Freakn' Shifters Bundle (3-in-1) (8 page)

Slowly, the columns of figures settled her for the first time in days. An affinity for mathematics growing up had led her into a career in accounting, most especially for other ‘special’ people like her. Given the longevity of shifters and convoluted family trees—because not all species believed in a monogamous paring for life—she’d acquired an extensive clientele.

A few hours into her perusal of a particular account, where an uncle had retained guardianship of his nephews and their trust fund, she noticed some claimed expenses and receipts not adding up. Brow wrinkled, she re-added the numbers several times but couldn’t get them to reconcile which meant, most likely, a misappropriation of funds by the uncle, an unfortunately all too common crime in the case of orphans.

And not something she’d tolerate.

She fired an email off to the attorney in charge of the estate recommending an audit and a halt to funds while they investigated the matter.
That will teach the uncle to steal from those children.

The noon hour arrived, but before Naomi could tell her secretary, Josie, to order her a sandwich, Josie peeked her head around the door. In a whisper that she might as well have shouted she said, “Oh my god, the two hottest guys ever have just walked in and want to take you to lunch.”

No names were needed for her to know who’d shown up. Excitement fluttered in Naomi’s breast and dampened her panties while her inner bitch yipped in anticipation. She snapped the pencil she held in half. “Tell them I’m working.”

Josie’s mouth rounded into an ‘O’ of surprise. “Seriously? I did tell you they were like totally delicious, right?”

“Not interested.”

Shaking her head, Josie shut the door. Less than a minute later, it reopened and both Javier and Ethan strode in as if they owned the place. Naomi just about went cross eyed at the sight of them.
Josie wasn’t kidding when she called them hot.

Naomi had seen them in lacrosse gear looking mouthwatering fit and agile. She’d seen them in regular clothes, like jeans and t-shirts, appearing yummy enough to strip. But dressed in a suit? Dear lord, talk about scrumptious and cruel at the same time. Kind of like the cheesecake dribbled in caramel sauce she knew she shouldn’t want or eat, but craved anyway.

The boys looked like they stepped off the pages of GQ, their suits obviously not bought off the rack, not given the way they hugged their bodies and outlined their broad shoulders. Ethan’s brown eyes crinkled in amusement at her slack-jawed amazement. She wondered if they’d noticed if she dumped her bottle of water over her head.

Javier perched himself on her desk, invading her space with his tantalizing scent. “Hello, sweetheart. You are looking beautiful today.”

The last traces of her unfortunate close encounter with the lacrosse ball had disappeared overnight. “I’m busy,” she managed to mutter from a mouth gone dry.

“But surely you need to
eat
?” Javier stroked her with his words, and she shivered as her mind vividly flashed on the type of eating she’d really enjoy.

“I don’t have time to play,” she snapped, trying to break their mesmerizing spell.

“Then it shall be a business lunch,” Javier announced, clapping his hands together and rubbing them.

“And exactly how do you figure you guys taking me to lunch is business?” she retorted. “I know what you both want to do with me, and while it might involve mergers, I deal in paper deals, not naked, fleshy ones.”

“Dirty girl,” Javier chided. “Did it eve occur to you that Ethan and I might have an interest in you that doesn’t involve your luscious body?”

“No. I mean yes. Oh, for god’s sake. Stop confusing me. You and I both know you’re just saying you have work for me as a ploy to get me to go to lunch, because otherwise you know my answer would be no.”

“It’s not a scam,” Ethan rumbled. “We need your help. With all of our freelance work and investments, not to mention our lacrosse and hockey monies, we need help getting organized. Don’t forget, we only moved to Toronto from out west a month ago. We’ve been shopping around for an accountant and everyone says you’re the best.” Naomi tried not to preen at the praise. Ethan quirked a lip and shrugged. “We only play
and deal with the best. So, yes, we would like to meet with you to discuss business because we’d like you to take over the accounting of our assets.”

Naomi almost fell off her chair as Ethan spoke a veritable mouthful without stammering—or grunting. She wanted to hate that he kept destroying her stereotypical view of a jock, but instead she grudgingly liked him more and more.
The jerk.
“I don’t come cheap,” she replied when she should have just said no. But, she couldn’t resist the lure of two new clients and the extra income. She wished she owned a mental muzzle for her inner wolf who spun in circles woofing while she chased her tail giddily.

Clapping his hands again, Javier grinned. “Price is no object. We’ll pay you twice your rate. Trust me, given our extensive
assets
, you’ll earn it.” Javier winked as he said it and Naomi, for the third time in as many days, wanted to bang her head off something.

Caught in a losing battle—and barely raising a hand to fight the seemingly inevitable fate shoved her way—she could only faintly nod in agreement. In no time at all, she found herself ushered out of her office with Javier telling her secretary they’d return in a few hours.

Naomi wanted to protest their manhandling of her and her affairs; however, as if sensing her coming rebuttal, Ethan used a vicious weapon on her. Himself.

A giant paw lacking only fur and claws, gripped hers, lacing her digits in an intimate fashion that made her lose a step. Ethan rumbled, “While the goodnight kiss was great, I missed holding you last night, and waking up beside you.”

The sincerity in his tone and expression almost melted her into a puddle. She wanted to rip him a new one. Wasn’t she still after all mad over the free for all at her parent’s house? Speaking of which, why did he look so unscathed? No one escaped a family get together without the bruises to prove it. She hadn’t noticed the night before due to the encroaching gloom, but today, in the bright light of day, he appeared unhurt.

“How come you’re not black and blue from dinner?” she demanded.

Javier answered and she pivoted to look at him. “We didn’t grow up in nice neighborhoods. We know how to hold our own.”

“You hurt my brothers and father?” she screeched. Never mind her family attacked them, blood came first.

“Of course not,” Ethan retorted. “Much,” he amended. “But any injuries they received were in self-defense and should already have healed.”

“You forgot to mention the most important part. Not only did we not put them in a hospital,” Javier interrupted. “We came to an agreement.”

Wrinkling her brow, she stopped and gazed between them. “What kind of agreement?”

“After your mother explained your inherent dislike of violence, especially in family and home settings, we hammered out a deal. They won’t interfere in your decision to take us as mates so long as you’re the one to make the decision of how, when and where.”

“How’s never?” she snapped.

Javier continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “And from now on, if your brothers, or father, truly feel an urge to fight, we shall do so in a civilized fashion at the gym, in the practice ring, or in extreme situations, outdoors.”

“Ha, good luck with that,” she snorted. “I’ve lived in violent chaos all my life. I don’t see my family changing just because you said so.”

“They will,” Ethan replied. “We won’t let them upset you anymore.”

Disbelief made her shake her head. “You’re both delusional. There’s no way you can enforce that rule. Don’t forget, I grew up with them. Every male in my family has done their damned best to destroy everything I’ve ever owned, intentional or not. That’s not going to change overnight. And to be quite honest, I highly doubt the pair of you will be any different. I bet you’re both the type to drop the gloves and go at it instead of walking away or, gasp, talking first.”

Ethan ducked his head, color rising in his cheeks. It didn’t her give a triumphant feeling to know her assumption proved correct.

“We don’t indulge in fights without provocation,” Ethan muttered.

“And what’s your idea of reasonable grounds? Forget it. I don’t want to know. Shifters never seem to need a valid reason. You can’t help it. Violence is in your blood.”

“Your blood, too,” Javier added.

She tossed her hair. “But I’m trying to fight my baser side. You two, on the other hand, aren’t.”

“Says who? I bet you we could control ourselves better than you.” Javier taunted.

A snort escaped her. “Yeah right.”

“Willing to put your assertion to the test? We bet you we can restrain ourselves from involving ourselves in any type of violence when around you.”

“With the exception of sports,” Ethan added.

Naomi’s lips tightened. “I don’t wager.”

Javier’s lips tilted and his eyes glinted with humor. “Come on? You seem so sure we can’t rein in our baser impulses, what can it hurt?”

“Are you chicken?” Ethan added.

The glare she shot the behemoth’s way was met with a shrug and a grin. “What’s the prize?” she asked unable to stop her curiosity.

“You win and we will walk away, leaving you alone.”

That didn’t sound like much of a prize. “And if you both can control yourselves and not get involved in altercations when around me?”

“You let us make love to you.”

“You mean mark me?”

“No.” Javier shook his head. “Something so serious should not be decided on the outcome of a wager. We’re talking about letting us worship your body as it deserves. Giving you extreme pleasure, which in turn will be the best reward we could hope for.” His words painted a vivid picture of them kissing her, touching her, and…

Naomi’s head nodded in agreement to the terms even as she knew it was such a bad idea.
Because dammit, now I want to lose, but how will that happen. These guys are born and bred brawlers. They’ll never be able to keep their word.

*

Javier could sense her inner conflict, in fact he prayed for it. Things had gone so well until the disastrous dinner of the night before. While he expected it of Ethan, Javier should have known better than to arouse Naomi in front of her brothers—until he’d marked her. However, the lure of her presence and worse, her interest, blinded him to their location with disastrous consequences.

Overprotective brothers had the right to defend their sister’s honor, but Javier and Ethan grossly miscalculated on how a regular rumble, common in shifter households, would send Naomi running.  It had only taken Meredith’s quietly announced, “She left,” for the fight to deflate. And that’s when Javier discovered that despite her feisty nature, Naomi thought she wanted a life completely absent of violence. Probably not one hundred percent feasible given the hotheaded nature of shapeshifters—herself included—but he and Ethan came to an understanding with her family, her brothers especially. If they were to make this work, they needed to keep Naomi’s needs in mind.

As for how they’d convinced the brothers, simple really. Ethan only had to say, “If you make her unhappy, once we mark her, we will take the offer to return and play for the Saskatoon, Coyote Wilds.”

Amazing what moving her across a few provinces could do for negotiations, that and the fact Ethan had barely broken into a sweat when he’d held off four of the brothers by himself. Kodiak bears weren’t a species to mess with.

Of course, Javier didn’t relate his blackmail of her family to her when he made the bet. He treasured his balls too much for that.

Nor did it stop him, or Ethan, from attempting to seduce her with small touches and courtesies. In the restaurant, which he’d chosen because of the booths that would tuck her between them, he’d secretly thrilled—which disgusted him—at the innocuous squeeze of his legs against hers while they partook of their meal. As they discussed what duties they expected her to perform with their accounts, they’d briefly caress her hand. At times, Javier just sat back and watched her discourse with Ethan while he mentally detailed what other tasks he’d like her to accomplish for him—naked, maybe wearing some sexy glasses. Pleasant visuals that left him harder than a rock.
I can’t wait until you accept us as your mates, sweetheart.

Javier, to his utter surprise, had fallen for the vixen. He’d not realized just how badly she’d snared him until he realized other women no longer attracted him. He didn’t even feel the slightest urge to flirt, not with Naomi’s pretty receptionist, or the girl at the coffeehouse, and even though their current waitress kept leaning over in an attempt to show off her bosom, he couldn’t help wishing Naomi would bend over instead—again, naked.

So much for thinking he’d live the life of a playboy spreading his love. There was only one woman he wanted to sink his cock into—bareback because, for the first time in his life, the concept of impregnating a woman filled him with satisfaction instead of knee jerking fear.

I am just as bad as Ethan with all these sappy thoughts running through my mind.
He’d always scoffed at love in the past, but the more he saw and got to know Naomi, the more he wanted to discover. If that wasn’t love then he obviously didn’t have a clue. However, thinking he might have fallen for her didn’t mean he’d announce it. She’d probably rip his nuts off and choke him with them for even suggesting it.
But hey, at least then she’d be touching me of her own volition.