Unleashed Temptation (9 page)

one who’d insisted. He didn’t seem to care who knew about them but she’d just started

working here and didn’t want everyone talking about her. She couldn’t believe he’d

sent her flowers—and freaking roses at that—after the talk they’d had.

Before she could respond, Nick strolled in. A frown marred his face the second he

spotted the bouquet. “What’s that?”

Alex looked back and forth between Nick and Carly, grinning. “Someone sent Carly

flowers. Wonder who it could be,” she sang as she walked out.

“Did you tell her about us?” Carly whispered after Alex left.

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“No. Who are those from?” he growled.

She frowned. “They’re not from you?”

His pale gaze darkened and his jaw clenched. “No.”

“Oh.” She plucked the simple white card from the holder and turned it over. Alex

was right, it was blank. “That’s weird.” Shrugging, she met Nick’s gaze. “I don’t really

like roses, but they’re really pretty anyway.”

Instead of responding, he stared at the flowers with a heated gaze, as if he thought

he could destroy them with lightning bolts from his eyes.

“Uh, you okay?” she asked.

“Fine. Do you want to take lunch with me today?”

“Do you think it’s such a good idea?”

“I told you, Carly. I don’t care if—”

“Hey, big brother!” The man Carly had seen at Friday’s party, the one who looked

similar to Nick, strolled into the office and slapped Nick on the back.

“Stephan, what are you doing?” Nick asked through gritted teeth, clearly annoyed

at the interruption.

“I stopped by to…” Carly watched in fascination as Nick’s brother stopped and

sniffed the air. Kind of like a dog would. Then he shook his head and slapped his

brother on the back again. “Oh shit, Brother!” He glanced back and forth between Nick

and Carly with a big grin on his face, as if expecting them to say something.

She raised her eyebrows at Stephan, but tried not to stare too hard. Nick’s brother

might be acting a little loony, but she didn’t want to insult Nick.

“Meet me in the garage.” Nick’s words came out as a tight order.

Chuckling, his brother left the small office.

“What was that about?”

Nick shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. My brother works odd hours and

sometimes doesn’t get any sleep for days. He’s just tired. About lunch—”

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“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Nick.” At his frown she continued. “Not yet anyway.

I want to see where this thing goes. I just started working here and people will talk if

we start spending lunches together.”

“What about tonight?”

“What about it?”

“Do you have plans?”

“No.”

“You do now. We can go out or I’ll cook for you.”

She bit back a grin. “That sounds suspiciously like an order.”

His jaw ticced but he cleared his throat and spoke in much softer tones. “Ah, would

you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

“Yes. You can pick me up at seven. And I don’t care if we go out or not.” That

would give her enough time to get home, freshen up and clear her brain. She’d lived

and breathed Nick the past couple days and her mind and body needed to decompress.

Nick nodded and left. As she turned her attention back to the computer screen, her

cell phone rang. She hadn’t given her new number out to many people so she couldn’t

imagine who was calling.

Even though she didn’t recognize the number, it was a Miami area code so Carly

answered in case it was her grandmother calling from a different phone. “Hello?”

“Hi, is this Carly?”

The voice sounded vaguely familiar. “Yes, who is this?”

“It’s Dennis.”

“Who?”

“Dennis Chontos, from Friday’s party.” His voice held a trace of barely concealed

annoyance.

Who?
“Oh, right. How are you?” She’d forgotten about him. They’d talked maybe a

total of five minutes before Nick had dragged her away. Not that she was complaining.

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“I’m great. You left before I got a chance to get your number—”

“Yeah, exactly how did you get my number?”

“From Alex.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound like Alex, but Carly supposed she didn’t really know her

that well in the first place.

“Anyway, I wanted to take you out sometime. Are you free this weekend?”

She glanced toward the open doorway, suddenly feeling guilty, even though she’d

done nothing wrong. “No, I’m actually seeing someone.”

“Alex said you were single.” His abrupt, almost rude statement sent a chill down

her spine. It wasn’t his words so much as his domineering tone.

“We just started seeing each other.”

He completely ignored her statement. “Did you get the flowers I sent you?”

“Oh, I didn’t realize who they were from. Listen, thank you for the flowers but I’m

at work so I have to go.” She disconnected before he could respond.

She was probably being paranoid, but she didn’t like the fact that someone she

didn’t know had sent flowers to her place of employment and gotten her phone number

without asking her for it first. It was just plain weird. Oh well, she’d practically hung up

on him, so he’d no doubt gotten the hint.

* * * * *

Asha clenched his cell phone tightly in his hand. He resisted the urge to slam it

against the kitchen counter. The stupid bitch was lying to him. She wasn’t seeing

anyone. Even if she was fucking that lycan from the party, he hadn’t marked her, which

meant she was fair game.

His skin practically itched at the woman’s rejection. Women never said no to him.

She was the perfect blend of innocence and sexuality. As long as he had steady sex, he

could keep his power up so it wasn’t even that he needed her. No, he wanted this one.

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After pouring himself a healthy glass of scotch, he stalked up the stairs. His slave

had been unusually quiet all morning. He allowed her to watch television and work

out, but in the last hour he hadn’t heard any movement. He’d been a little rough with

her last night so maybe she’d fallen asleep.

Glancing around his dark room, he frowned to discover it empty.

“Slave, come here!”

When she didn’t respond, he headed for the small workout room at the end of the

hallway. It was empty.

She couldn’t have escaped. Of that, he was sure. With bulletproof, reinforced

windows and biometric scanners on all the exits, it was next to impossible for anyone to

enter or leave without his knowledge. And none of the motion sensors outside had been

triggered.

He walked back to his massive room and opened the bathroom door. His lips

curled up in disgust. The woman’s head fell to the side unnaturally and her silky

blonde hair fell over the side of the clawfoot tub. Splatters of crimson covered the tile

floor and white walls.

He cursed when he saw the broken mirror.

Careful to step around the shards of glass, he strode across the room. Though he

hated to get his hands dirty, he reached into the brackish water and pulled the plug. As

the water decreased, he could see the jagged wounds slicing across her wrists.

“Stupid bitch,” he muttered. Now he’d have to clean up the mess and dispose of

her body.

Not to mention he’d be without sex for a few days. If he got desperate, he could

find a prostitute, but he preferred his women to look clean and innocent.

Now he knew it was fate that the redhead had fallen into his path. One way or

another, the woman would be his.

* * * * *

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Nick scowled at Stephan as he stalked across the garage toward him. “What the hell

was that? You were sniffing Carly’s office like a mangy dog.”

His brother simply grinned and leaned against the Mercedes Nick had been

working on all morning. “Whatever, Bro. I didn’t expect to walk in and smell your

fucking scent everywhere. Good God man, did you fuck all weekend?”

Nick took a deep breath. He knew his brother wasn’t trying to get under his skin.

“It’s more than that.”

Stephan snorted. “I kind of guessed. Does she know…about the family?”

“No, and I plan to keep it that way for a while.”

Stephan nodded. “I understand.”

He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “There’s more to it than the whole

shifter thing. She hates dogs, man.”

His brother’s dark brows rose in amusement and he let out a loud bark of laughter.

“Are you serious?”

“Yep. She was attacked when she was a kid. She not only hates them, but she’s

afraid of them too.”

“Damn.”

“I know. It’s not that big of a deal but it’s going to be hard enough telling her

without this added.” The world was full of shifters, fairies, Immortals, and even a few

vampires were still around, but most humans weren’t aware of their existence.

“You going to tell her before you bond with her?”

“Yes.” Not only did he have to tell her he was a werewolf, but he also had to tell her

that she was his mate. And that would just bring up a dozen other issues they had to

deal with. If she didn’t run screaming when he admitted what he was, of course. Over

the weekend he’d almost bonded with her a couple times, but he’d managed to control

his inner wolf.

“What’s the sex like? I’ve heard that when it’s your mate, it’s—”

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“Damn it, Stephan! What’s up with all the questions?” he snapped.

His brother shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I wasn’t trying to

pry…I’ve been waiting as long as you have, man. I just wanted to know if it’s like all the

stories we heard growing up.”

Guilt swept over Nick. A lot of werewolves found their mates, but many never did.

Their parents had been lucky and it was something Nick had wished to experience for

longer than he cared to admit. Neither of his brothers had said anything but he knew

they felt the same way. They were extraordinarily lucky because they had their family

to depend on. Sure they moved every couple of decades to a new city to hide their

slower aging, but their pack was large and supportive. Not all shifters had that.

“I’m sorry, my head’s all messed up.”

Stephan shrugged and pushed up from the car. “Whatever. I’ve got to go anyway.

Just a heads-up, Mom and Dad will be back tomorrow.”

His gut clenched, but he simply nodded as his brother left the garage. He and his

brothers were born alphas, but as things stood, his father was the current Alpha of their

pack so he’d have to introduce Carly. It wasn’t a question of not wanting to—or having

a choice really—but he knew how pushy his family was and he didn’t want them

forcing anything on her until she was ready.

* * * * *

Carly waited for the hum of her computer to stop before she pushed her chair back

and stood up. She glanced at her flowers as she arranged her desk. Nick had been

coming in all day and staring at the stupid arrangement with barely concealed disgust.

Even though they were pretty, she plucked them out of the vase and walked out of

her office toward the lobby. She didn’t see anyone in the garage so she headed out the

front door and rounded the building until she found the Dumpster. Sighing at the

waste, she tossed them into the garbage and went back to her office.

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The small room had a long way to go before she’d be satisfied with the way it

looked, but for now she could at least straighten things.

As she bent over the desk, two hands slid around her waist. For a split second she

tensed until Nick’s familiar scent tangled around her. She leaned back into his chest,

trying to control her erratic breathing while she savored his earthy, spicy, smell. “What

are you doing?”

He feathered her neck with kisses before turning her around to face him. “You

ready to get out of here?”

“I thought you were picking me up at seven.” She tried to take a step back but the

desk stopped her.

“I could or we could start right here,” he murmured before nipping her bottom lip

between his teeth.

As always around him, heat pooled between her legs at his near proximity. “We

can’t do anything at work. Anyone could walk in—”

“Everyone’s gone home and I’ve already locked up.”

Well wasn’t he just prepared? She tried to think of another argument, but came up

short. It’s not that she didn’t enjoy being around him, because she did—a lot in fact—

but everything was happening so fast. Maybe too fast. It was hard to get a handle on the

sudden onslaught of emotions she’d undergone over the past weekend. She’d dated her

ex for almost a year and hadn’t felt one iota of the attraction she had for Nick.

And that scared the holy hell out of her. So, she lightly pushed on his chest and

pulled her head back. “Let’s do this another time.”

His pale eyes darkened. He was so hard to read she wasn’t sure what was going on

in that head of his, but it almost looked like she’d hurt his feelings. That in itself was

ridiculous though.

“You don’t want me to come over tonight?” he deadpanned.

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Her brow furrowed. Maybe he’d misunderstood her. She cleared her throat but

held his gaze. “No, I still want you to. I just don’t want to do…anything here.”