In the Company of Wolves (SWAT, #3)(39)
Jayna laughed. “I guess I did. I feel like such a nerd.”
He flashed her a grin. “That’s okay. I think nerds are sexy.”
By the time she got the worst of the mess off, the bleeding had completely stopped and the wound looked measurably better. She was amazed at how fast he healed. None of the werewolves in her pack could have knit up so fast, not even Liam.
She rinsed out the towel, then gently rubbed it over his chest and abs again, in case there were any scratches or cuts she hadn’t noticed the first time.
“So, now Megan loves you too, huh?” she said.
Eric’s mouth twitched. “Too?”
Jayna smirked right back at him. “I’m talking about Moe. He told me all about what you did at the drug lab the two of you went out to raid with Kos this morning, how you let those gang members go after Kos ordered you to kill them, then burned the place down so no one would know. Moe was pretty worked up, so I didn’t get all the details out of him, but I can tell you one thing for sure: as far as he’s concerned, you pretty much walk on water.”
Eric snorted. “I’m far from that perfect. Those guys I cut loose this morning were hardcore gangbangers. Making meth is the least of their crimes. I told them to get out of town or end up on a slab in the morgue. They chose the first option. I have no way of knowing if they’ll leave though. If they show up on the Albanians’ radar, I’m screwed. But what else could I do? It wasn’t like I could just kill them in cold blood.”
Jayna leaned over to wipe up some blood that had gotten on the inside of one of his bulging biceps. The move brought her T-shirt-covered breasts extremely close to his well-muscled chest, and she swore she could feel the heat pouring off him. She cleaned off the blood, then sat back as quickly as she could. While she enjoyed the sensation of being so close to him, she wasn’t sure if she liked where that sensation might lead.
There was no denying the attraction between her and Eric, even if the loft wasn’t the best place to pursue it. He never pushed, which Jayna appreciated, but she’d have to be blind not to notice the gold that flared in his eyes any time they got close. Even now, after having a bullet dug out of him, she could see the desire burning like molten sunlight.
Her breath hitched, and she had to work to calm her pulse and her breathing, knowing part of Eric’s excitement was due to the arousal pheromones that probably poured off her whenever she was this close to him.
“Moe thinks you did the right thing, and so do I,” she said. “What did you tell Frasheri when you got back?”
Eric laughed, making his abs tense and flex in the most mesmerizing way. She seriously loved those abs.
“I was going to lie and tell him that Kos was skimming money, but I didn’t have to. It turns out Kos told Frasheri we only got fifty grand and a couple bags of meth from the drug lab. All I did was tell Frasheri the truth—that it was more like a hundred grand and fifty baggies of junk.”
Jayna’s jaw dropped. “You mean that Kos really is ripping off his uncle?”
“It looks like it. Frasheri’s heart rate went through the roof. A few minutes later, he gave me another one of those big manila envelopes full of cash and asked me to take it to the self-storage locker.”
Jayna couldn’t believe it. When she and Eric had started Operation Distrust three days ago, they’d had no idea it would work this well. Last night, Frasheri had told Eric that two of his most trusted soldiers had disappeared in the last week and that he believed Kos had killed them. Then Frasheri gave Eric a piece of paper with the address of a nearby self-storage place, the combination to the lock on the door, and a duffel bag full of money and guns to stash there if Kostandin made a move against him. At this rate, war could break out between the two factions by the end of the week. That could be very good for her and her pack.
Jayna was about to say as much to Eric, but as she gazed at him, she forgot about the Albanians. Eric’s eyes were molten gold as they burned into hers, and all she could think about was how much she wanted to kiss him right then.
“This is for taking care of Chris, Megan, and the rest of my pack,” she whispered as she closed the last few inches between them.
Jayna meant for it to be a simple thank-you kiss, but the moment her lips touched his, her entire body tingled from the contact, and she knew there wasn’t going to be anything simple about it. One kiss definitely wasn’t going to be enough.
But if she didn’t stop to take a breath, she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen. She lifted her head with a soft growl to find Eric regarding her with eyes so gold they almost glowed. He was just as excited as she was. He made no move to pull her close and pick up where they’d left off though. Instead, he caught a tendril of her long hair and curled it around his finger, the corners of his mouth curving up in a smile that was both playful and flirty.
“So, was that a simple thank-you-for-helping-my-pack kiss?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she answered, knowing it had been about a whole lot more. “But this next kiss is all for me.”
Giving him a smile, she slowly threw her leg over his and straddled his lap, then put her hands on his shoulders and leaned in to cover his mouth with hers. The move was so bold and unlike her, but it felt right too, and she just about lost herself in how amazing kissing Eric was. But as it always did, that little voice in the back of her head that came out whenever she got close to a guy popped up again to tell her she was making a serious mistake. She tried to ignore it, but the voice only got louder until it was practically shouting at her to slow down and get control of herself.