“I have to go now, but I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”
She hung up without the courtesy of a response.
He was aware the only reason he’d been given this assignment was because it was likely nothing more than the wild ravings of a drunken shifter. As if it were possible that Argents still existed. No one had seen one for centuries, and most people thought they’d been legends in the first place. The claim that a tiny, unimportant pack had one hidden away was so improbable that Riley was convinced the whole thing was nonsense.
And yet, Riley’s source had ended up dead. Probably a coincidence. It wasn’t surprising that a drunk had gotten into a bar fight, after all. But Amy didn’t believe in coincidences. And, deep down, Riley wasn’t sure he did either.
He blew out a breath, trying to drag his mind back to work. But his body hadn’t gotten the memo—he could still feel the ghost of Jason’s mouth against his, warm and open and so damn sweet it made his stomach clench.
It was just a kiss. No reason for it to feel like it had shifted something inside him.
“Jason,” Riley said, and Jason turned around in response. His cheeks were a dusky red and there was a shy smile in his eyes as he looked at Riley.
Damn it, Riley didn’t want to walk away from this, not even for a few hours. When he thought just how eager Jason had been, even if he did seem a little uncertain, hereallydidn’t want to walkaway. But if he wanted to eat, and he wanted to—well, not to fail again, he had only a couple of hours to work on his report so it looked like something more than the few, sparse facts it was.
“That was my boss,” he said, just in case Jason had forgotten. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go back to the motel and work on my draft before emailing it to her. She’s a hands-on sort of a boss.” Not literally, thank God.
“No problem,” Jason said, but to Riley’s dismay, the smile in his eyes disappeared with the suddenness of a light going out. As if he thought Riley was making an excuse and running out on him. That was the last thing Riley wanted to do right now.
“Same time tomorrow?” he asked, stepping forward into Jason’s space. “I really enjoyed this afternoon, Jason.”
“Really?” Jason stared at him, surprise on his face. “I kind of thought I’d bored you to death.”
Riley blinked. “You?”
Jason’s lips twisted. “I’m not exactly exciting.”
“I don’t know about that,” Riley said. “You made me forget about work for once.”
Jason’s eyes widened, and then he smiled at Riley, those dimples in his cheeks again. They were choirs of angels and long lazy summer days all rolled into one, and Riley had never felt anything like this.
“So, boys, I’ve found your… Ah, good,” Mr. Garrity said, his overly loud voice dropping to a normal level as he came into the room and found they were no longer locked together. “There you go,” he said, giving Riley a pile of identical leaflets, and one to Jason. “If there’s anything more you want to know, just give me or William a call.”
At the hope in Mr. Garrity’s blue eyes, the excitement that finally he might have some more visitors to talk to about his family memories, Riley felt like an asshole.
“I’ll be sure to do that, Mr. Garrity,” he said, and swore to himself he would leave glowing reviews for this museum on as many websites out there as he could find. And maybe, when the press and the gawkers descended on the town after Riley’s story ran, the museum would get some more visitors.
He took Jason back to the diner. His mind was on what he had to do when he got back to the motel and how he absolutely mustn’t fuck this job up, but he found when he put the car in park that he couldn’t just let Jason go. Not without another kiss. And that kiss was every bit as good as the first, with Jason opening up under Riley’s mouth like he was born to it.
Riley was breathing hard when he finally pulled away, his hand still on Jason’s cheek, feeling the warmth there, and his thumb running over Jason’s lips. God, this was supposed to be casual. No more than a bit of fun to make this assignment tolerable. But with the way Jason kissed? No, it wasn’t just the kiss. It was the way Jason looked at him—like Riley was someone worth the time. Like he was more than simply charm and spin. No one looked at him like that.
“Sorry to cut this short,” he said, and found his voice was husky.
Jason shook his head. “You have to work,” he said, opening his car door. “See you tomorrow?” He sounded uncertain yet hopeful, which caused something strange to happen in Riley’s chest.
“So long as you don’t get mauled by any more museum bears,” Riley said, and thatsmile. It was going to kill him, because how could someone be so sweet and hot at the same time?
Riley could have cried watching that ass walk away.Damn you,Amy. He sat in his car beside the empty passenger seat. The one where Jason should have been, ready to go back to Riley’s motel with him.
Then, because there was still something of the overdramatic actor in him, he let out a long, tortured groan and smacked his head against the steering wheel. With a disappointed sigh so deep it should have gotten him an Oscar nomination, he drove back to his lonely motel room.
Chapter Seven
JASON
Jason knew he was grinning from ear to ear as he drove back to the ranch. He knew it, but he didn’t care as he sang along at the top of his voice with the Journey song on the radio.
He tried to control his expression when he parked in the driveway and slipped around the side of the sprawling ranch house, making straight for the bunkhouse he shared with Karl. There was no way he was going near a single member of the pack until he’d washed the scent of Riley off his skin, because he knew what they were like and how much they’d tease him. Well, Tristan was too sweet-natured to tease, but he’d be full of questions and curiosity and that would be even worse, because Jason had no idea what was happening except for one very important thing. He was in love.
