“Okay, you’ve got to let me breathe, wolf.”
“We just made love, and you still can’t say my name?”
She stared at me with her dark, mysterious eyes. “I don’t want to fight.”
“I’m not fighting.” I slid my hands down her body and did my best not to sigh when she got up.
She bent down to grab her robe and slipped it on. Cinching it at the waist, she started pacing, and it was all I could do not to ask her flat-out what the hell was going on. I had a right to know, but that didn’t necessarily mean she’d tell me. Not until she was good and ready.
A minute ago we were moving together, connected on more than one level. Now she stood across the room, and I was left wondering why the fates were fucking with me again.
“That gun we brought back from the mall is a Beretta, a Special Forces gun. And judging by the kill shot he attempted tonight, his mission isn’t to bring me back alive.”
Would this woman ever stop making my head spin? I forced myself to take a breath before I spoke. My cool head in tough situations used to be something I was proud of, but she pushed buttons I didn’t know I had. All my years of business experience, negotiating multi-million-dollar investment deals, went right out the window when Sasha was involved.
“How can you shift gears so fast?” I looked up at her. “Are we going to pretend like we didn’t just have sex? Is that your plan?”
She stopped pacing and spun around. Her eyes blazed with frustration, and the wolf inside of me growled in response. She was a beautiful, sexy ball of fire. And even though she didn’t believe it yet, she was mine.
“I’m not pretending anything.” She brought her hand up and pointed to her chest. “I’m trying to keep my head clear and stay alive. This isn’t a game.”
My shoulders tensed. “I’m well aware of that, but I wasn’t the one who came out of the shower and got in bed with me.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining.”
“Neither were you, so why are you pretending it didn’t happen?”
“It was just sex, all right?” She shook her head and resumed pacing. “It doesn’t change anything.”
My gut tightened up. It changed everything. The wolf inside of me had claimed her. In spite of whatever Sasha thought, to the wolf it was very simple: she belonged to us, my mate. We were bound together come what may. How could I make her understand that?
I couldn’t. I reached for my shorts and pulled them on before moving past her to the untouched king-sized bed.
“What are you doing?”
“Going back to sleep. Since we already had sex, sleeping together shouldn’t be an issue, right?” I tossed the extra pillows on the floor and slid between the crisp sheets. “With any luck, I’ll wake up and all of this will have been a bad dream.”
The heat in her glare almost burned. “Why are you being such an asshole?”
“Look, you told me we shouldn’t kiss again. You locked yourself in the bathroom, and I went to sleep with my shorts on in the other bed. I played by your rules. You changed the game when you came out and woke me up. If you’re unhappy now, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say a word, the room phone rang. Sasha moved with inhuman speed to the bed. In one fluid movement, she retrieved her gun from where she must’ve stashed it under the pillow and had it aimed at the door while she reached for the phone.
I could see by her expression and the way she lowered the pistol that she recognized the person on the other end of the line. When she placed the handset back on the cradle she met my eyes.
“Sebastian is at the Denny’s about two blocks from here.” She plucked some clothes from her dresser and headed for the bathroom.
Just the mention of the slimy bastard’s name made my gut clench. “You’re going out now? It’s after midnight.”
“It’s open twenty-four hours.” She started to close the door.
“I’m going with you.” I got up, shaking my head. “This could be a trap. You’re not meeting with him alone.”
She rolled her eyes. “If he was trying to double-cross me, he would’ve given Nero’s guy my hotel and room number by now. I don’t have time to debate this with you.”
The second the bathroom door closed I wanted to break the goddamn thing down. What was she thinking? Sebastian had fucked up her life, and now she was getting dressed to go meet him? Why was she working with him anyway?
I changed, pulling on the new black jeans we bought, along with a dark green button-down shirt. When Sasha emerged from the bathroom she almost smiled, but just as quickly her all-business mask was in place. She slipped her arms through her shoulder holster and drew her gun to check the ammunition in the magazine.
I forced my lips into a firm line. Weapons weren’t my style. I could use a gun, but I wasn’t comfortable with them. Watching her slap the magazine back into the Glock and snap up her smaller pistol from the nightstand, it was easy to see that her weapons were an extension of her body. She trusted them like she did her own legs. Almost on cue, she placed her right foot on the chair and pulled up her pant leg. A leather calf holster was already in place and her weapon stowed in the blink of an eye.
An efficient killer if she had to be.
A sexy killer.
I ground my teeth together, trying to keep my head. This was the same woman who seduced me and then wanted to pretend it never happened. She ran hot and cold until I couldn’t find my equilibrium anymore.
She snagged her coat from the closet and glanced back at me. “You coming, wolf?”
I fought the urge to remind her of my name and just nodded. She did let me open the door for her, and when we got to the elevator she glanced up at me. “I’m sorry.”
The door opened and we stepped inside. That was all I was going to get, but for now it was enough.
…
Sebastian’s eyes locked on mine the minute we walked into the Denny’s. He had a table in the corner of the nearly empty diner. I hadn’t seen him since the night Sasha shot me.
The bastard had been busy conning my brother and Lana at the time.
My eyes narrowed when he stood up. Sebastian opened his arms to Sasha, but she just raised her eyebrow and slid inside of the booth. Tough not to smirk at that.
The jaguar’s dark eyes moved from her to me. “Should I take care of this wolf for you?”
This was the same cat that had killed Gabe, a member of my Pack. He’d bitten Sasha and ruined her life, and he’d also gone after Lana. A smooth jaguar assassin from the Nero Organization. More than enough reasons for me to take him out.
My hands balled into tight fists, but I didn’t move. Decking him in the middle of Denny’s would only land me in jail. I couldn’t help Sasha from behind bars.
So I baited him to throw the first punch. “Now that I’m not tied up, I’d like to see you try, you gutless bastard.”
Sasha cleared her throat and leaned out of the booth. “Can you two save the pissing contest for later?”
“But of course.” Sebastian rolled his shoulders back and shot Sasha a GQ smile that made me want to pummel him all over again. “Not that it would be much of a contest.”
A growl escaped my throat at his taunt, and I smiled when Sebastian took his seat in the booth, leaving me the last man standing. “I think I can finally agree with you on something.” I sat down beside Sasha never taking my attention off of him. “It wouldn’t be a contest at all.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sasha
Aren waited for Sebastian to sit down before he moved into the booth beside me.
“Thank you for meeting us.” I kept all my attention on Sebastian, but underneath the table I gripped Aren’s knee.