Tempting His Mate(7)

Grant just nodded, an obnoxious grin on his face. “How do you know Ella?”

“That’s what you want to talk about?”

Both men shrugged, smirking. Yep, mated males were obnoxious.

Asher gritted his teeth. “What’s her position at the hotel?”

“She’s my new accountant,” Grant said.

Max shook his head. “She originally came down here to work at Lauren’s spa, but big bad alpha here hired her away. I’m still hearing about that from my mate,” he grumbled.

Grant just rolled his eyes. “She’s still doing Lauren’s books.”

“So she’s an accountant?”

His cousin nodded. “Yeah, but she’ll be more than that. Once she’s cleaned up the horrendous books from the previous owner, I’m creating a new position for her at the hotel. Her resume is impressive.”

Asher had no doubt it was, but he didn’t care about those details right now. He wanted to know something more important. “Do either of you know where she was headed tonight?”

Grant shook his head, but Max just grinned. Oh yeah, he wanted to kick the shit out of his friend. “You gonna make me beg?”

“Where’d she tell you she was going?” Max asked instead of answering.

He gritted his teeth. “She didn’t say.”

After a long moment, Max spoke. “She’s hanging out with Margery tonight. Having a girls’ night.”

A relief like he’d never experienced slammed through him. Even the thought of her with another male made his inner wolf go insane. Knowing she wasn’t going to someone else tonight soothed a primal part of him. He looked at his alpha. “The only stipulation I have about taking this job is, I want the same schedule as Ella.”

Grant straightened slightly and Asher could see his wolf flash in the alpha’s gaze. “Are you giving me orders now?”

Gritting his teeth, he shook his head and swallowed his pride. “Please.”





Chapter 4



Ella leaned back in her office chair and stretched out her legs. Her head was starting to ache and she was stiff from being cooped up in her new office almost all day. At least she had an awesome view of the beach. Of course that was a good and bad thing. It had been a cloudless day so her jaguar had been aching to run along the sandy dunes for the past couple hours. Grant had told her she didn’t have to fix everything right away and that she should take multiple breaks, but her accountant brain wouldn’t let her do otherwise.

Whoever he’d bought his newly revamped hotel from had kept terrible books. Just awful. She’d managed to figure out a few of the nonsensical recordkeeping notes jotted down longhand—seriously, who used longhand anymore?—and had transferred some things to an accounting program she’d developed herself.

After ten hours though, she was officially done. She shut the computer down, then grabbed her purse from under her desk. Since she’d known today would be a long one, she’d worn comfortable clothes. Jeans, a fitted sweater, and ballet slipper type shoes. Now she just wanted to go for a run in her jaguar form along the pack’s very private beach then take a long, hot shower.

And not think about Asher.

The sexy wolf had sporadically stopped by her office all day just to chat and bring her snacks. Either someone had told him about her weakness for chocolate or he remembered what she’d said in Montgomery. His gestures were sweet—okay, beyond sweet. She was more than flattered. Of course he’d looked good enough to eat wearing a black suit she assumed was custom made. His shoulders were so broad, it just had to be. But she wasn’t sure what he was playing at.

As she started to open her door, she scented him. Strong, powerful, earthy. The scents accosted her at once. Trying to still her racing heart, she opened the door and hoped she appeared casual.

Leaning against the opposite wall, Asher had his hands shoved into his jeans pockets. He must have changed clothes, then come to see her.

Straightening, he smiled almost nervously when he saw her. “Hey.”

“Hi, is everything all right?” she asked as she locked the door behind her. The male was just so alpha she wasn’t sure how to read his mood. He seemed almost out of sorts.

“Thought I’d see if you were hungry.”

Oh yeah, she was hungry all right. But for more than just food. After the night they’d shared, all she could think about was how he’d taken her up against the slick wall of that hotel shower, over the dinette table and even on the bed a couple times. Her face heated, but luckily her stomach growled at the same time. She hoped he assumed she was just embarrassed by that, and not because of her wicked thoughts. She nodded. “Yeah, I’m just going to grab something downstairs.” There were three restaurants in the expansive hotel and Grant had told her that she could eat at any of them for free, any time she wanted.