An explosion of laughter behind them had the pair glaring at the two cats who quickly turned to examine the soda machine.Jessie looked back at him. “Look, I know you’re used to getting your way, but I’m not in the mood to play. I got a lot of—” Her phone rang, cutting her off. “Damn.” She looked at the caller ID. “I’ve gotta go.”
She pressed the elevator button. It opened immediately and Jessie stepped inside. “It was nice seeing you again, Smitty. Any more bills come up regarding Mace, just call our office. You’ll be on the phone list—only.”
Smitty watched the doors close. Did she really think it would be all that easy?
“Dis-missed!” Mitch said next to him.
“Brutally ignored,” Brendon added. “That must have hurt. Deep inside.”
Sure, he could agree, but that wouldn’t work. And they were too big as human to take them on directly. But they forgot he had four older, much meaner brothers.
Smitty put his head down and let out a dramatic, shaky breath.
“Oh, bruh, come on. She’s just a girl. Not even that cute.”
“Yeah,” Brendon agreed with his sibling as the pair moved closer to see if Smitty was crying. “You can do so much better.”
Even as he grabbed the brothers by the backs of their necks and slammed their big lion heads together, he appreciated their sentiment.
Heading toward the stairs and Jessie, Smitty tossed over his shoulder at the felines lying on the floor, “Thanks, y’all. That was sweet.”
CHAPTER 6
Jess ended her call and raised her hand; a cab stopped right in front of her. She’d just pulled the door open when a strong hand clasped around her bicep. Without thinking about it, she snarled, “Get your own damn cab, motherfuck—”
“Jessica Ann!”
Startled, she looked up at a still smirking Smitty. Christ, she couldn’t shake this wolf to save her life! “What now? And get off me,” she snapped, yanking her arm away.
“Since you won’t have dinner with me, I thought we’d get some coffee.”
And before she could tell him no, he had her by the scruff of her sweatshirt, dragging her to the Starbucks on the corner.
Although she welcomed the warmth once inside since she’d left her coat at the office, she still couldn’t believe the nerve of Bobby Ray Smith.
“Two regular coffees,” he said to the girl behind the counter.
“No.” If she was stuck here, she might as well get what she wanted. “Grande latte with nonfat milk, extra hot.”
“Latte? What kind of wuss drink is that?”
“Besides annoying me, is there something you specifically want?”
“Yup.”
She waited for him to tell her what that was, but, as usual, he left the “yup” hanging there... all alone. Annoying her beyond all reason.
“What, Smitty? What do you want?”
“Are you always in this much of a rush?”
“Yes, I have things to do.”
“Even the Lord takes a break.”
“Yeah, well, the Lord doesn’t have my overhead.”
Smitty grabbed the two drinks, and when he pulled her to a back table that’s when Jess realized he still had a good grip on her sweatshirt.
“You know, I can walk without your assistance.”
“Don’t want you running out on me again. I know how fast you move.”
He pushed her into a chair and sat across from her.
“Here’s your fou-fou drink.” He placed it in front of her. “And my manly regular coffee.” He sipped it and made a satisfied “ahhh” sound that made her want to twist his nipples off.
“What do you want?” she asked yet again.
“Let’s start off easy. What do you do?”
“What do I do about what?”
“I see ‘easy’ is still lost on you. I mean, what do you do, Jessie Ann? What pays for your precious overhead?”
“Systems security.”
“Which means what exactly?”
She went to stand up and she saw him tense. Would he actually chase her down? Would she mind?
“Stay,” she commanded before walking over to the counter that held all the necessary condiments for coffee drinkers. She grabbed a handful of brown-sugar and saccharine packets, wood stirrers, a metal container holding cream, and napkins, but the napkins were really for her since she had a tendency to wear her liquids as much as drink them.
Sitting back down, she placed the creamer on the table. “This is your company. See how it’s unprotected? All alone in the big bad world. And look, it’s saccharine coming to attack.” Jess placed several of the blue packets down, aimed toward the creamer. Then she broke the sticks in half and gave them swords. “See? They’re armed and dangerous.” She placed the brown-sugar packets between the creamer and the saccharine. “But look! It’s the sugars coming to protect us!” Now, thoroughly enjoying herself, she gave the sugar packets swords too. “Saccharine charges”—she moved the packets forward—“but the sugars battle them back with skill and the darkness within us all. They’re not afraid to kill and destroy in the name of justice—and cold, hard cash.”
Jess grinned, extremely pleased with her presentation. But when she looked up at Smitty, he sat there with his elbow on the table, his chin resting in the palm of his hand, and he was staring at her.
“What?” she demanded. “That’s not clear?”
Dang but she was cute. Cute as hell. Even when making absolutely no sense with her sugar packets and little sticks. “No, it’s not clear.”
Rolling her eyes, she sat back in her chair like a disgruntled child. “We create security systems for companies to protect them from your run-of-the-mill hackers to hardcore identity thieves,” she quickly rattled off. “We do hard coding, create software, and can even train a company’s IT people to help a company protect themselves. We have a lot of overseas clients, and the government has used us on occasion to train their people or to give advice. But we make them nervous, so they won’t give us any clearance. I blame Danny. But that’s another story. There? Happy now?”
“Why didn’t you say all that in the first place?”
“I gave you swords and a battle. A hero and an enemy. A defenseless damsel in distress. I gave you the makings of a terrific tale to tell your children.”“All right then.”
“Forget it.” She glanced at her watch. “Look, I’ve really got to—”
“Lord, Jessie.” He reached across the table and grabbed her hand, pulling her arm out until he could look at her watch. “That’s a lot of watch for a little gal. What do you need it for?”
“To tell time.”
“I’ve seen admirals with the same watch. You planning on attacking those deadly saccharine packets by sea?”
Her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit and Smitty wondered how long before she decked him.
“Is there anything else you want?” That’s a nicely loaded question. “Or can I go now?”
“Sure, you can go.”
“Thank you,” she said in an exasperated sigh. Then she pushed her chair back and stood.
As Jessie walked past him, he added, “I understand you’re afraid.”
Not surprisingly, she froze in her tracks. Even when he had to coax her from trees, Jessie would get insulted if he even suggested she might be afraid. To her, hiding in trees and under bleachers was merely a preventive measure that any sensible person would do. “Excuse me?”
“You’re afraid. I completely understand.” He patted her hand like he would his grandmother. “It’s all right. You go on now.”
She took two steps back until she stood right next to him. “Afraid of what?”
“Of your feelings for me. That’s why you’re fighting me so hard.”
“I do not have feelings for you—other than hatred.”
“Now, Jessie Ann, we’ve always been honest with each other. Just admit you still want me—after all these years.”
She threw up her hands. “I’m walking away from this conversation.”
He figured. But he simply couldn’t help himself. It was such fun torturing her.
Smitty jumped up and followed after her. As he reached the door she’d already gone through, she was suddenly back, her small body slamming into his.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh... ” She looked back and then shoved him onto a small couch. Sitting down next to him, she grabbed his arm and yanked it over her shoulders. “Now just sit there and look pretty.”
A few moments later, three men walked through the door. Two were full-human, but the one whose eyes locked on Jessie...
Immediately, Smitty recognized the wild dog from Saturday night.
“Jessica! Hello!”
Jessie smiled and it had to be the fakest thing Smitty had seen since he went to Los Angeles on a business trip. “Sherman. Hi!”
Her forced cheeriness made Smitty’s back teeth ache, but the dog seemed to buy it.
“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be hard at work as always?”
“Oh, I was. I was.” Jessie waved her hand dismissively. “But I was just taking a little break with my... uh... friend here.”
“Now, Jessie Ann, don’t play coy.” Smitty nuzzled her neck. “You know I’m your boyfriend now.”
As Jessie went tense all over, the male dog went from big and dumb to resentful in a heartbeat—like Smitty had dug up his favorite bone from the backyard. Didn’t he get that Jessie had no interest in him? How could she? The woman deserved better than some scrawny dog. Unfortunately for the dog, he wasn’t “getting it,” forcing Smitty to make it clear as crystal. So when that resentful doggy gaze moved from Smitty teasing Jessie’s neck to his hand, Smitty let his hand drop—right on Jessie’s breast.