She frowned. She was in the office during her assigned hours, but had offered to come in and leave at whatever times necessary. Callum didn’t seem impressed with Ana. His messages to her were always brief and he never asked for her to bring him anything. Usually it was a passing it off to someone else. Heck, she’d yet to be in his office.
She got an idea. It might be a bad one, but at this point she didn’t give a shit about getting into trouble. She had to do something. She needed to get to know Callum. The best way to do that would be to go into his office and familiarize herself with the projects he was working on. She knew he handled the acquisition of new shops, so that meant she needed to go read through the pile of emails and files on his desk. And whatever else was in his office.
“You’re right!” She grinned. “That’s what I’ll do.”
“That’s the spirit,” Stephanie grinned. “Okay, I have to go. My boys are down the street at a bar, but they’re going to be calling me soon to take me to dinner. I have some files to take care of before I go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You got it. And thank you again.” She said as Stephanie dashed toward her side of the floor.
Stephanie stopped and turned to wave. “No problem. Just remember that Night men are very internal. You gotta get him to talk.”
Right. Talk. Easier said than done.
Chapter Two
Callum cradled his whiskey tumbler. It was his fourth or fifth and had done nothing to calm the hunger inside him. Hunger for one hot little cat who sat right outside his office door. He leaned back in the quiet bar corner outside the building.
Bryan and Brent glanced back and forth at each other and then stared at him. “You know, we’ve seen this before.”
“Seen what?” He asked the Wonder Twins. At least that’s how everyone at Night and Day referred to them.
“The signs. You’re wanting someone and we think we know who it is,” Brent said, picking up his glass and bringing it to his lips.
“If you’re anything like Royce, than you have the hots for Anabelle.” Bryan grinned. “Not that anyone could blame you. We’ve had multiple employees ask to be at her next photo shoot so they can get a glimpse of the curvy model in lingerie.”
A growl slipped past Callum’s lips. His animal didn’t appreciate knowing other men wanted the tigress. With the bountiful curves and beautiful pinup look, she made him hard with a single smile. Her beautiful caramel complexion always glowed with health and life. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he searched for her scent the moment he entered the building.
It was like a cat and mouse game. She didn’t know it, but he needed to know she was around. Close enough that he could soothe the animal inside with a whiff of her cat. He’d caught glimpses of her coming and going throughout the day. Usually from behind. And what a behind she had. He had stared at her more than once, watching the sexy sway of her hips and the wiggle of her bottom in those curve-hugging dresses she loved to wear.
Usually he tried to stay away from her. From her scent. That delicious combination of wild animal and warm woman were driving his wolf insane. Not to mention making it damn hard for him to focus on acquiring the upcoming building. She was close to her heat and he could think of nothing more than taking her for himself.
“She’s in heat and needs to be with a person ready to mate. That’s not me.”
“Why not?” Brent asked. He tugged off the tie he’d worn to the meeting the three had with the seller of the property Night and Day wanted to buy.
He didn’t want to explain why he didn’t want to have a mate. The Day brothers didn’t need insight into his previously messy personal life, but he chose to enlighten them with some information.
“I had a mate once before.”
Bryan frowned. He leaned forward in the booth. “Well, where is she?”
“Gone.” He didn’t bother adding how or why. That wasn’t something they needed to know.
“I’m sorry,” Bryan said. “Losing a loved one can be hard.”
He didn’t stop them from thinking his previous mate had passed away. She was dead in every sense of the word. Even if he didn’t mourn her.
“I can’t be Ana’s mate. So I think you need to give her to someone else. Her heat is coming and she’ll need to be away from the shops or you’ll have a fucking riot on your hands.” Fucking hell it twisted his stomach in knots to think of her no longer being right outside his door. At an arm’s reach. He knew it was the right thing to do. He was a loner, no longer interested in the mate and family life. He’d tried that. It hadn’t worked. If he wanted to fuck, then he’d go to one of the Wolfe clubs and hook up with someone there. His friend Mason always had a large number of single shifters ready and willing to help him relax his animal.
“She’s not going to be happy. She just started this week at the office. Usually we keep her as a floater for our models. We get a lot of hits on our social media pages when we post photos of her shoots.”