She’d even put on a little makeup for the occasion and brushed her hair until it fucking gleamed. No one had a right to be this pretty, least of all the woman holding onto his heart like she held onto one of her many guns. One good squeeze and she could blow his whole life apart.
“Christ, you haven’t said a word. Is this outfit that bad?” He still didn’t answer her. Not with him fantasizing about her, that bustier, and those damn handcuffs. He wondered how many times he could make her scream his name.
“Okay. I’m changing.” She turned to walk away.
“Don’t you dare.” She stopped, clearly surprised by his order. And it was an order. “Get my ass over here.”
She smirked. “What? You think you’re going to give me orders when we’re not—”
“Now.”
What a demanding son of a bitch. Yet she did exactly what he told her to. Of course, she only seemed to operate that way when she knew some kind of sex would be involved. Otherwise, she made the man work for it.
He lounged on the bed like a lion sunning himself on a rock in the Serengeti. With crossed arms, she stood in front of him.
“What?”
He watched her with those gold eyes. “I like that top.” At least she guessed that’s what he said since he growled more than spoke.
Dez ran her hands down the front self-consciously. The bustier had been a guilty pleasure buy. One so expensive she saw it more as an investment. She didn’t do the S & M thing. Yet she did like their wardrobes. Very few people knew that. Somehow, though, she didn’t mind showing that side of herself to Mace. Although she never expected to see that expression in his eyes. It went way beyond desire to something else altogether, and Dez had no idea if she were ready to handle that.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve only worn it once. The cop bar down the block from the precinct just doesn’t seem the right place for this thing.”
His eyes narrowed. “Some guy buy it for you?”
“What do you care?”
He slowly pulled himself up until he kneeled on the bed in front of her. “Answer my question.”
“No.”
He watched her closely, then leered. “You bought it for yourself, didn’t you?”
“Are we going or not?” She started to walk away again, embarrassed he picked up on her thing about leather so quickly, but he grabbed her arm and hauled her up against him.
“You did. Didn’t you?” He brushed his lips against hers. “My kinky little puppy.”
“I hate you.”
He kissed the bare flesh above the swell of her breasts. “You wish.”
Her hands snaked through his hair. “God, I do.” She breathed desperately as he bent her back. She wanted to hate the man, but he continued to make her ache in all the best places. No man had ever gotten to her like this before.
“I thought…we were…going…”
He gripped her tighter. “Fuck ’em.”
“No. We’re going out.” She pulled away from Mace.
Surprised and none too happy, he made a grab for her. She jumped back to the door.
“We’re going out.”
“I don’t want to. Get over here.”
Oh, she liked this. For once, she had the control—and without handcuffs. It sure did feel good.
She shook her head. “I’m going out now. Wearing this top. You can stay here with the dogs or you can come with me. Your call, cat.” Then she slipped out into the hallway and down the stairs.
Mace crossed his arms in front of his chest and silently seethed. This had been a bad idea. He knew it as soon as they arrived at the Pack’s hotel. The whole group had been waiting outside for them, and as soon as Dez stepped out of the cab, every male wolf eye turned to her—and those tits. In general, it hadn’t been a bad evening really. A good dinner, some drinking since they didn’t drive in, a couple of clubs, dancing with Dez, and a few near fistfights made for a festive Christmas Eve. But the male wolves were clearly into Dez, and as always she was clearly oblivious.
Now they sat in Dez’s favorite coffeehouse a few blocks from where she crash-landed in his lap a few nights ago, talking and drinking espresso. Mace probably wouldn’t be so annoyed if Dez sat near him, but she sat near Sissy Mae, and the male wolves suddenly found a reason to sit near the pair. He glanced at Smitty, who seemed to be seriously enjoying himself since, for once, the wolves were ignoring his sister.
His friend turned to him, and they both knew in a few more minutes Mace would start kicking some dog butt.
Dez put her hands over her ears. “We are not having this conversation.”
“But you know I’m right,” Sissy whispered.
“You are not right. You are very, very wrong, and I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“No, I’m not. I think you’d look lovely in white.”
“You do know I’m the one person who can shoot you and make it look like justifiable homicide?”
Sissy Mae shook her head. “But you love me.”
That was it. Dez stood up. “I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Okay. We can talk about china patterns and the right bouquet when you get back.”
Like a dog with a bone.
Dez walked to the back of the coffeehouse until she got to the bathroom. She went into the stall and took care of business quickly. She wanted to get back to Mace. She found it quite entertaining watching him get jealous.
She washed her hands, dried them, and headed back to Mace and the Pack, but she stopped when a small hand grabbed her leather jacket and tugged.
Dez turned to see a small child standing behind her. Tears poured to the floor and she pointed to the back door. “Please,” the little girl whispered, her head down. “I think my brother’s hurt and I can’t find my parents.”
Dez crouched down next to her. “It’s okay, honey. Show me. And then we’ll go find your parents, okay?”
The child led Dez outside as she marveled at how fucking irresponsible some parents were. It was well after two A.M. These kids should be in bed, not hanging out at a coffeehouse while their parents did whatever they did.
Dez followed the child to another small child, lying faceup in the alley. Dez snapped her phone off her hip and flipped it open as she touched the child’s face. She had just punched in 911 and was about to hit TALK when the child’s eyes snapped open and he smiled. Dez blinked.
Jesus Christ, are those fangs?
Then Dez watched the ground rush up to meet her.
Mace’s phone vibrated against his side. He pulled it out of its holster and glanced at caller ID. He rolled his eyes as he flipped the phone open. “Yeah?”
“Mace?”
His sister sounded panicked. She never sounded panicked. She didn’t allow that particular emotion. “What is it, Miss?”
“Um…I’m sorry to ask you this, but I was just talking to Shaw and we got cut off.”