Chapter 4 #2
The asshole kept his gaze on me as I approached, stumbling slightly. “You’re that hockey player. Huh? The dude who beat our team.” I found it interesting that he was no longer finding the English language complicated. “You’re married to this jerk?”
Sloane sighed and I could hear a delicious series of curse words coming from her lush lips.
Wow. If the girl met a sailor, they’d be in heaven.
Her nastiness was a huge turn-on. “Buddy. Let me tell you something about my husband. He is five million times more a man than you are. Where you have an itty-bitty dick, his is huge. Huge.” With a drag of her tongue across her bottom lip, she opened her hands, spreading them out a foot apart.
Wow. I had a reputation to uphold.
She continued with the charade, moaning appropriately while even swiveling her hips. Was she trying to create a painful rock between my legs?
Gritting my teeth, I sauntered the rest of the way since I’d just been promoted to being her hot stuff husband.
Obviously, I was too blindsided by her grand gesture to realize the asshole wasn’t interested in backing down.
“Trust me, babe,” he continued. “I’m hotter and longer.”
When he grabbed her arm, yanking her against him and planting his lips on hers, my reaction was instant and more violent than heroic.
I wrapped my fingers around the back of his neck, squeezing at the same time I jerked him off and up into the air.
Two, three, even six inches off the floor.
While holding him under the harsh lighting, I allowed him to catch a single glimpse of my wolf through the limited transformation into a man-eating beast. It was amazing the effect my wolf’s eyes could have on a human.
I debated showing him my canines, but couldn’t stand when a man pissed in his pants.
His gasp was little more than a wheeze since I was cutting off his air supply.
“You’re going to apologize to the lady, asshole. Then you’re going to run, not walk out of here. If I see you again even looking in her direction, I will crush every bone in your body leaving nothing but dust. Do you hear me?”
At least my threat was being taken as real since I was fairly certain he was having trouble holding his bladder in check.
“You can put him down now, Beck. I think he got the point.” While the irritation in Sloane’s voice lingered, there was also a hint of amusement.
I didn’t budge right away, enjoying the power I had over the jerk.
“Um, honey bunchkins, don’t we have a date with the plunge pool? You and me, naked and wet all over?” Was she purring? Did she not understand she was tempting a beast?
My cock was just about ready to split the seam in my jeans, tough material or not. “An all-nighter?” I tossed out while Mr. Wonderful fought my hands. What did he think he was going to accomplish by slapping my arm? Oh, I was afraid.
“Of course, baby cakes. For my snuggle bunny, anything you want.” She was egging it on, her voice sweet marmalade on an English muffin.
Without moving one inch, I glanced down into her face, lifting an eyebrow. The feisty reporter was enjoying herself. There was definitely a connection between us, one that could easily turn hot and heavy depending on the timing.
And our moods.
“I don’t know, honey bunchkins. I’m not certain our buddy here has learned his lesson,” I said, offering him an up close and personal lesson in the art of growling.
“I… have. I… have,” he insisted.
She planted her hands on her hips, the comedic moment lost. “Put him down, husband of mine. I assure you he was just leaving. Weren’t you?”
The guy didn’t have the common sense to answer right away until I smashed him against the opposite wall and released my hold. As he slid to the floor, the wheezing continued while he grabbed his throat instead.
“My beautiful wife wants you to leave. Apologize. Now.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything. Not a thing at all.”
Yep, the man was stone cold sober. Asshole.
He nodded as if his brain was on overdrive, but I could swear the man’s eyes were full of determination to continue harassing her. Maybe not now, but at some point. All I could think about was protecting her.
After he clawed his way to a standing position, he took a few seconds to glare back and forth between the two of us.
Even when he raced down the hall at rocket speed, I lunged closer, offering a deep, echoing growl.
She waited until he was out of sight to offer a display of frustration. “Do you always go around evoking your wolf when you don’t get your way?”
The question caught me off guard. “Not always. He doesn’t like when women are attacked.”
“Ah, you did so only for me? I feel special.” She rolled her eyes and skirted around me. “You can’t just decide some asshole is dinner.”
Dinner. I was chuffed, more than she could understand. “Trust me. I have much better taste in the meat that I put on my skewer for my spit roast. No amount of seasoning would tenderize his sorry ass.”
Her expression shifted, a brief understanding settling in. “I know you weren’t going to eat him, Beck, but you did want to kill him.”
“Maybe just a few tenderization efforts would work. Sure. But he had plans on hurting you.”
“No, he was trying to fuck me. There is a difference.” After turning once to nod, she continued heading down the corridor.
“I think there was more to it, honey.”
“Meaning what?”
“He wasn’t drunk, but he was paying attention.”
She laughed. “I think you’re trying too hard to impress me. He was drunk alright. Therefore, I want a divorce.”
Maybe I was making something out of nothing.
“On what grounds?”
“Too much fur in the bed.”
“Oh, that was cold. So cold.” At least I know she could be playful. The truth was that I didn’t like the guy’s actions. He’d been playing at being drunk, which meant an ulterior motive.
So what was a big, bad wolf to do in protecting a lady?
Walk with her, or in my case, shadow her.
She was outside before she finally stopped short, not bothering to turn around. “Are you following me?”
“What if I am?”
“What for?”
“To ensure your safety. That’s what you’d prefer, right? A very human reaction instead of my wolfy desires.”
Sure, I was egging it on. Why not?
The sailor-challenging curses were on display once again and my cock was thrumming hard against my zipper. If she only understood the level of restraint this wolf was using.
“Suit yourself,” she purred and walked ahead with long strides.
Before I had a chance to follow, she spun around once again.
In the shimmering reflection of the full moon creating a sweet, beautiful, and luminous golden halo, I was pretty certain I’d drifted into every red-blooded boy’s fantasy. “Big Dog.”
Big Dog.
Now that nickname caught me off guard and I liked it. So did the different inflection in her voice. Was that an invitation to follow her instead of a threat of a restraining order?
Maybe so. Time to test out just how big this dog had become.
Woof.