Moonlit Embrace (5 page)

“I put an ad in the paper for waitstaff and line cooks. It’ll start running in two days. The food and liquor licenses are transferrable, so no problems there. I do need to check out local wine vendors. Tomorrow, I’m meeting with a bloodsucker who owns a cattle business outside of town. He’s going to lend me his refrigerated van for the rest of the month too. Things are going well, Johanna. I feel it. But with all the running around town I need to do, I’ll need help. You want to job?”

“Me?” She tried to avert her gaze, but too late. She’d seen them – the big ol’ begging eyes again.

“I’ll pay you well. In fact, you’d be saving me money. You could help decorate and, well, you’re obviously good with money.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I have a job.”

“That you hate and are going to leave anyway. Why not let this tide you over until you find another one?”

“But we...I mean...business and pleasure—”

“Agreed. Business
AND
pleasure, but try to stay focused. This could be a good opportunity for us both.”

“Are you asking me to leave my job for you, a man I’ve just met? You’re crazier than I thought.”

“You sat on my face. I think we can skip a few steps of this. I’m just saying I need someone I can trust. I scent that about you. You’re safe. I feel it.”

“According to your spidey-sense?”

“You’re a good woman and from what I’ve seen, smart too.”

“Seen? You haven’t known me long enough to have seen anything.”

“I’d rather have you over a stranger.”

“I
am
a stranger.”

“We wolves need to stick together, Johanna, but if I’m forced to choose between taking you out again or hiring you, I’ll find another manager. I’ll choose some random human who I’ll be forced to hide every movement from. Poor me, always on guard, never relaxing because...”

He kept talking, but her mind replayed everything he’d said, in that stupid way that little girls do whenever little boys talk. The whole, ‘don’t get too involved,’ crap she promised herself last night flew out the window like panties in the wind.

On the other hand,
she
wasn’t the one planning ridiculously stupid things. He was. And that made it okay.

No.

Well...

“Right?”

“Huh?”

Baron grinned and started plating the food. “I said that you might hate seeing me or love working for me, who knows? But we should try. What’s the downside?”

Getting her heart broken. “I need time to think about it.”

“Yeah, of course.”

They ate on the finished rooftop, away from the smells of the renovation inside. He said he’d used the least noxious paint and cleaning fumes possible, but it still didn’t rest easy on her stomach. Or perhaps fear quelled her appetite.

“Your face is all scrunched. You don’t like it?”

“It’s good. Wonderful, even.” And it was. He’d laid out a sampling of meats and fish brilliantly flavored with just enough spice. “I love this. You might have to kick it down though. This area is ninety-eight percent human. And that’s being super loose with the numbers.”

“Everything for our non-human friends is changed by a multiple of 2.7. I’ve got this thing down to a science. That’s half of what cooking is.”

“What’s the other half?”

He pushed a spoonful of succotash into his mouth and sucked it clean. “Passion.”

She called it.

“You do have it in abundance. I hope you know I see that in you, but you’ve asked me to do something terrifying for something I’m not passionate about.”

“Buying curtains and reading numbers?”

Her fork clanged to the table. “You don’t read numbers, you count them.”

“See? I need you. I’ve poured everything I have into this. No pressure, but without your help, I become a homeless wastrel, having to shift to hunt and living on the verge of society, likely forgetting all that ever made me human.”

“Wow.”

He leaned back and threw his palms up. “If you only want to use me for sex, I’ll have to live with that. I just thought I was worth a little more than a slab of meat.”

“You are a piece of work.”

“I’ll have no work. I’ll have nothing.”

The jerk’s frown dipped to dangerous levels and his long lashes fell. She wouldn’t fall for it. What about her future? What about her family? What in the world would Kate say?

Hmmm...

“Fine, but one week max. Just until you find someone who can properly take over the accounting. I’ll use some sick days and I still expect you to pay me for my time. Did you just high five yourself?”

Baron brushed this aside with a flick of his wrist and pulled at her folding chair until his legs were outside of hers. He pointed to the single rose, the unwarranted candle and pinched the tablecloth. “This wasn’t about the food. I know I can cook. I wanted to see you. But you’re right, let’s not confuse the two things. Do you want to see me again?”

“I had a great time with you.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Second question, are you at least willing to try working with me? Helping a friend, for a week?”

Coward that she was, she only shrugged. Baron dropped his elbows to his knees and cupped his chin on clasped hands. “We did this backwards. I think we need to make a little agreement. No sex until this week is over.”

It went against her whole plan, but for all the right reasons. At least she hoped. This could end up working out in her favor. Assuming, she still wanted him then. “Umm...”

She ran through a mental checklist. Time away from Belinda? Plus. Still getting a paycheck? Plus. Two paychecks? Super plus. Getting to know this man without the added pressure of sexual intimacy? Plus.

Half plus.

“If you still want to see me when it’s done, and you will, we’ll move on from there. Those are my terms.”

“It might work,” she said, arm burning anew as she shook his offered hand. She tried to ignore the sense of loss when he sighed and pulled away.

“Okay, my non-obligated-subcontracted-temporary business partner, what is rapidly cooling before you is a selection of entrees. I want a modern gastro pub menu that’s classic enough to play with the theme.”

He spoke at length with unabashed enthusiasm about what was on the plate and in his heart. He loved this. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been that enthusiastic about anything.

Each bite he placed in her mouth touched on another taste bud, another region of the world and another new experience. With food like this, he could dominate this area of town and far beyond it.

Baron disappeared briefly to bring up the desserts and returned with brioche, petits fours and a profiterole. “I need your honest opinion.”

Johanna took her time sampling all three. Baron’s food required more than a tasting of it. She used every sense  - the audible crunch of a pastry, the sweet smell of cream, the brightness of the berries and yes, even his burning hand on her shoulder. “I’m not a food critic, but they’re...I don’t know. They’re good, but...”

“I need a pastry chef?”

“Yeah. Everything else is so amazing.” She used her fork as a pointer. “And these are brilliant, but you don’t have a passion for them. I can tell. It won’t make you happy to make these.”

“You sound so sure.”

“Am I wrong?”

“You know you’re not.” He clicked his tongue and pushed the plate away. “You care so much about my happiness now?”

“Baron—”

“Relax. It’s the truth. That’s what I needed to hear.” Baron slapped his knees and stood up.

Figuring she’d ruined everything yet again, she followed and grabbed the plates. The least she could do was help him clean up.

Baron, however, took them from her hands. “I stood up to ask you for a dance. Not that you weren’t something to gaze upon the last time, but I...”

“We don’t have any music.”

No sooner had she said it, Baron whipped out his phone and some Rat Pack Fifties song started playing. She couldn’t help laughing when he winked, yanked her close and twirled her around the floor.

Roof.

She was the worst dancer and didn’t have the excuse of alcohol on her side this time. But he didn’t seem to mind, even though this romantic evening was very close to ending with icepacks and crutches.

His show of massaging his feet earned him a cuff across the top of the head. He ducked and doubled back with a gasp inducing kiss. Then he pulled away, but not completely. “It’s okay. You can’t be good at everything.”

“Funny. I was thinking the same about you.”

Desire that had been hampered by embarrassment and talk of work burst free. Neither of them acted upon it. Baron’s forehead rested against hers. Lust rolled off him, enveloping them both. She waited for him to do something, say anything, but he stood there, one hand resting light on her back. “Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?”

He turned her around until his rigid member rested on the swell of her hips. To hell with pride, she was seconds away from hoisting up her dress and bending over.

The man rocked against her and bit into her neck, sending her cascading the streams of pleasure.

It was one thing not to know what she was missing, but she’d had it already. She knew the body shaking pleasure he was capable off. “Baron, I—”

“Go home, Johanna.”

“But you have to let me go.”

As before and as always, he did exactly as she commanded and she didn’t like it one bit.

J
ohanna waved up the next customer, even as Tony started to whisper in her ear.

“But you never take vacation. How much of this has to do with Baron?”

“That is wildly inappropriate.” She took the check the client handed over and sent him on his way.

Tony slammed his stapler on the counter. “Look at me when I’m rolling my eyes at you. Coming back with leaves in your hair and dirt on your elbows is wildly inappropriate. I’m just asking a question. You know that’s what Belinda will be wondering too.”

“So?”

Tony ruffled through a stack of papers before humming into his cappuccino. “Honey, do you think we’ve been talking about anything other than you and that man for the last few days?”

“I can imagine.”

“No, we can imagine and we’re making up very dirty things. You can clear that up by spilling the beans,” he said in a singsong voice. 

It would be entertaining if she weren’t the subject of it. And what the crap would she say?
Why, yes, I half-screwed him. But only because I’m a werewolf and I’ve never scented someone who wanted me so much. Or someone who smelled so right.

“You’re daydreaming again. Come on, give me something.”

She chose her words carefully, knowing the audience would expand and the story would shift by the time it reached Belinda’s ears. “We’re happy with each other and figuring out what to do next.”

That should be safe enough.

Tony made an ‘OH’ shape with his lips and stashed some cash in the tills. Her other coworkers voiced their opinions of her unexpected sabbatical not too long after. There were more winks than comments, but it went better than expected.

Until Belinda arrived.

“Why would
you
need a vacation?”

“I’ve never used any of my days. Ever. I’m allowed five a year and two rolled over.”

“The schedule’s been made. I can’t change everything around for you tomorrow.”

“I’ve reworked things with everyone else. We’ve got it sorted. I just need you to sign off on it.”

“Should I take that to mean you’re no longer interested in the upper level services training program?”

“Of course I’m still interested. I sent the files over the intranet servers this morning. I stayed up all night working on it. If anything comes up or you have questions or need more work done, I’ll be available by email.”

Belinda’s frown lingered. Her foot tapped and her face darkened too. Basically, Johanna expected the Kraken to be unleashed at any moment. Time for a change in tactics.

“Look, I’m not like you. I don’t just get guys. I have one who is really in to me and I need to make sure I haven’t screwed it up too much.”

Her supervisor’s face twitched before going blank. Belinda leaned in, minty cigarette breath and all. “It doesn’t always make sense to pick work first. Get what you can and don’t fuck this up. If you tell anyone I said this, you’re fired. No one would believe you anyway.”

Holy crap!

There wasn’t a whiff of insincerity. Belinda meant every word of it. She’d fire Johanna, no question, but evidence of a previously broken heart revealed itself in her words. How deep had that woman buried it, for it not to come out until now? It didn’t make Belinda decent, but it shed new light on the hell this woman had visited over Johanna for the past two years of her life.

She wanted to say something. Words of empathy danced on the tips of her lips, but the mask was back up. Belinda stomped over to her desk, barking orders once again. One she aimed directly at her. “Go. Be ready to work when you get back. I intend to make your life miserable.”

Johanna grabbed her purse and left a breeze in her wake, never looking back.

*****

B
aron drove from his third meeting of the day. Things were progressing at a good clip. He’d worked out a nebulous opening date, but he might be able to kick it up. His distributors, by design, were non-humans. All that mess back in Wyoming had soured him on them. More recently, the ones he’d come into contact with through Johanna weren’t much to speak of. She deserved better than that stupid lot.

His mouth curled at the thought of his she-wolf. There was no doubt he intended to keep her after their agreed hiatus. She’d make a good partner for him. Sometimes a wolf just knew. In Johanna’s case, sometimes they didn’t, but he’d enjoy making her see the light.

And he may as well start now. He caught a glimpse of the top of her head and swerved into a parking space on the opposite side of the street. At the last second, he stopped himself from calling out. No need, she’d pick up his scent and turn around.

Only, she didn’t.

The hell? He jogged to keep up with her. He didn’t sense she was upset, but why wasn’t she stopping? Was something wrong? He aimed at scenting it out, but as it always happened when his emotions went haywire, his nose went weak. He tried the best he could. She was
all right
, but not
right.
He went to his tiptoes to keep an eye on her above the crowd.