Love Bites (Bitten Book 4)
Bites
by
C.C. Wood
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Copyright Crystal W. Wilson 2014
Kindle Edition
Cover by
Jena Brignola, Bibliophile Productions
Editing by
Libros Evolution
To Ricki. There are no Chinese fingertraps in this book. I promise.
Ricki
I
t was shaping
up to be one hell of a shitty day.
First, my boss Candy had been on the warpath from the minute the boutique opened. Apparently, the two employees that closed the night before hadn’t cleaned up to her satisfaction. They were going to catch hell as soon as they came in for their evening shift. The two young women in question were new hires, employed for just a little over a month, and it had been their first night to close alone.
They hadn’t done a perfect job, but I thought they did pretty well for their first try. However, I knew better than to say that to Candy. By lunch time, I’d managed to talk her into letting me go over what they needed to improve upon for their next shift. While Candy might not have any compunction about firing them over a couple of small mistakes, I really didn’t want to have to train new employees after finally getting those two settled.
I intended to go over Candy’s list of complaints in a calm, concise manner and avoid the words, “Next time you’re fired”, if at all possible. They were two sweet college freshmen and very eager to please. I was certain that the threat of losing their jobs wouldn’t be necessary.
Considering Candy’s personality deficiencies, she paid her employees well. Probably because that’s the only way they would tolerate her batshit crazy ass. Though I didn’t hold the title of store manager, or even assistant manager, Candy paid me as well as most other boutique managers I knew. Since I had to drop out of college my sophomore year, that was pretty good pay.
Even the glass of wine I had at lunch wasn’t much help when it came to dealing with Candy’s edgy attitude all day, so I was glad to see her leave at three for her salon appointment. Since I helped open the store at nine, I left at six after giving the girls a check list of everything that needed to be done for close that night, including the things they had forgotten the night before. Since she had a date, I doubted Candy would come back at nine to check up on them.
After I left the boutique, I stopped by the grocery store. My fridge was almost empty, which meant I needed to grab some basics. Before I could get out of my Honda, my cell phone rang. When I saw who was calling, I almost sent it straight to voicemail. I knew if I did that, he would just keep calling.
“Hello, Craig.”
“Ricki, hey. Are you busy?” He sounded friendly and genuine. Unfortunately, the fact that he was a two-timing scumbag didn’t show in his face or demeanor.
“I have a few minutes. Why are you calling?” It was a struggle to keep my voice even but I would be damned before I’d let him hear even a sliver of my pain or anger. He wasn’t worthy of it.
“I can’t call and see how you’re doing?” he asked, sounding hurt.
I rolled my eyes. “No, Craig, you can’t. You lost that privilege when you started seeing another woman while we were together. Oh, wait. I was the girl you started seeing on the side, wasn’t I?” The words were cutting and sarcastic but they didn’t seem to faze him.
“Look, I told you that I’m really sorry. Can’t we at least be friends?”
Gritting my teeth, I asked, “Do you really want to be my friend? Or are you just looking for an in?” When he sputtered, I interrupted. “You know what, never mind. Your motive doesn’t matter. What matters is that you cheated and lied. Even one of those would be enough to convince me that you’re an asshole. The fact that you did both means you’re a complete piece of shit. Don’t call me again.”
I disconnected and lowered the phone from my ear. Breathing heavily, I rested my forehead against the steering wheel. My one attempt at a healthy, serious relationship had ended up being just as fucked up as my parents’ marriage. It was fucked up in a different way, but still rife with lies and infidelity.
His
infidelity. It seemed that the only men who wanted me were the kind that couldn’t keep their dick in their pants.
Logically, I understood that many people had happy, monogamous relationships, but, as time went by, I became more convinced I would never be one of them.
It seemed my mildly crappy day was on the fast track to becoming a full-on goat fuck. It was time to go inside, buy what I need, and get home. As I climbed out of my car, I caught a glimpse of a man walking into the store and stopped breathing. From the back, he almost looked like Calder.
Though I hadn’t seen Calder Atwood since Donna’s Halloween party a week ago, I hadn’t been able to get him out of my mind. That night would be forever etched in my memory with perfect clarity. Every kiss, every touch, and the small bruises and love bites that had only begun to fade. It was the most intense sexual experience of my life. Then, not even twelve hours later, I saw him with another woman. While they hadn’t been doing anything other than talking, he was shirtless, his back scratched. The woman was beautiful, tall, blonde, and wearing nothing but a sheer black lace bra and panty set with fresh fucked hair. I wasn’t blind or stupid. It was pretty clear what they had been doing. Yet another example of the type of jackhole that rang my bell.
The man disappeared from my view and I forced myself to take a deep breath, trying to calm the racing of my heart. It wasn’t him. I was imagining things because I’d allowed Craig to get me worked up with his stupid phone call. Just as I closed my door and used the remote to lock my car, the cloudy sky opened up and a torrential rain poured out. Swearing, I put my head down and dashed for the entrance to the store.
Once inside, I grabbed a basket and hooked the handles over my forearm. My intention was to pick up just a few things until my next day off. I was done with this day and wanted to go home. Moving quickly, I grabbed a carton of skim milk, cereal, whole grain bread, and deli meat. When I turned to walk away from the deli counter, I stopped short. Calder was standing ten feet away in profile.
Mouth dry, I closed my eyes and shook my head. I had to be hallucinating. My lids lifted but he was still there. Only instead of staring at the shelves in front of him, his eyes were glued on me.
My heart began to thud against my sternum, hard and fast, and I could feel the impact of each beat throughout my body. I wanted to run, but my feet stayed rooted to the spot as Calder began to walk toward me.
“No,” I whispered.
His stride hitched, as though he heard me. Well, he probably had. I didn’t know much about werewolves, but I did know their senses were heightened. He was too close when he finally came to a halt. It didn’t help my heart rate.
“Hi, Ricki.”
A chill ran down my spine when Calder said my name. It brought back a flash of memory from that night a week ago. I could literally feel the tips of his fingers digging into my hips as he held me up against the wall, his face buried between my thighs.
“What are you doing here?” My voice came out shrill and wild. I cleared my throat, trying to combat the tightness.
“Shopping, same as you,” he answered.
I glanced down at his empty hands. “I don’t believe you.” My eyes traveled back up the length of his body, taking in the faded jeans, cream sweater, and dark brown leather jacket. “Why are you really here?”
He leaned forward slightly. My acute awareness of his body made those small inches feel much more threatening. “I needed to see you.”
“Why?”
I tried not to flinch as his hand lifted to toy with the ends of my hair where they draped over my shoulder. My skin tingled though there was a layer of cloth and leather between his fingers and my bare body. How could I be so strongly attracted to him yet still want to smack the shit out of him?
As though he could read my mind, he asked, “Can’t you feel what’s between us? It’s so strong I can almost see it.” His pupils dilated, swallowing the iris until only a thin band of bright green remained. “For the last week, all I can think of is the way you smell and your taste. That night—”
The fog of attraction dispersed under a sudden blaze of anger and I shrugged off his hand. “
That night
was a mistake.”
“How can you say that? It was the best night of my life.”
Unable to control it, I scoffed. “I’m sure. You fuck my brains out for a few hours then move on to some tall blonde with perky boobs and long legs. It sounds like every teenage boy’s fantasy; screwing two women in one night.”
I jumped when he snarled softly.
“That’s not what happened,” he growled. “Chloe and I—”
I made a slicing motion with my hand in the air between us. “I don’t care about you and Chloe. You lied to me. You made me think that you wanted more than a one night stand. If you had just been honest with me, I could have handled it, but I refuse to waste time with a man who lies to me.”
“Listen—”
“No!” My voice carried and heads turned. People were now openly watching our little discussion. “I told you, I don’t want to know.”
He grabbed my arm, his face tight with anger. “Look, let’s talk about this somewhere else. Just let me explain.”
I jerked on my arm, but he didn’t release me. “I’m not going anywhere with you! Unless you want to attract the attention of the cops by hauling me out the door with everyone here watching us, you need to let go of my arm and leave me alone, right now.”
Calder’s jaw tightened and I was certain that I heard his teeth grinding. He released my bicep suddenly. “Fine, but this isn’t over, Ricki. You and I
will
fucking talk, so you’d better get used to the idea.” His cheek brushed mine as he leaned over me, his mouth to my ear. “I’ll see you soon.”
My thighs trembled as I watched him turn on his heel and stalk away. He went straight out the doors and into the rain, never looking back. Feeling weak, I waited until he disappeared from sight before I moved.
On shaky legs, I grabbed the last few things I needed on autopilot. As I made my way to the cash register, I saw a display of my favorite white wine. It had to be fate. After the day I had, a nice glass of wine, or six, sounded great.