The tears undid him. Immediately his hard-set jaw and scowling features softened. He began to kiss her, and she half expected David to pull them apart and tell them to get a room.
But Wade’s kisses were not hot and molten like before. Instead, he was tender and caring, and she had the damnedest time not crying. “I missed you,” she said, tears in her voice and eyes as she slipped her arms around his neck and he pulled her close against his body.
“Strange way of showing it,” he said, kissing her hair, her cheek, her lips. Yet his voice was no longer growly, as if the cat in him knew she was back to being his.
“I’m worried about Kat and my brother, about Lion Mane going to the nursery with the intention of killing me, and them becoming collateral damage. I wanted to help you learn more from Candy if she showed up, and she did. She was near the front door when I arrived, then followed me in. I knew if I said hi to you in the way I wanted, we’d… we’d end up like this. You needed to dance with her and learn what you could from her. She needed to believe I was breaking up with you.”
Infuriatingly, he smiled and shook his head. “We can’t be breaking up with each other if you’re not seeing me exclusively.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I missed you,” he said softly against her ear, as if he didn’t care about anything but showing how much he wanted her, needed her in his life—as if anything else was half as important. “It was killing me not to make the two-hour drive to your place and pick you up. I wish your cousins had let me know they weren’t arriving at the airport in time to bring you.”
Getting back to the topic they needed to discuss, she asked, “Did you learn anything?”
He snorted. “That I can’t stand the sight of anyone else’s hands on you. That human was about to lose both his arms if he made any more moves on you.”
She gave Wade a tentative smile. “I meant about the case.”
“Candy knows a buyer. Maybe not the one we’re after. But maybe.”
“Good. Shouldn’t we still be fighting?”
“Hell, no,” he growled. “If my brother had kissed you back, he’d have been sporting a shiner and a broken noise.”
“He was only being protective.”
“I know. It’s the only reason we’re not going to have words over it.”
She sighed and ran her hand over Wade’s arm. “I don’t think I’ll be returning to their table, and I didn’t get even a sip of my drink.”
“I’ll get you three more, but you’re sticking by my side.”
She took a deep breath. “Wade, we have another problem. Remember Thompson? He saw my cousins and maybe you at the nursery garden… as jaguars.”
Chapter 22
Wade couldn’t believe Thompson had seen Maya’s cousins in their jaguar forms. What next?
He kept Maya locked against his body, her head settling on his chest, their moves as one as the music continued to beat. He swept his hands over her back as hers wrapped around his waist, their scents mixing as they claimed each other, their body posture telling anyone who might be watching that they were a couple, together, in their own world, and unapproachable.
He understood her misguided need to push him away, to offer him a way to resolve the situation with Lion Mane, but he wasn’t going to allow her to do it. He wanted the shifter to know he was Maya’s protector, joined at the hip with her if need be. The bastard wouldn’t touch her again.
His phone buzzed at his hip, and he lifted it off his belt, checked the caller ID, and saw that it was her cousin Everett. “Hey, we’re at the club. Are you joining us?”
“We’re visiting with Connor and Kat. Connor said Maya isn’t answering her phone. Is she there with you?”
Wade rubbed her back, his body hard with need as she molded to him. “Yeah, she’s here.” Was she ever. In the flesh—hot, sexy, and all his, as far as he was concerned. Hell, he was ready to move into Connor and Kat and Maya’s house to ensure he didn’t lose Maya.
“Good. Keep her there with you until we arrive.”
“I’ll take care of her.”
Maya purred.
Everett didn’t say anything for a moment, then he asked, “Are you bringing her back here tonight?”
“We haven’t decided yet. We have some making up to do.”
Maya smiled up at him and shook her head.
The movement of someone big heading toward their table caught Wade’s eye. “Oh hell. Thompson’s here. If Connor didn’t fill you in on the latest news concerning what a particular zoo man has seen, ask him about it. Got to go, Everett.” He ended the call.
Maya turned her head to look in Thompson’s direction. He waved at them as if they were old buddies, pointing at their table, and Wade nodded.
The zoo man sat down on one of the free chairs.
“Great,” Maya said under her breath, her hands cupping Wade’s buttocks.
“Hmm, Maya, we’re really going to have to get a room. I’m not sure I’m willing to wait the two hours to get back to your place after we leave here.” The ruby-colored dress was just too provocative, along with her scent and the way she moved like a slender, sleek cat rubbing up against him. He took a deep breath and kissed the top of her head. “I don’t want you seeing anyone else.”
There, he’d said it. He had wanted it to be her choice, but observing her with other guys made him ready to have one hell of a catfight, and he didn’t think killing another man who’d had his hands all over her would encourage his relationship with her in a positive way.
“I don’t want to be with anyone else,” she said on a sigh.
Relief washed over him, and he smiled.
She quickly added, “It doesn’t mean that I don’t worry about… us and what will happen in the future. Or that I’m not anxious about whether I’m leaping into something that neither of us will be happy with in the long run.” She looked up at him, and he saw the worry in her golden eyes.
“Maya…”
She shook her head. “Kat told me I’m projecting my parents’ failure onto our relationship.”
Wade kissed her forehead. “It doesn’t matter. We are not your parents, and whatever happened between them has nothing to do with us.”
“That’s what Kat said.”
“Good. I like Kat. She gave you some sound advice.”
“I want to know the truth about our dad. Kat suggested maybe he hadn’t fathered us and that’s why he left when my mom was pregnant.”
“We can look into it.” Not that he wanted to learn anything she might be unhappy about, but he’d help her just the same.
“What are we going to do about Thompson?” she asked.
“That’s another matter entirely. What do you want to say? Stick to your shifter story?”
She rolled her eyes. “Isn’t your organization involved in keeping our status secret?”
“Truthfully, I haven’t a clue as to how to handle this. Come on. The dance has ended. Let’s go see what he has to say about us.” Wade escorted a very tense Maya back to the table.
He nodded at Thompson, who stood and raised his beer to them, his eyes drifting to Maya and her dress, a slight smile curving his mouth. Then he said to Wade, “I hope I’m not intruding.”
As if he really hadn’t meant to.
“Not at all. It’s good to see old friends.”
Thompson smiled a little at the comment, but then a frown marred his forehead. He sat down and leaned forward against the table as if he didn’t want the rest of the people in the club to hear. “I checked news reports to see if jaguars—male type—had been stolen from other zoos.”
“And you found?” Wade asked, his fingers threading through Maya’s as they sat across from him.