Page 6 of Wolf’s Son (Devil’s Riot MC Mississippi #3)

JACQUELINE

A week passes by in a blur of motion.

The day after my brother agreed to let me finally have my dream, he took me to the perfect location. It was beautiful and located right on the boardwalk, where people wandered around constantly. The best part was there were several high-end boutiques and such in the area.

I’ve spent the week since getting the keys to the building and getting it ready. I’ve done all the painting myself. I wanted it to be perfect for when I decide to open.

The space was open and big enough I could display all of my art and maybe even open it up for other artists if I so wished to do so. I decided I was going to display everything a certain way, just as it needed to be done.

Once I had everything painted, I finished yesterday, I figured I’d start bringing pieces over, but I was going to have to get aU-haul or something to take it.

I might even need to hire a moving company.

Some of the pieces were, well, big and heavy.

A lot of them are fragile. They needed to be moved with precision, or they’d break.

As I’m getting ready to leave the house for the day, my phone rings. Looking at the screen, I don’t recognize the number. Apprehensively, I answer and lift the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Is this Ms. Cordova?” The voice on the other end was amazingly husky and gruff. It sent a surprising chill along my spine. One that I didn’t know how I felt, but I knew I liked it. Which was weird.

“Yes. Who is this?” I ask.

“This is Wolf. I’m calling to let you know that we’ll be at the gallery in two hours to handle the security system.”

Oh God. I forgot Izaiah set this up. Ugh, how could I forget.

“Um, okay, I can meet you there in two hours,” I tell him. Without thinking too much of it, I hang up without waiting for anything else from him.

My only thought was now I needed to get to the gallery rather than starting to get my storage unit which I have filled with art pieces.

Sighing, I gather my stuff up, grab a to-go cup, fill it with coffee, and head for the door.

I chance a look next door, just as I’ve done all week.

I hadn’t seen my sexy neighbor again since the day he saw me dancing.

Every day that I’ve left, I’ve looked in that direction.

I’m not sure why other than maybe hoping I won’t embarrass myself in front of him again.

He’d told me that day I should come by and meet his son, but I never did.

Shrugging the thought off, I open the driver’s side door and climb in behind the wheel. My car wasn’t anything fancy. Nothing like what my brother wanted me to drive. It was a simple four-door sedan. I didn’t even know the make or model. I just knew it was small and had great gas mileage.

I start my car and pull out of the driveway, not before noticing a bare-chested, sinfully delicious neighbor step out onto the porch. What clutches at my chest, though, is that he’s got a tiny bundle held to his chest.

Oh. My.

Without missing a beat, I focus my full attention on driving and not looking in his direction again.

The drive to my gallery is only twenty minutes.

I park in the lot right in front of the building and head inside.

I figured while I waited for the security company to get here, I could do some work on a few other things I wanted to get done.

I ordered stands for displays. I can go ahead and situate them in the general areas I want to put them.

I also need to start working on getting the rest of what I need to be able to run my business. I filed the paperwork with the city and got my business license already, but I needed to have other things ready to go, like a payment system. I also started designing my own website.

One beautiful thing about the past years, I’ve gone to school online and earned a degree in not just fine arts but also business and finance, along with a couple other subjects as well.

While I wait, I decide to put together the stands. They’ll take me longer to do, and I don’t want to ask anyone for help.

By the time I get one nearly complete, the door opens, and I look up over my shoulder to greet the security installer, only to stare wide-eyed up at the man. It’s not just that he was the hottest guy I’d ever seen, but he was my neighbor.

What’s more, he was staring down in my direction, dark sunglasses in place, a bandana wrapped around his forehead. I have a feeling his gaze was looking more in the direction of my bottom, considering, well, considering how I was on my knees and all.

“What are you doing here?” I blurt out the question, jumping to my feet in order to face him fully.

“Told you on the phone, I was coming to do your security system,” Wolf answers, a smirk toying at his lip.

“That was you?” I ask, staring at him like he’s got two heads, and they’re both about to attack me.

“Yep, told you as such on the phone,” he says and glances around the building. His face returns, and I can feel those eyes on me, but those sunglasses are still in place, making it so I can’t read his eyes. “Why didn’t you have the door locked? You’re here alone and working.”

“It’s not like someone is going to come in here and rob me.” I huff and roll my eyes. “I’m not even open yet.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he says on the tail end of my words. “You’re a woman, alone in a building. You need to have the door locked unless you’re open for business hours. If you’re not open, you need to have them locked for your safety. Same with when you’re at home.”

“Seriously? It’s not that big of a deal. Nothing happens in this town.”

It really didn’t. I think the worst thing that happened . . .

“I know you’re not naive,” he growls, stepping toward me. The harshness of his words breaking off my thoughts. “You not locking shit up, watchin’ what you’re doing, it leaves you open to being a target.”

“No, it doesn’t. And I’m not naive.” I narrow my gaze to little slits and glare at him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Princess, I think I know exactly what I’m talking about. The other day proved my point. I opened the door to your studio, and you didn’t even know I was there. If it’d been someone else, who the fuck knows what would have happened to you.”

“You sound like my brother,” I snap, not liking this conversation at all. I know I’m a free spirit of sorts. I don’t like being locked away, so I don’t lock doors. I even prefer to have my windows open as much as I can.

“Because your brother’s right. You gotta be smart and lock up when you’re alone. Bad shit happens, and he’s not wantin’ you to get hurt.” Wolf grunts and finally takes his sunglasses off.

It wasn’t hard to read his expression. I could totally see he was annoyed. Annoyed with me, I might add.

“Why didn’t you tell me who you were when you called me?” I ask, changing the subject.

“I did,” he says, cocking a brow.

“No, you didn’t.” I would have remembered.

“Yeah, Princess, I told you who I was and that I would be coming in two hours.”

Crap.

He did say that. I guess I didn’t pay too much attention to his name.

“Did you know it was me that you were meeting?” I blurt out the question before it registers in my head.

“Yep,” he states, that smirk coming back to his lips.

“You didn’t think to tell me that when you called?” He called me Ms. Cordova.

“Considering it was a company call and I’m here on business, I figured I’d be professional.” Wolf shrugs. “Now, I’m gonna get to work and get your system set up. When I’m done, I’ll show you how to use it.”

Blinking, I nod, feeling like he’d just slapped a wall down between us. I don’t get why, though. Or what the sudden change in him is about.

Rather than question him, or say anything else, I go back to what I was working on.

Three hours later, and I’m losing my mind.

Not because of the stands. Though they’re a pain in my backside.

Why do they have to be so complicated? Maybe I should just make the stands myself.

It’s not like I don’t have the tools to do it.

I just need the material. What has me losing my mind is the fact I can’t stop my gaze from wandering over to where Wolf is working.

No matter where he was in the building, I found myself glancing in his direction.

To make it worse, two other guys showed up.

Wolf introduced them to me as Aries and Dutch.

The three of them worked together in wiring everything up, and by the time they were done, each area of the gallery had cameras that I couldn’t even see.

The only reason I even knew about them was ‘cause Wolf told me.

I think if Wolf hadn’t told me, I would be freaked out a bit because I wouldn’t know where they were. He and the other two guys explained to me that the gallery would be monitored at all times in case something happened, they’d be alerted to it immediately.

I honestly wasn’t sure how that made me feel.

On the one hand, it’s a good thing. On the other, I feel like my privacy is being invaded.

Thankfully, it’s only here at the gallery and not in my home.

If that were the case, my big brother would be hearing me screaming at him over the phone until I was screaming in his face.

If he had security placed in my home, he’d have crossed the line, and I’d surely lose my mind on him.

Sighing, I try to focus on not messing up the stand ad I’m putting together rather than on my neighbor. Why is he’s consuming my thoughts? Maybe it has to do with his close proximity.

Okay, now I know that’s a lie.

“We’re done.”

I twist around to find Wolf standing there, eyes on my bottom.

“You are?” Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now I can get him out of here and hopefully find something to get my mind off him.

“Yep.” Wolf nods curtly. “Come here, I want you to learn the system so you know how to lock it.”

Getting to my feet, I swipe my fingers over my jeans and follow him to the panel installed near the back door.

“Why didn’t you install it by the front?” I ask, uncertain of this. I liked coming in the front doors.

“Because front doors, other people have access to the panel. Back here, they don’t.

You need to use this door for coming and going.

There’s a parking area behind the gallery for you to park, and we installed cameras out here as well as motion sensor lights.

” He goes on to explain the system to me, answers questions I have, and finally gives me the codes I need, telling me I need to memorize them.

I hate to break it to him, but I don’t remember codes or numbers that well. I have to keep it written down somewhere, otherwise, I’ll forget it. It’s the same for all my passwords.

“Thank you for coming and doing this today,” I manage to say without embarrassing myself.

“No problem, remember to set the codes and lock the doors when you’re alone,” Wolf says just before walking away. He stops where I’d been working and cocks a brow while looking back at me. “How many more of these you got to put together?”

“About twenty.” I shrug and make my way toward him. “It’s not hard to do, and I’ll get them done. I did all the painting in here as well.” Now, why did I have to tell him that?

Jeez, I’m such an idiot.

Looking at the time on the clock, I sigh, “Since you guys are done, I need to finish up and head home.”

“Right,” Wolf grunts. “We’ll be out of your way then.”

Nodding, I follow him and his friends to the front door, lock it, and go to the back door, where I do as he showed me.

Once the alarm is set, I step out the back door, make sure it’s locked, and go around the building to where I parked my car.

To my surprise, Wolf is straddling a bike right next to it.

I give him a smile. The sight of him straddling the bike is something I wish I had a picture of. He’s hot. More than just hot. I wish I could jump on behind him and just be free. I’ve never ridden a bike before, but I’m betting it’s a wonderful feeling.

More than that, though, I wish I could jump him. Weird of me to think such a thing, considering I’ve never had sex before. But with this man, my mind brings many fantasies to mind. All of them wonderful and scary all at once.

I mentally shake the thoughts away and make my way to my car. If I don’t get home and change, I’ll be late for dinner, and I don’t want to upset my brother. Not after he finally relented to my dream of having my own gallery and, well, me having a life for once.

“See you later,” I call out to him while I open the door to my car.

“Yeah,” Wolf grunts.

Wolf doesn’t start his bike until after I’m pulling out of my parking spot. I find it strange when I notice him following me, though I shouldn’t because he lives right next door to me. So, of course, he’d be going in the same direction.

Pushing thoughts of him out of my head, I try to figure out what I am going to wear to dinner tonight.

Izaiah said it was a casual dinner, but casual is still dressing up when it comes to the people who will be there.

I guess I’ll wear the new little black dress I bought a month ago.

It would look cute paired with the Valentino sling-back pumps my brother bought me for my birthday.

I might not be into all of this dressing up, but I do love heels. Almost as much as I love flip-flops. Being my height, I like to wear heels whenever possible.

My mind made up, I pull into the driveway and head inside to get ready. I’d be happier about dressing up if I were doing anything other than going to this dinner, but I’ll do it regardless to appease my brother. I do love him, after all.