And theOr else I’ll tell the LeClair brothers what really happened in New Orleans? The little female’s response to that smelled of pure terror.
I refolded the handwritten note and took my time sliding it back into the envelope, mainly so I could study her, this strange female who’d arrived on my doorstep. She seemed average height for a human—in that the top of her head reached my shoulders—with cropped light hair and several rings and studs in each ear, and one in her nose. I found myself almost as fascinated by that as I was by her responses to the letter.
When I finally met her eyes, though, she’d schooled her features into a smile.
Afakesmile—I could still smell her fear—but one which I guessed was supposed to be sensual.
When she planted one hand on her hip and lifted her other hand to play with the neckline of her t-shirt—a move intended to draw my gaze to her breasts, I was certain—she lowered her eyelids and pretended sexual interest.
And fuck me, because myKteerresponded. I found myself gripping the doorjamb, trying to control that primitive part of me that was urging me totaste take claim now lick claim!
“Who are you?” I rasped and immediately regretted allowing my attraction to show.
There was a flash of triumph in the little female’s dark eyes as her lips curled more easily. “Stevie—” She winced just slightly. “Smith. Stevie Smith. Trevor Hendricks sent me.”
“To pay off his debt.” I didn’t ask the question, but instead tapped the envelope against my thigh, reminding me of what the bastard had offered. “Hendricks shouldn’t play poker if he took this damn long to pay what he loses.”
The female—Stevie—glanced away, up the hall of the condo, as if she was uncomfortable holding this conversation out in public. “Yeah, well, I guess he doesn’t have fifty thousand lying around.”
Despite myself, I found myself intrigued by her gentle Southern accent and the graceful way her neck curved as she turned away. The sight of that skin rising above the neckline of that completely unsexy purple shirt made my claws extend, so very tempted to rip it away and expose more of her.
After all, shewasmy payment, wasn’t she?
Gods below, you need to get laid. She’s not a poker prize, she’s a female!
But Hendricks had sent her…
I curled my fingers into a fist, claws digging into my palm to keep me focused. “Why are you here?”
When she turned back to me, the female’s fingertips rested against the skin of her throat, and my sharp gazefocused on the flutter of her pulse beneath that delicate layer. She wasn’t wearing anything too sexy—a pair of jeans and that shirt, emblazoned with the name of a band I recognized—butfuck me,she made that outfit lookfine.
I wanted her.
I wanted my prize.
I wanted to pull her into my home, to push her against the bed or the couch and rip those jeans off her with my tusks andtaste her.
Which was ridiculous because I didn’t even know her real name.
“I thought it was obvious, Mr. Garrak.” She cocked her hip, and this time, dragged her fingertips down across her chest, lingering on her left tit. “I’m here to pay Hendricks’ debt.”
The wood of the doorway creaked as I tightened my hold on it. “No,” I rasped.
She blinked. “No?”
“Hendricks owes me fifty thousand.” I’d tried to collect before I’d left Colorado, but the bastard had been slippery, full of lies. “That’s what I want.”
The female bit down on her lower lip, a move I was certain was supposed to appear arousing. It worked.
“Are you sure?” She peeked up at me from under lowered lashes. “I think you and I could find something else that’s worth fifty thousand.”
“Oh yeah?” I growled, angry at myself for the way my cock was hardening, despite knowing this was all a ploy on her part. I leaned forward, hoping to intimidate her with my size. “And what’s that?”
Something like dread flashed in her dark eyes for a moment before she lifted her hands to her breasts, cupping them both. She lifted her chin but kept her gaze locked on my chest when she hefted them as if offering herself to me.
Standing there in the hallway of my condo building,offering herselfto me.
Take claim taste now fuck taste.
