Purr For The Alpha (A Paranormal Romance) (Timber Valley Pack) by Georgette St. Clair

endlessly parched crowd.  When she didn’t know that he was watching, he studied her.  An outsider would think that she was completely relaxed, but he knew the truth. There was always a bit of reserve about her.  She never fully let her guard down. She couldn’t.
    She had that one time with him, though. He’d seen it in her eyes. She’d submitted to him. She trusted him. She’d let down her boundaries, released that iron control, just for a short time.
    He’d see to it that she submitted to him again. She’d surrender to him, open herself up completely…
    She looked up suddenly, glancing his way, and caught him watching her. He smiled at her, a slow smile of promise and possessiveness. She bit her lip and looked away. It was hard to tell under the nightclub’s flickering lights, but it looked as if she was blushing.
    Then she looked up again, deliberately met his eyes, and turned and walked away with a flip of her hair.
    Challenge accepted, he thought.
    He watched her stop and talk to a mountain lion shifter and felt tension tighten his gut. He had no right to be jealous.  The shifter was a handsome guy, nothing wrong with him, technically far more appropriate for her since he was of the cat species.
    Feline and wolf pairings were risky in terms of cubs. Basically, it was feast or famine.  Either the pairing turned out sterile, or they always gave birth to twins – one of each. A cat and a wolf.
    He shook himself. Why was he even thinking about cubs right now? First he needed to convince her that she belonged to him and only him, that only he could give her what she really needed.
    He glanced at her again. She was still talking to the mountain lion shifter – and she glanced his way to gauge his reaction.
    He swallowed down the rising fury in him, flashed her a smile and a wink, and walked behind the bar to help the bartender.
    It didn’t hurt that the woman who ordered a drink from him had a very large, very generous cleavage, and that she leaned over the bar to give him an eyeful as she was ordering. He sneaked a glance at Karen. She was alone now, staring at him with a scowl, and when he caught her looking, she quickly turned and vanished in to the crowd.
    At 4 a.m., the bar was closed, they’d cleaned up, and it was time to head out. 
    He caught her as she walked out of the dressing room. She’d changed back into her jeans and tank top.
    “ It’s time to head home. You avoiding me?” He looked amused.
    “Why would I do that?” she asked her tone deliberately aloof. “Besides, why would you care? It’s not like you’re lacking for company.”
    “So you noticed. And neither were you.”
    She shrugged. “I’m the friendly type. So?”
    He blocked her as she tried to walk past him. She wasn’t getting away from him that easily – not again.
    A hot wave of desire swept over him, and he moved towards her until she was backed up against the wall.  She tipped her head back to stare at him, eyes wide, lips parted.  He wanted to claim those lips with a rough kiss, to thrust himself into her sweet warmth… “Remember what happened here last year? Care to start up where we left off?”
    To his shock, she burst into tears, and slapped his face so hard his cheek stung. Then she stomped out the back door.

Chapter Seven
     
    Hurt and humiliation boiled over in her, and tears ran down her face. She wiped them away quickly with the back of her arm as she stalked outside, uniform clutched in her hands.
    First he’d flirted with other women right in front of her all night long, now he was openly making fun of how he’d ditched her a year earlier. What the hell was wrong with him? What a sick, twisted bastard. Even more upsetting, she still wanted him. She still craved his touch.  Every time he brushed past her, she felt a shiver of arousal sweep through her body, and images of that night flashed through her mind.
    Well, s he might have to work for him for a month, but that didn’t mean she had to