Page 25 of Thrilled By Her Protector

“I was just coming to check on you, but I thought better of it,” he replied with no guile at all.

“I see.”

Her heart sank. Maybe Zircon had given up on her already. She bit her lip, unsure of what to say. This was new for her, feeling uncertain.

“You look different,” he remarked, his gaze roaming over her from head to toe.

Jennifer worried her lower lip. She’d hardly ever been casual around him or the brothers. Perhaps she’d miscalculated. Then a big, beautiful smile spread across his face and her inner Owl whistled and cooed. The silly bird was head over heels for the guy and even if Jennifer’s human side was in denial, her beast wasn’t.

“You look good, Jenn,” he said. “I mean it. Um, yeah, sorry to bother you. I should be going.”

“Wait. Um, I have to go to the office tomorrow morning and well, I was wondering if you wanted to take a ride with me?”

What the hell kind of invite was that? Come with me to the office? She cringed at the idiocy, but then Zircon nodded, his grin having gone all crooked as he said yes.

“Sure, I can drive the new truck,” he told her, and she agreed.

“Great. I told the ladies I’d bring back more fries, so I appreciate the extra room,” she teased.

“I see you, baby, using me for my ride. Smooth, Dylluan, real smooth.”

He started to walk away, but before he left, Jennifer called his name one more time. He froze in his tracks, those wide shoulders tensed as he turned only his head to meet her steady stare. Fuck, but he had the most amazing body. All Shifters were fit, but no one filled out a t-shirt quite like Zircon. Muscles curved around every inch of his tall frame, but he managed to look friendly and nonthreatening somehow.

He was always the one she sent on assignments involving families or children simply because he was the least scary motherfucker of them all. But that did not make him any less threatening. She knew firsthand just how deadly he could be. Hadn’t he laid waste to all those who dared come after his brothers and their mates, and Jennifer too, during the battle with Cass Viper?

Heck yes, he had. Trained in several forms of martial arts and weaponry coupled with his Wyvern instincts and strength, to say he was lethal was a gross understatement. But what really made all the Wessex boys stand out from the others she worked with was one thing above all. Their moral code.

No one could force their ideals on this group of Shifters. They could not be bought or swayed, and anyone thinking of using force better think again because you fucked with one, you fucked with all. Some found that out the hard way. Bicker as they may amongst themselves, the WPU was united in the bonds of brotherhood. Their loyalty was what made her want to work with them to begin with.

An image of her friends and their mates flashed in her mind, and for a second, she imagined what it would be like if she’d let things run their course with Zircon. Jennifer suspected she might have made the worst mistake of her life pushing him away. But there was no way to change the past. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would want to be friends with her again.

She missed him so much. Tomorrow, he said he would go with her to the office, so maybe he missed her too. Olive branches were deceptive things. They looked weak and fragile, but they were strong and had the power to change whole lives.

Please give me a chance, she prayed.

“Thanks, Conny. I-I really appreciate it.”

“Anytime, Jenn. Anytime at all.”

By the time he broke eye contact, the hallway seemed about a tenth of its normal size. How did he even do that? Her heart thundered inside her chest till Jennifer thought she might be having an attack of some kind. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, but the air still scented of him, fresh, clean, and natural and she drank it in getting a natural high just from the second-hand contact.

“Are you watching that TV show with the others?” she asked his retreating back.

Once again, she must have shocked him cause he froze in his tracks.

“Uh, yeah. Jas is doing a Game Of Thrones marathon, only the horrific episodes.”

“Oh my gods, you mean like the episodes where that sadist George RR Martin kills everyone we love?”

“Yep, but it’s only cause Caro requested it. Being pregnant makes her bloodthirsty as fuck,” he said, and they both laughed.

“Cool,” she said, wondering how to finagle an invitation.

“Well, you coming?”

“Um, yeah, I’d like that.”

“Great. I have to grab the peanut M&Ms from the kitchen first, though.”

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