Marisa Chenery - Leifs Surrender

“Come on, Vic. Do you really think a guy like that would have any real interest in a woman that looks like me?”

“Stop selling yourself short. You’re not that bad.”

“But I’m not that good, either. Compared to you, I look like chopped liver.”

Vicky was in her mid-twenties, blonde and blue-eyed with a face that had turned more than one male head when she walked by. She had no trouble getting boyfriends and seemed to go through them faster than Jaden could keep track of.

“I’ve offered to give you a makeover, and you always refuse. If you’d stop wearing your hair up in that tight pony tail and wore contacts, you’d get your fair share of guys.”

“I told you I can’t wear contacts. I tried them once, and I couldn’t tolerate them. And I doubt changing my hair style would help that much.”

“Fine, have it your way. But I still think you’ll be seeing your hunk again soon.”

Vicky headed for the washroom door. “I’m going to go back to my register before both of us are missed. Don’t take too long.”

After Vicky left, Jaden stared at her reflection in the large mirror over the sink. Her lips were still a little puffy from being kissed. She touched them with her fingertips, remembering how it felt to have his lips moving over hers. It hadn’t been the longest kiss in the world, but it was one she’d probably always remember. With a sigh, she tugged her pony tail tighter and left the washroom. She still had another four hours of her shift to get through. At least she had something to daydream about to help make the time pass more quickly.

Leif managed to return to the mansion and sneak the new container of ice cream into the freezer with Roxie being none the wiser. He then spent the remainder of the time there thinking about Jaden. The taste of her mouth, the feel of her lips against his, the soft skin at the back of her neck all seemed to have burned into his brain. Her scent was already permanently etched there. He would be able to latch onto it anytime, anywhere.

Standing at the living room window, he watched Skylar’s black Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 motorcycle drive up to the front of the mansion. Skylar was attached to that bike as much as his true brother, Jager, was attached to his sword. Personally, Leif didn’t know how Skylar could ride the thing, considering how low the handlebars were. Being a Supersport motorcycle, more suited for racing, the rider had to practically lean over the gas tank to reach them. Leif’s back just ached thinking about how uncomfortable that position had to be for any length of time.

He watched Skylar sit up, shut off the bike and put the kickstand down. Skylar was to replace him and Kye. Dirk was going to stay overnight. Ever since they’d found out Roxie was pregnant, the Protectors had stepped up their protection duties. At least one of them now spent the night at Beowulf and Roxie’s place. With Miles, Saskia’s true brother—and at one time a Protector himself until he’d decided he’d rather switch sides—on the loose they couldn’t be too careful. If Miles got his hands on Roxie, especially in her condition, he’d use her to rule all the werewolf packs in her stead. So far, as far as they knew, Miles didn’t know what Roxie looked like. They wanted to keep it that way so they kept Roxie well under wraps. And it wasn’t as if the packs had a society paper that told everybody who was who. The leaders of every pack had come and sworn their allegiance to Roxie, but the general population didn’t know too much about her yet.

Leif met Skylar at the door when he walked into the mansion. “You can tell Kye I already left. He’s upstairs with Beowulf. They’ve been working in the baby’s room most of the day. Of course Roxie and Dirk are in her office doing their computer stuff.”

Skylar nodded. “All right. Off on a hot date, are you?” he asked with a smile.

Leif stiffened. “No. Why would you say that?”

“You seem to be in an awful hurry to get out of here. I thought maybe you were going to go to Wulf’s Den tonight to look for your next conquest.”

Wulf’s Den was the nightclub Beowulf owned. Both werewolves and mortals went to the club. None of the mortals realized they were rubbing elbows with werewolves, either. Leif had picked up his fair share of women there.

“No,” he said. “I’m not going to Wulf’s Den tonight. Maybe I’m just in a hurry to get home, sit in front of the TV, and call it an early night.”

Skylar burst out laughing. “Sure you are. What’s the matter? Are you in a slump when it comes to finding women to sleep with? I haven’t heard you bragging about taking a hot woman to bed for the last couple of days.”

Clenching his jaw, Leif took a few deep breaths to stop himself from snapping his teeth at Skylar. As if he would go and sleep around on Jaden now that he’d found her.

She was the only one that he wanted naked and moaning with pleasure in his bed. He wanted only her to stroke his cock, making him hard before she took him in her mouth.

Fuck. There he went again, thinking about Jaden as a mate he was going to claim. It wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t about to give up his freedom. He liked it too much.

Not bothering to explain himself to Skylar, Leif brushed past the other warrior and headed outside. Before heading to Marin County, where the Protectors’ mansion was, he’d go for a drive. He needed to get himself back under control before he went home. So far Jager had kept his mouth shut about Leif finding his mate. He didn’t need the others to figure it out as well.

Getting into his car, he drove out onto the street and decided to drive to wherever the mood struck.

What a long day. Jaden walked out of the grocery store ready to go home, put her feet up and relax in front of the TV. Her shift had ended up being longer than what she’d been scheduled for. When one of the other girls had called in sick, the manager had asked her to stay for a few extra hours to help cover her shift. Not one to turn down the extra money, she’d said she would do it. Now her feet and lower back ached from standing at her cash register for so long.

Feeling tired, it was times like this that she wished she still had a car. When her old late-model Tempo had finally given up the ghost, she hadn’t been able to afford another car to replace it. Not even another clunker. Jaden was now relegated to riding the bus to and from work, along with anywhere else she couldn’t walk to.

Crossing the parking lot, heading for the bus stop not too far from the grocery store, she noticed the sporty black Cadillac parked close to the lot’s entrance. If she were rich, that was the type of car she would buy for herself—one that cost an arm and a leg and had enough power under the hood to make an adrenaline junky envious.

Wanting to get a closer look, Jaden altered her course a little so she would have to walk right by it. She’d just take a peek inside to see if it was an automatic or a manual drive. She always thought it was a shame that people who could afford sporty cars like this one ended up with an automatic transmission. Sports cars were meant to be manuals.

At the driver’s side, she stopped and looked inside. What she saw had her breath catching. The hot guy who had kissed her earlier that day sat behind the steering wheel smacking his forehead against it. Before she could think about what she was doing, she knocked on the closed window.

His straightened in his seat and turned his head to look through the window. When his gaze latched onto her, he jumped. Jaden took a step back when he opened the car door and got out. His gaze never left her, staring at her intently.