Wade was suddenly very hot and very thirsty.
If any male shifter approached her and gave her a hard time, the shifter would be flat on his back, facing one angry jaguar—him.
As always, David was the charmer, his hair flopping over his forehead, his skin bronzed, his blue eyes smiling as he led the female shifter to their table.
They couldn’t involve a shifter civilian while they were undercover, so why was David breaking the rule?
“This is…” David didn’t manage to say anything further as Wade stood up to his full six-foot height, towering over Maya by half a foot, and looked down into her golden eyes, which were wide with surprise.
Once she breathed in his scent, she’d know he’d been the cat helping them out five months ago, and most likely she realized he was the same one who’d been seeking to meet up with Kathleen.
“Wade Patterson,” he said, hand outstretched.
She stood there staring at him, her pink lips parted in silent astonishment.
“We’ve met,” he said, not liking how concerned she looked to see him there.
David cleared his throat and crossed his arms. “Figures the two of you already knew each other. I’d kind of gotten that impression when she thought I was someone else—you—but she waited for me to identify who I was first. I’m always late to the party. Where’d the two of you meet?”
“The Amazon,” Maya said, finally breaking her gaze with Wade.
David’s jaw grew slack. “Anderson,” he said too loudly. His worried gaze shifted from Maya to Wade. He almost looked apologetic that he’d brought her over to the table.
Wade could tell his brother had finally made the connection. Kathleen, Connor, and Maya.
She still hadn’t taken Wade’s hand, and he finally dropped the offer. Turning to David, she asked, “Would you like to dance?”
Wade understood the slight. He had gone after Kathleen, and Maya hadn’t liked it.
“Hot damn, yeah.” But then David looked at Wade as if he remembered how upset his brother had been over the issue of the Andersons and sought his approval in his usual affable way.
Annoyed that his brother wanted to dance with Maya, but also concerned for him, Wade went for nonchalant. “She’s got a husband.”
David’s face fell as if the she-cat had dazzled him to such an extent that he’d forgotten about that part of the equation.
Maya smiled so brilliantly that her expression was as stunning as the colored lights flitting across the room. “Come on. I’m safe,” she said and tugged at David’s hand, with a flitting cat-who-ate-the-cream smile cast in Wade’s direction.
Wade didn’t think she was safe in the least—not if Connor got involved.
Exhaling heavily, Wade sat back down. He watched as Maya led David to the dance floor, trying not to wish he was the one with her instead.
Unable to look away, Wade knew he should be searching for the men involved with the exotic-animal smuggling ring. Two women approached Wade, and he spared them a glance.
“Can we sit here with you? The tables are all taken.”
He grunted a yes. The table was big enough for six, and since the women were both humans, they could help with his cover.
The redhead and the brunette thanked him and took seats next to him. They attempted to engage him in conversation, but Wade was too busy worrying that Connor might show up at the club any minute and try to kill David.
“So… you’re Connor’s…?” David let the question
fall away.
Maya smiled at him as they moved together across the dance floor. “Sister.”
A hint of a smile crossed his lips.
David was so sweet. His hair was a darker brown than his twin brother’s, but since it was damp, it might just look darker. He smelled of chlorine, so she assumed he’d been swimming in a pool recently. He’d been so eager to meet her, and she’d been startled to think he was Wade Patterson, but he didn’t smell like the same jaguar shifter who had helped them in the Amazon. She’d said she was Maya, not bothering with her last name, and he’d given her just his first name also.
David expelled his breath in a combination of relief and laughter. “He thought… Wade, that is… believed you were Connor’s wife and that Connor took Kathleen for a wife also—jaguar style.”
Maya shook her head. “That’s what we assumed.”
“You did?” David asked.
She smiled. “Yeah. I wanted to meet him when we were in the jungle, but my brother wasn’t keen on it.”
When David had taken her to the table where Wade was sitting, she had recognized him immediately, courtesy of his photos on the social networking sites that Kat had shown her. Taking in a deep breath of his masculine scent, she had been assured he was the same jaguar that had risked his neck aiding them.
Still, Maya couldn’t believe her good fortune that he was here. She was dying to talk with him and thank him. But she hadn’t wanted to appear too eager to meet him—especially after his rather chilly reception—so she’d asked his brother to dance with her instead. Not to mention that David had greeted her first when she arrived at the club, and she felt she owed him a dance at least.
David glanced in his brother’s direction. “You… wanted to meet my brother.”
“Sure.”
“So… why did you ask me to dance? Seemed to me you would have danced with him instead.” David didn’t sound upset about it, more resigned than anything.
“I wanted to talk to you. I do want to thank him for all that he did for us in the Amazon. My brother didn’t want Wade to get close to Kat. So… what are you both doing here? I thought Wade was supposed to be from Pensacola.” She frowned a little, beginning to get suspicious.
“We have a job to do in Houston.”
Maya raised her brows, waiting for an explanation, but he didn’t give one. She asked point-blank, “Does Wade still want to get together with Kat?”
He’d better not even think of it. Not only would Connor turn into one feral cat, but so would Maya. Kat had dropped all correspondence with Wade—mostly because Connor didn’t want Wade thinking he had a chance at getting to know Kat better. Some men didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.
She glanced back at Wade. He was sexy, in great shape, and had dark brown hair and the most beautiful blue-green eyes she’d ever seen. In his photos, he had smiled in a way that said he liked to smile, liked to have fun when he wasn’t fighting bad guys. Putting his best face forward for Kat might have been nothing but a ploy, but Maya thought he was being honest. Maybe because she wanted him to be.
“You think Wade is still interested in Kathleen McKnight? He isn’t. Wade knew he lost that battle,” David said. “Besides, I got the impression he was kind of intrigued with another cat.”
“Oh.” Well, of course she should have figured Wade was interested in another jaguar shifter. Why wouldn’t he be? She could just imagine she-cats wanting to rub against him up close and personal.
“Yeah,” David said, sounding like it was just his luck. “He didn’t like that Connor was paying so much attention to Kat and leaving you to your own devices.”
“Me?” She frowned at David, wondering just how much Wade had seen.
“In fact, he was pretty incensed.”
“Because my brother was paying so much attention to Kat when Wade wanted to.”
David shook his head. “No, but I’d better not say anything else.”
She could have kicked him. Now he sounded like her brother. “What?”
“Well… I shouldn’t really say, but… when you were swimming in the Amazon River, he wanted to swim with you.”