E.A. Price - Valentine's Wolf (Grey Wolf Pack #11) (11 page)

Ten minutes earlier

Val let her eyes slide over to the clock again. Had enough time passed yet? Was it reasonable to call Jake yet? She didn’t want to seem like some overeager, simpering woman…
even though, that was exactly what she was.

After she had left the diner, she had clutched at the card he gave her. Knowing it came from him made that small rectangle of card precious somehow. Yes, it was totally as dumb as it sounded, but she didn’t care. When she got back to work, she laid it out on her desk, almost reverentially, and in between bouts of trying to work she had smoothed her fingers over it. Maybe it was a way to keep herself connected to him, or to make sure it was actually real, but eventually the ink on the card was starting to fade, so she locked it in her desk drawer. Instead, her fingers lingered on her cheek, stroking the skin where his lips had touched her. Cripes, she must have looked like a loon. Good job the only other person in the office was barely conscious.
Yep, Val was free to be as creepy and weird as she wanted to be.

In between her daydreaming, she did actually manage to get some work done, and continued working long after even Shannon dragged herself out the office and all the construction workers went home. By that time, she was absolutely itching to call Jake. She just didn’t want to come on too strong; part of her was still hoping that he would see her as a cool, calm and collected woman.
Although, given how they first met, maybe that ship had sailed.

Satisfied that she had waited long enough, and fit to bursting point, she retrieved the card and tidied the office for the night. She turned off the lights; the office was bathed in moonlight peeking through the slats of the blinds. She chewed on her cheek and looked around the office.
Was she forgetting something?

Val snapped her head up, suddenly alert. Instinctively she sniffed, but all she could scent was the slightly musty smell of the office. What was she expecting to smell?

She flinched as a loud thump echoed from the side of the trailer; it was followed by muffled laughter. She slipped over to the window and peeked outside. She couldn’t see much, but she could see some people – she presumed to be men – walking around the construction site.

What were they doing there? And where the heck was the security guard Glenn hired? He was supposed to be patrolling the site at night.

She bared her teeth and wanted to growl, but she let the sound die in her throat. She really needed to rein in these sudden urges to snarl and growl.
Anyone would think she was turning into a wild animal.

Val was about to march right outside and give these trespassers a piece of her mind when she heard some crashes. She focused on what they were doing and saw that they had baseball bats. They were smashing up the construction site! And laughing about it!
How dare they?

She almost let the urge to tear out of there and attack them get the better of her, but, thankfully, she managed some restraint. Although, she was loving this sudden surge of courage that was coming her way, she didn’t think running out there, pretending she was She-Ra was the best plan of action. There were at least four men out there, and she was a five-foot-five human with only six self-defense classes under her belt. She didn’t really like those odds.

No, she would do the smart thing and call her man, uh, her sheriff, her Jake –
just Jake!

She grabbed her phone, and thirty seconds later Jake was on his way. She perhaps should have warned him that there were four men out there, but he sounded so pissed on the phone that she doubted the number of men would matter.

Impatiently, she waited and was annoyed to find she could no longer see the trespassers.
Damnit!
Maybe they sloped off when she was on the phone. Finally, some cars pulled up and out sprang Jake, Cain, and Gabe.

She tore out of the office. “Hey, I think they left, there were four of them and all in black. They were over there,” she pointed in the direction, “and they all had baseball bats.”

Jake, stony faced, nodded at Cain and Gabe. “Check it out.”

They quickly took off and Val was pleasantly surprised when Jake pulled her against his body. He clamped one arm around her waist, and he cradled her head with his other hand.

“Are you alright?” he asked gruffly.

She was. In fact, she felt oddly enthused by the whole incident and almost asked if she could go chase after the men with Gabe and Cain. What had happened to the woman who just a few days ago cowered in her kitchen holding a spatula when trouble came a knocking?
Although perhaps she shouldn’t say that to Jake.

She made her eyes look as big as possible and fluttered her eyelashes. “I’m fine.”

“Thank fuck for that,” he muttered and crushed her to him.

Val remained plastered against his hard chest, even when Cain and Gabe came back. Jake didn’t seem inclined to let her go anytime soon and she sure as hell wasn’t going to push him away.

Neither of the deputies had found anything; whoever the guys were, they were covering their scents. Jake nodded grimly and sent the two of them away.

Finally feeling just a teeny bit crushed, Val wiggled out of his embrace. His hands remained on her body, though, and she felt her adrenaline morphing into something much more enticing.

Heat pooled between her thighs, and her chest started heaving. Maybe he could scent her arousal, or maybe he was just a freaking mind reader, but Jake’s expression went from concerned to yearning in seconds flat.

Val licked her lips and rubbed her hands up and down his chest. She felt some primal, hungry need unfurling inside her. “Let’s go inside.”

“Yes,” he agreed shortly.

She scrambled into the office and watched as he closed and locked the door after him. The electric sexual tension was enough to light up Las Vegas. They both knew what was about to happen. Words weren’t needed.

He shucked out of his jacket and let it fall to the ground. She bit her lip as her whole body vibrated as she waited expectantly.
Thank heavens she wasn’t waiting long!

He stalked towards her and grasped her body; his mouth crashed against her, taking it in a plundering, passionate kiss while his hands sought her ass. His fingers dug into the soft flesh as he carried her backward, never once breaking the kiss.

He placed her on the edge of her desk and reluctantly pulled away from her mouth so he could sweep all the detritus onto the floor.
Holy cow – they were actually going to have sex on the desk!
Scratch that off the bucket list.

He gently pried her thighs apart and stood between her legs. She leaned back on the desk on her elbows, taking in his quivering muscles and lust-darkened eyes. He was hers. He was all hers. A single word bubbled inside her.
Mine
.

His hands wandered under the skirt of her dress, and he growled. “Stockings?”

She felt her whole body flush as his fingers danced over the lacy tops of her thigh highs. “You like?”

“Definitely.”

Val lifted her legs to his waist, trying to get him closer. Jake started moving but then hesitated slightly and winced.

A million bad thoughts raced through her mind; all of her insecurities about what a guy like him would want with a woman like her, badgering her for attention. She tamped them down and ignored them. He wanted her. She knew it; the proof of his desire for her was pressing against her thigh.
And the proof felt absolutely huge.

She reached a hand to his face and let her fingers glide over the rough stubble on his cheek. “What’s wrong?”

“This is not how I pictured our first time together,” he admitted, frowning.

“Oh! We could lie on the floor, but I don’t know how clean…”

He shook his head and chuckled. “No, I was picturing something a bit more, uh, romantic, with a bed.”

Val sat up and tightened her legs around him, squeezing and grinding him against her. She pulled his shoulders down to her, so her mouth was next to his ear.

She nipped his lobe eliciting a soft snarl. “The first time I pictured us together, you came and ravished me in my cell after you arrested me. You told me I’d been a bad girl, and you showed me how bad girls get punished.”

Jake rubbed his hands up and down her thighs. “That does actually sound better than a bed.”

“Maybe we could try it sometime…”

“Never!” he growled, forcefully. “We wouldn’t be alone, the others, they’d hear us.”

“Surely you’re not shy, are you?” she asked coquettishly as one hand reached for the zip of his pants. She rubbed her hand up and down his arousal and was amazed to feel him grow even bigger. His fingers sank into her thighs as he groaned lustily.

“Doesn’t feel like you have anything to be shy about,” she breathed, with wonder.

His smoldering amber eyes sought her, piercing her with his lust-filled gaze. “More like I don’t want any other man to hear you come.”

“No?” It wasn’t that great. She usually just let out a small squeak when she did – but perhaps she should let him find that out for herself.

“No; your pleasure, your releases, they’re all mine. No one gets to share any part of that but me.”

It was a strangely possessive thing to say, and yet it turned a flickering flame of desire into a full-on inferno. Other men hadn’t even cared if she even did orgasm.

“How about less talking and more sharing then? Besides, I’ve always had this fantasy about having sex on a desk.”

Jake’s lips quirked up. “Yeah? Well then I feel honor bound to bring that fantasy to life.”

Val almost bounced up and down in glee. Her small hands fumbled at his belt, eager to free him. She gasped as she did and took his hard member in her hands. He was like steel covered in satin.

“You’re beautiful,” she murmured before she could stop herself.

Hey, she was no prude, but usually when it came to men’s privates, they were just dangly bits between their legs, and not all that great to look at.
But every part of Jake was just magnificent
.

His hand cupped her cheek, and he directed her gaze back to his face as he let out a rumbling laugh. “I think that compliment’s a first for me. Your eyes…”

Jake gazed at her wonderingly.

“What?”

“They’re… glowing… incredible… I’ve never seen…”

He almost choked as she started massaging his length.

“Fuck… Valentine…”

“Yes, please,” she cooed.

Jake snarled and pushed her skirt up around her waist. He flicked a claw out and within seconds her flimsy panties were fluttering to the ground.

He dipped a finger into her slit and rumbled at finding her so wet and ready. He moved his hands to her ass, and his fingers gripped her buttocks.

“Mine,” he muttered, almost so softly she didn’t hear him.

He pushed his hard length inside her letting out a small roar as he did. Val moaned as he filled her, hitting every nerve, every tender spot and sending blissful waves throughout her. She dug her fingers into his shoulders, clasping at him, afraid to let him go, afraid he would stop. The feeling of holding him inside was unbelievable; she had never felt so complete -
like she was made for him
.

She moaned his name as he began thrusting inside her. He took her with short, hard jabs – he had no choice, Val held his body too tightly lest he try to get away from her. He growled each time he thrust inside her, powerfully flexing his hips and making her ripple around him.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt and she almost giggled. Apart from her panties she was completely clothed. She’d never had sex wearing quite so much, and yet it was still the most satisfying and erotic sexual encounter of her life.

Gently, he pulled away the death grip of her legs around his hips and pushed them up against her chest, pressing her back onto the desk. He leaned over and took her mouth in a kiss. The feeling of his body over hers, of being pinned under him, unable to move was intense.

His fingers stroked her thighs, dancing over her skin as his tongue caressed her. The angle of his thrusts made him feel even bigger, and her climax gained momentum, tantalizingly within reach.

Val drew back from his mouth. “Come for me,” she ordered breathlessly. “I need you.”

He roared and began driving inside her with urgency. Her breathing hitched as pleasure spiraled inside her. She could feel it teetering on the edge, almost… almost…

Jake slammed inside her and stilled, his manhood thickened and then he came inside her, bellowing her name, making the windows shake. Val let out her own roar as she followed him, and her release cascaded through her. Her body clutched at him, trying to keep him, trying to pull him deeper inside her. That one word whispered through her mind over and over.
Mine
.

Chapter Eleven

3
rd
March

Val awoke to the strange sensation of being crushed. Although, it wasn’t uncomfortable; it was a warm, comforting crush that sent tingles right down to her sex.
Which was currently throbbing from the delightful events of last night.

Yes, after their lovely – no, spectacular – tryst the previous night, Jake had driven her home and astounded her when he stayed the night and reenacted the magic that had happened in the office – repeatedly.
Shifter stamina – gotta love it.

Now, he was lying with half his body covering her and snoring softly into her pillow. Well, if anything, he made a very good heating system. Much nicer than an electric blanket.

Oh, how she’d love to stay there all day, memorizing every single inch of his handsome face and enjoying the rise and fall of his massive chest.
But, she had to pee…

Slowly, ever so slowly, she tried to shuffle out from the dark, muscle-laden arm thrown over her torso. He weighed a ton.

She managed to get one leg out of bed when his dark eyes snapped open. She held her breath as amber flickered through them before settling on the deep, chocolatey goodness color that her made her both gooey and hungry.

His lips curled into a sinfully sexy smile. “Morning,” he rumbled before planting a kiss on her naked shoulder.

Yeah, when they got back to her place they decided to get rid of all their clothes. The sex was mind-blowing both with and without clothes. And the predatory look on his face when he saw her nude for the first time…
well, let’s just say she almost melted on the spot.

Jake rolled over the bed and stretched out, letting out an almighty yawn. With a giggle, she noticed his feet were hanging off the end of the bed.

She sat up on the bed, and he rolled to his side, leaning on one elbow. His eyes shimmered as they roamed over her body.

She wasn’t usually quite so au fait about being nude, but damn, she’d strip in the street just to see that look of carnal delight on his face. He reached out a hand to her breast and… she stopped him.

“Hold that thought.”

She scuttled to the bathroom and quickly relieved herself, brushed her hair, brushed her teeth and slapped on his lip-gloss. She came back out to find her sexy sheriff lying on his back, arms folded under his head and whistling a tune.

Feeling impish, she ran over to the bed and launched herself at him. He oofed as she landed on his stomach and straddled him.

“Minx,” he grumbled playfully and swatted her buttocks.

She wriggled her ass over his rapidly swelling manhood. She opened her mouth to tease him but was interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

Val sighed and leaned over to retrieve her phone where it had fallen. When they arrived last night, pretty much everything had been thrown wherever in their eagerness to lose all their clothes. She settled back on her perch over him and squeaked out a hello into the phone as Jake brushed his finger over her clit.

She gave him a disapproving frown, and he looked at her innocently.

“Val Daniels? Is that you?” asked a male uncertainly.

Val tried to focus on the phone call while trying to slap away his determined fingers. It was Detective Rollins, the one who had given her his card back in Ursa. “Oh, hey!”

Jake stilled at the sound of the male, and his face darkened. She rolled her eyes and mouthed the Detective’s name to him.

He relaxed, but only slightly, and soon resumed his distracting motions. She tried to clamber away from him, but the merciless wolf clamped onto her hips.

“Are you okay? You sound like you’re panting.” The Detective sounded concerned, and Val almost snickered.

“I’m fine,” she breathed as she threw her head back and closed her eyes, surrendering to his fingers. “So fine.”

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but someone broke into your apartment.”

“What?” she cried, snapping her eyes open.

Jake stopped and gently eased her off his body. One of his hands rested on her back, rubbing her soothingly.

“I’m here with your friend, Hilary…” There was a bit of a scuffle, and Val was sure that Hilary was wrestling the phone away from the Detective.
She was even bossier than Val.

“Val, sweetie, nothing seems to be missing but your place is kind of a mess. I came by to check on the devil with four legs” –
Tumbles
– “and found it.”

“Shit,” exclaimed Val. “Is Tumbles okay?”

Val could almost hear the eye-roll. “His majesty is fine, and currently eating fresh salmon round at your neighbor’s apartment.”

Boy, she hoped Nancy didn’t spoil Tumbles too much. The grumpy feline was seriously going to be disappointed when Val got home, and he was back on basic cat food.

“Good, I guess I better start looking for a flight home…”

It didn’t go unnoticed that Jake sucked in a breath at that.

“No, there’s no need. It’s not worth you coming back sweetie; it would only depress you, stay and enjoy some hot sex with that wolf you have a crush on!”

“Hilary!”

Jake didn’t even bother to try and hide his smug expression.

“Do they know who did it?”
Quick, change the subject
.

“No, the cops are clueless.” Val heard a lot of outraged shouts in the background, which Hilary ignored, naturally. “They think it was just kids, but they’re going to talk to that creepy guy, Lester just in case. They’re guessing whoever it was just snuck in after someone opened the door.”

“I should…”

“Nonsense,” interrupted Hilary. “Coming back here will just depress you. I’ll get a cleaning crew and a locksmith in and it’ll be like it never happened. Just leave it to me.”

Val smiled; thank god for her best friend. “You’re a star, honey.”

“Don’t worry about a thing, everything will be fine. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Thank you.”

She ended the call and snuggled against Jake, who wrapped his arms around her. She hoped it was just some random destruction; it would be so much worse if it were personal. The thought of strangers going through her stuff…
ugh, it made her shudder.

“Who’s Lester?” asked Jake tightly.

Darn shifter hearing.

“No one,” she replied, burying her head in his welcoming chest.

“Valentine,” cautioned Jake.

Val huffed. “Fine! He was some guy I met through an online dating site, Intimate Connections. We went on one date, and after that he kept calling me and he also turned up at my apartment once. He’s no one, just some creep who doesn’t like the word no, but they’re going to check him out and see if he broke into my apartment. He’s no threat to me; he’s back home in Ursa.”

“Ursa,” repeated Jake.

She chuckled softly. “Yeah, that’s where I live.”

His arms tightened around her. “Then I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“Because of Lester?”

“If he tries to contact you again, I want you to tell me.”

Val frowned. “He’s miles away from us.”

“Just let me know,” rumbled Jake.

She traced patterns over his chest. “Okay, okay, bossypants.”

“That’s Sheriff Bossypants to you, ma’am.”

“Sheriff butthole,” she muttered.

Jake let out a growl. “Oh, that is it!”

Val squealed as Jake flipped her onto her back and began tickling her. Eventually, the tickling devolved into kissing, and the kissing turned into something far more satisfying, and soon Val forgot about the worries back in Ursa.

*

Sadly, Shannon had recovered from her hangover and had gone back to being the stunning young woman she usually was.

Oh well, you can’t win them all. At least Shannon was still as useful a colleague as a plank of wood. Val still felt superior in that way, plus… umm, Val had bigger breasts!
Okay, now she was being childish
. Bah – she didn’t care; she was in too good a mood.

Okay, so the hills weren’t exactly alive with the sound of music – she still had a few nagging troubles that no amount of loving could fix – but the hills were definitely humming a jaunty tune.

When it came to the pro side of her life, she had a sexy wolf shifter, who found her attractive and enjoyed giving her orgasm after orgasm.

On the con side, things weren’t great at work, someone had broken into her apartment, her grandmother was pressuring her to visit and she may or may not have a stalker. Huh, that sounded like quite a lot of problems…
and yet when she was with Jake
… they just seemed to flutter away, not to mention what the rest of her body did – throbbing, palpitations, and general swooning.

She had missed a phone call from her grandmother last night while she was otherwise engaged. And having timed it just right, she managed to call back when Grandma was at bingo and therefore didn’t need to speak to her. She felt a squirming sense of guilt over that, but soon waved it away. She loved her grandmother – she really did – but after spending an entire childhood spending her free time at bingo parlors, knitting circles and book clubs, she was glad that they now lived in different states.

At least Lester hadn’t called. Maybe the awful worm had just given up and latched onto some other poor suspecting female.
Lucky for her, unlucky for the new woman
. Val hoped that whoever she was, she kicked his ass.

She thought about her apartment, and instead of being angry or upset she just felt a little numb. Hilary, bless her heart, would get it clean and tidy. Val wasn’t exactly attached to her possessions. She had a few knickknacks that were dear to her, but she had managed to scan all her photos to the cloud anyway – she had no idea how to work it, she just knew that the photos were up there somewhere, and the only other thing she loved was her ring and that wouldn’t come off her finger. By the time she got home to Ursa, the break in would just be a distant memory.

Her heart twinged. When she went home to Ursa without Jake…
No, she didn’t want to think about that at the moment.

The phone rang, and Val snatched it up with a stern look at Shannon to leave it. Experience told her that once Shannon got on that phone – no matter who was on the other end – she would be yapping for over an hour.

She was glad she did take the phone call. The irate caller on the other end wouldn’t have been interested in learning about Shannon’s love of celebrity baby photos –
yes, they are cute!

The phone call lasted for ten minutes, and Val’s contributions to the conversation were generally only one-word exclamations and apologies.

Yep, it was a phone call from one of their suppliers asking, none-too-gently, why their check had bounced and to where that weasel bastard Glenn had disappeared. Val drew a blank on both fronts, but she resolved to get to the bottom of it.

Following that, she tried calling her boss, Conrad’s cell, but received no answer. She tried his office and got a very harried sounding Lois who absolutely had no idea when he would be back in the office and then slammed the phone down, but not before she disclosed that numerous other people were looking for Conrad.
Not good
.

She tried various other people in the office and found that all the senior partners were on vacation, and nobody knew when exactly they were coming home.

She drummed her fingers on her desk. So, not enough supplies had been ordered. Those that had don’t appear to have been paid for. Their construction crew looked like they’d broken out of jail to get there. Their site kept getting vandalized. The partners of her firm appeared to be on permanent vacation.
And, their security guard had gone AWOL
.

Yeah, listing all the problems made them seem…
ugh, even worse than she thought.

Val threw a dejected sigh at Shannon. “Can you get me the contact details of our security guard?”

Shannon looked at her blankly. “Our what?”

Val tapped her foot impatiently. “Our security guard. The one that Glenn hired to watch over the site at night. He’s doing a terrible job.”

“That’s because he’s imaginary, we don’t have a security guard.”

“But, the security guard’s salary is right here in the budget.”

Shannon turned beet red, and she began stammering. “Oh, ah, umm, maybe Glenn hired one without telling me.”

Val glared at Shannon. “What do you know about what’s happening here?”

The young woman tried to make some noises of objection and Val narrowed her eyes and actually let out a well-timed snarl that made Shannon jump and start to sniffle.

Val looked at her mercilessly. “Don’t start that with me,” she snapped.

Shannon slumped in her seat. “Look, all I know is that Glenn wasn’t paying the suppliers. He ordered about a quarter of what we needed and sent them checks that were going to bounce. But, but,” she said quickly as Val let out a grunt of annoyance, “Glenn said that he had a plan. He said there was some kind of issue with paying people at that moment, but by the time anyone noticed it, would be sorted… but then Glenn just left.”