“It’s getting late.”
Keith’s voice pulled her from her thoughts and she sighed softly. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
“Let’s get out of here.” Keith slipped his arm around her waist and headed for the door.
Lily glanced toward the table she’d been sitting at earlier but Declan wasn’t there. She didn’t see him nearby in the crowd so she assumed he’d finally left. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore that night, but she knew he wasn’t going to leave town that easily. She couldn’t get that lucky.
Once outside she shifted closer to Keith and slid her arm around his waist when Keith draped his arm over her shoulder. She snuggled into his side with a smile. “I’m really glad we went out tonight even if it is a work night for both of us. I think we needed it. Especially you. You’ve been working too hard.”
Keith tightened his hold on her. “I know, babe. Things have been really crazy at the office lately. This new acquisition in Baton Rouge has everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”
“Well, maybe I can help ease some of the stress for you.” Once they reached her apartment building, she headed toward the door but stopped because Keith wasn’t moving with her. “Aren’t you coming up, honey?”
Keith gave her a pained look. “I can’t, sweetheart. I have to be at the office at the crack of dawn tomorrow and it wouldn’t be fair to you to disturb your sleep.” He lifted a hand to her cheek. “I’m sorry. I know we had plans to spend the entire night together, but I was told as I was leaving work this evening that I needed to be there at six tomorrow morning. Rain check until this weekend?”
Lily sighed softly and tried to hide her disappointment. She wouldn’t have minded being awakened in the morning if it meant spending the night with him, but at the same time it was sweet that he was thinking about her comfort. “I understand, honey. I wouldn’t have minded but I know you would feel bad about waking me up so early, and it’s sweet of you to be so concerned. I will definitely hold you to that rain check, mister.” She leaned up and kissed him tenderly. “Happy anniversary.”
Keith groaned and returned the kiss. “I knew you’d understand. Happy anniversary.” He waited until she went inside to leave.
Declan
After having Lily’s drink thrown at him, Declan had wiped his face and watched her with a hooded gaze when she’d stalked off to the dance floor. He’d smirked when he thought about her fiery temper. He’d wondered if she was just as fiery between the sheets. Sitting there, he’d imagined what it would be like between them. Given the intensity of their mutual attraction, the sex would be beyond wild. He wanted to see her on her back, her hands bound and held above her head so she was completely at his mercy. He’d drive her insane with need, make her beg him, before he finally buried his cock in her and gave them both the release they ached for. “Get a fucking grip.” He was so hard, it was almost painful, and thinking like that was just making it worse.
He watched as the human pawed at her while they danced and he gripped the table he sat at to keep from snapping. He wanted to pull the guy away from her and throw him through the wall. He needed to get his shit together if he was going to finish the job he was sent to do. The more they danced, the more he had to bite back the growl that threatened to escape him. His hands gripped the table hard enough to crack the wood. Every fucking time that human pawed at Lily, he wanted to go up to him and rip his fingers off.
Declan had a feeling she would look for him at the table so he’d moved to a different area of the club and smirked when she glanced at the table she’d been sitting at. Watching her hips sway on that dance floor and not being able to touch her had been pure torture for both him and his wolf. He needed to make the stubborn she-wolf realize where she belonged—with him, and soon, before he did something he might regret. Like rip the fucking human to shreds.
He watched them head to the door of the club and waited until they were through it before he followed. As luck would have it, the wind was in his favor; he was downwind of the pair so his scent didn’t carry to the she-wolf.
He followed the pair at a safe distance, keeping to the shadows in case Lily looked around. She seemed focused on the man at her side but he wasn’t fooled. She was a shifter; she wasn’t going to let herself be taken by surprise by anyone, not even him. When they stopped outside an apartment building several blocks over from the club, he got as close as he could so he could overhear their conversation without being seen. “I can’t, sweetheart.”
Declan tuned him out after those three words. What the fuck? Lily asked him to stay and he turned her down? He was a fucking fool and she deserved better. If she’d made the offer to him, he’d have picked her up and carried her up to her apartment. He wouldn’t have left her bed until she was so sated she was exhausted and unable to move.
He watched the human leave after Lily headed inside. He waited until he was sure she wasn’t in the lobby of the building before he slipped inside himself. There was no security for the place, as far as he could tell, and that pissed him off. Anyone could waltz into the building, commit all sorts of evil, and no one would be any the wiser. What was she doing living in a place like that?
He made his way to the row of mailboxes and scanned them until he found her apartment number. Apartment 204. A ground floor apartment would have made it too easy for someone to break in while a second floor apartment still allowed her to escape if she had to without causing too much damage to herself. Smart girl.
Lily
Lily looked around her apartment and sighed. She’d planned such a romantic night with Keith after they went out. She had candles ready to go and a bottle of wine was in the fridge. She had romantic music ready to play on the stereo and she had on sexy lingerie under her clothes. It was all for nothing.
Sighing again she moved around the living room, collecting the candles to put them away. So much for her romantic plans. This anniversary sucked, big time. It was her own fault. If she’d told Keith about her romantic plans, he might have stayed, but she’d kept it to herself and just let him walk away.
A knock at the door stopped her and she went to it, a smile on her face, assuming Keith had changed his mind and come back. “Did you change your mind?” The smile faltered and fled when she saw who was standing on the other side of the door. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
Declan stood in front of her door with a faint smirk on his face. “Change my mind about what? You’ve been away from your own kind for too long, babe, your senses are getting dulled. You should have smelled me through the door before you even opened it.”
“Answer the question, Declan. What are you doing here?” Lily ignored his taunt even if it was true. She should have smelled him through the door but she’d been too distracted by her emotions.
“Our conversation from earlier isn’t over. Since you refused to listen to reason while your human was there, I decided to give you a second chance now that he’s gone home.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How do you even know where I live?”
He shrugged. “I followed you. How else?”
Lily stared at him. “You followed us? I looked for you before we left the club, I didn’t see you. I thought you were already gone.”
“You thought wrong, doll. Are you going to invite me in or not? Do you really want to have this conversation with me in the hallway where any of your neighbors could walk by?”
