“If I had someone like you, love, I’d be with her all the time. I wouldn’t want her out of my sight. And I definitely wouldn’t let her run around Shiftertown by herself. What is this man thinking about?”
Kim looked annoyed. “He doesn’t know I’m here.”
“He needs to take better care of you.”
Indignation now. “He doesn’t need to take care of me at all. I’m my own person.”
“Maybe.” Liam leaned closer, feeling his eyes change as he inhaled her scent. “But when you’re in Shiftertown, I take care of you. No one will bother you here, I promise you that. They’ll answer to me.”
“I doubt I’ll come to Shiftertown again.”
“Even so.”
Liam slid his arms around her and drew her close. She resisted. He traced patterns on her lower back and rested his cheek on her hair until she softened a little. He was right; her hair was silky and warm.
Kim started to relax against him, her body reacting to his. He needed to protect her. He’d made that decision the minute she’d walked into his office, to protect her from all other Shifters, most of all the leader of his own clan. “Everything will be all right now.”
“Why do I want to believe you?” She sounded skeptical.
She had a nice voice, low and contralto. He imagined her whispering to him as she lay next to him in bed. Her hair would tangle on his pillow, and wouldn’t she be pretty? He could understand keeping his human form for lovemaking if the human was Kim Fraser.
He straightened up and brushed a curl from her face. “Give me your cell phone.”
“What for?”
“So I can admire the fine technology a human woman can afford to buy.” He held out his hand. “I want to give you my phone number. What did you think?”
Kim pulled her cell phone out of a pocket of her briefcase and handed it to him. The phone was fancy, as he’d suspected, with all kinds of buttons and extras. Shifters were allowed to have only old models, recycled, most of the features disabled. Not that some Shifters didn’t futz with them on the sly.
Liam started punching buttons. “I’m programming in my private number. For you only. If you need something, you call me. Any time of the day or night.”
Kim watched as he tucked the cell phone back into her briefcase. “Anytime?”
“Anytime.”
“What if I call every hour to check on your progress?”
“Then you do.”
Her brows rose. “You trust me a lot.”
“Because I’m asking you to trust me.”
Kim chewed on her lip, making it red and cute. “I suppose I can see that.” She held out her hand. “Thank you for your help, Mr. Morrissey. I’ll be in touch.”
Liam put his arm around her waist and turned her around. “I’m not leaving, love. I’m walking you back to your car.”
“Why? It’s only a few blocks away.”
“I told you, when you’re here, you’re under my protection. Do you think that means I’d abandon you right here on the sidewalk?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.”
“I mean I’m walking you to your car.”
She made a noise of exasperation. “Whatever.”
Liam wanted to laugh. She was adorable, his fox terrier. And determined.
And bloody inconvenient. The phone call had been from his father, telling Liam news he’d been waiting to hear. Ms. Lawyer needed to get out of Shiftertown. Liam and Sean suddenly had other things they needed to take care of.
Liam liked Kim’s curves against his body as they walked, her narrow waist under his hand. She didn’t try to break away from him, resigned, it seemed, to let him walk with his arm around her. As if they were a couple, in human terms.
Something warmed inside him, a space filling. Liam abruptly cut off the feeling. He could not afford to get involved with her. Protect her, yes; enjoy her, no. No matter how tempting she was.
Kim was breathing rapidly at their pace, her ridiculously high heels slowing her down. He wished she’d kick off her shoes and peel off her stockings and walk barefoot in the grass. He imagined her strolling along beside him, shoes in hand, a smile on her face.
Too soon they reached her car, a black two-door Mustang. The car chirped as she pushed the button to unlock it.
Liam pulled her into another hug. Kim resisted again, but he scooped her against him, letting his mouth rest on the curve of her neck. She was warm, her skin salty, her pulse beating under his lips.
“Good-bye then, Kim. You take care.”
He meant it. There was danger out there, and Brian’s troubles were only part of it.
Kim took the card from her pocket that she’d tried to hand him earlier. “You’ll call my office as soon as you have anything for me, right? Anything at all?”
Liam turned the card around in his fingers, savoring the feel of the raised letters of her name. “Of course, love.”
“Even if you don’t think it’s relevant?”
He didn’t bother to answer. Liam opened the car door for her, and Kim gave him a flustered look before tossing her briefcase inside.
Liam smoothed her hair from her face. He could stand all day looking at her, breathing in her scent, touching her sleek hair.
He let her go. He wasn’t allowed to have her, no matter that he was hot and hard for her. She was beautiful, but not for him.
Kim gave him a smile, one that heated his blood, and slid into her driver’s seat. She cranked the engine, let it roar to life, then reached over to switch the AC to high.
She rolled down the window, sending a trickle of cool air over his skin. “Thanks, Liam,” she said. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I’m just worried.”
“We all are, love.” He stood up, patted the roof of the car. “You go on, now.”
The window slid silently upward. Kim gave him one last nervous smile, then pulled the car onto the street. The taillights flashed red before she turned a corner, and then she was gone.
Liam might never see her again. The emptiness of that hit him.
No, that wouldn’t happen. She was under his protection now. He had her phone number and her address. He’d make sure she’d need to speak to him again, and he’d make sure she had to see him in person to do it.
When Liam reached home after picking up Sean from Sandra’s, their father Dylan was there. Three generations of males lived in the Morrisseys’ two-story bungalow—father, two sons, and Liam’s nephew, Connor.