Romance: Claimed By The Ape: BBW Shapeshifter Romance Standalone (Spicy Shifters Book 4) (4 page)

Erin stared at it, too stunned to speak. Equal measures gratitude and revulsion battled within her. Who did the jerk think he was, going ahead and giving her such an expensive, inappropriate gift? What kind of thoughtful, charming guy would do such a thing?

Erin signed the form numbly, painfully aware of Amanda’s incandescent glee beside her. The second the delivery man disappeared, she seized Erin’s arm and pulled her to the car. “Come on, let’s take it for a test drive! You can drop me off at work!”

“Why?” Erin asked flatly,” I’m not keeping it.”

“Oh come on, why not?”

“Amanda, you know how my job works,” Erin tried to explain patiently, “A gift like this-it’ll make people talk.”

Amanda sighed dejectedly. “All right, fine, return it. But just ONE drive, huh? I’ve never been in a new car.”

Erin started to argue, but paused. Perhaps one drive wouldn’t be bad. And she knew exactly where to go.

She unlocked the doors with a click.

Amanda clapped her hands with delight. “Ooo, thank you, Mr. Silver!”

Silver-tongued, more like
, Erin thought bitterly as she slide into the driver’s seat.

Erin nodded politely to Frank the doorman as she marched through the opulent lobby of Jack’s building, heading straight for the elevator. According to the schedule, Jack should be home by now; with any luck, he was early enough in the process of seducing his co-star that he could fit in Erin giving him a piece of her mind.

Teeming with nervous anticipation, Erin waited impatiently for the elevator to finally open, and then barrelled out into his hallway like a cannon shot. She noted the muddy footprints on his doormat that hadn’t been there this morning, and knocked insistently on his door.

It opened at once.

“Holy cow, you look like hell,” Erin gasped.

Jack chuckled weakly. She’d just seen him Friday, and yet it looked like had had grown an entire beard and somehow added an inch or two to his hair in a single weekend. His eyes were rimmed with red, and his shoulders sagged with exhaustion. “Nice to see you, too.”

“Sorry,” she apologized sincerely, taking in his appearance with alarm, “I didn’t realize you were, um, roughing it so much this weekend.”

“I tend to like it a little rough,” he grinned, a small scratch of the old Jake shining through, “Wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow-figured I’d let you enjoy the full weekend. What can I do for you?”

“Oh-” Erin stumbled. The sight of her boss looking so disheveled had taken her completely out of her stride, the righteous anger gone in a puff of empathetic smoke, “Is, uh, now a good time? I can come back.”

“It’s always a good time to see you. Come on in,” he gestured, and waited patiently as she crossed the threshold, shutting the door behind her. The apartment was clean and silent, their footsteps echoing as they made their way to the vast living room. It was just as she had left it, and yet there was a strange foreboding in the air, as if Jack had brought back a storm with him.

He threw himself onto a plush chair and raised his eyebrows expectantly.

“Yes, so, well, I-got your, um, delivery this morning.”

“Oh, good,” Jack said brightly,” I wanted it to arrive before Monday.”

“I can’t accept it.”

“Wrong color? We can trade it in.”

“No,” she said more firmly,” I can’t accept any gift from you. It’s massively inappropriate.”

Jack’s eyebrows knit together. “Why?”

“It-it just looks bad,” Erin fumbled, trying to verbalize the unease in her belly. It’d all been so clear when she’d rehearsed what she was going to say in the car, but under the gaze of her boss’ intense blue eyes, words seemed to fail her.
It’s like he either leaves me speechless or makes me say too much
, she thought wryly.

“Bad?” He repeated, “For my assistant to not ride the bus everywhere?”

“The bus is fine.”

“The bus has a schedule, as you so eloquently pointed out on your first day,” Jack stood, seemingly suddenly taller and commanding, his broad shoulders squared back, “I need an assistant who can handle potential issues outside of a normal bus schedule.”

Erin’s face grew hot at at the implication. “Are you suggesting I haven’t been handling issues?”

“No-”

“Then the bus is a non-issue,” she said shortly, “I handle it.”

Jack sighed in exasperation. “Erin, you’re a good assistant. Just let me buy you a freaking car.”

“No!”

“
Why
?”

“Because I’m not some fling who can be bought off with something shiny,” the words tumbled from her mouth without any input from her brain. They were raw, and uncontrolled, speaking a truth she didn’t dare acknowledge even to herself. She quickly tried to swallow them back up, “I just mean… that kind of favoritism, and people will talk. They’ll… they’ll say we’re sleeping together. That I’m a… cheap office fling.”

“And that bothers you; what others might think?” he confirmed softly.

“Of course it bothers me!” She scowled, “It’s all right for you to be a playboy! I have a reputation to uphold. If clients think I’ve been anything less than one hundred percent professional... You can sleep around, and have a different girl every night, and do whatever you please, and people still think you’re amazing, because you’re Jack Silver, you’re a star, you’re a stud, but some of us have normal people jobs and normal people lives.”

She saw, even before she finished, that she’d gone too far. His handsome face registered such concentrated shock and pain that her breath caught in her throat at the sight. She waited, the silence cutting at her insides, for him to explode, to order her out of his apartment, out of his sight.

The gentle tone of his voice then disturbed her even more, “Erin. No one who has met you could doubt you’d ever be anything but professional. And anyone who does… well, they were gonna talk regardless of your actions, just because you’re a pretty girl in a certain occupation, working for, let’s face it, something of a cad.” He smiled ruefully.

His words struck her speechless. Amazement and horrified guilt at how badly she had acted, and yet how gracious he was, seemed to short-circuit her capacity to think. She could only gape in astonishment as he stepped closer-so close she could have brushed her cheek against the soft cotton of his fitted gray t-shirt. She should have recoiled, but she was frozen. She watched, transfixed, as he smiled again, a sadder, softer smile, his crystal eyes crinkling at the corners, a smile that seemed to ignite every nerve within her.

“Take the car,” he ordered quietly, never breaking his gaze, “It’d be a load off my mind. Think of it as a favor-something you’d be doing for me.”

“For you?” She said stupidly.

“Yeah. It’d made me happy. Okay?” Dear Lord, how could she say no to a smile like that? When he looked at her with that expression, the heat in his gaze melted every defense she had. Hell, if he asked her to strip naked and swim through all five of the Great Lakes, she’d do it. Wow, I really am that pathetic, she thought weakly.

“Ok,” she said.

“Good,” he nodded. He hesitated, indecision flashing through his body, but slowly, reached up and brushed a lock of hair away from her face.

“I’m sorry about-” she started, unable to help herself.

“Don’t,” he cut her off, “You didn’t say anything that… wasn’t true. Never apologize for being honest with me. It’s one of the things I like about you.”

“But I should have found a better way to say it,” she insisted desperately.

He shook his head, “You say what you think. I like that; I like you. I could act like the world’s biggest jerk, and no one would ever say anything, because… well, I’m Jack Silver. People don’t really care who I am; arrogant, kind, funny, stupid. All they care about is that I keep the money coming.”

“And yet, you are kind. You’re not a jerk. That means something-you should be proud of that,” before she could stop herself, Erin reached forward, as if to touch his shoulder in reassurance. He quickly stepped back, as if suddenly afraid to be too near her.

“I’m sorry-”

“No, it’s not you, just… had a rough weekend.”

“Oh, right. Of course,” she paused, hopelessly casting around for any topic of conversation, “Would you like me to grab you dinner?”

“I’m fine. Why don’t you head home-try to enjoy the rest of your weekend,” he smiled, but his expression was wary and tight, no longer the gregarious flirt.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I… think I’d like to be alone, if that’s okay.”

“Of course!” She said hurriedly, “If you need anything, just let me know. And I’ll-see you tomorrow?”

“Bright and early,” he agreed, with a touch of his old humor back. He walked her to the door, and waved her off with a smile, but Erin had a feeling that, as soon as the door closed after her, the smile went too.

The next six weeks went by in a blur. Jack had finally returned to his gregarious, charming self; for the first week after their fight, he had been withdrawn and wane, speaking to almost no one except in polite “yes’s” and “no’s” when he wasn’t rehearsing. The next camping trip saw him come back looking even more disheveled than before.

Erin considered putting her foot down and demanding to know what was happening to him out there in the northern woods and why she should tolerate it, but he rapidly returned to his normal self right after. Not daring to cause another rift between them, she wisely dropped the subject.

The four weeks before opening night, Erin was sure neither she or Jack ever saw anything except the four walls of the theater or their own apartments.

Despite working at a frantic pace, there always seemed to be something to do; making travel arrangements for Jack’s family, organizing an after play celebration dinner at the trendy Butcher and Boar (locally renowned for their banana splits), and doing the thousand little odds and ends that even a laidback star like Jack needed done.

Once they’d started dress rehearsals, Erin had decamped to Jack’s private dressing room, where she could adequately spread out her many to-do lists. Jack found her there the day before opening night, her curls seeming to crackle with energy as she paced around the small room.

“The interview looks good, but could you strike the mention about the upcoming movie, they’re still in negotiations,” she told the Star Tribune reported on the other end of the call as Jack slipped discreetly through the dressing room door, “Thanks, we really appreciate it. It’ll be in tomorrow’s edition? Fantastic. Thank you so much for letting me take a look at it, Mary, I really-gah!”

Jack jumped backwards with a laugh as Erin spun around, nearly dropping her phone in surprise. “Holy cow, Jack, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Jack seized the phone out of her hands. “That’s a direct quote, Mary! So I’m gonna see you tomorrow night, right? Awesome. Yeah, it was great to see you too-say hi to your daughter for me. See ya then.” He hung up the call with a grin, and passed the phone back.

“Well, at least you
look
presentable, even if you’re still a cad,” Erin gave him an appreciative once over. The costume department had apparently been inspired, as he looked the absolute perfect picture of a dashing hero in his historic costume, the deep cobalt blue of the jacket setting off his eyes and the cut expertly displaying the masculine strength of his frame. “Geez, you look like you could be on the cover of some romance novel.”

“I think I’d need a few more buttons undone,” he studied himself in the full-length mirror, “Or just go shirtless all together.”

Erin was thankful he was too busy re-adjusting his jacket to see her evident blush. “Well, that’d probably sell more tickets,” she said, trying to cover up the sudden memory rush of just how well he looked without anything on.

“Speaking of, you picked out an outfit for tomorrow night yet?”

Erin groaned. “Like I have time for that! And like anybody’s going to looking at me anyway. I’ve got a nice black dress that’ll do.”

“Is it… this one?” He scrolled through his phone and pulled up a photo of the black cocktail-length dress she’d bought for a professional mixer back in college. She stared at his phone. “Where did you get that picture? Is… is that my closet?”

“Your roommate sent it to me. Sweet girl,” Jack replied lightly.

“Wait, why in the world do you have Amanda’s-”

Jack pretended not to hear her, “Not a bad dress, though you’d probably look amazing in anything-”

Erin hastily looked away, hoping he hadn’t seen the jolt of pleasure in her face at his compliment.

“-but don’t you think it’s missing the, you know, ‘wow’ factor?”

“Wow factor?” Erin said skeptically, “It’d have to be a pretty damn big ‘wow’ factor when I’m standing next to you.”

“Good point,” Jack nodded seriously, “So, with that in mind, I’ve made some arrangements.”

“No, Jack, come on…”

“No buts! This is big opening night, we’ve all got to look stunning. Don’t you want to look your best when meeting my folks?”

“Hadn’t really thought about it,” Erin lied. She’d actually been playing out the various scenarios in her head for nearly a week, and how best she could impress them-which was silly, really, she was a temporary assistant, so long as they saw her as competent, why did they need to like her?

“I’ve already made a spa appointment for you tomorrow at Aveda. It’s hair, makeup, nails, massage, the works, so you’ll probably need to take the day off.”

“The entire day?” Erin squeaked, “Jack, I have so much left to do!-”

“No, you have so much left to drive yourself crazy over. My folks are getting in tomorrow, you’ve already got their hotel ready, reservation for lunch for me and them, after-play dinner is all set, invitations are sent and rsvp’s received, tickets are set aside at the box office… seriously, what’s left?”

“Um…” Erin mumbled. There was one more thing she absolutely had to do, but he wouldn’t drag it out of her with even his most winning smile.

“Then it sounds like everything’s set. Erin, you’ve worked your butt off alongside me-take a break. As a -”
“As a favor for you?” She smiled softly.

“Exactly.”

“When do I get to make you do something as a favor for me?”

“Oh, I’m sure the opportunity will arise sometime,” he answered, his eyes lighting with mischief, and something deeper, something hotter, that made her stomach clench in delicious anticipation. The look disappeared as quickly as it had come, and he winked teasingly at her,” Hopefully your favor will involve a lot less eyeliner.”