The Wolf's Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence (10 page)

"It would be good for business," he quipped,
following her into his room, messy as usual and he again was
wishing he'd at least made the bed. She gestured to the bed.
"Someone had fun." She hummed in her throat and stepped over a pile
of clothes and slid the closet door open.

He growled. "No one had fun in here."

She barked out a laugh and that kind of
pissed him off and made him forget his plan to be super nice to her
and grateful she was there. She choked on her laugh and said, "I
hope you sent flowers, then."

Growling, he went to the dresser where he
kept his work shirts and pulled out a couple of the logo shirts and
tossed them at her. She caught them and held one open to look at it
and then draped them both over her arm. "Thanks. 7 okay?"

"Seven, what?" She switched trains of thought
faster than AmTrak.

"Seven o'clock, tomorrow morning?"

He shook his head. "Oh, yeah, sure."

She smiled and said goodbye, leaving him in
his messy room alone. What the hell just happened?

He got to work at 6:30, earlier than he'd
been in a long time, but he wanted everything perfect for her first
day. The new chair, a leather swivel desk chair that he'd paid a
pretty penny for at an office supply store sat behind the desk that
he'd done his best to straighten up on Friday afternoon. He made a
pot of coffee and stocked the fridge with her favorite soda, RC,
and bottled water. Drinks were pretty safe from the guys, and he
had threatened them thoroughly to keep their hands off, but he
would have to warn her not to keep food in there. They were wolves,
after all.

She walked in wearing his shirt, tied at the
side so that it fell just to the waistband of her dark jeans, and
he wasn't sure there was anything cooler than seeing her in his
clothes. He'd like to see her in just the shirt, and nothing else,
thank you very much. Her construction boots looked adorable, and
she'd clipped her hair up, the marks on her neck like beacons for
him, barely visible but still calling to him.

"Hey boss." She said smiling. "That's the
only one you get from me so I hope you liked it."

She was starting already, and he loved it.
"No, actually, I think it's very appropriate. You should call me
that all the time."

She walked down the hall and quipped over her
shoulder, "It'll cost you a dollar every time you want me to call
you boss."

He snorted under his breath. She was too damn
sassy for her own good. She dove right into payroll, and he
appreciated that she understood how important it was for him to
take care of his people. He settled into the back of the shop where
there were four garage bays that did custom work and looked at the
motorcycle that he'd been commissioned to rebuild. He couldn't get
her out of his mind, very aware that she would be in and out of the
front of the shop and he could see her any time he wanted. It was
like a dream come true, at least a dream with clothes on
anyway.

His workers trickled in, all from his pack,
all talking about Cadence working the front and how sweet she
looked in the shirt. "What are you thinking about so seriously?"
Michael asked, coming to look at the old chopper.

"I was thinking I should maybe get her
flowers or something? Like a first day thing? What do you
think?"

Michael turned green. "I think you're too
late."

"What?" He bellowed.

Michael held up his hands and backed up a few
paces. "Chris sent flowers, the delivery guy showed up right when
we walked in."

"Fuck!" He yelled and threw the wrench he was
holding, imbedding it in the concrete wall.

He told Michael to leave him alone, afraid he
might try to take out his aggression on his face, and buried
himself in taking the bike apart. About 11 he had an idea, and
cleaned up and went to the front and found her in her new office,
scribbling on a notepad. The flowers, some sort of pink kind that
smelled very sweet, were in an expensive looking crystal vase.
There had been a card, but she had clearly hidden it, leaving only
the card holder.

"Nice flowers." He said from the doorway,
hoping he didn't sound jealous.

"They're my favorite." She looked at them for
a second and then swept her green eyes to him.

He didn't know that. Why didn't he know what
his woman's favorite flowers were? What the hell kind were they? He
skipped it, trying hard to ignore the desire to throw the vase
through the window. "So I thought that I could take my newest
employee out for lunch. What do you say?"

She frowned. "Renee is picking me up for
lunch. Do you want me to cancel?"

Would the torture never end? "No, no, that's
fine, I just didn't want you to go hungry." He tried to pass off
his unhappiness like he didn't care but he was pretty sure he
failed. He left and went back into the shop, and when he saw
Renee's car pull into the parking lot, the sinking feeling
returned, and he felt like everyone in Jake's pack was doing their
best to get Cadence to turn to them.

Twisting a wrench in his hands, he thought
about what would have been a perfect situation, even back then. If
his father hadn’t been there and interrupted them, he would have
told her that she belonged to him and that he loved her and was
going to take care of her forever. He would have told her that he
was afraid to hurt her so he was going to stay away from her until
he got his beast under control, but that she should never doubt he
did it for her protection. And she would have understood, promised
with her musically lilted young voice that she would wait for him,
and trust him, and everything would have been perfect.

He would have been part of her life, not
standing in the shadows like a damn stalker and having her friends
feed him information. He would have done all that sappy stuff that
Linus did for his human ex-wife, but Cadence would have loved it
and he would have done anything to make her smile, see her happy.
Prom, the drive-in, summers at the lake. He’d have done the whole
works, happily, because her smile was worth anything to him, and
watching her slowly die inside from neglect and anger all those
years had been a hell that he couldn’t escape, didn’t deserve
to.

This morning, she should have woken up in his
arms. Ridden into work with him. Been yawning because they’d been
up half the night making love.

“I’m going to turn into a fucking weepy
teenager,” he groused at himself. The part of his brain that wanted
to wallow in self pity was winning against the part of his brain
that was snapping and snarling to march into the office, jerk her
out of the chair and kiss her like he’d been wanting to all these
years. Touch those marks with his fingers, trace them with his
tongue, and hold her tightly in his arms and make her swear to
never leave him again.

Chapter 5

"The flowers are so sweet." Cadence told
Chris, calling his cell. He was at work already, as a branch
manager for the local credit union. The card had made her smile,
"To the sweetest girl I ever ate a popsicle with, Love,
Chris".

"Everyone should have flowers on their first
day of work, it's just a rule." He said. "So you're going to lunch
with my mom again, huh? Don't believe anything she says about me as
a teenager."

She laughed. "I'll try to keep that in
mind."

"So, I just wanted you to know that you're
coming over to my house after work tonight so I can fix you
dinner."

"Oh?" She laughed again. "I didn't know you
could cook."

"I'm a damn gourmet, baby. You like
spaghettio's, right?"

The man made her laugh, what could she say?
"I don't know when I'll get off here."

"Doesn't matter. I get home at 5. You
remember how to get to my condo, right?"

"Sure. I'll try to be there by 6. I have a
lot of work to get done here."

"Messy files?"

"Among other things." She sighed. It would
take her weeks to get things sorted out to even a semblance of
working order. She had no idea that Jason was in over his head so
badly. She agreed to go to Chris' and hung up. When Jason invited
her to lunch, she felt bad that she made plans, but he'd acted like
he was just trying to be nice, so she didn't give it much thought.
Suddenly she was quite the popular girl.

At lunch, she and Renee talked and laughed
about their shared past, reminiscing about when Chris and Cadence
had been young and what Renee remembered of her mother. She hugged
Renee goodbye at her car. "You've always been like a second mom to
me and I just wanted you to know that I appreciate you, and I love
you."

"I love you, too, honey." She kissed her
cheek with a sweet smile and they parted ways.

About 5, she walked back to where Jason was
ankle deep in motorcycle parts and said, "I'm going to take off,
unless you need me to stick around."

He seemed sullen. "You can go."

"We should talk, about the finances,
tomorrow."

He gave her a calculating look from where he
crouched next to the bike. "Why not tonight?"

"Because I have plans."

His jaw ticked. "Fine."

He turned his back on her and she felt
strangely disappointed. As she left, she thought about how much fun
she’d had teasing him on Sunday night about his bed, knowing full
well that the only scent in that room was his. It seemed like he
was eager to see her this morning, but once lunch hit, that was it.
He was acting jealous. Weird.

She showered quickly to get the garage smell
off her and put on a jean skirt, ankle boots, and a long sleeved
wrap shirt. When she arrived at his home, Chris handed her a glass
of wine after giving her a quick peck on the lips hello, and she
sat on the stool at his counter and watched him cook. "Can I ask
you something?"

"You can ask me two things." He grinned,
scraping cut herbs down into a skillet of pasta.

"It feels like your dad's pack is being more,
accepting, of me than they used to be. I'm not just imagining
things."

He tossed the pasta skillfully and put it
down, adjusting the burner and taking a drink from his own glass of
wine. "Probably because you're sticking around. You are, right? I
mean you took that job at the garage and everything."

"I plan to stay, I guess. You don't approve
of the garage?"

"You're too smart to work at that place. You
should come work for me at the credit union."

Did everyone want her to work for them?
"Jason needs help. The garage has been in his family for several
generations, I don't want him to lose it."

He looked like he was going to say something
and changed his mind, and then finally said, "You're very sweet,
Cadence."

They ate at a pub table in the kitchen,
overlooking a small back patio. The pasta dish was delicious, full
of tender chunked chicken and a sauce he made from scratch. They
laughed and talked while they ate, and he let her help him with the
dishes. With a gentle nudge, he urged her to go relax outside, and
she went out onto the patio to sit on one of the Adirondack chairs.
He came out with two grape popsicles and she laughed so hard she
almost fell off the chair.

She'd never been with a guy that was so
thoughtful. When he walked her out to her car, he kissed her and
she kissed him back, opening her mouth against his. He folded her
into his arms, pressing the long length of his body against hers,
and it was the most comforted she'd felt in a really long time. She
felt oddly guilty and confused as she drove away, but it had been a
nice kiss.

The next morning, Jason sat across from her
at the desk while she explained how he'd so royally screwed up his
finances that it would takes weeks for her to come out on the other
side of them. He looked tired and he also looked pissed off.

"You can make payroll this week, but just
barely. I can fiddle with some of the bills and I think you'll be
okay while I'm digging through things."

"Don't pay me this week."

She frowned. "What?"

He shrugged. "It's more important to pay the
others, they've put up with a lot of my creative financing over the
years. I can't keep doing that to them. Not when they're
loyal."

She shook her head. "It won't come to that,
Jason. There's no reason for you to not take your salary. Don't you
have bills of your own to pay?"

He shrugged and looked bored. What a prick.
She was trying to help; couldn't he get that through his thick
head? She ground her jaw. "Look, I just wanted to let you know what
I'm dealing with. I won't let you go under, but it's going to be a
tough couple of weeks while I get things straightened out."

"Well, that's what I'm paying you for,
right?"

"What the fuck is your problem?"

"I have no problem." He ground out.

"You're being a prick."

He growled under his breath but said nothing.
"Just get out." She said evenly, trying to control her temper.

"It's my office. I don't have to go
anywhere." He smirked and folded his arms.

"Fuck you, Jason. It's my office; that was
part of our deal."

He snorted and put both hands on the desk and
leaned out of his chair until he was towering over her. "I can do
whatever I want with my business, Cadence. You're an employee.
Mine. Remember that."

"Fuck. You." She said, gritting her teeth
against the sob in her throat that threatened. Why did he have to
be so cruel?

They stared at each other, everything she
hated about him roaring to the surface. Why had she thought that
she could ever be around him like this? She must have been on
drugs. She was about to lose it, staring into his eyes, so she
gathered every ounce of courage she had and said, "Get out or I
walk."

His lip curled into a snarl and his eyes
narrowed. He looked like he might want to punch her as much as she
wanted to punch him, but instead he spun without a word and left,
slamming the door with such force that the glass insert shattered.
Fantastic.