Jessica Sims - Wanted - Wild Thing

Geez, the man was tough on our floors. “You made the mess, you clean it up.”

The hours crawled by. It was a slow night, and I filled the evening with backlog projects and training Savannah on Marie’s old tasks. We were repeatedly interrupted by her trips to the bathroom and Hugh’s occasional ridiculous question. He was worse than a bored toddler.

I put him at my desk and turned on a local news feed to keep him occupied. Savannah gave us a few curious looks, but she seemed distracted.

While I worked, Marie sent me a text. Hey! We having lunch this week?

I sent back immediately. Okay! Sounds awesome!

I peeked over at Hugh, thought for a moment, and texted, Hey, Marie, do you know of any cat shifters with furry forearms, big claws, and stripey hair? Oh, and fangs?

Uh, not off the top of my head. Want me to ask Josh?

No , I sent quickly. I was just curious. New client and all. See you at lunch!

I clicked off my phone before Marie could ask more questions. I didn’t want her getting suspicious, not when I wasn’t sure what to do with Hugh myself.

I started to yawn around 2:00 a.m., an hour before we normally closed. Savannah looked as if she wouldn’t make it another five minutes, much less another hour. I felt sorry for her. “Why don’t you go ahead and call it an evening? I’ll be fine here.”

“You’re sure?” She looked uneasily at Hugh.

“I’m sure.” I waved a pink manicured hand in the air. “It’s not at all busy.”

“All right, then.” Savannah picked up her purse and pulled out her car keys. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“I’ll be here,” I said cheerfully and returned to hanging the newest calendar of events on the bulletin board.

The moment the door shut and it was just myself and Hugh, I glanced over at him. “Speaking of calling it a night, where are you sleeping?”

He looked up from the news feed, and I was again struck by how catlike his eyes were. They weren’t remotely human, not like a regular shifter’s. His pupils were thin and elongated like a cat’s, and his eyes reflected light when he turned his head. “Mmm?”

“I’m going home after work. Where do you plan on going for the night?”

Those catlike eyes grew heavy-lidded in a way that would have made him look sexy if it hadn’t been for the fact that he’d irritated me all evening. “I am going with you.”

Wha-? I should have expected it, considering he’d even tried following me to the bathroom at one point, not realizing where I’d been heading. Yet hearing it stated out loud? It was still mind-boggling. “You can’t go home with me. I didn’t invite you.”

“I know this. Yet I cannot be assured of your safety if I leave you unattended. I will remain at your side.”

“Not while I’m sleeping,” I said in a harder voice. I was never going to get any sleep if he was standing over my bed and staring at me all night. No way.

“Then I will guard your doorway.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” Then I shook my head. “Never mind, I know you’re not kidding. Fine. It’s clear I’m not going to win this argument.”

“It is not an argument if we both agree, Ryder,” he said, amusement in his voice.

My fingers itched to go around his neck. This man was driving me insane. Why was it that I could flirt the pants off every other man I was around, yet the moment Hugh opened his mouth, I just wanted to stuff a sock into it? I grimaced. “Just let me finish up here and we’ll go. I guess.”

The bulletin board was my last project for the evening. It was a simple update—just pin the calendar and be done. But my desk was occupied by a big, weird guy, and I wasn’t about to go and hover around him. So I took my time straightening the calendar and moving some of the other items on the bulletin board around. Profile of the month. Helpful dating tips. Local restaurant suggestions. Wedding photos of fruitful matches. Even though we had a very particular clientele, Midnight Liaisons was very successful with its pairings. I looked at the married couples wistfully, running a finger along the edge of one picture. The couple looked so very delighted and carefree—no one would know from their photo that one was a were-badger and one was a were-mongoose, and their families hadn’t been pleased with the union until the wedding day had arrived and everything had been forgotten. Once the couple’s devotion had been vowed before all, it hadn’t mattered what their animal side was. All that mattered was love. And that was what I wanted—complete and utter devotion. Happiness with my chosen partner.

I’d never get it, though. Not with the path I was on. I was heading straight for poodle territory.

I sighed and turned away from the board. “Come on. Let’s lock up.”

Hugh was wildly out of place in my condo.

To better disguise my inner ugly, I kept up my cheerful theme. My sofa was pink with lemon-wedge-shaped cushions and a lacy dust ruffle. My curtains were white eyelet, and knickknacks of unicorns and baby animals cluttered my shelves. One of my dates had once complained that it looked like the living room of a ten-year-old.

Hugh took in my living room soundlessly as I locked the front door behind us. “I guess you can sleep on the couch,” I told him. “As long as you promise no funny business.”

“Funny . . . business?” he echoed, clearly not understanding the sentiment.

“You know. No trying to touch me. No hanky-panky.”

He stared at me, then snorted. “You are quite safe in that regard.”

Ouch! “You sure do know how to sweet-talk a lady. A lot of guys happen to think I’m quite cute.”

Hugh regarded me for a moment, and I could have sworn there was color in his cheeks. Embarrassed? He crossed his arms over his chest. “It would not matter if you were the most beautiful creature on earth. I am forbidden to touch you, as outlined in my vow.”

“Oh. So what exactly does your vow entail?”

He was silent.

Ah—clearly one of those questions that would give away too much information. “Gotcha. Well, it doesn’t involve sleeping with ugly changelings, so it doesn’t matter, I suppose.”

“I did not say you were ugly.”

I suspected this was as close to a compliment as I’d get from him. Mollified, I shrugged and headed to my linen closet. “I’ll get you a blanket.”

I didn’t often entertain visitors, so I didn’t have much in the way of extra linens. I ended up using an old throw quilt from the rocking chair. By the time I returned to my living room, Hugh was checking things out. I watched as he picked up one of my strawberry-vanilla scented candles, sniffed it, and gave it a tentative lick.

“Um, you don’t eat that,” I told him, trying not to laugh at his revolted expression. “You don’t have candles in the fae world? Really?”

“I am primordial,” he said simply, as if that answered everything. But he put the candle back down.

“And I still don’t know what that is,” I said, patting the blanket. “So do you care to share? Or are you just going to keep tossing it around like it means something that I should understand?”

His mouth twitched with amusement. “The latter, perhaps.”

I rolled my eyes. “More of your vow?”

“No. Just . . . difficult to explain.” He rubbed his jaw, and I noticed that there was stripey fur at the edges of his jaw, almost like sideburns. Why was that so oddly attractive? “We are like your shifters, but different. Very different. Much where I come from is nothing like . . . all this.” He gestured at my bright, colorful living room.

“I’m told this isn’t like most people’s stuff anyhow,” I said, heading to the couch and beginning to toss stuffed animals and cushions off of it. “Marie laughs at my fondness for pink.”