He was also tired of being inside on such a beautiful day. He bent over and logged off his computer then ran down the stairs of the building and out onto the mountain. Turning south, he decided to hike to the most distant springs, ones several rough and demanding miles away. He hadn’t been there for a while, so it’d be an excellent way of burning off his excess energy.
* * * *
Raleigh was lying flat on his back on the floor of his office, his legs resting against the wall vertically, and his laptop balanced against his thighs. People sometimes looked at him as if he were nuts, but he really found it a very comfortable position for working as long as he didn’t need to do much typing. It was his preferred angle for reading documents.
Of course, it did nothing for his engorged and aching dick. It’d been way too long since he and Kingston had road tested an applicant for the job of being Kingston’s mate. Besides, the last one had only lasted one night. She’d been sticking to Kingston like a barnacle for a month and had been trying to get him into bed for most of that time. When Kingston had pointed out he wanted Raleigh as well she’d agreed, and although Raleigh had been a bit wary of her agenda, they’d taken her to bed. Once. It turned out she didn’t appreciate even the mildest of spanking, refused to wear a blindfold or handcuffs, and hadn’t let either of their cocks anywhere near her ass.
Which was, of course, perfectly reasonable as her choice, but hardly what she’d led them to believe, and Kingston hadn’t returned any of her phone calls or text messages since that night. Raleigh was twenty-eight. Kingston had turned thirty. It was time they found a woman and mated her. Then his nights would be spent giving her world-class orgasms instead of jacking himself off in the shower.
Raleigh closed his eyes and tried to picture the kind of woman they needed. Well, she had to like BDSM. Really like it. Be prepared to wear a collar, to be naked in their apartment, to completely obey their instructions knowing they would be targeted at increasing her own pleasure. Apart from that? He found he didn’t really care whether she was a blonde, a brunette, or a redhead. Any of them was fine by him. She did need to be moderately fit. They lived in the mountains and everywhere she went outside the pack building would be either uphill or downhill. There were no roads here, only the narrowest of walking tracks.
And finally it would be good if she was independently wealthy. Then they’d know for sure she wasn’t just after the pack’s money, but really loved and wanted them, as people, not as platinum credit cards. It was stupid really. The money belonged to the pack. As CEO Kingston was the primary one managing it, but they had a team of accountants to ensure wise decisions were made. Decisions that would benefit the entire pack and not just its leader.
Raleigh sighed. So how could he find them their mate? She wasn’t going to come to the mountain and drop into their laps, that was for sure. Likely it was time for him to visit some of their more distant branch offices and check out the women there. It never hurt to pay even the smallest of branches some individual attention and while he was there perhaps he could find them some new clients. Yeah, okay. He’d pack a suitcase and make a surprise visit to some of the branches starting tomorrow.
* * * *
Fury raced through Kingston’s veins as he stared at the strange woman in his hot spring. Were the fucking gold diggers following him to the mountain now? Where the fucking hell had she come from? He couldn’t imagine a woman hiking up the mountain. It’d take days and she’d need a support crew with a tent and food and all her equipment. No, she must have had a helicopter bring her and the pilot had landed her at the wrong spring. For a moment he wondered how long she’d been lying there waiting for him to find her, then shrugged it off. Too bad. She was about to have a reality check. It was a good three miles over very rough rock back to the pack’s home. That should teach her not to act precipitously in the future.
He stood on an overhanging rock and roared at the interloper, “What the fucking hell are you doing in my hot spring?”
He felt a momentary flash of guilt when she startled so badly she sank beneath the water and came up coughing and splashing.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize this was private property.” He watched her scramble out of the water, keeping her back to him. Did she really think that acting all shy and hiding her nakedness when she’d come here deliberately to entice him would work? She couldn’t possibly be that stupid. Then he remembered some of the other women who’d pursued him. Yes, she could be that dumb. He watched her open her backpack and pull out a towel, rub her body briskly then climb into jeans, a T-shirt, and a sweater. The clothes looked well-worn. He’d expected her to wear something nicer, but perhaps she intended to keep up the innocent act.