Page 3 of Wolfish Desire (Billionaires of Wolfe Mountain #2)

KINGSTON

I’ve never spent this much time thinking about an outfit. Even when I was presenting to that board of directors in Munich a few months ago, I just threw on one of my Brioni suits and figured “good enough”.

I study myself in the mirror. I’m being ridiculous. This is fine. Black shirt and suit pants, no jacket. Dressy casual, I hope. I’d love to switch out the watch but Sierra has already seen this one and for some reason I don’t want her to know I’m a collector quite yet.

I don’t want to take the pickup on a date. She’ll be more comfortable in the Lexus SUV anyway, since the suspension handles the rough roads better.

When I pull up in front, Sierra is already walking out the front door and locking it behind her. She’s changed into a charming dark green dress that brings out the auburn in her hair.

“Stunning. Just stunning,” I breathe, taking her hands. We simply stare at each other, enjoying this moment of connection, this acknowledgement that we already know the date is going to go well.

I keep holding her hand as I help her into the SUV, then as we drive into town we chat about the best kinds of music for cruising through forests. After a lively debate of options, we agree that a faint lo-fi jazz chill-hop is super mellow and will allow the bird calls to be heard over it.

I park right downtown and take her hand again as she steps out onto the sidewalk. I don’t want to let go, and when I hesitate for a split second, she squeezes my fingers, telling me that it’s okay.

I love how easily we communicate already. How open we are together.

I also love that people are noticing me with her. By tomorrow, thanks to the grapevine, the entire town will know that this lovely girl is with one of the Wolfe men. That will bring her automatic protection, even though this town is completely safe.

Luckily, Jim’s Pizza isn’t too busy yet, so we have our choice of seats. Sierra looks around on the way through the building, then smiles when I head for the patio. “Cool, do you like eating outside too?”

“Always. Well, until the snow starts to fly.”

It turns out we both love cheeseburger pizza – ground beef, cheddar, and mozzarella with caramelized onions – and extra lemon in our iced tea.

As always, the other customers all nod hello to me, while maintaining a polite distance. Luckily, Sierra doesn’t seem to notice.

“This is probably the obligatory getting to know you portion of the evening,” she laughs. “Why don’t you tell me about your work?”

I’ve never had any trouble talking about my work in a boardroom or to clients, but it’s a bit awkward to discuss with Sierra. It’s like I have a mental block. How do you tell someone you’ve just met that you’re in charge of the safety of so much data? It’s weird.

But she’s staring at me, so I guess I’ll have to get over myself.

“How much do you know about encrypted security systems?” I ask.

She grins. “Oh, is that what you do? Just what I’ve picked up from movies. But try me anyway.”

“Okay.” I lean back. “If a password is 1-2-3-4, someone could figure it out in seconds. But if it’s a super long chain of numbers, they would have to go through months’ worth of possibilities to try to crack it.”

Sierra nods. “In the movies, that’s when they all crouch around the laptop as it successfully calculates one number at a time while the clock is ticking down.”

I chuckle. “Yeah, well it actually would take days – or weeks, in most cases – if we’re talking any decent kind of security. At our company, the encryption sequences are extremely long chains of totally randomized numbers.”

“And you have some master computer in the basement that spits them out?”

“Nope.” My eyebrow quirks up and I grin. “That’s the fun part. We use nature for some of the input.”

She cocks her head to the side, causing her hair to spill gently over her shoulder. It’s very distracting.

“We have a few stations across the mountain where we measure things,” I continue. “The splash patterns of a nearby river. The decibel levels of bird calls. The intensity of the wind when it comes around a certain corner of the mountain. All these can be digitized in increments from one to ten.”

Sierra breaks into beautifully sparkling laughter. “And this is a big company?”

“Yes.” I hesitate. “Global, actually.”

“So some company’s data in Ireland is being protected by the birds here on the mountain?”

“Exactly.” A thrill zips through me when I reach out to take her hand and she squeezes my fingers back.

“You hear so many scary things about technology, but that’s just…” She shakes her head, smiling softly. “Crazy and beautiful and wholesome.”

“Well, that’s what we were going for.”

“It sounds like it would be a popular business model. Is the company still expanding?”

I stare down at our hands. “Yes. Quickly. More than we ever anticipated, honestly.”

Her thumb lightly drags along the wristband of my watch. “That explains a few things. Your company must be worth millions.” My discomfort must show in my eyes, because she squeezes my hand again. “I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?”

“No. It’s just…wow, it’s super awkward to say it out loud…millions? Until recently, yes. Now change that M to a B. Our business has somehow turned from a snowball to an avalanche in a blizzard. It’s almost out of control.”

Sierra reaches out to lift my chin with her finger. “Believe it or not, I understand about wealth that you don’t feel you deserve.”

I smile, lost in her beautiful eyes. “So… That explains why you’re renting that big house all on your own?”

She opens her mouth to speak, then closes it again, shaking her head. “Can we put that conversation on the back burner for now?”

Our hands release, but our knees are still touching under the table. “Of course. How about you? Tell me: why were you by a forest trail outside of Pinesley?”

She sighs. “One of my older sisters fancies herself an interior designer. It gives her, as she puts it, great internal satisfaction when she redecorates her friends’ houses.

Part of her genius insights…again, her words…

are to put natural things in dead corners.

” She rolls her eyes. “Dried floral and branch arrangements. How perfectly groundbreaking.”

Her giggle is adorable. “Anyway, I make most of the arrangements with pinecones and branches, plus little stones and other things I find in various forests. And I always drop a pin and take a screenshot on my phone, so that people know where their forest treasures come from.”

My laugh is a bit too loud, drawing the attention of the people around us for a split second. “Rich people are totally weird, right?”

She nods solemnly. “One hundred freaking percent.”

I can tell from the look in her eyes that she knows a lot of rich people and doesn’t consider herself to be one of them.

Our meal is amazing, made even more so by our animated conversation ranging from global technology to the world’s best beaches to animals that look like they shouldn’t exist outside of a cartoon.

By the time we leave, Sierra is touching my hand and arm just as much as I’m touching her hair and wrist. My arm slides around her waist as we head to the SUV, then I stop us in our tracks.

“What is it?” The way her eyes glow as she looks up at me makes my heart surge.

“I need to kiss you.” Dammit. I meant to be smoother than that, but I just can’t stop myself. “Right now. But I don’t want onlookers, and it has to be somewhere way more romantic than the inside of a vehicle.”

I love how easily she nods and laughs, and grins when I take her hand and lead her down the street toward the library.

I was planning to go to a small garden tucked behind the building, but Sierra tugs on my hand, leading me to the grand oak front door.

“You figure the library is romantic enough?” I ask.

Her eyes drop for a second as she takes a slow breath. Then she looks up at me and my world tilts on its axis to see all the emotion in her soft gaze.

“We’re just starting…whatever this is,” Sierra says quietly. “And this is the door to…” She hesitates.

“To all the love stories. I get it.” I draw her into my arms, holding her close as her chin tips up. “This is just the first chapter of our story, beautiful. I already know it’s going to have a happy ending.”

She barely has time to nod before we lean in, our mouths meeting in a tender, experimental kiss.

Then something clicks, and our lips connect again as fire shoots through my veins.

Reality falls away. There’s only our mingling breath, her fingers spearing through my hair, my hands wandering over her back and hip. Sierra moans quietly as I pull her closer, then sags against me, completely surrendering to the moment as I hold her tight.

This isn’t just the hottest kiss I’ve ever experienced. It feels like we’re opening a conduit that enables us to tell each other what we’re thinking without words.

It’s not just intense lust coursing through me. It’s raw desire. And from the way my body grips hers, our tongues exploring, our hearts pounding…

We belong together. I know it.