Venice Heat Read Free

count on Shae and her family to handle any issues.
    Her smile hadn’t faltered until she reached the three steps leading onto the porch, and she realized Eiji had no intention of helping her. All her charitable thoughts toward him flew away with her temper. “You must be Ed-jie Tanaka,” she simpered and deliberately butchered his name. “Can you give me a hand?”
    This time she got a rise. He stirred from his post and walked down the steps with deliberate movements. A whiff of his soap and natural male scent assaulted Shae’s nose, and she licked her lips and swallowed, all of a sudden hot for reasons other than the temperature. She wrapped men around her little finger for a living, and not many got her blood pumping without a little effort on their part. Yet this one had her going even while being a jerk.
    He nabbed both bags from her hands and raised them as if they were feathers. “It’s Eiji— Ay-Jee! ” he emphasized.
    She widened her eyes and just smiled as if that’s what she’d said. Any other person would have at least scowled, but Mr. Statue simply snapped the words and disappeared inside the house, leaving her feeling stupid.
    “Whatever,” she muttered and followed him.
    The interior of the place she’d rented was small, but much nicer than its outside. Shiny hardwood floors, contemporary furniture, and simple pictures on the walls of animals such as zebras and lions decorated the square living room. What impressed her was the wide fireplace, accented with a dark wood mantel and the huge flat-screen TV above it, although she didn’t have any intention of sitting at home much using either. The kitchen sat directly off the living room, a strip of space designed for efficiency of use. Around the corner from the kitchen, she found a small two-seater eating area and, off from that, the first bedroom. After noting a private bathroom in it, she turned back to Eiji.
    “I like your accent. Japan, right? How long have you been in America?”
    Something flashed in his eyes, but she couldn’t identify the emotion before it disappeared. “Yes, Tokyo. Few months. Is the house acceptable?”
    “Wow, you’re a great conversationalist.” She smiled and leaned against the table, head tilted. “So what’s fun to do in this town? Any hot spots you can suggest? Hell, maybe you can show me around.”
    “I’m sorry.” He didn’t appear to be. He strode away from her toward the kitchen and stopped at the counter. From his pocket, he pulled out an envelope and set it on the counter. “Your keys and my number if you have a problem.”
    Well, that was that. She didn’t intend to keep chasing after him. There must be hundreds of hot guys in Venice right that second, and she could have a good time with any number of them. Shae had never failed to find the best parties wherever she went. All she needed to do was get out there, and Eiji Tanaka could kiss her ass. She snatched the envelope from the counter and turned on her heel. Her luggage sat nearby, so she bent to grab one to take into the bedroom, leaving the bastard of a landlord where he stood.

Chapter Two
    Eiji watched Shae laugh and flirt from where he stood against the wall. He held a drink in his hand, but he hadn’t yet taken a sip. Instead he wanted to remain alert because there was no doubt in his mind that the beautiful Shae Jones could not know the man she displayed an indecent amount of her cleavage to was, in fact, a wolf shifter. Eiji had pegged him from the first moment he strolled into the bar. He had paused just inside the door to get a lay of the place, taking in the two wolves buying drinks, one female, one male, the three additional men surrounding their leader at one of the tables, and the very human man at the pool table who eyed Shae with interest from the second she walked in the door.
    So she wouldn’t turn and see he’d been following her, he’d left the entrance and found an unoccupied spot in a corner—well, almost unoccupied