Authors: Zoe Chant
Brennan stood up then, snagging his mug and her empty one, then taking them to the sink. “So what are you going to do about this Roger guy, Mina?” he asked over his shoulder.
She groaned aloud. “Can I take a rain-check on this conversation? I’m too tired to think about money right now.”
He placed the mugs in the dishwasher. “By all means. But you’ll need a plan, you know.”
“Yes, I know.” Mina knew she sounded a little exasperated. She was well aware she couldn’t keep pushing her problems under the metaphorical rug, as they always seemed to find a way to emerge no matter how hard she tried to keep them covered.
“But I’ve had enough alcohol that I can’t be expected to make good decision right now,” she said. She knew she wasn’t even tipsy, but being with Brennan made her feel like she’d drunk more than she had.
Brennan let out a laugh as he moved near her. “You a lightweight, Mina Kinney? Can’t say I’m surprised. You’re such a tiny thing.”
“Don’t make fun of my shortness,” she said with a pout, her lower lip protruding.
“Never said I was making fun. I happen to love how tiny you are.”
He leaned toward her, and suddenly all she could feel was his heat; she wondered what he looked like underneath that rumpled cotton t-shirt. She had to admit she also liked her small stature right now. It only served to show how tall he
was in comparison to her. His height and his size and his confidence made her feel protected, but also feminine. Cared for and desired.
“You sure you don’t want to go home? I’ll be okay, you know,” Mina said, stepping away from him. She needed space—she couldn’t think with him so close.
“I thought I’d stay here. You know, to keep you company in case any more ghost burglars show up.”
“Ha ha,” she muttered. “You don’t have to.”
“But I want to.” He took her hand, and she shivered at his touch. “Let me? Just for the night. I’ll sleep on the couch. I’ll sleep better knowing you’re safe.”
Mina looked into his green eyes and her heart began pounding for an entirely different reason. Brennan, staying here? Sure, he said he’d just sleep on her couch, but having him in her house was such an intimate thing already.
She swallowed, her throat dry. “Okay. If you don’t mind.”
“No, I don’t mind.” He smiled that smile of his that could stop any woman’s heart, and she felt a flush crawl up her face.
She led him to the guest room, since there was no reason he had to sleep on the couch. Thankfully, she’d just changed the sheets and aired out the room, but when she saw him sit on the edge of the bed, her mind instantly went to more carnal thoughts. She and Brennan in bed, him touching her all over, kissing, their bodies sliding together…
“Well, good night,” she said suddenly. “Let me know if you need anything?”
He nodded. “This should be fine. Good night.”
She closed the door softly and padded down to her room. Crawling under the covers, Mina knew she wouldn’t get anymore sleep tonight with Brennan only yards away from her, warm and beautiful and tempting her to do things she knew she shouldn’t.
Chapter Six
Brennan couldn’t sleep. He didn’t want to sleep. He listened to the sounds throughout the house with his sensitive jaguar hearing while trying to ignore Mina’s scent. But it was everywhere: on him, within these sheets, permeating every surface. It was a sweet scent, floral and light, and Brennan couldn’t get enough of it.
When he’d gotten that text from Mina—the moment he’d heard his phone sound, he’d awakened—fear had coursed through his body. He hadn’t thought Roger or his cronies would be stupid enough to try something so soon, and not something so reckless like breaking and entering. But then again, if she were hurt because he had underestimated Roger’s brazenness…
He launched out of bed, pulling on jeans and a T-shirt rumpled on the floor, texting her that he’d be there as soon as he could. His jaguar senses came wide awake, looking to protect the woman it had already claimed as its mate.
Find her, protect her, keep her safe
, his jaguar growled in his mind, and Brennan could only agree.
Brennan drove so quickly he was surprised he wasn’t pulled over, but the moment he arrived within a mile of Mina’s house, he focused on her scent. He smelled it, faintly, and it grew stronger with every moment, until he was a handful of houses down from hers. He didn’t want to give himself away if there was an intruder, perhaps provoke someone into committing violence, and Brennan clicked off his headlights before turning off the engine. Glancing around, he made certain the coast was clear before he shifted into his jaguar form. Grabbing his clothes with his teeth, he carried them with him as he prowled toward her house.
Moving like the wind itself, his jaguar form could dart about the low grasses and avoid the streetlamps much better than his human self, not to mention his senses became one hundred times more attuned in his jaguar form. Brennan sniffed the air, and he could smell fear in the air, Mina’s fear. He growled under his breath, going closer to her house.
He stayed in the shadows, smelling for any strange scents, but he picked up nothing. Nothing but the scent of recycling bins on the curbs, of eucalyptus, of the sea air blowing in from the west. Sandy dirt blew up around him as he walked around the perimeter of Mina’s house, looking with his jaguar eyes at anything out of the ordinary. It was a two-story bungalow, with high windows that let in lots of natural light during the day.
Brennan noticed that a window high up was open, and he assumed it was Mina’s bedroom; it was also too far off the ground and too small for any intruder to get into. Perhaps a smaller shifter could’ve, but he’d scented no other animal, either, except for a few frightened house cats hiding in nearby bushes once they’d smelled him.
From everything he could sense and see and smell, no one out of the ordinary had been here. His jaguar—growling in a low tone ever since he’d pulled into Mina’s neighborhood—calmed somewhat, his fur no longer arching from his spine like a Halloween cat's. Brennan walked back to where he’d left his clothes, shifting into his human form and quickly dressing in the shadows. One of the few disadvantages of shape-shifting was that shifting back into human form meant shifting back nude: something he didn’t mind, but that most people would be rather shocked by. Well, disregarding the shock of seeing a man turn into a giant, wild cat.
Going into Mina’s backyard—not fenced like her neighbors'—he pulled out his phone and texted her,
The coast is clear. I don’t see any evidence of intruders. Can you let me in? I’m at your backdoor.
Nothing for a moment, and then he heard movement in the house. Then the back door was open, and Mina was there, a baseball bat in her hand and looking like she’d seen a ghost, and maybe a few zombies, too.
“Oh my God, come in.” She motioned him for him to enter, and he followed her inside.
The house was still dark, although she had switched on a light in the kitchen that illuminated her slightly. But with his jaguar senses, he could see her better than she realized, and he could see how her hair was in a messy ponytail on top of her head while she was wearing a light blue tank with pajamas shorts that had ducks on them. Sleep-rumpled, she was a delicious sight to behold.
But she was still terrified, and it took some moments and comfort from him to get her to calm down, even though she was intent on making him hot chocolate. Stubborn, was what Jude had called her, and Brennan couldn’t disagree. Mina was the type of person, though, who needed to provide for those around her, and in her agitation, providing him with a hot drink in the middle of the night after he’d patrolled her house, looking for strange men, was the way to repay him.
And after one sip of the hot chocolate, Brennan couldn’t say he disagreed with her tactics.
Brennan yawned after finishing his hot chocolate, and his inner jaguar yawned similarly, wanting to curl up in a warm spot and sleep the rest of the night away. Despite their banter, Mina remained antsy inwardly. He could still hear how her heart sped up at any little noise—a distant car, the sound of a cats running through bushes outside, the sound of the house creaking in the night. He knew he couldn’t leave her here by herself. And, another part of him added, what a tasty treat it would be to sleep in her house, with her only yards away.
Brennan had no reason to say no to that decision.
Now he was lying in the bed in Mina’s guest bedroom, staring at the ceiling, hearing Mina down the hallway. He listened to her toss and turn, kick off the covers and sigh, and punch a pillow. He heard her muttering to herself, with words like
stupid
and
you’re such a moron
filtering down the hallway. She might feel stupid for asking him to come over, but Brennan couldn’t regret doing it.
That being said, it gave him another reason to make certain that Mina was safe at all times. Sure, there hadn’t been an intruder tonight, but what about tomorrow? Or next week? Roger would come to collect his money, and although Brennan still wasn’t wholly convinced the man had the balls to come after Mina in her own home, he didn’t want to take the chance that he was wrong.
Protect her, must protect her
, his inner jaguar hissed at the idea of her being in danger.
Brennan forced it—and himself—to calm. He’d figure something out.
He made himself stop thinking and just listen. Mina had settled down somewhat, and that allowed him to close his eyes. Although he hadn’t planned on sleeping, he could wake up within milliseconds if necessary, just like any cat, and he was rather tired…
Jolting awake at the sound of his door opening, he instantly went into defense mode, his eyes already changing, when he realized who stood in the doorway: Mina herself.
He calmed his jaguar and then stood up, going to her. “What is it? Did something happen?”
She seemed uncertain. Almost…shy. She bit her lip, and that was when one more thing occurred to Brennan: she was aroused. Or at least, giving off pheromones that caused his nose to twitch in anticipation. His mouth watered, and he knew she’d come here for something else. Something completely unrelated to any intruders or loan sharks.
Brennan leaned against the doorframe, relaxed now, his inner jaguar purring in anticipation. “Is this a habit of yours, waking people up in the middle of the night?”
He knew she was blushing, and his cock hardened. God, she was gorgeous, with those short shorts showing how creamy her thighs were, how her calves tapered into elegant ankles with tiny, delicate feet. Her hair was a pale blond that seemed almost silver in the moonlight, and he wished he could turn on the light to see every inch of her. His jaguar senses could make her out much better than his human senses could, but she deserved light shining across her milky skin: skin he knew was dotted with freckles, freckles he wanted to taste.
“No, but I—” She bit her lip again. Seemed to think about what she wanted to say.
She was so adorable Brennan couldn’t help but brush a finger down her cheek, reveling in its silkiness.
“Either you had a nightmare or you wanted to come into this room and seduce me.” At her gasp, he added, “So which one was it?”
Mina gazed up at him, and he drank in her expression: determined, anxious, but also excited. His cock was already iron, and he could smell Mina’s scent—a combination of anticipation, arousal, and a touch of fear—so strongly that he felt almost dizzy.
“I don’t—no. I just.” Mina took a deep breath. And then she looked up at Brennan with her eyes clear and her expression free of any hesitation or embarrassment. She then said in a voice that surprised him in its frankness, “I want you to make love to me.”
Chapter Seven
Mina was not impulsive. She thought about each and every one of her decisions, listing pros and cons, and selected the choice that seemed the most logical. Jude made fun of her for this, telling her to live a little when they were younger, but he’d resigned himself to the fact his sister was both stubborn
and
boring.
This logical planning went with how Mina dated as well. She’d met Paul online, and he had had all of the qualities she’d been looking for in a man: steady, employed, intelligent, amusing. He could cook, he liked dogs, he paid his taxes. Mina had never thought to look beyond the basics, and she’d been content in the relationship while it’d lasted, never expecting that an accountant like Paul would dump her a day before their wedding without so much as an explanation.
Mina was tired of being boring, tired of the checklists, tired of never diving into the deep end without dipping her toe in first. And while she lay in bed, with Brennan down the hallway, she couldn’t get the idea of seducing him out of her mind.
Take advantage of him being in your house!
her inner voice yelled at her.
You already know that he wants you. So what do you have to lose?
Her dignity, for one, in case he rejected her because he’d changed his mind about her. The thought of him gently turning her away and telling her to go back to bed kept Mina under the covers, thinking furiously, for longer than she cared to admit. At one moment she was about to stand up and do it, but she chickened out again. She wanted to kick herself, and at one point she convinced herself to go to sleep and leave it alone.
But that voice was insistent, and it kept saying over and over:
Do it do it do it do it do it DO IT!
So she did it. She’d said the words. She was standing in front of him in this room and had told him to make love to her—she’d at first thought to use something sexier than “make love” but that was what her brain had decided to latch onto at the last moment, and Brennan was currently staring at her. In shock? In horror? Oh God, what if he was finding a way to let her down gently?
Mina took a step back, reaching for the door handle. “You know what, never mind, this was a bad idea. I’m an idiot, I’ll see you later—”
Brennan pulled the door shut and pushed her up against it, his body now pressed against her from chest to hip. Mina could feel his erection against her stomach, and her body heated.