Amazon (The Ushers 1) Read Free Page B

him, no matter how good he smelled. And oh, did he ever smell good. She felt her wolf stirring, taking interest. Down girl, she scolded her other half wryly.
    “Ellen.” Her brunette friend nodded to him, holding out her hand for a shake.
    He took it and then turned to shake Bianca’s. Unable to leave him sitting there, hand extended, Bianca grasped it and gave it a firm pump. His hand was warm and dry and rough, like the callused pads of a wolf’s foot. Attraction sparked swiftly and furiously between them, like an electric current seeking a conduit.
    “Pleased to meet you,” he murmured.
    She could hear her friends talking around them, but Jack kept his eyes glued to hers, as if his world, too, had narrowed down to that handshake.
    “L-Likewise,” Bianca stammered. She felt the flush rise in her cheeks, lamenting that her blood couldn’t be as pale as the rest of her.
    Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. Bianca was blushing. The beguiling pink color spread from her beautifully-displayed cleavage, perfection in a V-neck T-shirt, up her neck to her cheeks, where it gathered like strawberries floating in cream. He felt his body stir to treacherous life, his jeans growing tight. No. He shook himself like a wet dog. But his erection still taunted him. He leaned in and breathed her scent, that same lavender soap smell as Sara…but then something else, something uniquely her, delicate and spicy, full of the woods and mountain air, but not the windy cold of Sara. Jack’s lip curled as a wave of longing swept through him, drawing his senses tight. He wasn’t sure if his wolf wanted to kiss her throat or tear it out, but this primal urge to put his teeth on her was undeniable. He quickly drew his head back before he could act on either.
    “Well, if you are done sniffing each other’s butts…” Sara’s teasing voice snapped the tension like a guitar string breaking mid-song.
    “I’m sorry, Sara.” Jack looked up and met her eyes, smiling sheepishly and willing to admit he was behaving like an animal. He was sitting at a booth in a bar surrounded by four beautiful women, and to his dismay, his wolf was strutting like a pup after its first kill. He pushed the animal down deep. He was here to speak, not to strut.
    “Thank you, for arranging this…introduction.” He chose the word carefully. The word “parley” would have endowed the meeting with the full weight an official meeting between two packs, whereas it seemed more likely that Sara was simply introducing him to her friends…all female.
    With Bianca still looking stunned, Ellen, the sun-kissed one, snorted a laugh and then turned to Sara. “You should go, Sara. We can take it from here. Thank you for arranging this meeting.”
    Jack noticed that Sara looked relieved, and instinctively, his Guardian mind churned with suspicion. Why might Sara have been nervous?
    He watched as Sara turned and whispered something to Bianca, so quietly, even Jack’s wolf couldn’t pick up on the words. Bianca curled one white hand behind Sara’s head, and their lips met in an amorous kiss, tongues colliding and a soft whimper coming from Sara’s throat. Heat filled Jack’s face, but he couldn’t look away from the two women. Bianca’s hand tightened in Sara’s hair in a possessive caress. It was astoundingly sensual, sending ripples of arousal down Jack’s body as he watched, a sudden undercurrent of jealousy turning his thoughts toward wanting those hands in his own hair.
    Jack’s body roared to life as if begging someone, anyone, to notice him. He felt both turned on and left out. A low growl emerged from his throat before he could stop it, and he winced at his loss of control.
    “I’ll see you later, lovely,” Sara whispered to Bianca as she pulled away.
    While Jack stared in shock at Bianca and Sara, Ellen and Kathy moved aside to let Sara pass. She moved quietly to stand, murmured something in Ellen’s ear, and then turned to Jack.
    “I have arranged this