Venice Heat (2 page)

“Okay, I won’t go to Juneau.”

Her dad smiled and patted her cheek. All the anger drained from his expression. “That’s my girl. Now, I want you to pack your things and take a vacation like I told you to. Kasen and I will handle things here while you’re gone. Have you chosen somewhere to go yet?”

She sighed and moved away from him. All of a sudden she wanted to be gone, like, yesterday. “Yes, Venice.”

“Ah, Italy is nice.”

“No, Venice, California.”

Her father frowned. “Shae, you know I can arrange for you to go anywhere in the world.”

“No, Dad, I got this. I’m going to Venice Beach. As close as it is, I haven’t been there, and frankly, since it’s practically in our backyard, it’s not likely we had any tips of shifters in the area that we haven’t already taken care of.”

“Hm, you’re probably right.” He pulled out his wallet. “Do you need any money?”

She laughed despite her dark mood. “Seriously? Dad, I have more than I know what to do with half the time. No, I’m fine. Thanks.”

He frowned, seeming disappointed he couldn’t help her in that way. She knew he enjoyed giving to his kids. Maybe she should have taken cash to make him feel better. After all, she’d just made him relive the nightmare of finding her mother’s body. He really was a good man.

“Okay, sweetheart, have fun, and keep in touch.”

“Of course. Thanks, Dad.” She walked over and kissed his cheek, then headed up to her room. By tomorrow afternoon, she would be in Venice.

* * * *

Shae spared a quick glance at the dash to check the time. She was almost an hour and a half late for meeting her rental agent and hoped he hadn’t left yet. Her last-minute arrangements meant she’d had to settle for a place less extravagant than she’d wanted. While the fantasy of snagging a place over in the Hollywood Hills sounded great, the narrow Venice street she now navigated her car along
so
did not fit the bill. The tiny square bungalow with pea-green walls, brown wood door, and small deck might be cute, but could she stand being surrounded so closely with her neighbors? A Jeep parked out front in the hiccup of a parking space made her breathe a sigh of relief. He hadn’t left. She rolled to a stop, threw the car into park, and turned off the engine. While she struggled with two big luggage bags, the front door opened, and a man appeared in the entryway. For a moment, Shae forgot everything except Eiji Tanaka. Could any man be hotter with his cold demeanor reflected in those almost-black eyes? His height took her by surprise, being a good few inches over six feet, if she had to guess, and defined biceps bulging beneath a short-sleeved shirt said the man worked out. Not having a huge build, he wasn’t slender as she’d expected either. Eiji wasn’t a lot of things—primary being happy.

“You are late,” he snapped, and Shae marveled at his accent, heavy as if he’d just stepped off a plane from Tokyo.

“Sorry about that. I hit traffic,” she prattled as she righted one of her bags, which had fallen over. “My GPS said two hours, but it lied. I’m Shae Jones.” She didn’t know what had possessed her to use her mother’s maiden name when she reserved the house, other than wanting to step out of her normal life and just have some fun. The Keith name was well-known in the underworld. Shifters avoided it, and the few humans privy to their existence knew they could count on Shae and her family to handle any issues.

Her smile hadn’t faltered until she reached the three steps leading onto the porch, and she realized Eiji had no intention of helping her. All her charitable thoughts toward him flew away with her temper. “You must be Ed-jie Tanaka,” she simpered and deliberately butchered his name. “Can you give me a hand?”

This time she got a rise. He stirred from his post and walked down the steps with deliberate movements. A whiff of his soap and natural male scent assaulted Shae’s nose, and she licked her lips and swallowed, all of a sudden hot for reasons other than the temperature. She wrapped men around her little finger for a living, and not many got her blood pumping without a little effort on their part. Yet this one had her going even while being a jerk.

He nabbed both bags from her hands and raised them as if they were feathers. “It’s Eiji—
Ay-Jee!
” he emphasized.

She widened her eyes and just smiled as if that’s what she’d said. Any other person would have at least scowled, but Mr. Statue simply snapped the words and disappeared inside the house, leaving her feeling stupid.

“Whatever,” she muttered and followed him.

The interior of the place she’d rented was small, but much nicer than its outside. Shiny hardwood floors, contemporary furniture, and simple pictures on the walls of animals such as zebras and lions decorated the square living room. What impressed her was the wide fireplace, accented with a dark wood mantel and the huge flat-screen TV above it, although she didn’t have any intention of sitting at home much using either. The kitchen sat directly off the living room, a strip of space designed for efficiency of use. Around the corner from the kitchen, she found a small two-seater eating area and, off from that, the first bedroom. After noting a private bathroom in it, she turned back to Eiji.

“I like your accent. Japan, right? How long have you been in America?”

Something flashed in his eyes, but she couldn’t identify the emotion before it disappeared. “Yes, Tokyo. Few months. Is the house acceptable?”

“Wow, you’re a great conversationalist.” She smiled and leaned against the table, head tilted. “So what’s fun to do in this town? Any hot spots you can suggest? Hell, maybe you can show me around.”

“I’m sorry.” He didn’t appear to be. He strode away from her toward the kitchen and stopped at the counter. From his pocket, he pulled out an envelope and set it on the counter. “Your keys and my number if you have a problem.”

Well, that was that. She didn’t intend to keep chasing after him. There must be hundreds of hot guys in Venice right that second, and she could have a good time with any number of them. Shae had never failed to find the best parties wherever she went. All she needed to do was get out there, and Eiji Tanaka could kiss her ass. She snatched the envelope from the counter and turned on her heel. Her luggage sat nearby, so she bent to grab one to take into the bedroom, leaving the bastard of a landlord where he stood.

Chapter Two

Eiji watched Shae laugh and flirt from where he stood against the wall. He held a drink in his hand, but he hadn’t yet taken a sip. Instead he wanted to remain alert because there was no doubt in his mind that the beautiful Shae Jones could not know the man she displayed an indecent amount of her cleavage to was, in fact, a wolf shifter. Eiji had pegged him from the first moment he strolled into the bar. He had paused just inside the door to get a lay of the place, taking in the two wolves buying drinks, one female, one male, the three additional men surrounding their leader at one of the tables, and the very human man at the pool table who eyed Shae with interest from the second she walked in the door.

So she wouldn’t turn and see he’d been following her, he’d left the entrance and found an unoccupied spot in a corner—well, almost unoccupied if he managed to ignore the couple making out. This was nothing new to him, since he’d seen plenty in Tokyo, but it wasn’t where he liked to spend his free nights either. Earlier, he’d told himself to forget about her and wipe Shae from his mind, but that turned out to be impossible.

When she bent to grab her bag back at his house, his shaft had tightened. He’d scarcely held on to his control with her inches away from him. Her scent had filled his nostrils and sharpened the teeth in his mouth. He felt his wolf rising to the surface, eager to taste her, to touch and take her. From the moment she stepped out of the car, he knew desire he’d never experienced before, a white-hot need to claim a woman. All he could do at the time was fold his arms over his chest, and it had pissed her off. The stance had kept him from tossing her on the hood of her car and slaking his lust with her beautiful mocha body.

He had not chosen to come to America. His life in Tokyo was satisfying in its way, but family matters drove him here, and when it was done, he would leave. Still, he couldn’t dismiss her. He’d hesitated at the house, telling himself to leave, but then he had lifted the second bag to take into the room. He’d moved noiselessly so she didn’t hear him when he entered the bedroom. She bent over her task of unpacking clothes. Bikini panties landed on the bedspread, and he clamped his teeth together, breathing deep through his nostrils. A human scent, she smelled sweet.
Chikusho!
he had cursed in silence. Shutting his eyes did not erase her from his vision or give him the push needed to leave the house.

After a few moments, he had set the bag down near the door and turned away. Before he could change his mind, he had hurried through the small house to the exit and stepped out to his Jeep. Behind the wheel, he turned over the engine and threw the vehicle into reverse. He would not come back or see her again and ignored the incessant whine from his wolf that this woman, an American of all people, a
human
, was without a doubt
the
one.

That was early afternoon, and yet, here he was, stalking her around Venice, watching her and listening to the delicate tinkle of her laughter. His cock had gone hard and stayed that way, and nothing he could do, no meditation or deep breathing, would calm the beast inside.

He had behaved coldly to her to keep her at a distance. Now she flirted with the alpha of a pack of wolves, and Eiji just kept himself from growling each time the man touched her arm. He focused on the two of them in an attempt to shut out the sounds of all those around and pick up on their conversation.

“What’s a sweet thing like you doing out here alone?” the alpha asked while running a fingertip along Shae’s arm.

Eiji evaluated his size and strength—a big African American man, at least six foot five, with muscle packed on top of muscle. Despite that, he thought he could take him, but not if his pack jumped into the fight, or even just his second in line along with him. He bided his time.

“Oh please,” Shae was saying, a smile spreading over her full lips, “I can take care of myself.”

The alpha leaned forward, meeting her gaze with a dangerous one of his own. “Not against me, baby. Don’t you know I’m the big bad wolf?”

Shae rolled her eyes and then studied him as if she considered whether he meant it literally. The alpha wiggled his eyebrows and stuck out his tongue in a stupid way that had her laughing. “Is that right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Eiji’s stomach went sour. In the next moment, the man said something else to Shae, and while Eiji heard it, he couldn’t understand the meaning. Every now and then his command of English failed him, especially if the person spoke too quickly or if words were used he wasn’t familiar with. He uttered a Japanese expletive of his own because Shae appeared excited about whatever it was the man suggested. When a body blocked his vision of her, he glanced up into the face of one of the shifters.

“So, wolf. You see something that interests you over there with my friend and his girl?”

The man standing across from him was also African American, but not so solidly built as his alpha. Eiji guessed he wasn’t the second in line either, maybe the third with ambitions for moving up. He sought to intimidate, but it wouldn’t work.

“Why don’t you shut your mouth?” Eiji suggested.

The man whooped and slapped his hands on the table, laughing. “Why doncha shut you maaff,” he teased, squinting his eyes. “I have an idea, why don’t I kick your ass?”

Eiji slammed his glass on the table and walked around it, but before he could make a move, Shae stepped between them, a hand on both their chests. Eiji ignored the shock wave that ricocheted throughout his body at her touch, and snarled at his opponent. The man shoved Shae, but Eiji moved in a flash to first keep her on her feet and knock the guy on the floor in the next breath.

Men from the alpha’s pack gathered around him, ready to attack, but he noticed none revealed what they truly were. He was pushed to his limits keeping his secret as well, but he waited for one of them to expose it in her presence.

“Whoa, hold on, everybody,” Shae interjected. “Darryl, if your boys kick my landlord’s ass, I’m going to be out on the street. Call them off, pretty please?” She smiled up at him, holding on to his arm and leaning way too close so that her breasts brushed him. Even across the room, a person could pick up on how she turned the alpha on, but then he seemed to catch on to her words, and he frowned.

“Your landlord?” Darryl snapped. “You know this fool?”

Shae made a sound like sucking her teeth. “Don’t be rude. Yes, that’s what I said, isn’t it? Eiji doesn’t mean any harm. He’s sweet. Right, Eiji?” She met Eiji’s gaze and offered what he now saw as her man-manipulating smile. She’d pronounced his name not as an American would, but with the Kanto dialect. Curiosity about this intriguing woman surfaced in him, and he glanced away.

“You don’t need him, Shae,” Darryl insisted. “You can come stay with me.”

“Boy, please. I just met you, and if you’re the type to pick a fight, I’m not sure I want to get to know you better.”

“Looks to me like the Asian’s the type to let a woman do his fighting for him,” another man quipped.

Eiji frowned. “I don’t need anyone to fight for me. I will take care of all of you now.” He pointed and indicated the group in one. A few of them dropped words he didn’t know but suspected were swears. He sensed their tempers ran high, but they held them in check. One command from the alpha, and he would have a lot to deal with. He kicked himself for putting on a show for her benefit like Darryl obviously did. Eiji usually let his actions speak for him and kept his words to a minimum. He did not like risking exposing his kind to humans, and a wolf’s temper was enough to manage without provocation.

“Oh, is that so?” the third said and bumped his friend aside to stand face-to-face with Eiji. “The little Asian wants to front like he got swagger.”