“Easy,” he murmurs in my ear, and suddenly there’s no air to breathe. He shifts the wrench, showing me how to apply tension in the direction my key would normally turn. “Now, you insert the pick at the top. Yes, that’s it. Move the pick back and forth in the keyhole to lift each pin. Whoops-you released the wrench. You have to keep applying pressure there, because that’s what will actually open the lock. Try again.”
Let the record reflect: Picking a lock is easy. Or, it would be, if I weren’t pressed up against a giant hottie. Electricity runs through my body, tiny shocks pulsing between my legs. My head swims with Garrett’s deep voice and patient instruction. He’s so gentle, yet he carried me like a war prize just a few minutes before. Carried me in and spanked me. Oh God. Every time I think of it, my belly gets fluttery, and my pussy clenches. And even when he threatened me, I felt safe.
My shaking fingers slip. “I can’t do it.”
“Sure you can. Try again. It’s easy once you have the hang of it. Slow and steady, Counselor,” he murmurs as I jiggle the pick back and forth.
One by one, I release the pins, and the wrench turns. “I did it!”
He grins as he opens the door for me. I try to give the tools back to him, but he waves them away. “Keep them. They might come in handy.”
“You’re my landlord. Should you be encouraging all this breaking and entering?”
“I trust you to be good.” He puts a finger under my chin and lifts my face to his. His handsome face fills my vision. “Until I make you bad.”
I can’t breathe. Is he going to kiss me?
He drops his finger. “Remember what we talked about.”
“Or else?” His closeness emboldens me. I’m giddy. Or maybe I’ve just lost my mind.
“Or else.” His eyes are flint, striking sparks. “You’ll be punished.”
I lick my lips. “What do I get if I’m good?”
A pause then he crowds me against the door. Two giant hands come to cup my face, tilting it up before his lips slam down on mine.
It’s a great kiss. A bad boy kiss. A naughty girl kiss. He pins me against the door, mouth dominating mine. His knee presses between my splayed legs, his hard thigh angling against my pussy. Sparks fly in my mind, my body reigniting like fireworks on the Fourth of July. I grind down, helpless against the rising tide.
Let the record reflect: Werewolves kiss good.
At the last moment, he breaks away.
“Damn,” I breathe.
“That’s right, baby.” He angles his hips, and his erection brushes against me. “Be good, and you just might get another reward.”
~.~
Garrett
I sit sipping beer on my couch, staring at the moon as I try to get my wolf under control. Bad, bad girl, running from a wolf. And the way she responded to the spanking… damn if my dick isn’t all awake and ready to go.
I hear boots in the hall before my apartment door bangs open.
“Not so loud,” I call, and wince. I sound like my dad.
Why the hell did I think it was a good idea to live with packmates? It was fun just out of college, but I’m twenty-nine, and a business owner. I own half the real estate downtown. Maybe it’s time to buy a house, find a mate. Grow the fuck up. But that would make me into my dad.
Damn, my wolf is riled up if I’m thinking about mating.
Trey and Jared stride inside only to stop short.
“What the-” Trey starts, his eyes turning silver.
“It’s cool,” I tell them. They smell Amber.
“What’s with you and the human? Tank said you took off after her,” Jared says.
I scoff. That makes me sound desperate. “Tank was wrong. I went for a ride then came back here. You know, the place where I live.”
Jared’s eyes aren’t silver, but he raises his head, sniffing like a wolf at Amber’s lingering vanilla scent. “But she was here.”
“She and I had a little talk.” I take a pull on my beer, keep my tone casual. “She knows.”
Jared and Trey go still.
“How?” Trey asks. His shoulders bunch like he’s about to change. Jared sits down on a chair facing me. A string of tension runs through him, too, like a predator on high alert.
And they’re right to prepare to defend. Amber knowing is a liability to the pack.
“Back off.” I can’t quite keep the growl out of my voice. “She’s one of us.”
“What?” Jared cocks his head.
“You told her?” Trey asks as if he didn’t hear me, worrying his lip piercing with his tongue. He’s the thinker of the pack. I should have forced him to go to college because he’s the guy who researches the fuck out of anything and everything that interests him. He’s a great advisor and strategist. “Humans can’t know about us, G. The rule-”
“Shut up, Trey,” Jared cuts him off. It’s inappropriate for either of them to question any decision I make.
I plunk my beer down. “No, I didn’t tell her. And I’m aware of pack rules. That particular one hasn’t been enforced for seventy years.”
“Yeah, because your dad would rip a shifter’s guts out if they ever told a human,” Jared mumbles. His eyes are silver, too.
“I’m not my father.” The guys freeze at my growl, so I force myself to relax. “That might be how my dad runs things, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Like I said, she’s one of us.”
“Shifter?” Jared asks, though he must already know by her scent she’s not.
I shake my head. “Psychic. I didn’t tell her. She guessed. Or knew.” I stand and cross my arms over my chest. “But, we talked, and she’s not going to say a word.”
Trey gnaws his lip.
Jared watches me. “You gonna tell Tank?”
My fingers curl into fists. Is Tank their fucking leader now? “No need. She’s not gonna breathe a word.”
“Whenever you talk about her, your wolf is in your eyes,” Jared observes. “We’ve been taking bets on how long before you claim her.”
They’ve been taking bets. Which probably means the whole pack knows I have a thing for a human. Assholes.