Excerpt:
Chapter One
Holding a stick
of gum between his thumb and index finger, Brad vigorously tapped it against
his thigh as if he were snuffing out a cigarette. Aware of his neurotic action,
he shifted in his seat and braced his elbows on the conference table. He
resisted the urge to pound his fists on it. With deliberate care he removed the
gum from the wrapper. While his gaze darted back and forth, scanning the scene
before him, he crinkled the thin scrap of shiny aluminum foil in his large
hand. He squeezed until his forearm started to cramp, then popped the gum in
his mouth and shoved the tiny piece of trash into his pocket.
Brad felt it
would be best today to distance himself from his colleagues. Secluded inside
the glass conference room, he found it easier to control his inner animal. He
could feel the urge to shift coursing through his veins. He needed to stay calm.
So while his
team members were eager to welcome the arrival of the faction from the Seattle
office, he kept a safe distance from the chaos erupting. Chewing his gum, he
analyzed everyone coming together, shaking hands, behaving in a cordial
fashion.
Fuck cordial.
He wanted to
strangle Jayla Stanton with his bare hands. She’d succeeded in administering a
major blow to the momentum of his career. He’d worked too damn hard, made too
many damn sacrifices, for it all to come to a screeching halt because she chose
to be a conniving witch. He didn’t like her, didn’t trust her, and didn’t want
anything to do with her.
To add insult to
injury, he had a front-row seat to witness her invade his territory. One would
think a goddess had descended upon them. The pageantry that surrounded her
arrival in Albuquerque left a bitter taste in his mouth. He couldn’t care less
that they were colleagues. They were no more teammates than they were friends.
Everyone else might kiss her ass, but not him.
He’d been able
to avoid Jayla for almost two years by finagling his way out of corporate event
after corporate event when he knew she’d be in attendance. Truth be told, he
couldn’t trust his control over his anger enough to be anywhere near her.
Unfortunately,
Mr. Graybar, the CEO of the firm, let it be known he wanted Brad and Jayla
working together for the next week, ensuring the smooth transition of the
Maldonado account. This happened to be the very account which began their
bitter feud.
Years of
research, planning, development, building business relationships, it all went
down the drain when she swooped in, breaking every rule in business ethics and
etiquette. She’d snatched the account right from under his nose. Landing the
Maldonado account would have been his golden ticket straight to the executive
office. Instead, he would have to endure playing second fiddle to her.
Brad’s
alpha-male nature, too stubborn and prideful to even consider defeat,
obliterated from his mind any inkling of leaving the firm. Besides, he loved a
good fight, and Jayla had just started a war. He refused to let her ride off
into the sunset with his account. If she thought he would play nice, she was in
for one hell of a week.
Brad eyeballed a
few female colleagues; his hunt came to a spellbinding halt when he zeroed in
on a breathtaking beauty. He was finally seeing Jayla in person, and she wasn’t
at all what he’d prepared for.
Her rounded nose
was balanced perfectly above her supple, pouty lips. Prominent cheekbones and a
long slender neck made for a stunning combination. Her rich mocha skin color
radiated warmth. Angling her head away from him, she unleashed a striking smile
while talking with and charming the pants off members of his team.
His jaw and
chest tightened as awareness settled over him. He’d spent so much time
abhorring her from afar, and her looks had never mattered to him. Since Jayla
started working for his firm, Brad had observed her photos printed in the
company newsletters. He’d viewed her profile page on the company website on
numerous occasions. But in no way did either of those publications capture the
essence of her beauty.
She was
absolutely stunning, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He watched in an
angry trance as she swept her fingers across her forehead, feathering a loose strand
of hair into place. Then his mouth went bone dry when she faced in the opposite
direction. Her full, round, candy-apple bottom came into view, and a noise
sounding an awful lot like a groan scratched out from the pit of his belly. His
cock thickened with arousal, annoying the hell out of him.
His instant
attraction confused him, and he tried to shame his excited loins into calming
down. It would be a cold day in hell before he let her beauty distract him.
What was wrong with him? To hell with attraction; she was the enemy.
JAYLA FELT
SOMEONE’S eyes boring into her and stiffened in response. She turned in the
direction her wolf’s instincts guided her. Sweeping her fingers across her
brow, she smoothed the tendrils framing her face.
She found and
locked gazes with a fine-ass man sitting alone in a conference room. The
blatant hostility in his glare sent goose bumps traveling up and down her arms.
If she didn’t already know what he looked like, being the only person in the
office who hadn’t greeted her and her team would have been all the evidence she
needed. She’d just made eye contact with Bradford Dalton, her adversary.
Gunmetal-blue
eyes glued her to where she stood, so exceptional in color she felt hypnotized.
She could barely breathe. The intensity of his stare made her hands tremble.
She pressed her palms into her skirt in an attempt to steady them, mortified by
her reaction to him. There was no love lost between them, but the fact that she
literally shook in her high heels just by locking gazes with the man gave her
cause for concern.
She’d prepared
herself for a plethora of emotions spanning across the anger spectrum but not
for the instant attraction she felt for the man the second she laid eyes on
him. What was wrong with her?
Brad could spin
the facts all he wanted, but the truth of the matter was she’d landed the
Maldonado account fair and square. He’d dismissed her as nothing more than a
joke when she joined the Seattle office of their firm. For almost two years
she’d tried in vain to be a part of his team in Albuquerque.
While Brad
plotted his course of action for the Maldonado account, Jayla plotted her
course of action to try to get Brad’s professional attention. Ironically, she’d
never wanted the account for herself. She’d wanted to work with Brad. Learn
from Brad. Be mentored by Brad. Having the chance to work with him was the sole
reason she’d wanted to join Graybar and Associates. In the end he’d stayed full
of himself, letting the opportunity slip through his fingers. She’d landed the
coveted account on her own merit.
Breaking eye
contact, Brad’s gaze traveled the scope of her body. Tingles prickled her skin,
making her suit’s thick tweed material cumbersome and uncomfortable. His gaze
crawled along her curves, making her feel exposed. It irritated her how
sensitive and receptive her body seemed to be to his fixation. Just because
Brad turned out to be easy on the eyes didn’t change one damn thing between
them. No matter how handsome the face glaring at her was, he hated her, and the
feeling was mutual.
She chastised
herself for behaving as if she’d never been given the once-over by a man
before. But Brad’s raw gaze unnerved her, fracturing her renowned poise.
She swallowed
hard as she willed her hands to stay stuck to her sides and not sweep across
her face again. Trying to gain control of the situation, Jayla decided two
could play this game. She wouldn’t let him intimidate her. Waiting until his
eyes found hers, she tightened her jaw, tilted her head and, with defiance,
inspected him right back.
Since he was
sitting, she could only appraise his upper half. But boy oh boy… What an upper
half to assess. His nose, a straight line from the top of the bridge to the
slightly aquiline tip, appeared almost regal. She studied his full bottom lip,
larger than the slimmer top half. Short, dark-brown hair, styled as if he
combed his fingers through it in the shower, completed his model good looks.
She bit the
inside of her mouth to keep from gaping. Never in a million years had Jayla
imagined Brad looked like that in person. His online depictions were a travesty
compared to his real-life appearance. Now she didn’t know what she found more
disappointing: the fact that someone she once admired turned out to be a
chauvinistic ass, or the fact that seeing him in person made her wish she
possessed naked pictures of his chauvinistic ass.
Brad personified
the self-centered ambition she detested about the business world. Men like him
made her blood boil. It didn’t matter one iota that he was too fine for his own
damn good. On an exhalation, she made herself refocus on the melee at hand.
Team members
from both sides began filing into the conference room Brad ruminated in,
putting an end to Brad and Jayla’s rubbernecking. Taking advantage of every
extra second to collect herself, Jayla lingered and waited to join the meeting
last of all. Blowing out a long, shaky breath, she felt her nerves kick into
high gear.
Two quick
vibrations from her cell phone, indicating she’d just received an e-mail, gave
her a valid reason to delay her grand entrance. Grateful for the interruption,
she pulled the thin phone from the front pocket of her jacket, opened the
e-mail app, and proceeded to read.
The meeting
should be getting underway soon. Sorry I’m not there. I have both my phone and
computer on the ready if you need anything. Attached in this e-mail is a copy
of your presentation notes in case you misplaced them. This is your show. Don’t
let Dalton intimidate you. I’ll be in bright and early tomorrow. Remember, when
it comes to Brad…it’s on like Donkey Kong!
Holding back a
smile, Jayla wanted to thank Monica for e-mailing her, giving her the
distraction she needed to help settle her nerves. Monica was a brilliant
corporate lawyer and one hell of a colleague. The two of them were sisters in
arms in the male-dominated business world. Although they didn’t get to work
together as much as they would have liked, they always had each other’s back.
Once Jayla knew for sure she’d secured her transfer to the Albuquerque office,
she’d done everything in her power to ensure Monica would be part of her team.
She’d gotten her wish, but Monica had been bumped from their flight to
Albuquerque. Due to the airline error, she wouldn’t be arriving until very late
that evening.
Knowing she
couldn’t delay any longer, Jayla pushed her phone back into her pocket and
headed toward the lion’s den. She stepped into the conference room and took the
one seat available to her. Either by sheer coincidence or by intended design,
the seat across from Brad remained the lone chair left unoccupied. Person after
person passed it up, not even daring to look in its direction. As colleagues
intentionally avoided the hot seat, the tension in the room became so thick
Jayla thought they would become blinded by it. On-edge associates on both sides
of the fence exchanged anxious glances.
Noticing
everyone focusing on her, she set her briefcase on the table and offered Brad a
tight smile paired with a curt nod. The man had the audacity to arch one
eyebrow in response. The lights dimmed, and a video presentation began,
directing attention to the large projection screen. Camouflaged as she was by
the darkness, no one noticed her grip on her briefcase tighten and her
plastered fake smile slip a fraction. She fought the urge to lunge across the
table and choke him. Instead, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, turned
off the ringer, and placed it inside her briefcase. Once seated, she directed
her attention to the screen.
IT DIDN’T TAKE
long for Jayla’s subtle vanilla-orchid scent to settle upon Brad. His nose
flared the second her delicate and sensual fragrance hit him. He wasn’t one to
react to a woman’s perfume, yet her aroma caressed his attention away from the
video. Unable to help himself, he peeked out the corners of his eyes in her
direction. Once again she swept her fingers across her face, smoothing her
hair. Suspecting the action a nervous habit, he felt himself wanting to smirk
in satisfaction, knowing she wasn’t as confident as she tried to appear. She
crossed her arms on top of the table, and her hands captivated him as she
scraped her delicate fingertips across her jacket. Surprising himself, he
imagined what it would feel like to have her scoring her nails across his back
while she wrapped her legs around his waist, taking him to the hilt.
Without warning,
his canines lengthened. Flinching from the shock of his sexual fantasy and his
physical reaction to her, he drew unwanted attention to himself. A few of his
team members gave him concerned glances, peering at him through squinted eyes
in the darkened room. Placing his elbows on the table, he crossed one hand on
top of the other, hiding his mouth in his palms as he nodded, trying like hell
to appear normal.
Never in his
life had his teeth elongated around a group of nonshifters. He could recall a
handful of times in his youth when his canines had come out while in the
presence of shifters, but always in reaction to being provoked to fight. Now,
in his adulthood, once in a while his teeth had a mind of their own when he was
alone, but they knew better than to come out of hiding here. No one at his job
knew he was a shifter. In fact, no one he acquainted himself with knew he was a
shifter. He didn’t have anything against shifters; he just didn’t like living
as one. In his opinion, the disadvantages far outweighed the advantages.
Although the existence of shifters was a known fact, the misguided perceptions
were at times annoying. There were parts of his life Brad didn’t want to have
to explain.
His self-control
over his inner animal, something he prided himself on, approached a point of no
return. It would serve her right if he let her witness the beast inside him.
He’d be fired for sure, but at least he’d get to give her the scare of her
life. Growing angry that she continued to affect him, he turned his head,
giving the evil apparition sitting in front of him his full attention.
JAYLA’S PULSE
SPIKED the second she got her first whiff of the manly musk radiating off Brad.
The man smelled of carnal sin. His spicy scent delighted her nose, wreaking
havoc on her libido. Her thick jacket hid her pebbling nipples and swelling
breasts. She clamped her legs together underneath the table, trying to ward off
the twinges of lust tickling her pussy. Feeling Brad’s gaze on her, Jayla’s
mouth began to water as her canines extended. Panicking, she leaned back in her
chair, crossed one arm over her midsection, and rested the elbow of the other
on her fist; she covered her mouth with her free hand, trying to pretend to be
deep in thought. No one at her job knew she was a shifter. If she shifted into
her wolf, it’d be a hell of a way to out herself and probably get fired in the
process. The thought of Brad pissing his pants in terror when he found out the
person he’d been trying to bully was a she-wolf consoled her for a split
second. But she knew she couldn’t let that happen now. Unable to help herself,
she turned her head toward him, and their gazes locked.
Unexpected
images of the two of them making love flashed through her mind like a silent
movie: She imagined her naked curves draped over Brad’s body as she rode him.
Depictions of Brad pounding into her doggy style swamped her consciousness. The
erotic visualizations caused her animalistic nature to surface.
Deep from within
the inner intricacies of their wolves, she heard them both growl. To their
human colleagues sitting around them, it sounded like hungry stomachs calling
for food. But the low, distinctive sound vibrating from the heart and soul of
one wolf to another… Shifters knew this sonance—their bodies calling out to
their…
Mate.
Brad’s startled
gaze met hers, and their eyes widened as the reality of the situation became
obvious to both of them. Jayla’s canines retracted once her human side
understood what her wolf had known from the second she’d made eye contact with
Brad: they were mates.
Jayla felt her
control over her wolf return, so she rose, grabbing her briefcase. Trancelike,
she headed out of the conference room, needing to get away from him. Once out
of sight she quickened her pace, speed-walking to safety.
Rounding the
corner, Jayla passed the elevators, seeking the heavy metal door leading to the
stairwell. She burst through, needing solitude to compose herself. The
thunderous sound of the heavy door clanking shut gave her a sense of relief.
Her gasps heaved in and out of her chest. Bending over, she dropped her
briefcase and clutched at her heart in desperation.
This…cannot…be…happening…
Of all the
shifters in the world…he was her mate? A man she despised. Dread tore through
her body at the thought of Brad Dalton being the supposed keeper of her heart.
No effing way. Not on her watch.
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