Jasper quickly zipped his lips at that, feigning an interest in the teahouse’s decor. Murphy sighed, squeezing Nessa’s fingers gently. The sooner he got her away from his brother, the better he’d feel. “Where are your car keys?”
“Why?”
“Jasper is going to take your SUV to get fixed.”
“Right now?” She whistled under her breath. “You work fast.”
“Well, you told me you’d charge interest daily, remember?” he joked, though he didn’t feel any humor in this entire situation.
“Won’t it take a while to get fixed?” Nessa asked, leaning toward him, so close that he could feel the warmth of her body against his. “I don’t know much about vehicles, but I feel like puncture wounds in a door aren’t something you can just slap some duct tape on.”
“I wouldn’t recommend duct taping anything on your car,” Jasper cut in, still staring aimlessly at the shelves of tea around him in mock fascination. “Shit’s a pain in the ass to remove. Strips the paint, if you’re not careful.”
Nessa shot Jasper an odd look, like she couldn’t figure out whether she found him annoying or funny. “What if my car isn’t ready by the time the teahouse closes? How will I get back?” she asked Murphy.
“I’ll drive you home and then back here in the morning, if that’s the case,” Murphy assured her, still inhaling deeply. As he dragged in her scent, the last of his anger faded, leaving behind only embarrassment for his earlier behavior.
He’d come very close to shifting inside the teahouse, wrecking Nessa’s place and kicking Jasper’s ass in the process. All because of one off-hand comment she’d made.
He shouldn’t have reacted so poorly. He needed to get a grip.
What she did with her free time, with her body and heart, wasn’t his business anyway. Mating her was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. He’d told her that point-blank, and he’d been telling his bear the same thing for months.
Yet now, after getting to know more about her, seeing the kind of female she truly was, and being confronted with the all-too-real possibility that she could actually find solace in another, that she could be taken from him and he’d lose out on a chance with her …
It felt like his head had been effectively dislodged from his ass. His reasoning for staying away now seemed trivial, at best. She was a human, yes, but she wasn’t like the ones he’d known before. She was a protector at heart, courageous— attributes that would be an asset in a mate.
But was it mating sickness or his bear pulling at his emotions, trying to force this kind of response from him?
He didn’t know. But if that were the case, why hadn’t his bear thrown a fit when he’d pushed it back just now? Why did it seem almost like an observer in this situation?
The answer was simple: his bear had nothing to do with his actions.
Fuck! What was he going to do?
“Come on.” Nessa moved in front of Murphy, her hand tightening on his as she tugged him toward a nondescript door at the end of the long counter.
Eager to get her away from his brother, he followed her quickly into the office, barely refraining from slamming the door behind him. Moving them to the small desk set in the corner, Nessa began sifting through her purse, which was plopped on the desktop there, while keeping her fingers entwined with his.
“Now that we’re alone, are you going to explain what the hell just happened?” she asked, staring at him from beneath her lashes before she pulled her keys free from her purse.
“I’m sure my brother can hear us in here just fine,” Murphy commented.
Jasper chortled from the other room, his voice muffled as he called out, “Sure can!”
Nessa’s eyes widened briefly. “Wow, I can’t believe I keep forgetting how different we are from each other.” She shook her head. “Just pretend, for my sake, that he can’t hear you. My comment set you off, didn’t it? When I was talking aboutpossibilities,“ she hedged, her gaze wandering to the closed door behind him and then back to his face.
“Yes,” he gritted out, still debating on whether to be fully honest with her. “I didn’t like it. When my brother came in, I saw him as a threat to my claim on you.”
“You mean your bear’s claim,” she corrected, unaware of how completely wrong she was. “What I said upset him, didn’t it? It’s a ‘him,’ right? Does he have a name?”
“Nessa,” Murphy bit out, exasperation clear in his voice. “Is now really the time to ask?”
She sent him an awkward smile that was more of a grimace than anything else. “I’m talkative when I’m nervous.”
His brows furrowed in confusion. “Why are you nervous?”
“Um, because you almost shifted into a freaking grizzly bear in the middle of my lobby, where anyone could have come inside and seen you!” she exclaimed. “And instead of being smart and running for my life, I rushed to stop you, thinking you neededmyhelp. What if you’d shifted and mauled me to death?”
