Sassy Ever After: Kissing Sassy (Kindle Worlds Novella)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BLURB

DEDICATION

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

TWENTY-TWO

TWENTY-THREE

Sassy Mates

OTHER BOOKS BY GRACEN

Wild and free, Cajun thought he was content.

Cajun Wolfe doesn’t have time for trouble in five-inch stilettos, but that’s what he gets in the form of Hollywood’s leading lady. When Olivia Scott waltzes into Blue Creek’s shifter bar seeking his expertise for help with a stalker, Cajun’s convinced she’s a thrill seeker and he scorns her request. Soon he realizes he might’ve just met his match in a human, who also happens to be his mate. Olivia’s not just sassy, stubborn, and unpredictable, she has a temper to match his too.

Then Olivia showed him what he was missing.

Olivia Scott has had it with arrogant men. Cajun scoffing at her genuine need for help is the final straw. Determined to find another that’ll take her seriously, she storms off only to be attacked in the parking lot. Playing the part of unlikely hero, Cajun defeats her assailants. Meeting her mate in the form of a snarly wolf-shifter with a bad attitude is rotten luck. He’s also a weakness she can’t afford.

Trouble never looked so fun…

Their troubles are only beginning. A new danger arises and Olivia’s secrets are revealed. Can Cajun convince her to gamble on a mating so inconceivable it might just be a pairing that’ll save the world? Or will all be lost?

…or came with so much baggage.

Thanks Milly Taiden for giving me the opportunity to write in your world. I had a blast world-building in the Sassy Ever After series.

Thank you Charity Chimni for proofreading the final product. I can’t thank you enough for taking the time out of your schedule to read and report the errors back to me.

Cajun

Trouble in five-inch red stilettos strutted into the building. Every patron in Sassy Wolfe gaped at Hollywood’s leading lady.

Olivia Scott. In the flesh, a straight man’s fantasy and likely a lesbian’s too.

She had no fucking business being in a shifter bar.

Theodore “Cajun” Wolfe noted at least one vampire licking his chops, in all likelihood X-marking Ms. Scott as his next meal.

With all intentions of cutting her off before she made it to the bar, Cajun bolted from his chair. A black leather dress embraced her curves. Long, blonde hair cascaded in loose waves down her slim back. An image of fisting those glossy locks as he thrust between her thighs struck. Hard. Fast. Without warning or gratitude.

He shook his head. What the hell? He didn’t fuck prissy chicks. Preferred the dirty ones who liked it every way imaginable.

Cajun stepped in her path, drawing her up short. Green eyes too bright to be fully human, but he scented nothing paranormal about her, met his with a bold, curious gaze without a stitch of fear. Odd. Most humans trembled at least a little in the direct stare of a shifter.

Her perfume assaulted him next, and it was all woman. Sweet, divine, and a bit saucy, scents both elements of the man enjoyed. His canine wanted to roll around in the aroma. As the fragrance filled his lungs, his wolf pushed beneath his skin, and he clutched his nape, as if catching the animal before he launched at her.

While he wrestled his beast into submission, Cajun considered her.
She’s my mate.
Just his fucking luck. Had she been a wolf, familiar with their customs, he’d have been delighted, but humans were word-needy creatures. He didn’t have the patience to smooth talk a woman into being his one and only.

Pretty sure my mom is allergic to humans
. At his mental joke, he chuckled beneath his breath.

Considering the once-over she gave him and her open features turning into a scowl, he estimated she found him lacking. Yeah, considering her celebrity status, it figured she’d be a judgy bitch.

Cajun fisted his hands and shoved them in his jeans’ pockets. He didn’t have patience for the sanctimonious either. “Think you’re out of your time zone.”

“Was told I could find a bodyguard here.” The resonance of her Australian accent caught him off guard, nothing like her onscreen American sounding voice. Sultry, sensual, and his wolf
liked
the tonality.

“I’ll guard that fine ass,” Raptor, a vamp known for imbibing on humans, hissed near her ear.

Olivia flinched away. “Hands off!”

Cajun’s wolf reacted before he could counter, growling at the vampire, and functioning as the only warning the fang would receive before he ripped the bloodsucker’s head off. He might not be on board with her being his mate, but his wolf had a mind of his own and had marked her as his. That made the creature possessive and protective, and meant Raptor didn’t know how close he was to dying in this moment.

“Easy.” Raptor elevated his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “Just being solicitous.”

Solicitous my ass
.

Cajun eyed the bloodsucker, letting his wolf out just a little until he cowed Raptor into retreating, satisfying Cajun’s wolf. He faced off with the blonde once more.

She gaped at the vampire as if surprised Cajun had managed to run him off. None of Sassy Wolfe’s patrons would go against a Wolfe. Take on one, and you fucked with the whole pack.

“Honey, this is a shifter bar, not a front for underhanded dealings.”

“I’m not a moron or a child.”

His eyebrows shot upward at her aggravated tone.

“I need help. If you can’t direct me to the right person, then step aside so I can go about my business.”

“A woman on a mission, eh?” Shouldn’t a pretty thing like her—and a celebrity too—already have a bodyguard?

“Damn straight. I am woman. Hear me roar.” She lifted a hand in the air, made a clawing motion, and gave off a throaty snarl.

Spellbound and turned on by this sassy chick, amusement surfaced alongside his lust. He almost chuckled but caught himself. “This is no place for a human. You’re gonna get your ass killed.”

A smirk twitched her lips. What was he missing?

“I don’t plan on dying tonight.”

“I doubt few
plan
to die, Ms. Scott.”

Her jaw clenched. He suspected she ground her molars. Good, he was getting to her. Maybe he could convince her to take her pretty ass back out the door sooner rather than later. His wolf wanted her to stay and play, and the animal growled at
him
for trying to shoo her off. Stupid beast thinking with its primal instincts rather than utilizing common sense.

Olivia surprised him by jabbing a finger on his chest. “Listen here. Barbara told me—”

“
Aunt
Barbara?” Christ almighty, if his aunt sent Olivia Scott to
this
paranormal establishment then she either played matchmaker—her favorite pastime—or she was genuinely concerned for the woman. How did they even know one another? Not that it mattered because simply having his favorite aunt involved changed his entire attitude.

Olivia shrugged. “If Barbara Wolfe is ‘Aunt Barbara’, then yeah.”

“How do you know Aunt B?”

“Why does that matter?” She emitted a sexy huff as she peeked at her wristwatch. “You ask a lot of questions for a man not interested in helping me.”

“What exactly is your problem?”

“Besides you?” She arched an eyebrow and folded her arms over her chest. Damnit, he liked her brassy attitude. “I’ve got a stalker.”

“Sounds like you require a restraining order.” Even he admitted, at this point, he just came across as a douchebag. Restraining orders stopped stalkers as much as cobwebs. “If you want someone dead, Raptor’s your best choice. Us Wolfe’s only protect our own blood.”

She is ours
, his wolf protested.
Our mate.

Murder bled from her gaze, and she gritted out, “Thanks for wasting my time.”

As she turned on her heels and stomped away, he resisted chasing her down and marking her as his.
She’s out of our league
, he reminded his wolf. But what type of fool encouraged their mate to walk out on them?

The moment the door shut behind her, his cell phone jingled in his pants’ pocket. He dug the device out and checked the text. A cold chill skittered down his spine.

Aunt Barbara is gonna use my hide as a rug.

Olivia

Olivia Scott stormed from the bar. She suspected the human detectives had been paid off by her stalker to drop the investigation. Not willing to go down without a fight, she’d hired an investigator to look into them and build a criminal case against them.

Barbara had assured her she’d find help in Sassy Wolfe. And what’d she ended up with? Attitude! She wouldn’t tolerate Mr. Sexy-pants’ glib arrogance. It was
his
kind at the heart of her problem.

Asshole
.

Given a shifter’s protectiveness toward women, she’d expected more assistance from him. Not assholery. Geez. What’d it take to get a girl a little help?

Proof right there all men are the same regardless of birth
. Sexist pigs! They thought they knew more than the ‘little woman’. Hollywood had an epidemic of male bigots, but she’d managed to earn her fame without spreading her legs or selling her soul.

Normally, she handled her temper better, but something about Mr. Sexy-pants frazzled her. Her instant reaction to him had startled her. She’d grown jittery, and her nipples had tightened, becoming achy points of sensation, which made no sense, given her typical restraint. Thankfully, the leather dress had hidden the coiled buds of her breasts.

Olivia wasn’t a prude, but she chose her lovers carefully. In an industry where every move she made would be criticized and put on display to the world, prudence was the wisest precaution. Sexy-pants wasn’t a wise or cautious choice. His good looks alone invited a closer once-over.

The minute she got to her car, she’d phone Barbara and let her know—

Someone tackled her from behind. Carrying the weight of her attacker, she crashed into the side of the G-Class Mercedes-Benz. Crushed between the car and the weight of a stinky male, the impact knocked the air from her lungs, but didn’t slow down her retaliation. Olivia reacted with an elbow to his gut. A grunt let her know she hit her mark, but his grip tightened instead of loosened. She twisted just enough to connect her elbow with his nose.

That got her released.

Olivia channeled her magic to take out the attackers. A brief tingle hit her fingertips before the mojo sputtered out. Voided. A tick of panic quickened her heartbeat. Only wolves affected her power, turning her as vulnerable as a human. She yanked open the door to her vehicle and dove across the passenger seat.

“Get her,” a pained male said in a nasally tone.

Her fingers grazed a Taser, but a yank on her legs left her clutching at air. Olivia screamed her frustration because she didn’t expect any help from Sexy-pants or any other creature inside Sassy Wolfe for that matter. The scream ended abruptly when she landed on the ground, gravel biting into her backside.

Attacker number two straddled her waist, and she went for a pressure point at the base of his neck. He swatted her arms aside as she bucked beneath him, almost unseating him. She tried magic once more, but suffered the same results. Failure.

I hate wolves!

When he managed to grab one of her wrists, pinching so hard her fingers went a little numb, Olivia dug the nails of her other hand into his cheek and dragged them, leaving deep gouges in his flesh.

“Bitch!” the scruffy assailant yelled, and she smirked while punching toward his groin.

He backhanded her twice, rapid-fire strikes. Olivia’s cheeks bloomed with fire, and her teeth shredded the tender flesh on the inside of her mouth. White starbursts blinded her for a long moment, and she blinked to right her vision. Still, she struggled to gain freedom but given her disorientation, her attempts were lame, and he managed to zip-tie her wrists with ease.

The asshole that had attacked her first—Stinky—stood at her head groping himself. “She’s a pretty thing. Can’t wait to fuck ’er.”

Scruffy fingered the scratches she’d given his cheek, his face hardening when he looked at the blood on the pads. “Fuck her up the ass without lube. It’s what the bitch deserves.”

A growl was the only warning they had before a boot connected with the side of Scruffy’s head. The asswipe went flying off her and slammed into the backside of the car, before dropping to the gravel. Olivia reacted, diving for the passenger side of the car again, and out of the corner of her eye she spied fur taking over skin.

Damn!
Just her luck, they were all shifters. Two wolves against one couldn’t be considered fair odds in the shifter world. Maybe she’d be able to even out the odds a little.

With her wrists bound too tight by the zip-ties gouging into her skin, her fingers were turning a nasty shade of purple. Whines and growls emerged behind her, and she gripped the Taser with numb fingers.

She leapt from the Mercedes and turned just in time to catch the white wolf bite down on the brown wolf’s neck. The third wolf, also brown in color but with a black muzzle, circled the duo fighting. With no idea which one she could call her savior, she theorized the one circling the other two scrapping had to be one of her attackers, so she waited until his butt was to her and zapped him with the Taser. He gave a high-pitched yelp and then pitched onto his side as the current went through him. Before her eyes, he shifted into Stinky.

The white wolf finished off the brown one as Olivia pressed one of her stilettos into Stinky’s unguarded balls and pointed the Taser at him just in case she needed to fry him again. No way did she plan to allow him to escape before Barbara’s family had a go at him. Justice was big in the shifter world and having another shifter attack her on Wolfe territory, she knew at least
they
would want retaliation.

White wolf blinked at her, and she had a moment of recognition right before he shifted into Sexy-pants. Surprised he’d come to her rescue, she gawked. Disheveled locks of his dark-brown hair fell over his forehead, and his light-gray eyes met hers. Anger tightened his jaw and set up a glow in his eyes. A
real
glow that ringed his irises. She might’ve been frightened since wolves eliminated her power, but her body picked that moment to become aroused, her core clenching in need. Even with blood covering his mouth and chin, mixing with his dark scruff, she wanted him in a way that made
no
sense.

Has to be the adrenaline.
Because the other alternative terrified her.

Using his palm, he attempted to wipe the blood off his face. Olivia felt her eyes widen as she took in his nudity. Tattoos covered both arms and his chest. And his dick came to life as she watched, going from flaccid to stiff in a matter of seconds.

She gulped. Not because she was embarrassed or impressed by his size, but because of her body’s reaction to him. Watching him grow hard resulted in moisture gushing from her channel and her clit throbbing in time with her heartbeat.

Sexy-pants smirked, confirming the rumors she’d heard that shifters could smell another’s lust. “You seem to have him under control.” He indicated the victim of her Taser strike.

Olivia added a little pressure to Stinky’s balls, a silent confirmation to Sexy-pants that if the jerk attempted to move she’d pulverize his crotch beneath her stiletto. It helped that Stinky still hadn’t come to.

Sexy-pants walked to a red pickup truck parked nearby, and she admired the fine lines of his cut ass flexing and releasing as he moved. He jerked open the back door to the vehicle and shook out a pair of jeans, before pulling them on.

Smart move, keeping a set of clothes handy, even if his dressing kind of disappointed her because he had a great body. Sinful.
Lickalicious
.

“You brought a Taser to a teeth and claw fight?” Sexy-pants arched a dark eyebrow as he strode toward her.

Her gaze was drawn straight to his unbuttoned jeans and the happy trail disappearing into the denim. “Shut up, Benji, or I might be tempted to Tase you too.” Remembering why she disliked the shifter, she glared at him. She’d just been attacked for the third time and having barely escaped the second time. Bite marks on the back of her neck proved her claims, even if the human detectives accused her of fabricating the story to sell more movies. Didn’t matter that the goddamn cops had run off her stalker during all his biting. Olivia’s bullshit meter had reached its limit, and she wasn’t in the mood for Sexy-pants’ sarcasm. “I
told
you I had a wolf stalker.”

“You didn’t mention one damn thing about a
wolf
stalker.” Sexy-pants growled as he wielded a pocketknife and cut through the plastic securing her wrists, before sliding his knife into his front pocket.

“I’d have taken that seriously,” he said as he wrapped rope around her assailant’s hands and feet.

Who the hell keeps rope in their truck?
“I’m so tempted to use this on you.” Narrowing her eyes, she jiggled the Taser to indicate what she wanted to use on him. “Why would Barbara send me to a shifter bar for help with a
human stalker
?”

“I’m not a mind reader.”

“Cajun, what the hell is going—
Olivia
?”

“Thank god!” Olivia dismissed the downed wolf, crashed into Jake Wolfe, and hugged him. Barbara’s son in the flesh. Finally, someone who would take her seriously.

He gave her a hearty squeeze, but she could sense his confusion. “Didn’t know you were coming into town. Is there something wrong, sweetie?”