Authors: Maddy Barone
Paint held out his hands. “I’m sorry. Katelyn, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t ever hurt you. I only wanted to know if you were okay after the scare you had last night.”
Katelyn shook visibly. She shot a cringing glance at Paint’s hands, swallowed hard, and muttered, “I’m fine.” Then she bolted for the kitchen in an unsteady lope.
Rose and the two men stared after her. “I don’t think it’s the scars,” Rose said. “I think she’s just scared.”
Paint sighed. Stone turned to look more closely at him, sniffing the air. “You like her. Really like her.”
Paint adjusted his eye patch. “My wolf likes her. If he hadn’t already chosen a mate, I think Katelyn would be my mate.”
“But Linda didn’t agree to your mate claim,” Rose pointed out. “So maybe he chose someone else.”
“No.” Both men shook their heads. “A wolf only chooses once,” Paint went on. “But my wolf likes Katelyn. He would accept her as my wife.” His face fell. “But I don’t think she’ll accept me as her husband.”
Stone pounded a fist into his shoulder. “You’ve known her for only a day. Give it time.”
“And she had a bad scare last night,” Rose added. “It’s probably not you.”
Rose watched them during the early supper. Katelyn sat as far from Paint as she could. Paint looked down the table at her from time to time, as if he couldn’t help himself. Rose liked Paint. He deserved to be happy. The woman his wolf had chosen for their mate had rejected him and married another man. As long as she lived, his wolf hadn’t accepted any other woman, but now that Linda had passed on, Paint was free to love another. A wife was just as cherished as a mate. She resolved to do what she could to help him win Katelyn as his wife.
Immediately after supper, she climbed the dark narrow staircase to her pretty pink room, put on a pair of pajama pants and a tee, and sprawled over the bed to open the precious book Cayla had loaned her. She delighted in reading a book at night, something she hadn’t done after she’d crashed in 2064.
Soon the music and laughter started up downstairs, but Rose was lost in her book and the revelry below didn’t register. It was nearly midnight when she finished the book. She used the bathroom one more time, brushed her teeth, and stretched out in the pretty bed, tired and happy, and fell immediately asleep.
*
Sky loosened his tie as he climbed the stairs to the top floor. The house was quiet, the guests were gone, the money was counted and placed in the safe in his office. Dinner with Harry and Phil Scott had gone well. They weren’t on the City Council, but they knew just about every member, and were friends with most. He thought they liked his proposed changes to the Women’s Acts and his plans to offer women other kinds of work in the public sector. With luck, they would influence their friends in Monday’s vote.
It had been a grindingly long day, and he hadn't seen his mate since breakfast fifteen hours ago. His need to see her had burned in his chest every minute of the hours spent with the Scotts. Once home, knowing she was in the house was a taunt that drove his wolf crazy. The past two hours of chatting with guests had torn at his wolf’s patience. Having the wolf close to the surface after six years of silence was unsettling. He couldn’t blame his wolf, though. The man was just as fixated on Rose. He wished she was curled in his bed waiting for him.
He came to the top of the steps and went into his room to take off his suitcoat and trousers and hang them carefully in the closet. Then, unbuttoning his shirt, he walked to the bathroom. The sight of Rose’s comb and toothbrush made him smile. She was here. His mate was here. He hung his tie on the doorknob, stripped off his shirt and underpants and tossed them into the hamper. It was his habit to take a quick shower each evening. What if Rose woke up and joined him in the shower? Nice thought, but as likely as flying.
He didn’t need to dream about her. She was only yards away. With a towel wrapped around his waist, he stepped out of the bathroom. Rose’s door drew him like a magnet. He paused there, listening for her breathing, inhaling her scent.
How had he lived without that scent flowing through him, rousing his wolf and calming it at the same time? Carefully, trying to be quiet, he turned the knob and opened the door a few inches. After only a day, the air in Ms. Mary’s old room was saturated with Rose’s scent. She lay on her back under the feminine pink quilt, her face turned to the door, showing the golden arcs of her eyelashes against her pale cheeks. Sky shifted his weight, ready to step to the bed to be closer to his mate, but a new scent caught him. On the end of the bed, draped over his mate’s ankle, glowered her horrible cat.
Lupine and feline glared at each other for a long minute. If that cat weren’t here he would have touched Rose’s face with his lips. Damned cat. With one last deep inhale, Sky silently left, closing the door behind him. Tomorrow, he would kiss his mate. Not the fake kiss they’d exchanged at breakfast, but a real kiss where he could use his lips and his tongue to show her how much he wanted her. If he were lucky, maybe he’d get to do more.
Chapter 11
For the second day in a row Rose got up late. She dragged herself out of bed and into the shower and then hurried downstairs to the dining room. “Sorry I’m late again.”
Sky stood up and put his hands on her shoulders, and leaned down to give her a quick kiss. “Good morning, love.”
“Uh.” Even his most casual touch made her heart jump. “What are your plans for today?”
He glanced at the dozen other people at the table, all of whom, Rose noticed, were watching them avidly, before smiling down at her again. It was a nice smile, small but white, and his dimple flared. That dimple got her every time. “I have a lot of paperwork to catch up with this morning, but after lunch let’s go for a walk. Just me and you.”
Her heart jumped. “Okay.”
He brushed another kiss over her lips and led her to the foot of the table. “Eat, love.”
Rose ate. The food was as good here as at the den, but the company wasn’t as nice. Not all of it at least. Ms. Mary sat at her right hand and Paint at her left, but she couldn’t help but watch Sky. They were too far apart to chat, but Rose noticed the two girls on either side of him were chatting up a storm, and he chatted right back. Refusing to scowl, she shrugged her shoulders, and went back to her eggs.
“Pay them no attention,” Ms. Mary told her. “Tanya and Zoe were both sure Sky was in love with them. I can’t tell you how many times Zoe tried to get Sky to kiss her.”
“Really.” Rose darted a glance at Sky at the opposite end of the table. He must have heard every word, although he acted like he hadn’t, concentrating on buttering his toast. “Which one is Zoe?”
“The skinny redhead with no boobs.”
Rose threw a startled grin at Ms. Mary, who threw a surprisingly youthful grin back.
“You don’t need to worry about Zoe stealing your man,” she told Rose. “Sky has been up front from the first day he came here. Everyone knew he had a fiancée at home. Those girls just can’t take a hint.”
Rose sniffed in exaggerated prissiness. “Sky would never be unfaithful to me.”
His wolf wouldn’t let him. She remembered that day at the den while they weeded the pumpkin patch. He had told her then his wolf wouldn’t accept anyone else, and she was the only one he wanted. She looked down the table and their gazes met. He was thinking of it too, she was sure.
He laid his napkin on the table and stood up, smiling at her. “I’ll see you at lunch, my dear.”
Rose didn’t watch him leave and ignored her flicker of anticipation to turn to Stone. “Are you going to see Sara this morning? Would you like me to come with you?”
He shook his head and swallowed potatoes. “I’m going later, around supper. She should be home then.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Ms. Mary wished her a good morning and left the table.
Paint watched her leave with a small frown. “Ms. Mary means well, but I think you should sit closer to Sky. Are you jealous of those girls?”
“Of course not,” Rose said with a sniff.
“Good. You don’t need to be. Tomorrow get to breakfast earlier, and sit next to your mate.”
“Maybe I will.” She didn’t want to look too eager. On the other hand, the redhead with no boobs had to back off. Rose felt uncomfortably territorial when it came to Sky.
Rose finished her breakfast and gathered her dishes to carry to the kitchen. It was a busy place. Under Kim’s direction, she made breakfast trays for the businesswomen and was about to help carry them upstairs, but the cook, horrified, said Sky’s wife wasn’t a serving girl.
Rose shrugged. Her life at the den might not be very exciting, but she had a routine, and the people there appreciated what she did. What did she have to do here? Nothing. At least not until Cayla woke up and they could go to the library. She wanted to keep busy, so she joined Katelyn, Susan, and Rita in the kitchen clean up. Susan liked to talk, and she gladly answered Rose’s questions about everyone at The Limit. After an hour, Rose hung up her damp dishtowel with a shake of her head. Sky was a major employer. He had forty-four employees who depended on him for their jobs. It surprised her, although perhaps it shouldn’t have. He was an alpha, and an alpha needed a Pack. He hired as many women as he could afford in order to spare them from having to sell their bodies.
She followed Katelyn to the reception rooms, carrying a dust rag. Katelyn mumbled an introduction to the two women already working on dusting and sweeping. Karen and Heather appeared friendly, and if they thought it was strange that the boss’s wife helped clean, they didn’t say so. They took one of the double reception rooms and left Rose and Katelyn to dust the other. Rose looked up at the huge chandelier two stories above.
“I bet you don’t dust that very often,” she remarked to Katelyn, who just smiled and shook her head.
There were plenty of other things within easy reach though, so while Katelyn dusted the little knick knacks on the mantel, Rose started on the gorgeous piano. She was humming something from the Times Before when Sky strode in. His hair stood up in tufts, as if he had tugged on it. Rose stared at the set expression on his flushed face.
“Sky? What’s wrong?”
She watched Sky’s perfectly manicured hands curl into fists at his sides. A low growling sound raised her fascinated gaze to the muscle bunching along his jaw as he clenched it. He certainly was handsome when he was enraged. She couldn’t help smiling.
Probably because they had an audience only a few yards away, his voice was soft. “I won’t stand for this.”
She stared. He had been so nice this morning, and now he was angry with her? “What’s got your panties in a twist?”
For a moment she thought he wouldn’t answer. “That damn cat of yours. He shed on my office chair. You put him on there on purpose.”
Her mouth dropped open, and then snapped shut. “No, I didn’t. Maybe she just likes your office. I bet it’s sunny and warm.” Rose noticed Katelyn edge toward the door while Karen and Heather came closer. Sky’s next words made her forget the other women.
“If you don’t keep it out of my office, I’m going to kill it.”
Rose swirled into protective fury. “You lay one finger on Mitzi and I’ll neuter you. What has she ever done to you?”
“Besides shred my hands, pee on my rug, and destroy my house? This!”
He turned and flipped the hem of his suit coat up to show her his rear end. It was a fine rear end, and Rose admired the way the tropical weight wool trousers clung to the hard curve of his ass until she noticed the wool was liberally festooned with brown and black cat hair. The little needle of guilt turned into a dagger, but she wouldn’t show it.
“You have a very nice ass,” she told him, “but do you need to show it off like that?”
He whirled back, eyes dark with fury. His hand clenched on her wrist with enough force to be almost painful. She glared pointedly at her wrist. He released her at once. Mollified, she said, “I really am sorry. She’s still nervous over the move, so she’s shedding a lot right now.”
He brushed futilely at his rear end. She lifted her rag, imagining rubbing the cotton over the tight muscles under the trousers. Her mouth went dry. “Should I clean it off?”
He stepped back. “No. Just keep that damn cat off my chair.”
“How can I do that?”
“I don’t care, just do it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe you should keep your office door closed.”
“Then it cries until I let it in. I knew bringing that cat was a mistake.”
She squeezed the rag in one hand and imagined it was Sky’s throat. “I said I was sorry. What more do you want from me?”
Sky stepped so close she could feel his breath on her face. His scent flooded her nostrils in a knee-melting rush. “What do I want from you?” he murmured in a very different tone, as if he’d never been angry. His scent almost made her forget he’d threatened her pet. “Many things, most of which would make you blush for a week, mate.”
Rose was pretty sure the others could hear every word. The heat of a blush—without even hearing exactly what he wanted from her—surged over her face. “Besides
that
,” she snapped. “Seriously? One minute you’re going to kill my cat, and the next you’re…” She waved her hands, rag flapping, and drew a calming breath. “Look, Sky, I’m sorry about Mitzi. Are you sure she peed on your rug?”
“I can smell it.” He drew a breath too, looking almost pained. “I’m sorry, too. Let’s not fight. We’ll talk about it this afternoon.” He brushed a finger over her cheek. “Really, I’m sorry.”
She sighed. How could she stay angry when his face looked genuinely remorseful? “Okay.”
After he left, with his butt still tweedy with Mitzi’s hair, the other women came forward. Heather giggled. “My. He was pissed.”
Katelyn didn’t say anything, just looked terrified. Karen fanned herself. “That man has the finest ass in town. I wouldn’t mind licking the cat hair off h—” She broke off with a guilty look at Rose. “Sorry.”
“No problem. I know exactly what you mean.”
All of them giggled then, even Katelyn, who still looked a little scared. Rose put a hand on her arm. “Katelyn, don’t be nervous. Sky might get mad, but he’d never hurt you. He’d never let anyone else hurt you either. And Paint wants to be your friend.”