Cut to the Chase (City Shifters: the Pride Book 4) Read online

  He lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers before easing back. She started to follow him, ready for another kiss, but he tightened his hold on her hair and she inhaled sharply. Carter smiled, returned for another slow kiss. She tasted like tequila and lime and lust, a heady mix with threads of her own taste as well. Ruby bit at his lip, and Carter immediately withdrew. She arched, wanting more contact, but he kept his distance as he murmured, "Here's the thing, Ruby. I like being the one in charge, but I'm not looking for a fight. So whether or not we do this – that’s up to you. We'll establish a few ground rules before this goes anywhere, though, and make sure we're on the same page."

  "You're saying you won't fuck me unless you get to tie me up?"

  Carter shook his head and tapped the end of her nose. "It's not about restraints. It's about acknowledging what you want – what you need. But no, you're not going to intimidate me into sex, and I'm not taking you to bed tonight regardless."

  Her full breasts pressed against his chest and Carter immediately regretted his decision. Ruby knew it, could feel his arousal, and undulated her hips against his in a deliberate motion that nearly finished him. Her voice went husky and low. "You sure about that, Carter?"

  "Yes." He pushed up and got off the couch, adjusting his clothes as he poured another shot of tequila. He downed it, then picked up his jacket from the back of the chair. A bit of mindful breathing helped resolve the problem in his pants, and he faced her with a clear mind. "So here's the deal. I like you. A lot. And I think we would have an unbelievable amount of fun together."

  "That might not be enough," she said, still sprawled across the couch. She looked ready to be thrown over his shoulder and carried away. Carter sucked in a breath and focused on his mantra. Had to stay centered. Control was important. Ruby cleared her throat and looked away, a flush rising in her cheeks. "Regardless of what I may…enjoy in bed, I can't have a weak mate. I can't have people think that…"

  "So a lion would be a weak mate?" She flushed, about to rephrase, but he just held up his hand to cut her off. "What do you care what people think? You're the alpha. You can do what you want, right?"

  "It's not that easy." She looked regretful, maybe sad. "It's never that easy."

  "It could be." He shrugged, wondering if he needed to call Edgar for a ride before heading back to the house. The security chief worked late in the city, and after Carter killed half a bottle of tequila, driving might not be the best idea. And he sure as shit couldn't stay in the same house as Ruby – his resolve wouldn't last the entire night. "It's your choice, Ruby. If you want to talk more, let me know."

  He forced himself to walk away despite the sound she made, as if she wanted to have the last word. He didn't look back.

  Chapter 3

  The only reason I bothered to drag myself out of bed the next morning was because I had to meet Natalia for brunch. And she always knew the best places to eat. If she recommended brunch at a dodgy as hell hole-in-the-wall, chances were it was transcendent and about to be the biggest thing in the city. So I hauled myself up, got dressed, and went to meet her across the city.

  I tried to put Carter's words out of my head as I revved my motorcycle. When he said I wanted someone to take over in the bedroom, part of me immediately denied it. Of course I didn't want some guy to tell me what to do, tie me up, take over. Of course not. But a shiver of excitement ran through me at his words, and the mental image of me handcuffed to the headboard and him crawling over the bed toward me…I shook it off and concentrated on the bike.

  But that fire in his eyes stayed with me. I'd never seen Carter like that before. He was always the quiet brother, shy and sweet, helping his brothers out with whatever needed to be done. He played guitar in the bar sometimes when someone had a birthday party, and he never bumped chests or got into fights with any of the pack. He was just…Carter. But the way he'd moved over me, trapped me, kissed me… I swallowed hard. Holy shit. I'd never been kissed like that.

  I parked the bike and looked around as I took off my helmet. Natalia sure knew how to pick 'em – the neighborhood looked seriously dicey, just a couple of blocks from where the bears set up their MMA gym. I'd been meaning to check out what Kaiser and the guys were doing, because several of my pack wanted to train there. Maybe I could pop by after brunch, drag Natalia over with me so they would behave themselves. I took my helmet inside with me, not liking the looks of some of the younger kids loitering across the street.

  She sat in the back, concentrating on a menu, but got up when I walked in. She hugged me and gave up her seat, so I could have my back to a wall and still see the door. Nat looked a little pale, dark circles under her eyes, and I frowned as I eased into my chair. "What's wrong? You look like hell."

  "Thanks, Ruby." She rolled her eyes but didn't go on, and I knew something really was up.

  When the server approached, she ordered ginger ale and some sort of chicken and puff pastry dish; I shrugged and got the same thing. If it turned out to be terrible, there was at least one dirty water hotdog cart between this place and the gym. I folded my hands on the table and watched her. "What's up, Nat?"

  Her lips pursed and my heart sank. Oh Lord. She and Logan were breaking up, and the lions were about to go ape-shit on the city. The lion alpha would lose his fucking mind if he lost Natalia. I'd known both of them separately for a long time, and while I had every confidence Natalia would be fine, Logan might never recover. I started calculating how much damage control the Council would have to do, and whether Edgar could be relied on to support us in containing his brother, but Nat kept talking.

  "You know we're having a party at the end of next week, right? The one to celebrate Logan's birthday?"

  "Sure," I said, cautious.

  "It's going to be our wedding."

  I snorted coffee through my nose, and choked. She dodged out of the way, making a face, and handed me a stack of tissue-thin napkins from the dispenser. I coughed and hacked to get the burning liquid out of my lungs, but at least it gave me an excuse for the tears stinging my eyes. "Your what?"

  "Our wedding. We didn't want to wait."

  "Christ," I muttered, wiping at my nose and eyes. "Why not? There's no rush, really…" and I cut off, because her hand rested on her stomach and my heart jumped to my throat. It couldn't be.

  She looked the slightest bit uncertain. "I'm pregnant. And I don't want to be a fat bride. We thought I'd still be able to fit into my dress in two weeks, but much past that and I'll start testing the tensile strength of the fabric."

  "Holy shit." I coughed more, pounding on my chest, and waved away the concerned waiter. I tried to buy time to think and breathe with a long sip of water, but it didn't help. I still didn't know what to say. "Congratulations?"

  "Thank you." She flushed, looking away. "I'm happy about it. We're happy about it. Surprised, but really, really happy. I wasn't sure how you would…"

  "Jesus, Nat, of course I'm happy for you." I lurched up and dragged her into a hug, squeezing her tightly. "How could you doubt for a second that I would be anything but over the moon for you?"

  She hugged me back, sounding a bit wobbly herself. "Well, I know you've been wanting…"

  "What I want doesn't take away from what you have." I held her at arm's length and scowled at her, wanting her to believe me all the way to her bones. "You fat cow. Of course I'm happy for you, and of course I'll be the kid's godmother, and of course I'll spoil the hell out of it. Always. Don't ever think for a second that I'm jealous of your happiness."

  Even if I was, a little. More than a little.

  "I know it's stupid," she said. Natalia sank back into her chair and patted her cheeks with a napkin. "It's a surprise that the party is the wedding, though so don’t tell anyone. You'll still be my maid of honor?"

  "Absolutely." I took a deep breath and wondered if I would have to find a date for the party now as well. Rafe would be out of town, and while I didn't mind going by myself since so many friends would be there, it
sure as hell would be nice to have someone to go home with. "What can I do to help?"

  "Not much, for now." She smiled and leaned back as the waiter brought our food, and waited until he'd retreated to go on. "Logan's so paranoid about me and the baby that he practically won't let us out of the house. I have three different party planners at my beck and call, so anything I say out-loud pretty much occurs whether I really wanted it to or not."

  I shook my head, poking the odd dish with my fork. "What the hell is this?"

  "It's amazing. Based on a Moroccan dish, I forget the name. Filo dough, shredded chicken, spices, powdered sugar... It's amazing. Seriously. Just trust me — try it." She dug in, powdered sugar flying up in a cloud, and I watched with raised eyebrows, impressed. Nat, being a professional chef, always liked to eat, but being pregnant must have flipped a switch.

  So I tasted some of the pastry and chicken, and grudgingly had to admit it melted in my mouth like a little piece of heaven. She grinned, on the verge of saying she told me so, but her phone rang and she rolled her eyes instead. "Logan, checking in. Just a sec."

  As she told her soon-to-be-husband to mind his business and leave her alone, I sat back and looked around the empty restaurant. Maybe Nat would have an opinion on the thing with Carter. She lived with the kid, after all. After she hung up, my best friend pushed back her plate with a groan. "I'll have to take the rest of it home. Now what's up with you, Ruby? You're not yourself."

  "It's been a weird week." I pushed some crust across the plate, for some reason reticent to share too much. Natalia was still fully human, and dragging her into shifter politics more than Logan already did wasn't something I wanted to be responsible for. She was vulnerable the way only a human could be, and now she carried Logan's child. Allowing her to be hurt, or even scared, would be my death sentence.

  When I paused too long, she kicked my leg under the table and fixed me with a familiar scowl. "Look, you. Weird shit is happening to both of us, and before this gets too out of hand and I start talking about breast milk and stretch marks and not being able to hold my pee, you're going to tell me what the hell is going on in your life."

  And that was why I loved that girl. I'd been so glad when she met Logan and finally learned about shifters, because it had always been a huge secret between us. I'd hated the lies. So I took a deep breath and gave her my own scowl. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone. Not Logan, not Edgar, not Rafe, not Eloise — no one. On penalty of me never speaking to you again and tripping you as you walk down the aisle. Got it?"

  "Idle threats, idle threats. But go on." She touched her stomach again, absently, as if she could tell something grew there.

  I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes, wishing I'd had time for more coffee or at least less time for tequila the night before. "Last night, Miles Evershaw propositioned me."

  She snorted a laugh, then picked up her phone. "So you murdered him? Do I need to call Edgar to go clean up the bodies?"

  "No, of course not. He just…it's a business proposition for him. He's got zero emotion. He said no other man in the city would ask me out, so I might as well give up and mate with him." It hurt to admit in the daylight, when the anger of the first telling no longer sustained me. I wanted to be only angry about it, but his words cut more deeply than I could admit. It hurt. Maybe in part because I feared he was right.

  "Well, that's total bullshit." Natalia picked at her food, though she gave me a jaundiced look. "Are you tempted?"

  "Offended, more like." My fingers drummed on the table as I stared past her shoulder to the door as another couple of diners arrived. "But then I started thinking, what if he's right? What if my only chance to be mated and have kids is with him? He's such an asshole."

  "Okay, heifer." She leaned forward and smacked the table near my hand, making me jump. "You look at me and hear every fucking word I say. He is not right. You will find someone amazing to be with, you will have amazing, beautiful babies. You will not shack up with Miles Evershaw and have little half-asshole babies. I won't allow it."

  "Easy for you to say. You're not an alpha. A wolf would have to be stone crazy to ask me out. It would be an almost automatic challenge to Rafe, and then…I wouldn't be able to relax. What if he asked me out just to get me vulnerable in order to challenge me and then fight, so he could take over the pack? How can I trust any wolf?"

  "Does he have to be a wolf?" Natalia drained her ginger ale and gestured for the waiter to bring more. "Why not one of the bears? Or Edgar? He seems a bit gruff for you, but at least if you're dating someone who isn't a wolf, you don't have to worry about them taking over your pack. I mean, Rafe would be cool with both of you still being alphas, even if you mated a non-wolf, right?"

  "Of course, he's my brother. He doesn't mind the physical work of running the pack, he just wants me to do the business end. And keep the women in line. He hates the drama."

  "Bitches be crazy," Nat said thoughtfully, then asked the waiter to see the dessert menu. That was one of the best things about Nat – she enjoyed food and eating, and she always ordered dessert. Even if she was a bit nuts most of the time.

  I gathered my courage to tell her the rest of it, my palms a little sweaty as I gripped the edge of the table. "So after I left Evershaw's office, I went to the bar. And Carter was there."

  "Carter? I wonder where he'd got to. He looked a bit rough this morning at yoga."

  I leaned my elbows on the table and raised my eyebrows. "Yoga?"

  "Yeah, he leads yoga and mindful breathing for the family in the mornings now. It really helps Sophia and Atticus, they've both got control issues to work on, and apparently the meditation really helps. I join in because I like the stretching. But Carter looked like death warmed over." She smiled. "So that was your fault?"

  "Partially." I flushed but didn't know why, looking away. "I took the edge off with some tequila and he helped. And then he said…well, he said he liked me. And wanted to ask me out, but would leave it up to me."

  Her eyebrows climbed to her hairline as she sat back, mouth ajar.

  "Exactly," I said, putting my face in my hands. "It's Carter. Carter."

  "What did you say?" she managed to splutter.

  "Nothing. I didn't have time. He said it, said it was up to me, and then he left." I held my hands up, still a little stunned. I didn't need to tell her the part about him wanting to tie me up. That might make her head explode, to think sweet Carter was a whips and chains kind of guy in the bedroom.

  "Carter?" Nat shook her head but ordered some kind of weird yogurt and fruit dessert before turning her attention back to me. "I didn't think you were his type. I mean, I pictured him with a librarian. Or a kindergarten teacher. Someone sweet and quiet and…not you. Not at all you."

  I laughed. "Thanks?"

  "You know what I mean. You're an alpha. You get what you want. I just don't see how he would…compete with that." She frowned in thought, folding and refolding a napkin. "But I guess he wouldn't need to, would he? As long as he made you happy, it wouldn't really matter what the rest of the world thought. It wouldn't matter whether he could control the pack, because that would never be an issue. Right?"

  "Well..." I played with my fork, a muscle in my jaw jumping. "I don't know how to say this, Nat, so don't take it wrong. I don't know if he gives the right impression for me. I'm a tough chick, I'm an alpha, I lead the strongest pack in this city. I need a guy who's strong enough, impressive enough to match that. You know? And Carter's…nice. He's a nice guy. He's sweet. He doesn't get in anyone's face."

  "He would in a second if he thought that someone was bothering me, or Eloise, or Sophia, or you. When Eloise faced down the hyenas and one of them threatened her, Carter was the one who killed the hyena queen. He changed the fastest, he fought through the extra hyenas, he didn't hesitate to protect her – and he barely knew her. Just because he's quiet and laid back doesn't mean he can't turn on the crazy when needed."

  I rubbed my forehead. "I don't know."

>   "Give him a chance." She lit up as the waiter arrived, putting the parfait dish and mess of yogurt and fruit and rosewater syrup in the middle of the table to share. "Go on a date with him, at least. He's going to this matchmaker, and so far none of the dates have gone very well."

  "Don't tell anyone, okay? Seriously. I can't take the teasing."

  "Who would tease?" Natalia made a significant dent in the dessert before pointing the spoon at me. "They might tease him, but I'm guessing if anyone said a cross word to you, Carter would make them disappear. He's good at that. And he's a fantastic businessman. Really, since he's been managing my restaurant, we've tripled our profit. I don't know how he does it. We weren't making that much money even when we were a criminal front."

  I managed a smile, and even tasted some of the weird ass dessert. "I'll think about it. Now. For the wedding in two weeks, what do we need to get done?"

  She sighed and started talking about dress fittings for both of us. I listened to most of it, but thoughts of Carter distracted me. There was a lot to lose if things didn't go well, but then again, he was the first non-asshole who sort of asked me out in at least a year. And Nat supported it. I held my breath and forced myself to concentrate on the wedding planning details. I had a week to give Evershaw an answer, so that meant a week to try Carter on without committing. I always worked better with a deadline.

  Chapter 4

  The bears' gym stayed open at all hours, even if the bears always looked like they'd just woken up from a nap. Carter knew the code to the front door and let himself in right after leaving the mansion. He always did yoga at dawn, but lately the number of participants increased so much he couldn't focus on his own relaxation. Kaiser and the bears were kind enough to trade some of his business planning for unfettered access to their workout space.