Page 24 of Ice Wolf
I moved to the front door, hesitating before reaching for the handle. Why all the cloak and dagger stuff? The moment I walked inside, I wasn’t certain whether to be furious with being treated this way or to give credit to the woman for finding a location no one would think about.
The interior had been gutted, metal studs everywhere. Only a few walls were standing. Even the lights were mostly utilitarian.
A table was positioned several feet away, a light hanging directly over it. There were two chairs, two yellow pads with pens on the top, and two bottles of water. What the fuck? Was this a meeting for two potential love interests or an interrogation?
I had it in my mind to turn around and walk out when I heard an ethereal voice coming from some undisclosed location.
“I’ll be right with you.”
Soft, seductive. Inviting.
Hmmm… At least she didn’t have a screeching voice like nails on a chalkboard. That would have been a deal breaker. I took long strides forward, staring down at the table. She’d gone all out, the metal table straight out of a nineteen-fifties war movie.
Obviously, she wanted to intimidate me. She’d soon learn very little did.
Five minutes passed.
Now ten.
The woman was purposely testing my patience. Well, she was doing a damn good job. Not that I’d allow her to know it. Not a chance.
I started humming. The song was something I’d heard on Spotify, some crap band Eric was always listening to. Another two minutes passed. What the hell? I started singing. Another benefit to being a wolf shifter was that I had a photographic memory and even if I wasn’t paying close attention to something, I memorized every word. The ability used to drive my teachers crazy.
I’d been accused of cheating numerous times in my life. So maybe I had used the skill to my benefit a time or ten.
The words came easily. The tune? Not so much. There was the little issue that I couldn’t hold a tune to save my life. Now I was the one who sounded like a cat howling while scratching his claws down a blackboard.
A plus was that with the state of construction, my voice echoed. When I heard footsteps, I kicked up the volume a few notches.
My ploy had worked.
As if out of the mist came an apparition of beauty, a creature so refined she took my breath away.
Or as my buddies would say, she was the kind of woman so tight that she had a stick stuck up her butt. While her frown was tight, contorting her features, her eyes were so hooded I could barely tell she was even looking at me.
But I sensed her fury. Oh, boy, I did. I did a mental jig for winning point one. While she stood and stared at me, I finished the song, even annoying myself.
The quiet was refreshing, although I was able to hear the rapid thud of her heart. And that had nothing to do with her attraction to me.
“Mr. Masters. Why don’t you sit down?”
While she posed the words as a question, her statement was a direct command. What the hell? I yanked out one metal chair, flipping it around so the back was against the edge of the table and straddled the seat. When I folded my arms on the back of the chair, I gathered a quick glimpse of daggers in her eyes.
I grinned even harder. I was already getting under her skin.
The trouble was that the brute in me wouldn’t mind getting under her clothes. Where I was dressed like a slob, she was dressed like a total professional. The suit looked like it cost big bucks, form fitting in all the right places. The silk blouse was buttoned up, not an extra inch of skin shown. Maybe that was to prevent a savage like me from getting the wrong idea.
Her soft blonde hair was wound tight on the back of her head, only a few tendrils tickling the sides of her face. Since the suit was red, flaming red, her lipstick matched perfectly.
Good God. She was an angel in disguise.
Her lips were soft and full and I wondered if they were sweet like cherries. Somewhere along the line, I think she lifted her gaze, but I was too busy mentally fondling her luscious body to pay close attention.
She yanked out the chair and sat down, immediately placing an iPad on the table. “Let’s get started. I’m Lily Weathers. For the next few weeks, I’m going to reshape your career into something you’ll be proud of.”
Her condescending attitude did little more than create a flicker of annoyance, but I squelched it, leaning further over the edge of the chair. When that caused her to lean back, I realized just how nervous she was to be around me.
“And?” I asked.
