Beauty Dates the Beast by Jessica Sims Page B

that was done, I left the kitchen to pull Beau away from Sara’s hiding spot while she was vulnerable.
    He stood in the middle of the hallway, still buck naked, and oh boy, his ass was nice. I’d already seen it once, but it was equally mesmerizing on the second viewing. I admired his body as he talked on my phone, mentally caressing the breadth of his shoulders and the slim V of his hips as he talked. Just a hint of hair dusting his chest, and none on his back. That was nice. His buttocks were fascinating. Small, firm, and taut. I badly wanted to feel the smoothness of that muscled backside and clasped my hands, not trusting them to not reach for that wonderful bronzed flesh.
    He finished the call and began another. “Ramsey? It’s me. I need you to come meet me.”
    As Beau gave Ramsey my address, I realized what had been bothering me about his appearance and rescue. He’d sure gotten here fast. I glanced back in the kitchen, thinking of Sara and frowning. Something wasn’t adding up.
    On a hunch, I tiptoed toward the broken window and peeked outside. No sign of the Viper in my driveway, but his clothes were strewn across my front yard. Wherever he’d come from, he’d walked. And considering how fast he’d gotten here, he must have been very close nearby.
    I turned away from the window, managing to stay remarkably calm. “How did you get to my house so fast?”
    He put the phone back into the cradle. His gray eyes bored into mine, challenging. “I was outside.”
    “Why were you outside? I broke up with you.”
    “And I came here to talk to you about that,” Beau said. “Because I know the timing is all wrong, and I don’t care. I wanted to see you again, so I decided to come talk to you, and then I smelled that thing. The same thing that I smelled in the cab, Bathsheba. I didn’t tell you then, because I didn’t want to worry you, but something unnatural is stalking you. Something that’s stronger than any supe I’ve run across and that likes the taste of blood.”
    “I see,” I said in a soft voice, trembling. “You saved us. Thank you.”
    “You looked like you were handling things just fine.” He crossed his arms over his chest, which really emphasized his nakedness. “So are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
    “If I knew what it was, don’t you think I’d have taken care of it? Something is hunting you. Or Sara. Maybe both of you.”
    I gave a tremulous laugh. “Maybe we should be asking if
you
have enemies.”
    His expression remained grave, which made me shiver. The werewolves had Savannah because they wanted Sara. Maybe they wanted me as well? I knew that they couldn’t turn me into a wolf, but they didn’t know that.
    A warm arm wrapped around my shoulder. I suddenly found my nose smooshed against Beau’s chest and he pulled me tight against him. “Come sit on the couch,” he said in a low, hypnotic voice. “I’ll go get Sara.”
    My arms clamped around his waist and I pulled him against me. “She’s fine. She just needs a little time to recover and won’t appreciate us bothering her.” At his skeptical look, I laid my head on his shoulder. “Stay with me. Please.”
    I was not above emotional manipulation to keep him away from my very wolfy sister.
    “Don’t worry,” he said, keeping me pressed to his side as he steered us toward the couch. “Everything is going to be fine. Whatever it was is gone. I’ve called my clan in and they’re going to come help us.”
    Us.
Not “you.” As if we were joined at thehip already. It wouldn’t hurt to let him think we could still be together, and I huddled next to his naked body on the couch. My mind kept running through the events over and over, the growls, the horrible smell, fear for Sara, who must have been terrified, yet I couldn’t get to her as long as Beau was here and she was still a wolf… .
    We sat on the couch for a long while. Beau stroked my hair and whispered small things to me, and I … liked it.