“You sure about that?” Mac asked in surprise. “I find it hard to believe he’s not attracted to you. Heck, probably half the guys on the team are. You’re the only female werewolf they’ve ever met.”
“I get what you’re saying, but none of the guys act like that around me,” Khaki said. “They treat me more like their sister. And Xander isn’t attracted to me at all. I’m sure of it.”
Which hurt more than it should have. Her head might have known it was a good thing that Xander wasn’t attracted to her, but right then, with nobody but her and Mac around, she could be honest enough to admit that her heart, and a few other parts of her anatomy, really wished he was.
“Are you?” Mac asked. “Sure, I mean?”
“I’m sure.” Khaki opened the fridge again and took out whole wheat bread, sliced turkey, cheese, and a tomato, then gave Mac a questioning look. “Want a sandwich?”
Mac shook her head. “I’m going to have dinner with Gage when he gets home.”
Who said anything about dinner? This was more like an appetizer. That was another perk that came with being a werewolf. She could eat whatever she wanted and not have to worry about extra calories ending up where they shouldn’t.
Khaki set everything on the counter. “I asked Xander flat-out when I went over to his place last night. He insisted he liked me just fine, but I knew he was lying. I could tell he was really uncomfortable around me. He was tense and on edge the whole time. Which is nothing new. He’s like that all the time around me. I think he finds me irritating and a nuisance.”
Mac gave her a dubious look. “If you say so. But either way, you’d better be careful. If being with Gage has taught me anything, it’s that werewolves are extremely affected by certain pheromones. If you go walking around lusting over Xander, he’s going to pick up on it—and so is every other guy on the team. Then things will get really complicated. I learned that the hard way. Those guys can pick up on arousal like it’s barbecue and they aren’t shy about letting you know it.”
Khaki groaned as she grabbed a plate from the cabinet. “Oh God. I never thought about that.”
“Yeah. And it gets worse.” Mac shook her head. “If I’m even slightly aroused and Gage picks up on it, he gets crazy horny—like he-can’t-control-it horny. What do you think is going to happen if all the guys on the team pick up on the fact that the one and only female werewolf on the team is aroused? You’ll find yourself getting chased by fifteen out-of-control, horny werewolves going crazy with lust. And while there are some women who might find that entertaining, something tells me you wouldn’t.”
Khaki set the plate on the counter with a thud. “Oh crap. What the hell am I going to do?”
Mac offered her a small smile. “Take a lot of baths?”
Chapter 8
The mere thought of facing Khaki after walking in on her in the shower was enough to make Xander almost call in sick the next morning. There was only one problem—werewolves didn’t get sick.
Last night had been tough on him. Khaki’s scent was still just as strong in his apartment as it had been the previous night, only now he had a visual to go along with that scent. He’d lain in bed the whole night, staring up at the ceiling and dreaming about that shower scene he’d walked in on. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought she was toying with him, trying to drive him crazy. Of course she hadn’t been. That was just wishful thinking on his part. But still, the look on her face, the way she had that towel wrapped around her body, the way she’d laughed—it was seared into his mind forever.
He hated having these kinds of thoughts about Khaki. She was one of his team members. It was flat-out wrong. But it seemed the harder he fought against his feelings, the stronger they became.
When Xander finally rolled in for PT, the guys were still talking about the shoot-out with the bank robbery suspects the day before, especially how Khaki had come down off the roof and saved those kids—and how she’d torn into the FBI agent. The story was already getting exaggerated. They practically had Khaki tearing poor Thompson to pieces. Max swore he saw the guy crying by the time Khaki was done.
Xander didn’t mind his squad exaggerating Khaki’s exploits. That meant she was becoming one of them and they wanted to brag about her like they would have done with any other member of the squad. Of course, Khaki wasn’t any other member of the squad. That became blatantly obvious about ten minutes later when she showed up wearing a pair of tight yoga pants with flared bottoms and carrying a whole box full of rolled-up rubber mats, then led them outside for PT.
“Cooper pulled a hamstring running yesterday during the bank robbery, so he asked me to fill in as PT instructor today,” she said as she handed out the mats. “Pulling a muscle like that is a perfect example of why we need to start working flexibility into our fitness program. And the absolute best way to do that is yoga.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Jayden muttered to no one in particular. “I’m a two-hundred-and-sixty-pound werewolf. I don’t do yoga.”
Cooper gave Jayden a sidelong glance. “Today you’re doing yoga. Your hamstrings will thank you.”
“Thank you, Cooper,” Khaki said sweetly. “Now, if everyone will unroll their mats and stand with their feet shoulder-width apart with their hands in a prayer position like so, I’ll show you how to breathe properly. And, Cooper, take it easy on that hamstring, okay?”
Xander rolled his eyes. Pulled hamstring his ass. Werewolves pulled muscles just like anybody else, but even a serious tear would heal in an hour or so. No, if Xander had to guess, Cooper was doing someone in the squad a favor. And judging by the appreciative look Becker was giving Cooper, Xander knew exactly who it was.
Xander shook his head as he put his hands together in the prayer position, palms together and fingers pointing up. Becker’s plan wasn’t a bad one. Khaki looked really hot in those pants. And if there was one person who could get these guys to work on their flexibility, it’d be Khaki. If any of the guys had tried to come in here and pull this off, they would have been dog-piled by now.
Even so, most of the guys were eyeing Khaki dubiously as they mirrored her position. This was going to be…different. Some relaxing stretching would be a nice break from the ordinary.
Xander had to admit, watching Khaki bend and twist in those tight pants as she led them through various poses definitely made the wasted PT session worth it. He could finally see why Becker thought so much of those yoga pants. Though if Becker didn’t stop staring, Xander was going to walk over and punch him in the mouth.
Xander pushed the thought aside with a barely suppressed growl. As long as he didn’t leer or act like an ass, Becker had just as much right to look as he did. That didn’t quell the jealousy surging though him though.
After a few minutes of the gentle stretching, Khaki put them into positions that weren’t quite as relaxing. That’s when Xander really started to feel the workout. Damn, some of these things were hard.
“Get a little deeper in bound side angle, Alex,” Khaki called out. “Really reach under your leg and grab the other wrist.”
