Hunting Season: Werewolf Bodyguard Romance (Guarded by the Shifter Book 1) by Kate Rudolph (new reading TXT) 📗

up. Owen was good at his job, great, actually, but he could ruffle feathers. Never on purpose, but not everyone reacted well to his default level of optimism.

He mentally went over the file he'd been given. All the data was saved on his phone, but he didn't need to bring it up. There wasn't much to know. Stasia was a pretty princess who'd traveled the world on daddy's money after becoming a doctor. After cutting her international vacation short, she'd set up shop in New York, working in the ER department of a nearby hospital, though she'd recently been fired. No reason in the file, but Owen could guess that spoiled princesses weren't exactly cut out for the ER.

She'd been raised with bodyguards all around her. Her father was one of the richest men in the city, she knew the drill. The job would be easy. With her father's security team tackling most of the tough stuff—investigating who'd tried to attack her and providing backup surveillance—Owen's job was mostly to sit around and look pretty. Or threatening. He could be a good guard dog. And at the end of the week, the job would be over, he'd have a paycheck, Gibson would have paid off a favor, and hopefully there would be more interesting jobs coming his way.

Hopefully.

But Owen couldn't slack just because he expected a boring job. That was the surest way to get his charge and himself killed.

He took another sip of coffee for good measure and knocked on the door and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Then he knocked again. Didn't the princess know he was coming?

Maybe he needed to be kinder; after all, she had almost been kidnapped right off the street yesterday. That would make him wary of opening the door too.

But he finally heard footsteps and a moment later the door opened.

Owen forgot how to breathe.

His file had a picture of Stasia Nichols, but it didn't do her justice. Her big gray eyes reminded him of the moon and he couldn't look away. She had black hair hanging down and framing her pale face and full lips that he needed to kiss. She was shorter than he expected, but she exuded a presence that made her seem taller than him, even with only the single look they shared.

He wanted to reach out and put his hands on the curve of her hips and run them all over her body. He'd never been overtaken by such instant lust before and he could feel his wolf rustling under his skin, restless and wanting to preen for their…

Their what?

Their?

He didn't normally think of his wolf as something separate from himself. Sometimes he was a man, sometimes he was a wolf, but he was always Owen, no matter how much fur he had. But right now he could feel the presence of something… different. Something primal.

His cock twitched and Owen clenched his jaw. This was not the time. He'd guarded plenty of attractive charges before and had always been able to keep it professional. This was no different.

But none of them were Stasia.

Her scent tickled his nose and there went his wolf again. He could practically feel his tail wagging in excitement. But now was not the time for tail wagging from either of his tails.

"Did you move in across the hall?" she asked. Her expression was severe, like a smile would physically pain her, but somehow it charmed Owen. He knew that when he got her to smile it would be because he earned it.

He didn't understand what she meant at first and looked over his shoulder to the other door. That unit must have been empty. He'd have to update the file to make sure everyone knew. It probably should have been in the file already.

"Well?" she asked when he waited too long to answer.

Owen snapped back to her. "I'm here for your body." The words were all English, but he could have smacked himself for the way they came out.

"Excuse me?" Stasia's dark eyebrows shot up and she looked ready to slap him.

"No, no!" Owen waved his hands, trying to correct himself. "To guard your body. I'm your bodyguard. Owen Myers." He never got tongue-tied. He might never be the smartest in the room, but he always knew what to say. Except, apparently, when his wolf and his cock and his brain all had other ideas.

"Oh." Stasia's eyes flicked up and down, and when she met his eyes again he knew he'd been judged. And he'd failed. "No."

"What?"

"No." She said it slow, elongating the word as if she thought he was too stupid to understand.

Then again, this was not his best first impression. Maybe he should have added a fourth shot of espresso. "I'm sorry for any misunderstanding. The Selby Group hired my firm to watch over you while they investigate the attempted kidnapping. We just want to keep you safe.”

Her dark eyes narrowed and she pursed her lips. "Tell my father I'm safe enough as it is."

And before he had a chance to say anything else, she slammed the door in his face.

Chapter Four

Stasia kept her hand on the door as if that would keep the stupid, meddling, attractive bodyguard from busting through.

She should have known he was coming. Her father and her brother had let this whole situation drop way too easily last night. After a few hours at the police station where she'd given a report and done her best to guide the detectives toward an explanation for what had happened, she'd been able to go home and pretend that everything was going to be okay. She'd even allowed her father to leave a security detail outside of her building overnight.

Just in case something went wrong.

That had been a mistake. She should have known her father wouldn't stop there.

Owen Myers didn't look like any of the guards that her father normally hired. He wasn't even wearing a suit. And the smile he flashed her—white teeth, laugh lines, kissable lips, and warm, tanned skin—was enough