Guarding His Heart by Serena Pettus Page B

Lynn conceded.
    “Okay, tell me what you can, and we’ll see if we can muddle through it.”
    Letting loose a gusty sigh, Lynn unloaded. She explained her attraction and that he returned it, how he thought a relationship wouldn’t work, but he still looked out for her and even left her gifts. After going over her confused feelings and how she and Jag were finally supposed to talk through everything tonight, Lynn finished with, “So, oh wise one, what the hell am I supposed to do now?”
    “Sweetie, that man is so far gone he’s scared.” Kitty was dead serious, making Lynn’s palms sweat. “The man obviously has strong feelings for you—if he doesn’t love you already—and he doesn’t know what to do. You said he’s afraid of you not returning his feelings? That reeks of abandonment issues.”
    Lynn thought of Jag being held in the zoo for all that time, alone, completely cut off from his kind and unable to change due to the constant risk of the shifter secret getting out. Could that have something to do with it? Had someone known he’d been captured yet done nothing to help?
    “Listen, you just relax here for a few, and I’ll be right back. Here’s a little liquid courage to help you out with your man later.” After slipping another jar into Lynn’s hand, Kitty sauntered off to serve waiting customers, leaving Lynn to stew in her thoughts.
    She sipped her drink and enjoyed the imagined scenarios flitting through her head. In one, she arrived home to find candles and rose petals scattered all over her front porch, with a very nude Jag lounging on her swing. Another had him greeting her at the door and sweeping her off her feet before whisking her down the hall to her bedroom, where he proceeded to apologize as he placed open-mouthed kisses over her whole body.
    Certain she’d only indulged in her fantasies for a few minutes, Lynn was shocked to look around and see the bar was nearly empty. Two servers tidied the seating area, sweeping and flipping chairs onto the tabletops, while Kitty stocked the coolers with beer.
    Lynn pulled out her phone. It took a few fumbled attempts to unlock the screen then a little longer to focus her eyes enough to see the screen. One-thirty in the morning! Even more alarming was the number of missed calls, voicemails and text messages.
    Holy shit! Liam is pissed , she thought miserably. By the time he’d left the last few messages, he was threatening to take her over his knee then begging her to call, send a message or anything to let them know that she was alive. When Lynn got to the utterly distraught voicemail from Samantha, Lynn knew she’d fucked up.
    Groaning, Lynn called out to Kitty. “I need to go home. Apparently, the guys think I’m dead.” Wow, I’m not sounding too good .
    “There’s no way in hell you’re driving home, girlie. You just hold tight, and I’ll take you,” Kitty ordered, now wiping down the bar again.
    “Thank you.” Lynn quickly sent a group text to Samantha, Liam and Dylan, apologizing and letting them know she was coming home—at least, she hoped that’s what it said since she couldn’t really read what she had typed in. With any luck, they’d understand what she was going for and pass it along to Jag. She didn’t have a number for him, and also, she had no idea if she could get out another text.
    In truth, Lynn was getting fuzzier by the minute. With the way the room seemed to move, the very idea of having Jag see her in her current state seemed utterly hilarious. Lynn found herself in stitches, laughing harder than she could ever remember and unable to stop. Tears streamed down her face, and her cheeks ached from her ridiculous grin.
    The servers, along with Kitty, giggled with her, until her chuckles turned to sobs. Everyone seemed uncomfortable around the crazy woman bawling at the bar.
    “I’m sorry,” Lynn hiccupped. “I don’t know w-what’s wrong w-with me.”
    Kitty walked over, patting Lynn’s arm. “Honey,