you give it?” He frowned. “I don’t understand the question.”
She grabbed her purse and passed within feet of him. “How many days do you give it before we end up in bed together?”
His jaw tensed and his dark gaze tore away from hers. “It won’t happen. I have my orders and I enjoy my balls attached to me. Let’s go, babe. We’ll take my Jeep.” She nodded and walked through the living room to the front door. She wanted him bad. “We’ll pick up condoms just in case.”
She heard him curse softly behind her but Mika didn’t turn to look at him. She smiled instead, her mind made up instantly that she was going to get Grady in bed. He turned her on and she knew intimately that he was good with his hands. No one had to know if they did have sex. They were going to be living together for two weeks until she left town and she was a realist.
30
Mate Set
She was single and free. He was single and free, judging by his earlier comment about how he’d be a single wolf in mating season who wasn’t getting laid. She walked out the front door as Grady growled softly at her. Her body reacted to the sound he made, reminding her of last night, and how hard he’d made her come. He locked the door and pointed to the Jeep.
“Walk and don’t look at me that way.”
She chuckled. “How am I looking at you?”
“You know,” he growled. “It’s not happening, babe. If I had known who the hell you were last night I never would have followed you to collect your debt.”
“I’m glad you did. I ran into two more men after you left me but they got a sniff of me and then just walked away.”
Grady cursed. “Fuck. I hope they weren’t pack. They know my scent and if they know who you are then it’s only a matter of time before Omar hears about it.”
“I’ve never seen either of them before so I don’t think they are.” Snorting, Grady shot her a glare as he opened the passenger door for her. “You never met me and I’m pack.”
She climbed into his Jeep and he carefully shut the door. She appreciated it that Grady was a gentleman. “Good point.”
31
Laurann Dohner
Chapter Four
Mika was going stir-crazy as she glared at Grady. He was driving her crazy. Two days of living with that man would drive any woman insane. He barely spoke to her, he treated her as though she was diseased, he usually kept a room between them, and he was rude when he did speak to her. She had cabin fever since the man wouldn’t let her go anywhere. Grady’s shitty attitude was the last straw for her.
She walked into her bedroom, feeling his intense stare on her from the dining room where he was reading the paper. She shut the door and glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was just past eight on a Friday night. No single person should be stuck at home. She was twenty-eight, not eighty-eight, and she needed a damn life. She was on vacation but instead she felt as if she were in prison.
She put on a pair of low-slung jeans, a button-down black shirt with some cleavage showing and black boots with three-inch heels. In the bathroom, she put on light makeup and brushed out her hair, deciding to leave it down. She met her blue eyes in the mirror and slowly smiled at her reflection. She wanted to raise some hell and drive Grady Harris crazy. He deserved it. It was only fair.
She left the bathroom and opened the bedroom door. Grady’s almost black eyes widened from across the room as he took in her change of clothing and appearance. He frowned as he slowly stood.
“Where do you think you’re going?” His voice was soft but there was a deceptive hardness there too.
“Out. I’m about to lose my damn mind. Let’s go.”
“It’s after dark.”
“No one is going to screw with me when I’m with you. I’m not asking you to take me to some wild damn party where we’re going to end up arrested. I just want to go out. This is my vacation, damn it, and I’m going crazy. I guess I could stay here to have some fun, instead of going out.”
“I want to stay here.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
Mika slowly smiled. “Great. Take off your clothes.” His mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide again. “What?” he rasped.
“The only fun you and I could have here doesn’t involve clothing. I’m determined to have some fun and since you barely speak to me, that just leaves sex. Either take off your clothes, stud, or grab your Jeep keys. Your choice. One way or another, I’m not going to sit here again the way we did last night being bored out of my head.” 32Mate Set
A low growl came from him as he stood frozen. She stared at him, watching his tense body. Her focus lowered to the front of his jeans and she couldn’t miss the noticeable bulge there. Grady had a serious hard-on. She grinned.
“Are we staying or going?” She arched her eyebrow at him. “That sexy growl thing you have going on and your obvious erection tells me that you’d rather stay in with me.”
“Let’s go,” he snarled, tearing his gaze from hers. “I’m not losing my balls over you.”
Sighing, she walked toward the door. “But what a way to lose them.” He growled at her again, glaring at her until they reached the Jeep. Even though he was pissed off he opened the door for her and then shut it. He was quite the gentleman, at least when it came to installing a woman in a vehicle. He slammed his door when he climbed in and studied her in the dim interior. “Where do you want to go?” She hesitated. “Why don’t we kill two birds with one stone? Minnie told me you own a bar so you could go in and get a little work done while I have a few drinks.” She saw indecision on Grady’s face but he finally nodded. “There will be wolves there but I have good security. We can go there but you are to stay where I put you. Do you understand?” He shot her a hard look.
“I speak English so I understand what you said.” She smiled at him. That didn’t mean she’d do what he wanted. She didn’t mention that out loud.
The bar was actually a nice place, certainly not the dive Mika had expected. It was decently lit, there was a large dance area in the corner, and tables separated the dance area from a game room. She counted four well-used pool tables, judging by all the people playing the game. Grady pointed.
“Over there at the bar.” He had to yell over the music to be heard. “You sit your ass down and stay there.”
She rolled her eyes but moved where he indicated. Mika appreciated the muscular bartender in his mid-twenties with blond hair and dark brown eyes. He was total eye candy. Their gazes met and held until Grady stepped between them so Mika was left staring at Grady’s back. She sighed.
“Yon, guard her. She’s Omar’s niece. Her drinks and whatever are on the house. No one touches her. Am I clear?”
Yon must have agreed because Grady jerked his head in a nod and slowly turned around to glare down at Mika. “I’m going to my office for a bit to check on things. Sit down and stay there. Order a drink.”
She gave him a salute. If her fingers bent except for her middle one as she saluted him, so be it. He growled at her, dark eyes glittering dangerously, and then he shook his head slowly. He stepped into her personal space as his head bent so his cheek nearly touched hers. She inhaled his cologne and wanted to groan. Not only did he look good enough to jump on but he smelled good enough to want to rub her body all over him.
33
Laurann Dohner
“You’re not worth losing my balls over,” he whispered.
She clenched her teeth as Grady jerked away, spun on his heel, and disappeared through a doorway. She climbed up on the barstool and gave the bartender a once-over, immediately noticing that he wasn’t giving her a sexy look anymore. He actually looked damn unhappy to see her now that he knew who she was.
“May I have whiskey? I want ice too.” She held up her fingers. “That much at least, in a glass, and don’t give me a tiny shot. I’m drowning my sorrows here and Grady said it’s on the house so show me the love when you tip the bottle.” Yon’s eyebrows rose and he almost smiled but then masked his features. He walked away, grabbed a decent-sized glass, dumped ice in, and set it down in front of her.
Within seconds he’d filled it with whiskey. Their gazes met and held.
“You’re really Omar’s niece?”
She sipped her whiskey. She made a face when it burned down her throat, clearing a warming path all the way to her tummy where it settled. “Yeah.”
“How the hell did that happen? You’re not one of us.” She knew what he meant. She wasn’t a werewolf. “I was adopted. My mom was Omar’s sister, his only sibling.”