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  “And I think you’d be much happier if you opened your eyes to the possibilities of love.”

  She tossed her pen on the desk and leaned back in her chair. “I don’t love Max Devlin.”

  “But you could, if you gave him half a chance. I feel it, Shan. And you do too. You’re just avoiding the inevitable.”

  “Now I know how Aidan felt when we ganged up on him about Lissa.”

  “We were right, weren’t we?”

  “Yes, but that was different. A blind man could have seen what was between those two.”

  Kaitlyn nodded. “Exactly. And maybe you should remove those blinders from your own eyes, Shan. Max feels for you. Something deep.”

  What a load of crap. They barely knew each other. Love at first sight just didn’t happen in real life. What Max felt for her was physical attraction, and nothing more. Same thing she felt for him. And now that they’d gotten the sex out of their systems, they could concentrate on business.

  “I see fine. I just don’t want it.”

  “And what is it that you don’t want?”

  Shannon’s throat went dry at the sight of Max in her doorway. Lord, he looked delectable in his black suit, white shirt and blue tie. He’d loosened the tie and undid the buttons on his collar. Crisp, dark hairs peeked out from the top of the shirt, making her wonder if his chest was covered in that dark pelt.

  Hell, he’d seen plenty of her the other night, while she’d never even glimpsed a portion of his naked body. All she’d had was the feel of his enormous cock pounding her pussy.

  Her pulse raced as the images came flooding back to her.

  Yeah, she’d forget about him all right. When hell froze over.

  Time to cool things down. “What I don’t want is to be disturbed.”

  Undaunted, he walked in and sat in the unoccupied chair. “She always this cranky?” he asked Kaitlyn, pointedly ignoring her.

  Kaitlyn grinned. “Frankly, yes. But more so when she doesn’t get enough sleep.”

  “I’m in the room here, guys. Quit talking about me as if I’m invisible.”

  “Paranoid too, I see,” he added.

  “Yes. Really pathetic, isn’t she? How we’ll ever find a man willing to put up with her is beyond me.”

  “Knock it off, Kait,” Shannon warned.

  “Would take one helluva man, wouldn’t it?” Max winked at Kaitlyn, and she laughed.

  “How did the meeting go with Aidan?” Shannon asked, hoping to turn the conversation away from them teasing her.

  “Fine. The marketing and PR angles merge perfectly, and I suggested a few things to Aidan and Melissa about taking their marketing to a national and international level. We’ve got a good start.”

  “Good. I’ve got the announcements and community specials set up to go out to all the newspapers this week, plus the regional print publications.”

  “We’re set then. So, what time are you two cutting out of here?”

  “I’m finished for the day,” Kaitlyn said. “As a matter of fact, I’m outta here. Promised Mom I’d do a little shopping with her today. She’s got some ideas about revamping the kitchens at the original Rising Storm, so I’m off.”

  Shannon knew damn well that Kaitlyn didn’t have to rush off. Once again, her manipulative little sister was trying to give her and Max some alone time. As if they needed it. “See ya, Kait.”

  “Bye Kaitlyn. Say hello to your mother for me,” Max said.

  “Will do.”

  After Kaitlyn left, Max turned to her. “Got any plans for tonight?”

  “No,” she replied, then cringed. What if he asked her to go out with him? Why didn’t she say she was busy? Idiot. This is what happened when she didn’t engage her brain before her mouth opened.

  “I have a line on a house, and wanted someone who lived here to come with me. If you’re available, I’d love it if you would come with me to take a look.”

  “A house?”

  “Yeah, you know. Frame structure, some rooms inside, walls, that sort of thing.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I know what a house is. Why are you renting one?”

  “I’m not. I’m going to buy one.”

  Her headache began to thrum incessantly. “Buy one? Here?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?’

  “Because I’m moving here.”

  There was no way he’d said what she thought she heard. Fighting the rising panic, she tried for calm. “You’re what?”

  “I’m moving to New Orleans. Permanently.”

  “No you’re not.”

  His lips curled in a smile. “Yes, I am. Do you have a problem with that?”

  Hell yeah, she had a problem with it. She stood and paced behind her desk, trying to fathom what that would mean. Max, here in New Orleans, permanently. Oh no, that wouldn’t do at all. Much easier to fuck him and forget him if she were actually allowed the opportunity to forget him. Domiciled a thousand or so miles away was a perfect way to get a man out of your thoughts. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

  “Why do you want to move here?”

  “My family wants to expand the Devlin business ventures nationwide. I’m taking care of the south, and figured New Orleans was as good a place as any to set up shop.”

  “I’ve heard Georgia’s really nice,” she suggested, hoping he’d grab the hint.

  He arched a brow. “You’re not in Georgia.”

  “No, of course I’m not. I’m right…what do you mean?”

  “It means you’re one of the reasons I’m staying.”

  No. She would absolutely not have an emotional reaction to that. “You don’t even know me.”

  He stood and approached her. With each of his steps forward, she took one back until she ran out of space, the back of her legs hitting the credenza.

  “I do know you. And you know me. And it scares you.”

  As if she didn’t have her mother and her sister to contend with, now Max was joining the let’s-tell-Shannon-how-she-really-feels club. “Save the full-court press for someone who can appreciate it, Max. The only thing you’re succeeding in doing right now is pissing me off.”

  “You want me.” He leaned in, his breath caressing her temple. He inhaled swiftly, then let out a whispered sigh.

  Her nipples hardened. “Back off, Max. I mean it.”

  “You mean you haven’t thought about the other night at all? Haven’t thought about what it felt like to have my hard cock driving in and out of your pussy until you screamed?”

  Her body remembered. Despite wanting to forget what happened between them, her body was keenly aware of every touch, every kiss, every thrust of his huge shaft in her cunt. She heated from the inside out, her face flaming in mortification as she realized that he had mesmerized her in some way, had stolen her free will, her right to choose.

  “No!” She pushed hard at his chest, using her magic to propel him backward as a gust of wind threw the door back and slammed it against the wall.

  Shannon glanced at the door, then back at Max.

  He wasn’t the least bit concerned over her weather-related tantrum. In fact, his eyes darkened and his wicked smile led her to believe that he was rather turned on by her show of strength.

  “You’re like some dumb caveman,” she said, hoping to irritate him enough that he’d leave. “Are you so thickheaded that you don’t realize that I don’t want whatever it is that you’re selling?”

  He shrugged and moved to the doorway, pulling the door away from the wall. “I just asked you to come with me and help me find a place to live. You’re the one who got all emotional over it.”

  “I got…ooooh! You’re incredible, you know that?” How could he be so dense?

  Leaning against the doorway, he crossed his arms. “Thanks. I was hoping you thought it was as good as I thought it was.”

  “I’m not talking about sex, you idiot. I’m talking about your balls of steel.”

  “Aww, shucks, now you’re embarrassing me.
But thanks.”

  She stopped, realizing she’d meant to insult him, only it had come out a sexual compliment. “I give up. You win this round. I can’t match wits with the witless.”

  “Whatever you say. Now, will you come and look at the house with me?”

  Her first thought was to say no, but he’d probably never leave her alone. She’d go with him, and tell him the house was horrible. “Fine. When?”

  “I’ll pick you up about six-thirty. I thought we’d grab some dinner and then look the place over.”

  “Whatever. Six-thirty is fine.” She jotted down her address and handed the paper to him. “Now, please, I beg you. Get out of here and let me finish up for the day so I can go home and change.”

  “Yes, ma’am. You’re in charge, ma’am.” He winked and walked out.

  In charge, her ass. She’d never felt less in charge anything as she did right now.

  * * * * *

  Max watched the confusing mix of emotions cross Shannon’s face as they ate dinner in an out of the way place that catered to the locals. She frowned, mumbled to herself and shook her head a lot. Rather amusing, actually.

  A pile of shredded crawfish shells littered the newspaper tablecloth in front of him. To her credit, Shannon had polished off quite a few, too. Watching her tear into the shellfish with her fingers, then suck the juicy meat out had him eating his own dinner with a raging hard-on.

  Butter glistened on her bottom lip, and she swiped her tongue over her mouth to lap it up. Fantasies of her going down on him with such eager zeal only made the torment worse. A sudden need to see her tongue licking up his juices had him shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

  “Something wrong?” she asked.

  Like she’d notice. She’d barely looked at him through dinner. He took a long swallow of beer and shook his head. “No. Food’s great.”

  Grinning, she nodded. “Yeah, I know. This place has the best seafood in town. Nothing fancy, just a great seafood and beer joint.”

  And the fact she found a place like this so enjoyable told him a lot about her. In Boston, he’d dated a lot of women who were all about society and culture and wouldn’t be caught dead in a restaurant with rough-hewn wooden floors and rickety tables that wobbled when you set your glass down.

  But he liked the atmosphere. It was noisy, Cajun music filled the room, and families gathered here. He could already envision he and Shannon and her family crowded into one of the long tables in the back of the room. Or even better, he and Shannon and their children.

  If someone had told him a year ago that he’d be daydreaming about a mate and pups, he’d have said they were talking about the wrong guy. Because those sure as hell hadn’t been in his goals then.

  The drive to mate had come upon him suddenly. Surprisingly, right about the time he was invited to New Orleans and began researching the Storm family, specifically Shannon. One look at her and he’d felt a squeezing in his heart. Right then he’d known there was something about her that compelled him.

  Now he was looking at buying a house, choosing a mate and settling down to have babies. Good thing his brothers couldn’t see him now. They’d laugh their asses off about how the mighty king had fallen.

  Well, except for Jason, of course. He’d led them in falling for a woman. A human woman, too. Not lycan. Jason hadn’t been remotely ready to settle down, and then suddenly…bam! Out of nowhere he’d shown up in Boston, head over heels in love and his fiancée, Kelsey, in tow. If Jason could do it, he sure as hell could do it, too.

  “So, tell me about this house you’re thinking of buying,” Shannon said, pushing her plate to the side. She took a long swallow of her beer, then wiped her mouth and sat back against the wooden chair.

  “I was out for a drive the other day and came across a house right on the lake. Really nice. Lots of land, great looking two-story frame with a huge, wraparound porch, screened and shuttered.”

  “All the houses are screened and shuttered because of the potential for hurricanes. You know we get those here. Very dangerous. You might want to think twice about settling down here.”

  He coughed and took a big gulp of his beer to disguise the laughter. When he could speak again, he said, “I’ll take my chances.”

  “The bayou and wetlands are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.”

  “I like bugs.”

  “Oh.” She went silent then, flicking the empty shells of the crawfish with her fingernail. Then she looked up at him. “I’ve heard there are wolves in the area. Actually, I’ve seen them. Scary suckers, too. Very dangerous.”

  Now he did choke, so hard he was gasping for air and his eyes filled with tears.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” he wheezed, trying like hell not to fall on the floor laughing.

  “Don’t you think it might be wise to rent somewhere first, in case your plan to move here permanently doesn’t work out? What if you buy a house now, then decided you hate it here? Lots of people hate it here, you know.”

  From her encouraging look, he got the idea she was hoping it wouldn’t work out. Too late. He already knew this was where he belonged. “Not at all. I’m ready to buy. No sense throwing money down the drain on rent when I can get into a buy right away. Then I can concentrate on getting Devlin Public Relations up and running.”

  “Oh. Well, whatever then.”

  It was hard not to laugh. Shannon’s emotions were so transparent, at least to him. Clearly she wasn’t happy he was moving here. That could be both a good and a bad thing. He understood her need to keep her distance. God knows he’d done it himself plenty of times in the past, although not for the same reason. He’d easily kept his emotions at bay because no woman had been able to draw them out of him.

  Shannon sure knew how to push his buttons, though. It was true that he didn’t know her background in depth, he knew enough just by sensing her emotions. Her distress whenever she was around him meant that she felt something for him, and that was a very good thing.

  They drove to the house and waited out front for the realtor, a very enthusiastic woman named Marcy with a lot of blonde hair piled high on her head. After Max convinced her that he really just wanted to walk through the place on his own, she agreed to stand idly by instead of taking him on a room by room tour.

  Not like he was going to steal anything since the place was empty. He’d done his homework. He knew the owners had moved out of state over a month ago.

  He’d snuck inside a half open window the other night and had a look around, so his decision was already made. What he really wanted to gauge was Shannon’s reaction.

  She walked through the rooms, her sandals flip-flopping on the wood floors. He admired the womanly curve of her body silhouetted by the dress she wore, a cool blue sundress with tiny straps. He itched to peel those little straps slowly down her arms. Then again, the material was so flimsy it would probably rip easily under his hands.

  A hard-on was not a good idea right now. He adjusted the crotch of his jeans and tried to keep his mind focused off the sway of her hips and onto her emotional reactions to the house.

  She walked through the entire place and didn’t say a word, then waited at the front door.

  “Well?” he finally asked.

  “Well what?”

  “What do you think of the place?”

  She shrugged and glanced around. “Too big for just one person.”

  “Imagine a family here.”

  She lifted her brows in question. “Family? Is your family moving down here?”

  “No. But someday I’ll have one of my own.”

  “Oh.”

  Silence. He felt a strange rumbling from within her. A quiet unease. Soft, yet stirring him in subtle ways that were inexplicable.

  Then she turned to him, narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “There’s no room for you to do your corporate climbing at The Rising Storm, Max.”

  “Huh?”

  “If your intent is to sli
de into a partial ownership or takeover of my family’s business, you can forget it. My family runs this hotel. Not outsiders.”

  She’d lost him about two sentences ago. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not interested in The Rising Storm other than as a client.”

  “Uh huh. I’ve heard that one before. But suddenly you’re really interested in me, then you want to move here. You’ve got your future all planned out, don’t you? Well let me tell you, it won’t be at the expense of my family. Go make your fortune elsewhere.”

  Shocked, he could only stare at her. Then, he threw his head back and laughed out loud. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

  When he could finally speak again, he said, “I already have.”

  “What?”

  “I said, I already have made my fortune. My family has more money than…well, actually, more than yours. The last thing I need or want is any tie-in financially to your hotel. Relax. I’m not out for your inheritance.”

  “Then why do you keep pushing to spend time with me?”

  Her question shocked him. Surely someone as beautiful and intelligent as Shannon couldn’t be that unsure of herself. “Because I like you, Shannon. I want to be with you, not your money, not your family. You.”

  Her face colored a deep pink. Very cute, actually. She turned and opened the door, mumbling something about needing to get back home because it was late and that she’d wait by the car. He shielded his eyes against the setting sun, chuckling at her obvious embarrassment.

  After speaking with Marcy and making plans to put in an offer on the house, he met Shannon at the car and unlocked the door for her.

  They drove silently for a few minutes. But he couldn’t hold back. “Feel pretty stupid about now, don’t you?”

  Studying her hands, she said, “I was merely protecting my family.”

  “I told you I’m not out to hurt your family. You’re unbelievable, you know that?”

  She half turned in the seat and glared at him. “I have no reason to trust you.”