Hunting His Doe (His Obsession #1)

Chapter 1

ONE

GRAYSON

“You ever get tired of putting on a show?” I mutter as Danny passes the table.

I’m chalking up the pool cue when he enters The Grill with his usual relaxed swagger. He’s a big guy packing a lot of muscle and a lot of tats, all maximized by his inability to find a shirt that fits.

“You ever get tired of being a broody son of a bitch?” he lobs back with a shit-eating grin, heading straight to the bar.

The Grill is the kind of place that smells like spilled beer and desperation. Dim lighting. Sticky floors. A perfect place for people like me to blend in. Inconspicuous. Nameless. But I can already feel the way the room reacts to him—the bar staff tensing, the women perking up.

He relishes in the attention. I don’t.

I shake my head with a half-suppressed laugh as I line up the break shot.

The waitress delivered the burgers I’d ordered before his arrival. I watch, impressed, as he proceeds to devour his as if he were inhaling his last meal.

“Who’d think chasing down a fox would be hungry work, eh? What’s the lure?”

He takes a swig of his beer. “She’s it. She’s the one.”

I stop dead in my tracks from taking my next shot, cocking an eyebrow over my shoulder. “Because of the chase?”

“It’s not about the chase,” Danny says, licking the sauce from his fingers and taking the pool cue. “It’s the catching. The hard-fought prize.”

My grip tightens around my drink.

Wrong. It’s the owning: the claiming and the ruining. At least for me, it is.

I’m taking a swig of my beer when a husky, seductive voice steals my attention. I glance across the room as I set my glass on the table. A gorgeous, cinnamon-haired girl is on the karaoke stage, wowing her friends, hitting notes her sweet image has no business making.

I can’t tear my eyes from her. She’s velvety smooth, sweet, and warm. Like a single-malt whisky. Would she taste like it, too? I could drink her up.

She closes her eyes, sinking into the melody. People stop to watch. Men ignore their dates to look. When she opens her eyes, she notices the shift in the room. A pretty shade of pink fills her cheeks.

“Impressive,” I mumble, trying to sound nonchalant while my eyes take in every inch of her. I need to hear more. I need to hear what she sounds like when she’s not hiding behind music.

When she’s gasping. When she’s begging. When she’s mine.

Would she run for me to chase? Would she hide for me to seek? Submit for me to own?

Would this beautiful, innocent-looking girl like the things I’d do to her? I highly doubt it. But damn if it doesn’t make me hard.

“Maybe you don’t need the site,” Danny remarks, following my gaze. A knowing smirk teases me. “But I do need another beer.”

He’s challenging me. I don’t need any encouragement to get closer to her.

She’s a magnet pulling me in.

I nod, heading for the bar while my eyes follow the girl, now finished singing and waiting to order at the other end.

My first clear look at her steals the breath from my lungs. Her hair is loosely tied up with long, soft, wavy curls falling on her shoulders like the ripples of a sand dune. It frames her ivory skin as it disappears beneath the black V-neck dress, which showcases her perfect curves.

While talking to the bartender, the dimples in her cheeks pop as she bites her lip.

Fuck. Prey never looked so sweet.

She’s soft. Touchable. Silk. Something I should stay away from.

But I won’t.

When he passes me my drinks, I ask the bartender to add her drink to my bill.

She looks past the others now lining up for drinks, and our eyes meet.

The first flicker of indifference in her gaze shifts—and morphs into something curious.

And that tiny, reckless spark awakens the beast inside me, making me curl my lips into a slow, knowing smirk before I head back to my table.

Danny looks at her and then back at me, cocking his head in approval. “Smooth,” he praises. He knows as well as I do - she’s already mine.

We are about to set up another game when a loud, obnoxious group of young twenty-somethings enter the bar, ready to flex their dick size. I scan over the six guys. All swagger, all noise, all desperate to prove something. Harmless.

Then, the seventh walks in. Tanner-fucking-Beaufort.

My grip tightens on the cue.

He’s a nepo baby of a hot-shot Boston developer with the rich kid mentality that money buys a fix for all problems—including the ones he causes. And judging by the way the bartender stiffens—sharply exhaling as he shoves his phone into his back pocket—he’s already left a mess here before.

Tanner eyes the girl at the bar. He licks his lips and prowls toward her. My knuckles are bleach white at my sides.

Mine.

I silence my obsession. Instead, I watch and wait.

He leans in too close to her, saying something over her shoulder. She doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t blush. She doesn’t even turn to acknowledge him.

Good girl.

Around him, his pack of rich-boy jackals grows bolder—hands brushing against arms, lingering too long on waists. The women tense, shifting away. People pretend not to see.

I do.

Across the table, Danny’s already watching me. The humor from earlier? Gone. He downs his beer and gives me a single nod.

We split up and prowled toward the men.

The girl swivels on her barstool to move away when the guy slaps his hand on the bar like a petulant child demanding attention, forcing her to recoil at his sudden aggression.

Walking straight into her knees, I place one hand on the bar next to her and cup the nape of her neck with the other.

Her body instinctively bows to my touch as if gravity commands her to me.

When her chin tips upward to look at me—there.

The first look of submission. Thrill. Lust. Her body’s first betrayal.

Her turquoise blue eyes remind me of the glacial lakes of the far north, with a fleck of golden amber in the top of her right eye.

Like a serene lake encapsulating a tiny island in the middle of the wilderness.

Her long lashes flutter as she registers our proximity, and her full lips part, making no sound.

“You look lost, baby girl. You don’t belong here.” My voice is low, just for her. “And he’s not your problem anymore.”

She nods, her eyes laser-focused on mine. The scent of her ambrosial breath combined with the delicate floral aroma of her hair assaults my senses; I’m nearly salivating. Tearing my gaze from hers, I lift my head slowly to confront the man-child standing behind her.

“I-I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know she was here with you,” he stutters, backing up into Danny’s chest.

I smile. Slow. Sharp. "You think every woman is prey?"

He drops the victim facade. A malicious smirk pulls at the corner of his mouth. His eyes darken. “When they look and sound like her? Absolutely. Just a small bite? You can have her when I’m done.”

I clench my jaw until I taste the tang of copper.

Wrong. Fucking. Answer.

If only he knew how little I care for vermin like him. How little our broken system’s laws nor his family’s money he hides behind can protect him.

If only he knew how creative I can be.

I could fuck him up a million ways within an inch of death and never lose sleep over it.

And I wouldn’t.

I shoot Danny a look, and he puts a hand on Tanner’s shoulder and squeezes. Tanner lets out a hiss. Then his eyes widen. He attempts to arch his back away from an object I can see being pressed into his kidney.

My voice drops to something only he can hear. "Bad news—you’re not the hunter. I am. And I don't share.”

He swallows hard, nodding.

Danny releases him, waving at him with the spoon he’d swiped from a nearby table. Tanner backs away, glaring, but he doesn’t say another word.

I watch them until they are out of sight.

The pulse beneath my palm flutters, and I turn back to the beauty at my mercy.

Damn. She’s fucking beautiful. And too damn innocent.

“Do you know him?” I ask.

“Of him. The health center has a long history patching up his past transgressions,” she answers breathlessly.

I nod and finally let my hand fall from her skin, but not before caressing one last time.

“Pippa,” she says, softly.

“Grayson,” I murmur, turning away before I do something reckless.

I have to leave. Or I’ll catch her before she even has a chance to run.