“You could learn a thing or two from Jaime,” said Trick. “She knows how to have fun.” Dante snickered. “She’s also incredibly stubborn and a little crazy.” Feisty he liked, but crazy? Not so much.
Shaya held up her index finger. “She prefers ‘spirited.’”
“She definitely knows how to have fun,” chuckled Dominic. He turned to Dante. “The other night, I found her and Shaya drinking like there was no tomorrow while laughing at a bad p**n film.” Marcus nearly choked on his coffee.
Shaya sighed dreamily, smiling. “Ah, good times.”
“Were they touching themselves, too? Or better still, touching each other?” Marcus looked as though he was genuinely trying to picture it.
“No,” replied Dominic, “but they were playing ‘catch’ with an unused butt plug. The one you got Jaime for her birthday simply because you’re odd like that.” Marcus shrugged. “At least she’s using it somehow.”
Knowing Dominic as well as he did, Dante easily guessed, “You joined in, didn’t you?” A smile crept onto Dominic’s face. “Yeah, okay, I did. It was fun.” Trick cocked his head as if listening to a distant noise. “Ah, I think that’s her coming now.” It was. There was no mistaking the source of that husky laugh. That was another thing about her that got the attention of both man and wolf. She had a voice that could liquefy rock. Didn’t matter though, Dante told himself. Didn’t matter how much of an appealing package she was. Didn’t matter how much his wolf wanted her. Didn’t matter how bitable her mouth was or how tantalizing man and wolf found her scent. Dante was not interested in having any type of relationship, no matter how casual, with Jaime Farrow.
Inhaling deeply, he braced himself for that beaming smile she always sent his way—a smile that he would never admit made his c**k twitch. Marcus shuffled over, ensuring that there was an empty seat beside Dante, just as he did every morning. Traitor.
Arm in arm with her brother, Gabe—the other new addition to the pack—she entered the kitchen…and his jaw almost hit the floor. His wolf was pacing predatorily, made alert the moment he heard her laugh. In an outfit that emphasized delicious curves that Dante would never have guessed were hiding under the baggy clothes she usually wore, Jaime strode inside and greeted Grace before heading to the table.
Then she did something that she had never done before, something that had his wolf growling in irritation. She gave Dante the same brief, polite smile she gave to everyone else…and walked right on past him and sat between Dominic and Shaya.
Motherfucker.
Jaime pretended not to notice the surprised expressions directed her way. The pack shouldn’t be so shocked that she was considering Dante a lost cause. Sure, Jaime had a major thing for Dante, but damn it, a female had her pride. He’d made it clear through his indifference that he had zero interest in her. Chasing after a guy who didn’t want her was not Jaime’s idea of fun, no matter how hot said guy was. She could try her hand at seduction and see if he caved…Snort. She’d have more luck trying to nail jelly to a stone wall. Seduction wasn’t her specialty.
Besides, she’d overheard him talking to Trick last night. He didn’t think of her that way, he’d said. She wasn’t his type, he’d said. He liked his women slim, he’d said.
Superficial ass**le. As if those comments weren’t embarrassing enough, she hadn’t been alone when she overheard him. No, Shaya had been there to witness her shame. Groan!
Well Jaime had not dressed in her skintight New York T-shirt and her slim-fitting blue jeans this morning to show him that she wasn’t so chubby anymore thankyouverymuch. She had not put on a little more mascara, eye shadow, and lip gloss than she usually did. And she had not even once wondered if Dante would notice. Nope, not at all.
Seriously, though, who could blame her for wanting Dante as much as she did?
With his wide shoulders, broad chest, and solid arms, he had a build that screamed
“powerful,” “lethal,” “dangerous.” She had grown up around well-built males, had seen plenty of muscular bodies, but Dante was in a league of his own. His compelling, assertive personality made him seem as though he took up even more room than he actually did. He would have seemed unapproachable if it wasn’t for his heart-stopping, crooked grin.
Given how gorgeous females tended to flock around him, Jaime wasn’t exactly surprised by his aloofness. He wasn’t in a position where he had to settle for plain Janes like herself. Then there were the differences in their personalities. He was a stickler for rules, whereas Jaime saw them as suggestions. He had a strict moral code, whereas she had her own sense of right and wrong that didn’t always cohere with his—like something counted as cheating only if she was caught, and that vengeance was therapeutic. Dante was very much a planner, wanting to be prepared for every scenario so that he could be in total control. Jaime? She preferred to make things up as she went along, and she liked to take risks.
Unfortunately, neither her wolf nor her body saw these differences as important. Both reacted to him with an unhealthy amount of excitement that never failed to needle Jaime. Even when he was a kid—a small, scrawny, scowling, defensive little boy—he had fascinated her. He’d been regarded as
“the runt” by all of his older brothers, which meant they had made his life miserable. Kind of ironic that he was now the biggest of all of his brothers, even bigger than Josh, who was an Alpha. Ha.
Even though they had been total bastards to him, he seemed to have this inner strength that meant no matter what they did or how much they did it, there were certain parts of him that they had never been able to touch or scar. Growing up, she’d watched in total admiration as Dante had worked to make himself physically strong and fit until he was someone who was confident, capable, and one hundred percent comfortable in his own skin.
All these years later, there was still something about him that enticed both her and her wolf.
Maybe it was his piercing brindle-brown eyes or his cocky grin or the way he radiated confidence.
Or maybe it was because he was amazingly and admirably always in total control of himself and of his wolf. She got the feeling that control was important to him on some level, though she couldn’t figure why. In actuality, it was just as important to her. Not that Dante was even slightly aware of that.
The only person who knew of her problems was her brother, and that was the way she liked it.