Kristal Hollis - Awakened By The Wolf

Until the image of a wolf poised on its hindquarters, wearing the same dress, pearl earrings and ruby-red lipstick, jarred Cassie’s mind.

The insane calm of last night’s shock broke. Her palms started to sweat. Acid bubbled in her stomach and threatened to expel her paltry breakfast.

No matter the proper term, the people she worked for were freaking werewolves. What was she thinking, coming to work as if nothing in the universe had changed?

“Shane, Cassie,” the wolf queen greeted them.

“Good morning, Mrs. Walker,” Cassie said without meeting her boss’s gaze.

“Mornin’, Abby.” A subtle tension crept over Shane’s body. His fingers squeezed the backpack straps slung across his shoulder, and the friendly curve of his smile tightened.

Strange. Shane adored Abby and often went above and beyond his job duties to please her. Not a brownnoser, he simply seemed to crave her approval.

“Any word from Brice?” Despite the softness of Shane’s voice, his words sounded clipped.

“We haven’t been able to reach him.” Abigail’s professional demeanor faltered as sadness leached color from her eyes and face. “He’ll come home, though. I know he will.”

The genuine emotion in her voice convinced Cassie that Brice’s mother loved her son, banishment or not.

Shane relaxed. “If you need anything, call me.”

“Thank you, Shane.”

He nodded his goodbye to Abby and winked at Cassie as he left.

“Cassie.” Abby’s dark brows pinched her forehead. “If Brice calls or comes in, let me know immediately.”

Guilt squeezed Cassie’s throat. Brice hadn’t mentioned if Wahyas were mind readers, but she begged her thoughts to focus on anything except him. Less than two miles up the road, inside the cabin, lying in bed, naked. Absolutely, deliciously naked.

Cassie nodded, not trusting her voice. She hated lies, but technically, agreeing to Abby’s request wasn’t a lie. Brice hadn’t called or come inside the resort.

Unless he did, Cassie would keep his secret. He’d asked for her silence and trusted she’d be true to her word.

Still, the deception pricked her conscience. Ideally, Brice would come forward before the splinter of half-truth festered into a poison that would taint the rest of her life.

Chapter 10

Brice sauntered out of the bathroom, towel-drying his hair. All day he’d missed Cassie’s warmth. Her company. And he was jonesing for the smell of her skin.

Several hours ago, he awoke to crippling nausea. Cassie’s scent had faded from the sheets. Out of desperation, he’d riffled through her laundry until he’d found something to settle his queasy stomach. Nothing, however, smelled as good as the real woman.

He moved quietly through the living room to the kitchen. His heart kicked up a notch at the sight of Cassie at the pantry. The slow, steady rise and fall of her chest drew his attention to the shapeless taupe blazer that practically flattened the gentle swell of her breasts. Breasts he knew were soft and pert, and just full enough to fill the cup of his hand.

His palm warmed. Damn if his hand didn’t remember copping a feel in his sleep, and itched not only to do it again but also to strip away the drab, boxy skirt grievously camouflaging the slender curves that had tormented him all night. Twice he’d been forced out of bed to release his desire.

Still, he preferred those less-than-fulfilling interruptions to the cold sweats and panic that usually disturbed his sleep.

“How was work, Sunshine?”

Cassie jumped back from the pantry, wide-eyed, clutching a package of ramen noodles. Her startled look heated, charging the air. The current electrified his skin as her gaze devoured every inch of him.

“Do you ever keep that thing covered?” The huskiness in Cassie’s voice caused his thing to twitch.

“You like seeing me naked. I can see it in your eyes.” Securing the towel around his hips, Brice padded barefoot across the cold tile.

“What you see is my brain being fried from too much exposure to all your glory.”

“You think I’m glorious?” Brice unfastened her silver hair clip. Red ringlets splashed over his hands and slid through his fingers. He held fast to one curl and stroked the luxurious strands across his cheek. A thrill zipped straight down to his groin.

“That’s not what I meant.” A slight tremble parted her lips.

Brice ached for a kiss and so much more. Her taste on his tongue, her scent on his skin, her luscious legs wrapped around his hips. A deluge of erotic dreams had eroded his resolution to keep things platonic.

Cassie’s scent wove a spell of need and want that smothered reason. Helpless to resist, he slipped his arm around her waist and lowered his face to hers. She squinted and puckered her mouth, but not to receive his lips.

The unexpected rejection jolted Brice. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want this.” She gestured a between-you-and-me hand signal. “I have plans for the future and you’re not in them.”

Damn. That stung.

Even though he agreed they had no future together, he disliked hearing her say it.

“You need ground rules.” Cassie wormed out of his hold and faced him with a straight back, squared shoulders and both hands on her hips.

Her eyes slanted with censure. She pointed her jaw and scrunched her mouth like his fourth-grade teacher when he’d neglected to do his homework three days in a row. When he’d been a wolfling, the no-nonsense, better-get-your-shit-together look had mortified him into compliance. Now that he was an adult male in his prime, that look on a feisty, petite human female did something entirely different.

“I don’t like rules.” He smiled.

“Too bad.” Cassie’s frown deepened. “Rule number one, no more prancing around naked.”

“Why?” Brice leaned back against the counter, stretched his legs in front of him and crossed his ankles. “Are you afraid you’ll jump me? Fuck me until I’m senseless? Go ahead.” He held up his arms in surrender. “I won’t resist.”

Cassie’s mouth opened in a silent gasp. The pinkness of her skin surpassed the shades he’d seen last night, and he wondered how far he could push before her choke hold on her passion broke.

“Where would you like to start? The bedroom? The living room?” Brice moved in front of her, hooked his finger beneath her jaw and tipped her face up. “Right here in the kitchen?”

Soft, rapid puffs flared Cassie’s nostrils. The delicate vein beneath the porcelain skin of her neck pulsed with an escalating canter. Her pupils grew large and dark. “Um.” She moistened her lips.

The scent of her budding desire reached his nose, but the disconcerted hesitancy in her eyes cooled his urgency. He wouldn’t press her to do something she’d regret.

“When you’re ready, tell me where you want me. I’ll be there.” Primed and panting. He walked to the sink and filled a glass to the rim with cool water. Pacing himself with small sips, he took his time draining the contents, giving Cassie opportunity to collect herself and him a chance to dam up the flood of testosterone gushing through his body.

Cassie audibly huffed. “Behavior like that is why you will adhere to rule number one.”

Brice set the glass in the sink and turned around.

“And I’m not doing your laundry as a concession for you wearing clothes,” she snapped.

God, he really liked her fiery spirit. If only they’d met a lifetime ago.

“Do I get bargaining privileges?” he teased.

“No. Since neither of us wants to sleep in your grandmother’s room, pick either the couch or the bed. And stay there.”

“Not a debatable issue,” he said sternly. “Where I sleep, you sleep.” Her scent kept the nausea at bay, and he’d do everything in his power to circumvent the crippling sickness, including tying her to the bed. Though he really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. She’d demonstrated her trustworthiness by not reporting his trespass to his father. He’d hate to repay her loyalty by turning her into a prisoner.