Cross the Line: A Gabriella Cross Paranormal Romance Book 2 by M.J. Lovestone

and wrapped his arms around her. The kiss became frantic as their searching hands found what they had coveted for so long in secret. Michael lifted her onto him with strong hands. She straddled him, wrapping her legs around his hips. One of his strong hands held her ass, and the other cradled the back of her neck as he turned and pressed her up against the cabin wall. The soft warmth of his lips and his darting tongue sent her over the edge. She cradled his head with one arm, and with her other hand reached into his jeans and squeezed him, delighting in his girth. He groaned like a beast and tore the top of her dress down. His mouth found her breast and she pulled on him harder, wanting nothing more than to feel him inside of her.
    The elevator suddenly stopped and dinged, and the door began to open.
    Gabby gasped and instinctively jerked her head toward the door even as Michael reached over and hit the button to close it, but not before they both saw Juliette standing on the other side. She cocked an eyebrow and stared at them as the door slowly closed.
    Michael put her down and fumbled with his zipper as she fixed her dress. The spell that had overtaken them both had suddenly burst, leaving in its wake an awkward silence that neither seemed to know how to break.
    The door opened once again, and Juliette was still standing there with the same judgmental look on her face. She reminded Gabby of one of her teachers, and she felt like she had been caught making out under the bleachers. “Good evening, Gabby,” Juliette said evenly. She glanced at her brother, clearly unamused.
    “Hi,” said Gabby, hurrying past her.
    “Gabby,” said Michael.
    She turned around and met his eyes, wishing that he would come with her, wishing that they could finish what they had started.
    His gaze told her that he felt the same, but he glanced over at Juliette and said only, “I’ll let you know when Quip is out of surgery.”
    “Thanks,” she said, and walked to the waiting car.

Chapter 8
     
     
    Gabby was driven home by her new team of werewolf bodyguards. Four of them sat in the back of the armored truck, and Gabby sat up front with the new guy in charge of her detail. He was a big Native American, at least six-three, and dressed all in black like the rest of them. He talked about as much as a mannequin, to Gabby’s annoyance, and didn’t even bother putting on the radio.
    She wanted conversation, needed it to distract her from her worries for Quip.
    “So you’re the new guy, huh?”
    He sat there expressionless, eyes forward. “Yup,” he said in a deep, flat voice.
    “What happened to the other guys? Did I get them fired by getting away?”
    “Yup.”
    “Has the entire team been replaced?” said Gabby, suddenly feeling bad.
    He took longer to speak this time, and once again let out a droning, “Yup.”
    “Can you say anything besides ‘yup’?”
    The guard glanced over at her with expressionless dark eyes set above high cheek bones, and then returned his eyes to the rode.
    Gabby sighed. “How long you been working for Michael?”
    “Years.”
    “Are all of you guys werewolves? I mean all his security?”
    He nodded, only giving a deep, “Mmm hmm.”
    “Doesn’t being a werewolf stuck in the city kind of suck?”
    He didn’t answer.
    Gabby wanted to wave her hands in his face and scream “hello!” Instead she resigned herself to staring out the side window at the passing apartments.
    He gave a half annoyed, half resigned sigh and finally spoke more than one word. “Mr. Steele does a lot of work outside the city. We get to hunt in some of the most exotic forests in the world. One full moon in the Amazon makes up for months stuck in Chicago.”
    Gabby imagined Michael and his pack of weres chasing down game in one of his nature preserves and shivered, reminding herself of the nature of such…people.
    “What’s your name?” Gabby asked, hoping to keep him talking.
    “Bob.”
    That made Gabby smile. “Bob the