In Too Deep (12 page)

“
That, I can see.” A blush crept across her cheeks as she wiped her hands down her thighs. “And now I’m trying not to.” Her eyes skittered away. He could see her heartbeat strumming in her jugular as her breath sped up.

She smelled so damned good he couldn’t help but lean in closer
and trail his nose along her collarbone and up her throat to the hollow behind her ear. He heard her breath hitch as her hand tangled in his shirt.

“
Christ, that’s a turn on,” he purred into her silky soft hair. Every time she was turned on, her scent intensified.

“
What is?” A breathy rasp laced her words.

“
You smell just like caramel.” He leaned into her and just breathed her in.

Fallon pushed him away and shook her head with wide eyes.
“Okay whoa, slow down, big boy.” Her gaze dropped down to his fly and went wide before popping right back up to his eyes.

“
Sorry.” He took a couple steps back, and put his hands up in surrender. Closing his eyes, he took a few deep breaths but all he could smell was her scent. “I’m sorry, Fallon, I really didn’t mean to get carried away.” And he hadn’t, yet. But all he could see behind his closed lids was her laid out on the counter, his hands spreading her wide as he went down on her
. Would she taste as sweet and delicious as she smelled?

“
I know.” She admitted hesitantly. “I’m not ready, and I’m a mess. I can’t right now… but maybe later....” She shook her head.

He glanced up. Her chest still heaved with her heavy breaths and she was looking anywhere but at him. Fallon just admitted they had possibilities which made him feel about a thousand times better.

Before she could backtrack, he said, “You’re not a mess, but you’re right. I’m sorry.”

Her chin dipped down but she swung her gaze up to his.
“Don’t Brody. I feel the connection too.” She swallowed hard and took a step toward the door. “Maybe I should just go to the apartment and get my head on straight, because now I just feel like shit. I didn’t mean to mess with your emotions, and I didn’t want to wreck everyone’s fun.”

“
Don’t, please. Don’t go. I’ll behave. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“
Neither have you.” She closed her eyes a second. When she opened them, there was a hint of a smile on her face. “I’ll stay, but please tell me you have something hard….” she glanced at his crotch and swallowed hard as her eyes bounced back to his. “Um, stronger than a beer, because I could use a shot.”

“
You good with whiskey?”

She nodded
. “Absolutely. Hit me with a double.”

There was a knock, pulling her from sleep. Fallon rolled out of bed and onto the floor in a heap. Her head was pounding, but she got up and stumbled to the door with a grimace.

“
Good morning.” Brody stood there in a pair of beat up jeans, a mug of coffee in his hand, and no damned shirt in sight. He was so very lickable her mouth was watering.

She just wanted to pull him in by his waistband, drop to her knees
as she opened his jeans, and….
Oh shit
. She needed to stop thinking about that.

Fallon forced her gaze up to his face and found that sexy grin of his
. She groaned. “Morning. My head hurts too fucking bad to call it good.”

His laugh was warm and deep.
“Adam called. Says you have clients in an hour if you want them. He’ll reschedule if you aren’t up to working.”

“
I’ll go.” She looked down at herself and shook her head. She was standing there in her thong, bra and her hair was still sort of in the braid. Good thing nudity never bothered her. Besides, she wasn’t awake enough to care, and werewolves stopped being modest pretty soon after becoming one. “I just need to change.”

“
Here, take the coffee and Tylenol. I’ll have breakfast ready in ten minutes. Then I’ll drive you in.” His eyes were planted on hers as he held the coffee out between them. She took the cup and the Tylenol, which she threw back with a gulp of steaming hot coffee.

“
Thanks.” She ducked her head. “Not to be ungrateful, but why do you look so smug?”

He leaned against the door frame as his eyes slowly traveled down her body and back up.
“You smiled when you saw me, even if it only lasted a second.” He turned, and started down the stairs with a masculine chuckle. “And you’re sexy as hell no matter what.”

Not fair. Not fucking fair
. Those compliments and the way he looked at her were going to be her undoing.

Fallon slammed her door and went to her room. She changed last night’s undergarments, shimmied into her favorite beat up jeans, pulled on an airbrushed t-shirt and shoved her feet into a pair of shoes. Her hair was
brushed in less than a minute and up in a clip.

She realized he hadn’t put anything in her coffee when she picked up her cup. He remembered.
She whispered a cooling spell over it before drinking the rest down.

Brody really didn’t need anything else going for him. After he sniffed her, which had been ridiculously hot
when it shouldn’t have been, he backed off as promised. He went back to his mild but sincere flirting. How the hell was she supposed to resist him when he was doing everything right?

She
hurried down to the back door and knocked. He opened with it a raised brow as he stepped aside. “Fallon, you’re welcome here anytime you want. You don’t have to knock.”

“
Thanks.” She glanced away with a shrug. “Sorry if I’m a grouch. Hangovers and eight o’clock wakeup calls do that to me.”

His tongue swept over his bottom lip.
“You can open your door looking like that anytime and I won’t complain.”

Fallon was staring at his mouth, imagining his taste, and had to close her eyes to laugh off the awkwardness.
“I’ll remember that.” She took a deep breath. “Mmm, now, breakfast smells good.”

Of course he cooks too.
To distract herself, she poured herself another cup of coffee.

“
Just a warning.” He glanced over his shoulder with an apologetic smile. “Dacia’s half-brother is coming in for his tattoo. Don’t worry though, he’s cool. He can’t stand his sister. I just don’t want you to be surprised when Dane shows up.”

“
Thanks. Happen to know how many I’m doing today?”

“
Depends on you. Almost all the wolves want one, plus the sheriff.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Your brother and Tom are just as talented.”

“
They can’t do what you can do with the wards, and personally.” He shrugged as he glanced over. “I prefer your work. Then again, I could stare at you all day and you’re easy to talk to. Adam tends to get in his zone and doesn’t do much talking. Tom can be rather abrasive. Trust me. At least until all the wolves have a ward, you’re going to be in high demand. People will love your work and want more.”

“
Right.” Blushing, she glanced down at herself and sighed. “But as we’ve already established, I’m bitchy when I’m hungover, and I can be just as obnoxious as Tom. I’m sure they’ll figure that out today.”

“
Oh hush, sugar. You may be hungover but you can’t tell. You aren’t going to have any trouble.” He slid a plate in front of her and sat down beside her. He made a veggie scramble with a side of sausage, exactly what she ordered the day before.

The first bite was heaven and she knew she was in real trouble.
“Oh man, this is seriously good.”

“
Thank you,” he murmured.

* * * *

The day had crawled by even though Brody worked on several motorcycles. They were all quick fixes and gave him more time to work on a way to make Fallon’s Harley quieter without magic.

Brody was anxious to see her. He was still worried about the Dales coming back but no one had seen or heard of them since the night he crashed into her bike. Hayden had been searching for any trace of them but hadn’t found anything yet.

“Brody,” Dacia whined as she pushed her Ducati through the open garage doors. “I need some help.”

Damn
. He knew he should have locked up when Phineas left for the day. It was already past closing. Brody really didn’t want to deal with her. “What’s the problem now?” he growled, truly irritated because he already knew. Dacia constantly pulled this shit.

He glanced up to see the painted on black vinyl cat suit, like she was channeling Catwoman but couldn’t pull the outfit off.
He was willing to bet the new clothes had something to do with Fallon and her motorcycle.

Once again, he wondered what the hell he had been thinking
when he was stupid enough to sleep with her. Oh right. He was letting his dumb tool do the decision making. If only he could go back in time and ignore her completely.

“
I can’t get my motorcycle to start. Can you take a look at it?” She batted her eyes and shoved her barely covered tits out like that was going to do anything but annoy the shit out of him.

Brody really wanted tell her to go to hell, and maybe if he had in the past she would have given up years ago. Still, Fallon
had played nice with Dacia, so maybe he should too. Gritting his teeth, he stood and walked over to the bike. One look and he saw the wiring had been pulled free. It only took ten seconds to plug everything in. He didn’t bother telling her the pussy piece of shit would have started because it wouldn’t detour Dacia from these stupid little games.

“
Dacia.” He managed in a calm tone as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I know you did that yourself. Stop wasting my time.” He stalked back to Fallon’s Harley, loving the silver lightning painted against the midnight blue.

“
Is that what you did when you crashed into her?” Dacia sneered, looking at all the bent pieces lying on the table. “And you both walked away?”

He nodded.
“I was already hurt and running from the vampires. She didn’t have her lights on. Said she had a sound dampening spell going, so I never heard her. I ran straight into her bike. I could have killed her.” Brody shook his head. “Dakota had to heal Fallon. She didn’t have the energy, not after fixing me and taking out those vampires.”

“
She really isn’t coming onto you?”

“
No. She wasn’t lying about just leaving some asshole. She drove her bike all day to put some distance between them. She wants nothing to do with men.”
For now.

“
I guess I assumed she’d want you like all the other women.” Her gaze dropped to the ground as she turned away. “Thanks for the help Brody.” She hopped on her Ducati and sped off.

Dacia might look sorry at the moment, but he knew that would change once he won Fallon over.

* * * *

Fallon
was finally done with work and ready to leave when Brody and Adam strolled in. Her whole day brightened when she saw Brody. “Don’t tell me you need another tattoo so soon. Not that I would mind, but it was a long day.”

“
Oh, no, but you’ve been working nearly twelve hours without a break.” Brody gave her a sharp look.

Anger flashed through her.
“Hey, your brother is the one who kept sending them back.”

“
You said you’d eat. You told both Tom and I you would.” Adam crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a pointed look.

“
Did you?” Brody asked a little too seriously with his hands on his hips.

Her eyes flared and she threw up her hands.
“I don’t need a parent.” Fallon squared her shoulders. “Besides, I plan to eat. Just chill. I didn’t think about food because I was too busy with back to back clients.” Damn men. She was an adult. Hell, she was older than either of them and could take care of herself and always had.

“
I’m sorry.” Brody dropped his gaze for a second, before glancing back up with a hopeful smile. “Let’s try this again. Are you hungry?”

His apology cooled her temper, and she smiled reluctantly.
“Starved, is there a good pizza place nearby?”

“
Mmm, pizza sounds good.” He nodded toward the door. “My treat.”

“
Let’s go.” Fallon grabbed her sweater and shot her boss a look. He slapped Brody on the back as he walked by. She would get back at Adam for siccing a dominant wolf on her, one who probably ate eleventy billion calories in a day.

Fallon followed behind, loving Brody’s powerful yet graceful strides. He walked around the truck, letting her get her own door when she knew he liked opening doors for her. And honestly, she wouldn’t mind if
he had this time. There were so many little things he did, or didn’t do in this case. No one had ever done those little things for her before.

She couldn’t afford to fall for him. He wouldn’t take long to figure out she was all wrong for him. Fallon blamed herself for ruining every man she had been with. Isaac may be the exception, but she could have tried harder to give him what he needed.

Once they were on the road, he glanced over at her with a smile. “I have good news. All the parts shipped. I’ll have your bike ready by Wednesday. You only have a couple more days of relying on me to drive you around, though I really don’t mind.”

“
You’re sweet, maybe too sweet, and I appreciate everything you’ve done. I just prefer to drive myself. No offense.”

“
None taken.” The corner of his mouth twitched up.

* * * *

They ordered a fully loaded pizza and iced tea before finding a booth. Brody leaned back in his seat. “Tom mentioned there’s a druid commune about thirty minutes south of here. I could take you, if you wanted.”

Unease shifted through Fallon as she met his gaze. She thought back to all the times she visited the one down in California or the one near where she grew up in the Rockies. They were full of crunchy, granola, hardcore naturalist
s. She liked nature, but those druids didn’t even have running water or electricity, and they frowned at her tattoos because they weren’t “natural” though most of them had one or two animals tattooed on their skin. She doubted this commune would be any different.

Brody cocked his head.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“
I don’t really fit in with most of the druids I know. Neither does Gabriel. Goddess, my mom didn’t even know what to do with me. She was pretty traditional where druids are concerned.” Fallon sighed and looked out the window. Her mother loved her, but they never had much in common. Fallon was only sixteen when she passed away so maybe there wasn’t enough time to find common ground. “Mom gave up training me pretty early. Her gifts were
way
different than mine.”

“
What do you mean?” he asked softly, his blue eyes searching hers.

“
She was a healer, and my lack of ability frustrated her to no end. I could barely heal a scrape. Healing just wasn’t my gift. No matter how hard I tried, I just sucked at it.” One shoulder lifted in a shrug. “She could work some wards like I do, but she couldn’t sling offensive magic.”

“
Like that ball of energy you threw at the vampire?”

“
Yeah. You should have seen her face the first time I created a lightning bolt. I was like five and I was throwing a tantrum because I couldn’t heal my friend. I guess I flung my hand out in frustration and the orb just appeared and hit the tree, snapping the trunk in half.” She remembered how horrified her mother was. “Mom cried because I killed a tree. She knew I didn’t mean to, but her reaction hurt. A few days later, she sat me down and explained that she couldn’t train me, we were too different. She took me to Gabriel who could teach me what I needed to know. There are other druids with my kind of magic, but she said Gabriel was the only one she trusted. I don’t know.”