Sarah shook her head. “I don’t think we should go to any of Grant’s bars then. If he finds out where you are, I guarantee he’ll show up.”
Talia doubted it but didn’t comment. “Wherever you want to go, I’m game.”
Her friend looked at her and gave her a positively wicked grin. “I know just the place, then.”
* * * * *
Grant shoved his phone back into his pocket and glared at Talia’s house. It was close to two in the morning and she wasn’t home. After she’d left with Sarah—who hadn’t answered his phone calls either—he’d left and gotten some paperwork done at the bar. He’d tried not to think about Talia but that had been a pointless effort. All he’d
done
was think about the tall, sexy woman. The entire day—okay, past couple days—he’d been fantasizing about tonight. Imagining what it would be like when she wrapped her legs around his waist. And his face. God, he loved her taste. Sweet and perfect, just like her.
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat then turned around when he heard the sound of a car pulling down her street. Thanks to his extrasensory abilities, he could tell the vehicle was a truck. Not the car Talia had left in.
Hope waning, he started to turn back when the flash of lights blinded him for a moment, then shut off. Turning again, he realized a truck had pulled into Talia’s drive.
And she was sitting in the passenger seat next to a male.
Growling, he got out and slammed his door. As soon as he saw who was behind the wheel, he froze.
Derrick, one of the bouncer’s at Crescent Moon Bar, sat there and he looked just as surprised as Grant felt. Instantly, the other male got out of the vehicle. He grinned good-naturedly when he saw him. “Hey, boss. Everything okay?”
It took a moment for him to find his voice. His throat clenched impossibly tight and he had to physically restrain himself from not shifting into his animal form and attacking Derrick. “Why are you with Talia?”
The blond man shrugged and glanced over his shoulder and she started to get out. When she slightly stumbled Grant made a move toward her but stopped himself. First, he needed to find out what the hell she was doing with Derrick.
“Ran into her and Sarah tonight at Klub Kink and they both got a little tanked. Sarah left with Randy and I offered to take little miss drunk home.” Derrick chuckled under his breath and hurried toward Talia. Immediately he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and helped her stand straight.
All the air rushed from Grant’s lungs. Talia had been at a
bondage
club? And now Derrick was actually fucking
touching
her.
A growl built low in his throat, causing Derrick’s head to snap up. Talia wasn’t paying attention. It looked like she was struggling to simply keep her eyes open, but Derrick’s eyes widened as he stared at him. For a moment he looked confused, then he looked at Talia. Then back at Grant. His eyes grew even wider.
“Oh…
oh
, shit. Boss, nothing’s going on. I swear. I was just bringing her home because she needed a ride—”
Grant cut him off as he covered the distance between them. “I’ll take it from here.” He knew nothing had happened between them because he’d be able to smell it on Talia. And Derrick wasn’t that stupid. Still, his inner wolf didn’t like seeing anyone touching what was his.
Talia didn’t struggle or even argue as he wrapped his arm under her shoulders. Instead, she snuggled up next to him which only infuriated him more. How much had the woman had to drink? If it wasn’t for Derrick, anything could have happened to her.
“Grant. What are you doing here? I think I’m supposed to be mad at you.” Her words were slightly slurred as she nuzzled his neck and raked her teeth against his skin. His cock throbbed painfully against the zipper of his jeans but some of his anger dissipated. She knew exactly who was holding onto her. That counted for something.
“How much did she have to drink?” he asked Derrick quietly.
“I don’t know, boss. I got there pretty late and I was surprised to see Talia. Sarah, not so much. From what I gathered Sarah dragged her there but there was enough of the pack…” He trailed off as he looked at Talia, who thankfully wasn’t paying attention, then back at Grant. “There were enough of
us
there that no one messed with her. I assumed you
knew
they were having a girls’ night out and were working or something.”
Grant shifted and pulled Talia closer to him. Plucking her purse from her hands, he fished her keys out. “If you ever see her out again at a place like that with Sarah or anyone, call me.”
Derrick nodded and quickly shuffled toward his truck.
“And, Derrick?
Eyes still wary, his chin notched up a fraction higher. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for getting her home safe.”
The tension in Derrick’s shoulders loosened as he nodded. “Any time.”
When Grant looked down at Talia he realized her eyes were closed and she was barely awake. Even though she bartended, she rarely drank and in the year he’d known her, he’d never seen her drunk. Tipsy, yes. But nothing like this.
As Derrick started to pull out of the driveway, Grant scooped Talia up and carried her inside. She buried her face against his chest and sighed deeply.
Shaking his head, he took her to her bedroom and stretched her out on her bed. Wearing that skin tight dress and fuck-me heels, she looked like pure sex. It was hard not to stare or to imagine how differently tonight should have turned ou. The woman was absolute perfection. With her eyes closed and her steady breathing, she looked so peaceful, innocent even. Not raging mad at him at least.
His chest ached as he stared at her so he tore his gaze from her face and focused on what he needed to do. After taking off her heels, he pulled the cover up over her. He didn’t bother with taking her dress off. Not because he didn’t trust himself, but because he didn’t want to be faced with the torture of seeing her naked body and not being able to do a thing about it. Hell, even if she was awake he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it anyway considering how pissed she was at him.
He’d wanted to talk to her, but that obviously wasn’t happening tonight. Though he was tempted to stretch out next to her, he headed for the living room. He wasn’t going to piss her off even more and if she woke up and saw his face, he knew exactly what kind of reaction he’d get. But damn, if they didn’t fix this soon he’d go crazy.
Chapter Two
Talia opened her eyes and groaned. Her head ached and when she looked down at herself she realized she still wore the dress she’d gone out in last night.
Freaking perfect.
Trying not to move her head too much, she sat up and stripped off her clothes. The place they’d gone to last night had been high end—even if some of the things she’d seen had freaked her out a little—but it had still been a smoking bar and she reeked of smoke. After washing her face and brushing her teeth, she slipped on her comfy terrycloth robe. For a moment she thought about jumping in the shower but decided to find coffee instead.
The second she stepped into her kitchen, she froze. Grant sat at her kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. He looked up at her and the heat in his eyes nearly made her stumble. Frowning, she realized there was a bouquet of colorful flowers in the middle of the table. She didn’t remember buying any. No, she hadn’t so those must be from him. That was weird. He never bought her flowers. Blinking, she shook her head. Wasn’t she supposed to be mad at him? As the events of last night and then very early this morning came rushing back, she cringed. She
was
mad at him. And he was sitting at her table like he totally belonged there. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she stumbled toward the counter and her waiting coffee. At least he’d had the decency to brew a fresh pot.
Inhaling, she savored the scent of the rich Colombian roast.
“I think I should be asking you what the
hell
you were doing at Klub Kink last night.” There was an edge to his voice she’d never heard before. It was dangerous and almost angry and for some reason she totally wasn’t going to examine, she kind of liked the possessive note in his voice.
She swiveled to look at him then cursed herself for moving too fast. The world spun for a moment but she gained her balance. “Excuse me?” He had no right to question her.
“You heard my question,” he growled, his jaw set.
Okay, now his tone annoyed her. Adrenaline spiked through her, knocking some of her hangover right out of her system. “What I do in my free time is none of your business.”
“Oh, it most definitely is.” Slowly, he stood up and set his cup on the table. His voice might be angry, but the way his gaze roved her robed body—like he was hungry for her—made her falter slightly.
In an effort to mask her insecurity, she snorted and turned back to the coffee. “I don’t know why you’re here and I don’t really care,” she said as she poured a cup. “I said everything I needed to say last night. Those flowers are nice but they don’t change anything.” Talia might be pleased he’d bought them for her, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.
She turned around to find him less than a foot away from her. She sucked in a deep breath. Nearly sloshing the coffee, she set it back down with a shaky hand. She hadn’t even heard him move. Why did he have to smell so good? Her eyes grew heavy for a moment as his scent messed with her head. It was earthy and spicy and made her dream about sex. Hot, raw primal sex that left her panting for more.
“Did you enjoy yourself last night?” he asked in a deceptively soft voice as he stepped closer. Using his big body, he effectively caged her in. When he placed both hands on either side of her, she hated that the first instinct she had was to hoist herself up against him and wrap her legs around his waist. Then she’d run her fingers up and down that muscular chest of his with abandon. She inwardly groaned at her thoughts. Her body was a traitorous bitch.
Instead of doing
that
, she placed a hand on his chest and slightly pushed. He didn’t budge, and his heart was racing beneath her palm. She wasn’t sure what that was about but she didn’t push again. Instead she yanked her hand back and glared at him. “I had a
great
time last night.”
Something predatory flashed in his eyes. “I’ll just bet you did. If it wasn’t for Derrick bringing you home, God knows how you’d have gotten here. Anything could have happened to you.
Anyone
could have taken you home! What the hell were you thinking?” Now he was shouting.
She hated that he was right because she’d had the very same thoughts last night as she slid into the passenger seat of Derrick’s car. Sarah had decided to hook up with some guy and if Derrick hadn’t been there, Talia would have called Grant. He might be a lot of things but he’d never have left her stranded at a club.
She still couldn’t believe how fast she’d gotten drunk, but she hadn’t eaten dinner and it had been a long time since she’d had that much to drink. Usually her life was so consumed with work, school and lately,
Grant
, so everything else took a back seat. But she sure as hell didn’t need a lecture from him, especially when her skull was threatening to come apart. “I was thinking I’m a grown-ass woman and can do whatever I want.”
“Oh yeah, when I carried you to bed last night you really seemed like a grownup.”
Gritting her teeth, she didn’t back down. “You’re not my father and you’re sure as hell not my boyfriend so what the hell is your problem? If you stuck around to lecture me this morning you can get out. Actually, I don’t care why you’re here. Get out anyway. I’ve got a massive headache and just looking at you right now makes me so mad.”
His dark eyes flared and for a moment it almost looked like they changed to dark amber. Sometimes they seemed to do that, usually when he was turned on, and it always stunned her. But when she blinked, she realized it was the light playing tricks on her.
“If I’m not your boyfriend, then what am I?” Oh yeah. He was definitely growling now.
She shrugged and for the first time since he’d caged her in with his body, she was nervous. Not because she was afraid of him, but because she didn’t like where this conversation was going and she felt trapped. “You’re my boss,” she whispered and instantly hated how shaky her voice was.
He didn’t speak for a long moment. Just stared at her with those dark eyes, as if searching her face for something. Her heart pounded wildly against her chest and she cursed the heat that pooled low in her belly. Whenever he shifted that hot gaze her way, she turned to absolute mush. Even now was no different.
She sucked in a deep breath when he leaned closer. His erection pressed against her belly but it was the only part of him that touched her. His face slid close to hers and his breath was hot against her cheek. But he
still
didn’t touch her anywhere else.
“If you’d wanted to go to a bondage club, I’d have gladly taken you,” he murmured against her ear.
Her nipples tingled at his words. She had no interest in ever going back there but the sudden vision of her tied up and at Grant’s mercy made heat surge through her like a tidal wave. He was so close she had to restrain herself from leaning in farther and inhaling that spicy, earthy scent that was all Grant and rubbing up against him like some sort of cat in heat.