ROCCO
When I went up to the beautiful Miss Wilding I tried to gauge if the electricity was one-sided. She appeared cold but when I saw her eyes widen in fear at the idea of being escorted off, I felt bad. That wasn’t my intention, the first step of my dance had landed right on her toes and caused an error.
I would never have thrown her out by the way, it wasn’t serious. What was serious though was the way the birthday man, Greg, was staring at me the whole time. when I told you about enjoying, the back and forth with pretty women I forgot to mention the other half of the game.
Not pissing off the guys who have similar ideas
He might have been a human but there was possessive machismo radiating in waves. Clearly, I was encroaching on someone he viewed as his, so I quickly made my excuses. Seeing as Miss Prickly wouldn’t even give me her first name it would appear the feeling is mutual.
Not a problem. I like the chase, not a grind.
I resolved to make sure Greg had the best time and ignore the blonde shifter. I opened the thirty-five year and poured him a generous measure, clinking our glasses to his success as he won another hand of blackjack.
He kept a fixed eye on Miss Wilding but soon lost himself in the red tables and card play once he saw her seated with a female friend.
This, as I explained to Callum later was exactly why I got involved when her top became ruined. I had to intervene. If she went home, Greg would be annoyed and then the night would be cut short with a bad atmosphere.
Not what we needed for a Saturday at the Gilded Falcon. Thank God for Pauline and her fancy jacket. When I promised to buy her another online straight after her shift, she agreed immediately.
By the way, I'd like to add, I have never, ever slept with a member of staff. That isn’t my scene at all. Too much power play, reminds me too much of pack dynamics. You don’t really know who wants what out of the situation, do you?
Anyway, I sorted her out with the jacket, managed to undo a couple of buttons to stop her looking like a repressed nun. As I took the opportunity to stand closer to her something shifted in her. As I took in her new appearance the coldness melted, leaving only her pretty face flushed with something like desire. Even so, when I gave her a sincere compliment, told her she was beautiful I got a shrug and a mutter. Must have got it wrong.
Lucky escape I tell myself, my policy for avoiding shifters holds true.
Much more importantly, for me and Callum anyway, when she came back into the room Greg was desperate to out-macho the situation. After watching me escort her into the room he threw over thirty thousand dollars into the chip count. Jackpot.
Cheers indeed Greg, you possessive, jealous idiot, I silently toasted as we jollily clinked glasses once more.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her, the rest of his night was going to be about impressing her I could tell. To be fair I think she gave every guy in there a jolt when they saw her. She really must dress very boringly at work.
Hours of fun and frolics later, well after two in the morning, the party was finally winding down. Greg, our lucky birthday boy, had managed to drink so much of his precious scotch that he was having a small snooze in a red leather booth while his taxi arrived. Smooth.
The jazz played gently in the background as the chatter and laughter slowly dimmed. To my surprise, Miss Wilding took up a seat at the bar whilst her brunette friend staggered to the bathroom and then grimaced as she realised I was standing behind it.
“Well,” I said, a broad smile on my face, determined to not end on a bad note, “have you enjoyed the night?”
I poured her a vodka lime-soda, the drink I had seen her enjoying all night. As she took the glass from me, her finger brushed against mine and I felt a sudden fizz and crackle of connection, not that she felt anything judging by her narrowed eyes. Perhaps I’m losing my appeal.
“I didn’t gamble if that’s what you mean,” she said icily, sliding the stack of free chips towards me.
“That’s not what I asked,” I said quickly, looking into her hazel eyes for a straight answer. This time she didn’t break eye contact and I could see the layers of colour making up her brown eyes. Gold, chocolate, leaves all whirled together.
She looked up at me for a few beats too long. Normally I know how to handle any situation but for once I had no idea what to do, what lines to offer, this girl was a complete puzzle.
“I have yes, it’s been a fabulous evening,” she said finally, her cheeks colouring a little as I took the chips from the bar, placing the cash in a white envelope and sliding it towards her.
“Will you be giving it back to your boss?” I asked, curious as to what moral stand she intended to take.
A small smile crept across her red lips as she held the fat envelope. “Well…” she started, then looked across at him asleep in the booth, “I could always say I lost it at blackjack,” and she tucked the envelope into her clutch.
“You surprise me, I would have bet on you being a good employee and returning the money.”
“I might still gamble, but at a nice casino that will have me,” she said with a raised eyebrow causing me to chuckle. She couldn’t help a smile breaking out either.
I can’t explain it but all the background noise of the evening fades away. As though someone turned down the volume leaving just us facing each other across the bar whilst I stacked and washed some glasses.
I don’t need to do these jobs, but it’s a task that keeps me near to where she sits. Callum and the staff were sorting out the drunken party goers with taxis, coats, and happy farewells, so we have a small pocket of time to ourselves.
What I want to do with this little moment I have no idea. For once my mind runs empty as she softly sips her drink and watches me. All I know is I want her lips against mine, my hands pressing her body to me. I know that much at least.
SELENE I had to hand it to Rocco and his sweet Scandinavian counterpart, they knew how to run an event. Very professional, who knew a pair of burly, muscular sex gods could do good business too? I keep drinking my vodka cocktails despite knowing they won’t get me drunk. It takes an extraordinary amount of alcohol to get a shifter inebriated but it was better to play along. I watched Jax gamble away her thousand immediately, the utter randomness of the roulette wheel her swift undoing. I managed to persuade her not to withdraw her life savings at least. It took everything I had not to let me eyes rest on Rocco. That dark hair and olive skin looked too good to be true. Tall, dark, handsome and a voice so sensually rich it made my hair stand on end. "You're no fun sometimes Selene," she grumbled, folding her arms in protest."I know," I sighed, switching my mind back to the party and not my panties, "but I can't be bothered to pic
ROCCO Not my smoothest move I'll admit. There was something happening at the bar between us, even though she would probably deny it. There was a tango of back and forth, trading tiny nuggets of information, little steps back and forth to the flow of the music. I could see her eyes following me up and down the bar, sizing up my shoulders wondering what my build was like under my suit jacket. When we leaned closer together over the bar, eyes meeting, her hazel irises dancing with curiosity, there was a possibility of something. I know I know I have made my rules clear, I don’t mix with shifters. She said she didn't either, let's don’t forget yet the ruby shards in her brown eyes said otherwise. You can call me foolish, but I know for certain, somewhere in a different reality it went differently than tonight. In a world where drunken friends and bosses didn't interrupt crucial moments, I would have been popping open those jac
ROCCO I think you've only seen the light, frothy version of me so far during these little interludes. Not today sorry, not in the mood. It had been a shit night, tossing and turning in frustration. Now I’m not saying I never strike out when I approach a potential conquest, date, romantic interest...whatever you want to call it. Not every woman I talk to is meant to be and that's just fine. My annoyance with last night came from a place I didn’t even understand. My wolf, who normally occupies a smaller chunk of my awareness was super fidgety as well which doesn’t help matters. Not like I can just head to the woods and sprint it off in the middle of the city either. We open in a few hours’ time, being a Sunday I’m not expecting big things so it’s just me running the show. Probably just a few regulars, some of the bigger fish. Often, it’s recently separated men, out to resolve some issues by splurging. I’ve never done that. I’m more likely to have a one-
SELENE Dragging my bag down the street I raged at myself, so many stupid decisions in succession. Leaving my bag at the club was the big one, so distracted by Jax and Rocco that I had to wake Troy up to let me in and pay the cab fare like a sneaking teenager. Error number two, massively offending Rocco by suggesting he had rifled through my things.Error three, looking into those dark eyes of his again. Dressed in just a white shirt and pants, sleeves rolled up and suit jacket flung over a chair he looked damn good. The whiteness of his shirt made that olive skin of his pop, his defined muscles easier to see with the jacket removed. That's two days in a row I've left that casino with soaking wet panties and zero satisfaction.It was too delicious a sight to take in and my attempt to be cold and business like fell away like ashes in the breeze. I do not know why but pissing him off and hearing the harsher edge of his ri
TWO WEEKS LATER ROCCO I consider myself fully dusted down and bounced back. Yes, it took me a couple of days but the familiar jolly, roguish Rocco is back in the building. It came to a bit of a head, both Jacob and Callum said they were worried about me. I couldn’t say why, because the reason was so flimsy. I've overcome a hell of a lot worse in my time, not that I dwell. My jack-in-a-box mind normally takes care of that Miserable and quick tempered because an arrogant female shifter thought I’d hit on her friend and gone through her bag? Pathetic. They told me to take some time off, go and get myself a date and let off some steam. I can’t lie, I wanted nothing more than to get down and dirty, rough, and hard with a woman who knew what she wanted. I know I’d have felt a hundred times better, for a couple of hours anyway. You know exactly what I mean, when you’re dazed, sweating and panting, ever
ROCCO Be proud of me here, I didn’t go charging in demanding to be seen. I didn't take a big bunch of flowers or an invitation to dinner. I am going to play her at her own cold game. I spent at least an hour pondering my next move. Admittedly fifty-eight minutes of it were spent trying to get hold of Callum to get his buy-in for the Alpha’s new venture. Business partners or hostages he'd grimly joked. A good portion of my time was spent fending off jokes from Jacob about the disgusting state of my office too. I ordered the new desk by the way.But here we are a week later, I have a clean, spunk-free desk and a suit made for seducing on. Fabulous. Getting up at a decent hour in the morning was a trial instead of my usual lazy lie-in but such sacrifices must be made sometimes. I went for a deep navy, almost black suit, white crisp shirt and a matching navy tie. The Godiva Corporate Entertainment office was as soulless and predictable as one would expect.
SELENEThere was no way to know it was him. Fuck my life sideways, upside down and back again when I walked out of that lift.He looked like a dream. That navy suit and tie was just what I loved a man to wear. His dark eyes looked me up and down and I knew he liked what he saw. A rush of excitement flooded straight to my panties and I just about managed to pick my jaw off the floor.It was getting increasingly hard to stick to my zero shifter policy. Not when he looked at me with those coffe-coloured eyes. So rich and warm I keep getting lost in them.So of course I made a shitty remark about the scotch. Standard pushing people away instinct. But he seems to enjoy the challenge, especially given the fact he looked at my lips for way too long.
SELENE“Honestly you should have heard Jax all afternoon,” I moaned to Troy as he sat on the end of my bed. His long brown hair fell down to his shoulders and his green eyes squinted at me as I put on some red lipstick.“You don’t need that shade,” he groaned, “it’s too much, I keep telling you.”“Just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you know everything about fashion you know. It doesn’t go hand in hand with liking guys,” I smirked, ignoring him as I applied the final touches.“I'm an expert on you, not fashion. You know that dress is going to wreck this guy. I’m very proud of myself to be honest,” he mocked as he lay back onto my mattress and looked up at the ceiling.