To the Edge and Back [The Royal Wolves] (Siren Publishing Allure) (3 page)

“All right, Maxi, leave him my number, and if he calls before six, I will be here. Otherwise he will have to wait to yell at me Monday morning at nine.” She was one of the only people in the world without a cell phone or home phone, but again, she had to prioritize where the cash went each month.

“I will tell him, love. Be safe on the bus, Mina. If you can, walk to your apartment with a group getting off, but if you can’t, just hurry, all right, doll?” There was worry in his tone as he spoke.

“I will, Maxi. Be safe, my friend,” she concluded as she hung up the phone and turned back to her computer to finish out the order.

Order complete, she tugged her long curly red hair back with a rubber band and contemplated cutting it with the scissors, but she remembered the last time she did it and she didn’t have a spare dime to go to the local Great Clips, let alone pay the ten bucks to have them fix her mess, so she just tucked back some strays and sighed. Maybe soon, maybe this year they would get a larger Christmas bonus, maybe.

It was four p.m. and everyone else was out of the office. She was the only one staying until six, mostly because the bus in front of the office didn’t run until six thirty, so instead of waiting two and a half hours, she would only wait a half hour.

Sitting before her computer and making the final series of orders, she suddenly paused mid-keystroke and shivered.

Her whole body screamed in pleasure, and it was as if the office fell away and instead she was lying in the middle of a large, no, a
massive
bed with silk sheets under her. She felt callused hands, ones that were so large they covered her fully from thumb to thumb and pinky to pinky as he splayed his hands around her waist.

The silky long hair fell over her breasts, making them ache in need. His lips moved over her stomach, lightly teasing her navel before moving his head to the juncture of her thighs, and when he licked, his rough tongue moved down her weeping slit and her body convulsed. Her left hand gripped the sheet and the right one gripped his long dark hair. “Yes,” she breathed out on a loud moan, arching her hips up and toward his mouth.

He devoured her like a man starving, and when his finger slipped into her pussy, she screamed in orgasm, eyes flying wide and standing up so fast that she set all of her bobbleheads bobbling. “Oh. My. God!” She breathed as she fanned herself.

She tried to walk, to go to the bathroom and splash water on her face, but her legs wouldn’t carry her. She felt the wetness that had more than soaked her panties and had gone through her jeans as well, and for once, for once she was glad she was alone.

Dropping back into her chair, she dropped her face into her hands and tried to think of the faceless god that had given her the first orgasm of her life, and all from her imagination. Snorting in laughter and then crying, she thought to herself, of course, leave it to me to have my first lovemaking session only in the confines of my imagination.

She wasn’t afraid of sex. She was, however, not a casual-sex kind of person. Pregnancy terrified her, not because she didn’t want children, but because she couldn’t afford a child, and she would never dream that a man who knocked her up on a casual experience would ever remain around.

When she looked at the clock, she saw it was just after five p.m. and, ever so curiously, wondered if the owner of the bar Maxi worked in had gotten his delivery yet.

* * * *

It was five till six and she was about to turn off her computer and start to pack up her desk to leave when she decided she should call to check on the liquor order that Maxi had called in. Normally she wouldn’t, but with the owner putting it away, well, it would be best. Flipping through her Rolodex, she pulled out the number for the bar and dialed it, sitting back and watching her heads bobble as she waited for him to pick up.

Growling as the phone rang, Janos grabbed it in passing and pressed it to his ear as he rebalanced the keg he had on his shoulder. “Full Moon, Janos speaking. We thank you for your call but we don’t open until eight. If you’d like to call back then, please feel free to speak with any of our helpful staff,” he said less than cheerfully.

Ready to hang up, he heard a soft sound that had him pressing the phone back to his ear and pausing. “Hello?” he asked softly, his every sense on guard, the small sound having alerted the Wolf to the fact the caller was female.

“Hello, this is Mina, Mina Tremayne from North East Liquors. I was just calling to ensure that your full order made it without any issues?” Why was she doing this? Just hearing that man’s voice was making her stomach quiver. “I will be leaving in five minutes and you won’t be able to reach me until Monday, so I just wanted to make sure there were no troubles?”

“Other than the broken case of Glenfiddich and the dented keg of Coors that is leaking, just peachy.” His tone dripped with sarcasm. He was having a rotten day and to have the woman of his dreams on the phone was seriously screwing with his head.

Letting out a sigh, he shook his head. “Look, it’s fine. We’ll survive without it until Monday night.” Doubtful, but he wasn’t going to make her stay. He wasn’t a complete asshole…most days. “I’d suggest though that your drivers actually ensure their cargo is properly restrained and that they try not to drive as though the streets of New York are NASCAR tracks.”

And just like that Mina knew she would be walking home, again, since she knew that she would end up missing the final bus. “I apologize for that. You do not have to wait until Monday. The driver has to return here, and when he does, I will make him bring out two cases of the Glenfiddich and two kegs of the Coors, no additional cost to you.” Putting her coat down and sending out a quick message to the driver on the SMS system of her PC, she got his return reply that he would be back at 9:00 p.m. “He will be back at the warehouse at 9:00 p.m. I will personally watch him load the truck and then I will give him a small talk about his driving. Again, I am so sorry for this inconvenience.”

Pausing, Janos set the keg down one handed and shook his head. “Go home, woman. I am fine with what I have. If I need anything I can pull it from one of the other four establishments I own. You have done enough and can’t do more, go home,” he ordered. “If I see the driver return tonight, I’ll know you ignored me and we will be looking for a new company to supply us,” he threatened, well, not really a threat. He’d do it just because he could.

Shaking her head, she said, “Then you should at least leave us knowing we will always give the best service.” Damn, that would get her fired to lose the Farkas account, but she refused to allow there to be any mistakes in her customers’ orders.

“You will receive the replacement items as soon as I get the truck back here and loaded. I will go home once I am sure that everything came to you intact and whole, sir.” Not allowing him to argue, she finished with, “Thank you for doing business with North East Liquors. We are sorry to lose your business, sir. However, our quality will never be compromised.” And with that, she hung up the phone on him.

Staring at the now dead phone in his hand, Janos cursed evilly at it and the woman at the other end. Putting the keg down, he moved to the loading dock to talk to the driver.

Standing and moving from her desk and down toward the warehouse, she was mentally calculating how long it would be until she was sure that the delivery was made and sighed. It would be well after eleven when the driver got there and around midnight before he got back, because no way in hell was she calling that man back. Not with his sexier-than-hell, godlike voice.

Plus she really didn’t want to hear the last customer she had with the company curse her out for not listening. So if she was lucky, and she walked quickly, she could be home by three a.m. Good thing tomorrow was Saturday.

Finishing the off-loading fast, Janos sent the driver off with strict orders not to go and get his liquor. Going to his truck with the warehouse address in his pocket, Janos soon headed off to find the place and rip this woman a new one. He hated people not giving him what he wanted. He really hated stubborn females. Damned twenty-first century.

Parking at the loading area that the driver said he normally got his pick-ups from, Janos rang the buzzer and waited for her to show her face. He’d get his liquor, get her home since she’d, according to the driver, missed her last bus, and then he’d deal with his threat later. Tapping his fingers against his leg, he inhaled the night air and knew that there were only humans in the area, no other Wolves thankfully. He didn’t want to stomp on any toes, and with the way things were at the moment it would be all too easy to do.

The driver was back before she had expected him. Frowning, she brought the hydraulic pallet to the loading dock and pressed the release to roll up the garage door for the truck, simply trusting that it was the driver back early. It wasn’t even fully raised as she said, “Tommy, I can’t believe you. You know how particular I am with anything that I have placed the order on. This is the first time ever that…” Her voice trailed off as she came face-to-face with the living and breathing figure of the man who had given her her first orgasm while sitting in her office. Dreams were really a bitch sometimes. “I’m sorry, Mr. Farkas, what are you doing here?”

Lifting a brow, he looked to the pallet. “I’d say you’ve already guessed why I’m here,” he said in as normal a voice as he could manage, which was still pretty rough sounding. Moving around her, he hefted the two kegs easily and moved to his truck, setting them down before going back for the boxes of scotch. “Get your jacket and purse. Since you missed your bus because you didn’t listen to me I’m driving you home.” Now that came off oh-so friendly.

She just looked at him and shook her head. If he even thought she was getting in the truck with him, he was insane. “Thank you, but no. I think that I will just call my cab now.” Yeah right, that was so not going to happen. “Again, I’m sorry for the mistakes. Hopefully with whomever you go to next you won’t have that issue. Now if you don’t mind, I would like to lock up and call my cab.” There was something about him. Good grief he was huge and made her whole body remember every second of that dream, causing her to blush.

“I don’t bite,” he said even as his Wolf disagreed with him there. He’d love to take a bite or three out of her, that was for sure. “And after the conversation I had with your driver, I know you won’t call a cab. So you either jump in the truck for the fifteen-minute drive or I walk you home and then come back for my liquor, if it’s still here. Those are your only two options,” he said, crossing his arms and waiting. Inhaling, he caught something and focused on the scent. She was attracted to him. Interesting, he thought.

“As a bonus for being cooperative I’ll even let you keep all my business for the three clubs as well as move the two bars to your care,” he tempted. “You would have all my business, which I’m sure would thrill your bosses to no end.”

She growled at him. Sure, the growl wasn’t as impressive as his likely was, so she narrowed her eyes. “You don’t play fair.” And she hated,
hated
to be backed into a corner, which was what he had done to her. “I hate being backed into a corner, Mr. Farkas. I truly wish you weren’t doing that now. However, I have no choice, do I?”

“Everyone has a choice every day of their lives. Do you go left or right, do you take the bus or walk, or do you have a coffee or tea in the morning. It’s what you do with those choices that make the difference, and accepting the consequences that come of them in the end.” Stepping back, he shrugged. “You have a choice. I’ve just provided options and consequences to each, and you have to be able to accept them.”

But he had backed her into a corner, and for that he did feel bad, but not that bad. Pulling out his wallet, he handed her a twenty and a ten. “Take a cab home,” he said quietly before moving away. “Good night, miss,” he said, stepping off the dock and moving around his truck.

She could have kicked him, if she were brave enough. Taking the money, she stuffed it into her pocket and shook her head. She would take a cab home, but his next bill would have a thirty dollar credit. She would pay it out of her own pocket, which meant even less money, but she would survive. She refused to be in debt, to anyone, which was why she didn’t have a car, or credit cards. If she couldn’t buy something herself with the cash in her pocket, she didn’t need it.

“Damn it, Max, it’s possessed,” Janos bit out in a snarl into the phone a week after he’d moved Max over to Edge. “The damned thing just ate everything I tallied up into it and spat me out a big fat zero.”

“It’s not possessed, boss,” Max told him patiently even though the Wolf knew the human was laughing at him safely across town. “Turn it off, count to ten, and turn it back on. Once that’s done, go into the history and you’ll find the tallies of the night in there.”

Grumbling, Janos did as he said and found the totals. “Why the hell do we have this piece of technological nightmare?”

“Because it’s the best on the market, but it’s also temperamental and knows when someone that doesn’t understand uses it,” Max said, a definite smile in his voice now.

“I’m thinking I need to thin the herd around here,” Janos said softly into the phone. “And managers that mock and laugh at their bosses would be the first to go.”

“Good thing you don’t have a manager that does that, isn’t it boss?” Max asked much too cheerfully before hanging up.

“I hate humans,” Janos snarled, hanging up the phone before glaring at the machine before him and telling it to just print the damned hourly and daily totals so he’d be able to balance the books when he decided he wanted to torture himself for a day.

“Well that really sucks for me, but I am here anyway,” Mina said as she shifted from foot to foot nervously. “I came to repay you.” Not the way he was thinking when his gaze turned up to look at her with a heated look of pure lust. She was glad she was across the room or she would have melted under his gaze. This was so stupid of her, taking three buses across town to repay him the thirty bucks he would likely never miss.