“I had no idea you would be here, if that’s what you’re suggesting?”
“I told you, I’m not ready to date right now,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she pursed her lips at him.
“I came down here to ask Angus about the Louis the Fifteenth secret compartment chest. A subject that you seem quite familiar with. I wonder why that is.”
“We should stop beating around the bush,” Zoe said, trying to change the subject. “You and I both know that we’re mates. Now that we’ve met, there’s no way of avoiding it. What do you propose we do now?”
Rollo drew back, his face changing from scrutinizing to confused. “Why do you think I signed up for Mate.com in the first place, Zoe Bright?”
“Probably for different reasons than I did. But usually people sign up for those things because they want to find a romantic relationship. Shifters, as we both know, usually want to settle down and start a family.”
“You are a shifter,” Rollo countered.
“But I’m not just any shifter,” Zoe purred, leaning toward him.
She could smell his arousal rising off him and sense the tension in his muscles as they coiled, ready to pounce on her. She slid past him, brushing slightly against his arm as she walked towards the forest.
“I’ve seen the world. I know what’s out there. I also know that shifter marriages don’t always work. My father was a jaguar like me, and my mother was a grizzly like my brother Corey. Their relationship didn’t work out. My father was a gambler and a lady’s man, and he never stayed home. He left my mother destitute with two children, but she always took him back. It was heartbreaking to watch my mother suffer all my life. So you see, you may be my mate, but that doesn’t mean that I belong to you. It doesn’t mean that we’ll have a happily ever after.”
She heard him turn behind her and felt his hot breath blow over the back of her neck.
“Your brother found a mate and he was a notorious bachelor. If Corey can settle down, so can you.”
She turned around, looking up at him through her thick, black lashes. She flicked her tongue across her lip and stepped close to him. They were so close she could feel the heat of his body radiating off of him, filling her with his warmth.
“Corey and I are very different people. Or haven’t you heard? I’m a bad girl. I traveled the world doing whatever I please for seven years. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Commander,” Zoe purred.
He moved in closer until their faces were only inches apart, and he whispered into her ear. “I’m going to find out,” he said.
She took a step back and giggled as she turned away. It was getting too intense, and if he got any closer she might just throw herself into his arms. Her jaguar filled her mind with images of unzipping her coveralls and dropping on her knees in front of him. He caught her arm gently but firm and stood beside her.
“I’m going to take you out to dinner tomorrow night,” he said. “And you are not going to say no.”
She turned to look at him as her mouth dropped in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to be so forceful. She wanted to hate it, but the truth was, she loved it. She licked her lips and laughed.
“So I can’t say no, huh? Where are you going to take me that’s so great?”
“I’ll take you the lodge. We’ll have some of Shane Keenan’s special rock lobster. Then we’ll take a walk in the moonlight and see where our animals take us.”
She ran her hand up his chest, feeling the hard planes and his muscles under her palm. She couldn’t remember ever feeling so turned on. Every fiber of her being wanted to strip naked and make love to him right there on the grass. Everything else be damned. Her sex throbbed between her legs and the musky scent of Rollo’s body made her eyes roll back in her head. He caught her chin in his hand, tilting her face up to look into his eyes.
“Say yes.”
Rollo Morris was obviously a man who was used to getting what he wanted, and Zoe wanted to give it to him.
“Yes,” she breathed.
She was the under the spell of his body and yearned for him to touch her. But he pulled away, nodding his head.
“I’ll pick you up at the institute at seven o’clock tomorrow night. Be ready.”
He turned away and strode over the lawn and into the SUV without looking back. Zoe stood staring, watching him the whole time. As he pulled out of the parking lot his eyes blazed up at hers, and they locked for several long seconds before he turned the car around and drove away.
6
Rollo couldn’t keep his mind on anything else since he’d spoken to Zoe and finally gotten her to agree to a date with him. Sure, he had his suspicions. That was part of the reason he’d been so forceful with her. Part of the reason. She had become an unofficial suspect in the jewel theft case, but more importantly, she was his mate.