For Your Paws Only (Supernatural Enforcers Agency #2) (4 page)

Chapter Three

“Screw him!”

Lucie blinked at Avery, and the blonde lioness flicked her hair back garnering more than a few admiring glances from patrons at the busy bar.

They were perched on high stools around a table at the Red Moon Bar. It was a watering hole frequented by numerous SEA agents that cultivated a sexually charged atmosphere. In particular, Lucie had spent the better part of the evening watching,
longingly
, as a crocodile shifter and a rabbit shifter virtually dry-humped each other in a booth.

Feeling despondent, she had called on her gaggle of friends for advice about Cutter. Currently, they weren’t saying anything she wanted to hear.

Jessie, the squirrel shifter, stirred her appletini. “I think you need to move on.”

Lucie snapped to attention, and her beast, true to form, prickled. “Move on?”

The squirrel nodded her long, mahogany red locks. For once, her hair was its natural color. Usually, it was dyed alternately in neon shades of yellow, pink, blue and green.

“It’s been a year, Luce. He’s not interested. You need to forget about him and find someone else. There’s nothing worse than sitting at home every night pining over a guy who barely knows you exist.”

A look of knowing sadness flitted over Jessie’s face but before Lucie could probe her she was interrupted by Isis in all her obnoxious glory.

“No, sleep with his best friend,” declared the tigress, as her eyes roved the bar looking for willing men –
or perhaps willing victims
.

Lucie rolled her eyes. “I’m not doing that, and even if I wanted to, his best friend is already mated to our friend, Erin.”

Isis nodded thoughtfully. “Good point. Sleep with his second best friend.”

“That’s terrible advice, Tigger,” snapped Avery, who seemed a little more angry than usual.

The tigress bared her fangs at the nickname. “What got your
considerable
panties in a bunch?”

Lucie almost choked on her own appletini. Implying Avery was anything other than slender or toned was a crime against nature. But then the two cats fought over just about anything.

“A morning spent trying to deal with a bitch of a hyena and then an afternoon with the world’s surliest wolf shifter – that’s what happened!”

Isis, in an unusual fit of sympathy, actually softened. “You’re right; spending the day with Primrose and Cutter sounds hellish to me. No offense,” she commented to Lucie.

Avery relaxed a little. “Look, Cutter’s an okay guy,” she paused as Isis snorted, “but it’s clear that he isn’t into you. So my advice is to find someone new. Not the love of your life, just some rebound guy for a bit of casual sex.”

“Or, does he have a brother?” inquired Isis.

Jeez Louise! Lucie bit her lip. “Guys, it’s not that I don’t, uh, appreciate all this advice, but I was kind of hoping for something a bit more practical. Like ways I could win him over.”

Jessie gave her a pitying look that she chose to ignore. Her hedgehog pushed at her to do something. She wasn’t quite ready to give up yet. She wasn’t sure she ever could.

“Please guys?”

The squirrel huffed half-heartedly. “Well, what does he like?”

“Swearing,” volunteered Avery.

“Drinking,” suggested Isis.

“Hitting things,” laughed Avery.

Jessie gave them a scolding look. “No, I meant more along the lines of what does he like to eat or drink or does he have a hobby? Like you could pack a picnic of his favorite foods and take it to watch a football game or something like that. Try appealing to what he likes; try doing something romantic and then if that doesn’t sway him, give it up as a lost cause.”

Lucie nodded in agreement, liking everything she said until that last part. No, giving up wasn’t an option.

Avery snapped her fingers. “Yes, that’s it. Give him a big romantic gesture and if that doesn’t work – fuck him. Go big or go home.”

Isis shook her head. “No, this is easy, just turn up at his apartment wearing nothing but a trench coat. When he opens the door, drop the coat and, voilà, he’s putty in your hands.”

She was alarmed at how excited her little beast got over that idea. The plan certainly had its merits. Cutter wasn’t made of stone –
even if parts of him certainly seemed to be rock hard
. When faced with a naked hedgehog shifter in possession of,
even if she did say so herself
, a very impressive bust, she highly doubted his resolve wouldn’t crumble like old cheese.

“That’s not bad,” she admitted to a preening Isis.

“Just let me know if you need to borrow my trench coat – I have several.” Isis clapped her hands together. “Alright, I am going to get us another round of drinks.”

The lithe tigress sauntered away, swinging her hips, pushing her boobs out and eye-fondling just about every male in the bar. The good thing about Isis is that she always procured free drinks for everyone. Her record from leaving the table to getting a guy to offer her a drink was sixteen seconds.

Lucie couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her as Isis blew air kisses at a very surprised looking panda shifter. He almost inhaled his bottle of beer in surprise.

Ah, to be a five-foot-ten tiger shifter
.

*

Cutter snarled at a fellow wolf shifter who pushed past him as he was entering the bar. The wolf returned the snarl, and they kept going back and forth in a snarling contest until, finally, Wayne thumped him on the back and told him he was thirsty.

It had not been a good day.

His wolf had been sulky and irritable all day, even more than usual, and they hadn’t made any headway with either of their cases. Plus, somehow Primrose got wind of the fact that he had been within a hairsbreadth of Lucie getting her delectable fingers on him for his physical, and that he’d bolted. Primrose, naturally, reported that to the Director and Cutter barely made it out of the office without having to pry the snake shifter’s fingers from around his neck.

He sniffed as he entered the bar and almost howled in frustration. His treacherous animal was thrilled, but Cutter just wanted to run in the other direction. There, amongst all the sweat, perfume and arousal, was the sweetest scent of all – blueberries and cream.

Yep, Lucie was on the loose
.

Dale noticed his discomfort and smirked. By now he had also scented Lucie and was looking forward to what was about to transpire. It had taken Dale all of five minutes to see how Lucie felt, and to see that Cutter was fervently trying to prevent anything from happening between them. Dale couldn’t understand why Cutter didn’t just take her to bed and be done with it. No, he wouldn’t understand. He’d never turn down the offer of sex with a woman, whether she was his brother’s girlfriend, whether she was married… To Dale, it was downright unmanly not to try and hump every woman he found attractive.

Cutter just thanked whichever gods were on his side that Dale wasn’t after Lucie. He felt confident that Lucie would resist him –
she had way too much class for that randy loser
– but even the thought of Dale trying to touch her sent him wild. Wild enough that he shifted and burst out of his best shirt the first time the disgusting thought crossed his mind. The idea of that male’s paws touching her creamy skin… Cutter felt his gut twist, and his wolf bared his fangs.

Easy, he soothed his animal. Lucie was safe from Dale – he’d make sure of it. Just like he made sure that she wouldn’t be bothered by that reindeer shifter from tactical who had wanted to take her out for coffee abut eight months ago. Not to mention the wombat shifter analyst who was trying to lure her into joining his RPG game,
The Wolves of Olde
. Cutter made damn sure she was safe from both those creeps – even if both times had resulted in another round of anger management classes. He scowled at the thought of those males. Coffee and RPG games – the sweet, little hedgehog deserved so much more than that.

Fuck, there she was.

Her hair, brown with natural blonde highlights, framed her flawless face. She smiled shyly in between sips of some god-awful looking green liquid. Her eyes, those big, erotically torturous, pools of blue were riveted on Isis, who appeared to be air making out with a red-faced panda shifter. His heart stuttered as he saw her curvy frame was draped in a figure hugging blue dress. Damnit, why did she have to wear something so fucking revealing? Okay, so it had a high neckline, long sleeves, and the hem fell below her knee – but people could still see her ankles!

He ducked out of sight before she could see him. Maybe she had scented him, but he doubted it. Her nose wasn’t the greatest, and the bar was a sweaty throng of overheated horny bodies. His wolf whined a little; why was he disappointed that she couldn’t pick him out of a crowd? It didn’t matter one bit. Of course he could pick out her scent anywhere, he was a fantastic tracker, and it had nothing to do with the fact that her scent was the most glorious thing he had ever smelled in his life.
No siree
.

Cutter sat down heavily on a bar stool next to Dale and nodded at his fellow SEA agents Wes and Lake. Wes was a liger shifter and led the Gamma team while Lake was an arctic wolf shifter and worked in tactical. Lake was a little shorter than him but wider and was known for being quiet and thoughtful in private, and a living battering ram out in the field.

Wayne had already abandoned them to flirt with a shifter groupie – a human who came to the shifter-oriented bar for the purpose of hooking up with shifters. He was treating her to a very toothy grin as he winked at Cutter.

He huffed and downed the beer Dale had set in front of him in one go. Dale gave him a knowing smirk and ordered him another.

Wes regarded him with interest. “So I heard you’re afraid to go and get your physical done because you don’t want to be naked in front of Lucie, that true?”

“No,” Cutter hissed, glaring at Dale, who wasn’t even bothering to try and hide his chuckles.

The liger gave him a mock look of concern. “Look if it’s a size issue…”

“I have no issues!” snarled Cutter as his wolf roared at the nerve of the cat. Fucking feline.

“You only have to be naked for a few minutes. Maybe you could turn the thermostat up before you go in. If it’s warm, there’ll be less shrinkage.”

“What?!”

Wes rolled his shoulders. “Besides, Lucie’s quite a small woman, I suppose anything next to her looks big. Even something like, I don’t know, a pencil.”

Dale, who had somehow already managed to down four beers and was now moving on to hard liquor, was almost sobbing with laughter. Even Lake had to hide his smile.

“Although,” said Wes, thoughtfully, “Lucie has seen all of us naked. I guess it would be a bit of a let down to see you…”

Cutter slammed his empty beer bottle down and spat each word in a thick, growly voice. “Thin. Fucking. Ice. Cat.”

That just brought on more bouts of laughter. Cutter called them all assholes and left them to go to the bathroom. Annoyed by Wes’ completely untrue ridicules, he made the mistake of letting his guard down and…

“Cutter!” cooed a very happy voice.

His wolf pranced around like a puppy as Cutter froze and mentally tried to assess whether it would be easier to run to the exit or throw himself through the window. Clearly he spent too much time deciding as the next thing he knew a small, warm hand was tugging on his arm.

The touch of her skin burned him, sending hot desire scorching through him. His beast whimpered in ecstasy as he scented and wallowed in the aroma of her delicious arousal. He bet she tasted unbelievable. He bet that if he wanted to, he could fall to his knees, lift up her skirt and plunge his tongue right into her hot, beautiful sex. Even in this busy bar, he was sure she’d let him. Her cheeks turned a dusky shade of pink as if she could hear his lewd thoughts.

Cutter shook his head, trying to gain some control even as his mind turned to jelly.
Aroused, happy jelly, but jelly nonetheless.

She flashed him an enchanting smile. “I didn’t know you were here.”

His first instinct was to apologize and beg her forgiveness. Well, no actually his first instinct was to grab hold of her and kiss her silly, while his second was the whole dropping to his knees and tasting her thing. But the apology was still up there in the top ten.

But, he remembered his miserable resolve. Lucie wasn’t taking no for an answer, so he had to start showing her that he meant what he said.

“Yeah, well, I knew you were here.”

It wasn’t quite as mean as it could have been, but Cutter still wanted to beat himself up, not to mention what his wolf wanted to do to him.

Her megawatt smile dimmed a couple of notches, but she was undeterred.
Yep, it just couldn’t be that easy, could it?

“I was wondering if you wanted to come round to my apartment one night this week, and I’d cook you dinner. I remember how you said you hadn’t had a home cooked meal in years.”

Cutter frowned. He had mentioned that about eight months ago when Wayne was extolling the virtues of his momma’s fish head stew. He was surprised Lucie remembered.