Tempting His Mate(5)

Chapter 3



Ella sucked in a deep breath as she stepped out into the cool January air. As a shifter she didn’t need a jacket and right now nothing could dull the heat spreading through her anyway. She strode across the parking lot toward her car, thankful the place was void of people. When she reached her vehicle, she stopped and looked up at the half moon. She could scent the ocean a few blocks away, the salty smell normally soothing. Except right now nothing could soothe her.

Asher Kincaid.

What the hell? She couldn’t believe Grant’s cousin was the man she’d recently spent a raw, wild night with. She covered her face with both hands as she felt it heat up. She’d been completely uninhibited—which was totally unlike her—because she’d assumed she’d never see the sexy wolf again. Remembering what they’d done, she groaned.

He was just supposed to have been her hot night of fun before she started her new life here in Gulf Shores.

Seriously, what kind of luck was that? And now she wanted to cringe for running out of the bar like some scared bunny. She wasn’t scared, but she had been taken off guard. Losing control wasn’t something she liked and she’d panicked. She preferred to keep her world neat, tidy and ordered. And Asher was none of the above.

He was the sexy, tatted up, bad boy personified. Just thinking about those talented hands and his wicked mouth roaming over her body made her face flame even more. But not from embarrassment.

“Ella Hayes,” a deep, delicious voice said from behind her, making her nipples tighten in awareness.

Damn him for having that affect on her body. Dropping her hands, she swiveled, her stiletto boots making crunching sounds against the gravel of the parking lot. Even in heels she had to look up at him. He was only a couple feet away. Panic started to set in again.

Wearing a T-shirt, jeans, those same scuffed shit kickers and a worn leather jacket he’d let her wear during one of their… She swallowed hard. “Asher Kincaid.”

He raised a dark eyebrow as he took a step forward. On instinct she stepped back, her butt and back hitting the side of her car. Crap. She couldn’t show weakness to a predatory shifter like Asher. He’d walk all over her if she did.

“Why’d you run from me?” he murmured as he placed his hands on the vehicle on either side of her.

Caging her in.

Her gaze strayed to his leather covered arms and all she could imagine was the beautiful muscles and ink he had covered up. Regaining her senses, she turned back to meet his gaze. She refused to be ensnared by those seductive green eyes. Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, “I didn’t run. I’m meeting someone.” Technically it wasn’t a lie since she was planning to meet someone, so the acidic smell of a lie didn’t roll off her.

His eyes narrowed a fraction, his head tilting to the side. “Who?”

At that, she pressed a hand to the middle of his chest and pushed him back. Or tried to. He refused to budge. “None of your damn business.”

He let out a low growl and she was reminded of how he’d gotten that Kodiak shifter to submit so easily. Not that she was afraid he’d hurt her, but she wouldn’t put it past him to try to intimidate her. Alpha-type shifters were like that. Especially males. They thought they could run roughshod over anyone. He might not be alpha of his own pack, but the sexy male was definitely alpha in nature. She’d gotten to see that firsthand in the bedroom.

“Are you going to move out of my way or not? I have somewhere to be.” He didn’t budge an inch and she realized her hand was still in the middle of his chest. Only she wasn’t pushing him away, she was clutching onto his shirt. Mortified, she immediately let her hand drop.

He frowned at that. “Why’d you run from me in Montgomery?”

She shrugged, hoping she appeared more casual than she felt. “We both knew what that night was about. We had fun, let’s just leave it at that. I had no clue you were part of Grant’s pack or I’d never have…”

“Never have what?” he practically purred, sounding more like a jaguar at the moment than the predatory wolf she knew him to be.

“Never fucked you.” She stunned herself with the blunt word. It felt foreign on her tongue, but also good. He could just back off, right now.

Instead of having the effect she’d hoped, his gaze strayed to her mouth. “I like hearing you say fuck. Even after everything we did, your bedroom talk was so polite, so…”

She gritted her teeth, ready for the insult. She knew what she was like. It was hard for her to let go sometimes, to just be uninhibited. While she had been with him to an extent, she’d still held back.