Taming the Beast

As Nick loaded bacon onto his plate, he grinned at her. “We’re certain you’re worth the wait.”

The words were an innocent flirtation, at best, and completely meaningless at worst, so they shouldn’t have made her blush and squirm in her chair. Abruptly, she remembered last night’s dream, which only made her blush harder. In an effort to clear her thoughts and reduce the redness in her cheeks, she switched the subject. “Do you have wild animals in the forest around your home?”

Nick and Duncan shared a look before Duncan nodded at her. “The usual, I’m sure.”

Remembering the red eyes, she shuddered slightly. “I saw something I wouldn’t necessarily classify as the usual last night. It had glowing red eyes.”

Both men stiffened, and Nick asked, “What else did you see?”

She shook her head. “That was it. It was dark, and I wouldn’t have noticed the eyes if the moonlight hadn’t reflected off them. I’ve just never seen red eyes on an animal before.”

“It was probably wolves,” said Duncan in an easy fashion. He appeared to dismiss the whole thing. “We have a small pack in the forest, so make sure you stay in at night. It isn’t safe out there.”

Baylee took the plate of eggs Nick passed her. “Believe me, I will. I have no desire to run into a pack of wolves.”

The rest of breakfast passed with light conversation, and she was in the library soon after. She immersed herself in books, quickly losing track of the time. It could have been minutes or hours later when the doors to the library opened, startling her from her perch on the ladder. Nick swept into the room with a silver tray in his hand bearing a teapot and cups. Her stomach rumbled abruptly, and she guessed it was closer to hours than minutes since she had begun work.

He set the tray on the table near one of the couches before approaching. “I thought you could use some morning tea.”

She grinned down at him as she started to climb down the ladder. “I could really use a Starbucks, but tea sounds fine too.”

He grinned at her. “Sorry, but there aren’t any Starbucks within quite a distance. Mrs. Farley bemoans the fact as well from time to time.”

She’d only taken a couple of steps down the ladder when she felt his hands on her hips. Baylee froze, uncertain what to do. A moment later, he lifted her off her current rung to set her on her feet. As he did so, he brought her close to his body, sliding her down with excruciating slowness. She shivered at the contact, and when she felt the full press of his arousal, her eyes widened with shock.

When he set her on her feet, she couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze, so she stumbled away from him and toward the couch. Her heart was pounding when she collapsed to the velvet cushion. She glanced up through the veil of her lashes as Nick sauntered closer, seemingly completely comfortable with what he had revealed, or perhaps oblivious to it. That didn’t seem likely, so she had to guess perhaps he was trying to put her at ease. It wasn’t really working—a fact established by the way her hand trembled when she accepted a saucer and teacup from him a few moments later.

With a frown of concern, he took it back just as quickly before taking her hands in his. “Are you all right? Do you feel ill?”

She shook her head, incapable of speech. The feel of his hands around hers was only making her reaction to him that much stronger, which served to further throttle her ability to speak.

His voice dropped an octave, taking on a smoky edge. “You look flushed. Are you overheated?”

Slowly, she nodded.

In response, he slid closer, releasing her hands with one of his to put his arm around her shoulders instead. He took advantage of the fact she had unthinkingly chosen the middle cushion to press against her.

Baylee knew she should pull away, but she seemed incapable of moving. From the way he’d position them, she knew Nick was about to kiss her. His head was descending, and his lips were softly parted. In response, she licked her own and still didn’t move. She couldn’t have if she wanted to, and she definitely didn’t want to. She wanted him to kiss her with every fiber of her being.

The sound of the library door opening made her jump, and she finally broke the paralysis enough to jerk away from him slightly.

With a sigh, Nick pulled back and turned more fully to face the table with the tea.

Duncan came to sit on her other side, his hand casually on her knee. It did nothing to help clear her head or decelerate her heart rate.

“Sorry I’m late. I was wrapping up a call.” As he spoke, he took a cup of tea Nick offered with a nod of his head.

After a couple of deep breaths, she leaned forward to take the tea cup and saucer Nick had set aside when he had taken it from her hands a few minutes before. She was proud that it didn’t rattle this time, though it required more strength of will than it should have to simply hold on to a teacup. She took a moment to sip, hoping to regain some of her equilibrium. “What is it that you do, Duncan?” she asked after finishing the sip of tea.

It was Nick who answered. “We manage our inherited wealth.”

It was a vague answer, but she had no wish to learn the finer economic intricacies of maintaining a vast sum of wealth. She was certain her employers had to be wealthy to live in this home. “Are you two brothers?”

“Friends,” said Nick.

“Former enemies,” added Duncan with a grin.

She couldn’t imagine that, so she rolled her eyes. “Of course you are. That’s why you share a home together.” After another sip of tea, she asked, “Does your business take you into the city very often?” As she uttered the question, she realized her motivation for posing it wasn’t strictly casual conversation. She was trying to determine if she’d ever have an opportunity to see them again after her assignment ended.