Eyesight sharpening in the dark, he studied the gentle slope of her jaw, the fullness of her mouth. Drawing an ancient Lupine rune in the sand, he breathed in her enticing scent, mixed with the salty air. "Tell me about James. Have you spent much time with him?"

She traced another rune in the sand alongside his. "We're friends and it's fun to do things with him. He's promised to take me to the opera. You know how much I adore music. So does he."

"It runs in his veins," he said dryly. "The Fae aren't exactly our friends. They don't like Lupines because we eat things in the forest they like to protect."

"I can't believe I didn't know what he was. Gods, I'm so dumb."

"You're not dumb," he said gently. "You've lost your Lupine awareness by living so long in Skin."

She looked lost and confused. Darius resisted the impulse to pull her into his arms and shield her. Sam had to learn on her own, regain the knowledge she'd lost along the way.

"James also loves to garden. That's what drew us together." She gave a brittle laugh.

Maybe Darius could learn to like growing things, too, if it meant keeping Sam happy. Hell, he'd cultivate flowers, peas, corn, whatever. For a moment he remembered the orchids he'd planted at the ranch to remember her, and a sharp, visceral pain cut through him.

"When did he join the firm?"

"About two months ago. He took me out for my birthday. He's never made sexual advances. He told me he was gay."

"Some Fae are quite clever at hiding their sexual preferences. He may be bisexual, but I doubt he's gay, not with the way he watches you when you're not looking," he said.

Now she truly felt bewildered. "How does he watch me?"

"Like a man looks at a woman he wants to get to know better, and not as a friend."

She flushed. "I had no idea."

"He's very, very good at hiding and only an experienced shifter could scent him out. James may be saying he's gay to lower your guard, get you to trust him. Fae can be very clever. You didn't see his eyes change color?"

Color suffused her face. "I told you, I'm living the Skin life now. I needed to blend with humans, so I've fully assimilated into this life. I've just assumed everyone I've come into contact with is human."

Darius bit back a frustrated sigh. He didn't like that a Fae like James had grown close to Sam, especially since he needed to reinitiate her back into the Lupine life. He gently clasped her upper arms and turned her to face him. "You're smart, Sam. You've survived in this city by yourself for this long."

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks." Then she glanced at the watch on her slim wrist. "I have to shower and get ready. HG is taking us out for dinner."

She stood, wiping sand off her lovely bottom. Sam's expression softened as she looked down at him. "Darius, I've missed you."

His guts knotted. "And I've missed you."

"But this is my life now. You've always wanted what was best for me in the past. If you decide to award my company the contract, I hope it's because we offer your ranch the best services. Not because you're bribing me."

"I would never do that," he said quietly. Then he grinned. "Bribe you with a dull business deal, that is. Nope, not my style. Bribe you with hours of pleasure in bed, well, I can't promise I won't try. Half a million dollars, forget it. Half a million orgasms, yes. Interested?"

Lupine senses allowed him to see the flush on her cheeks, hear the increased pounding her heart. She blinked rapidly and stumbled backward, nearly tripping over her own feet.

He laughed softly, watching her race down the beach, catching the whiff of arousal. Oh yeah, Sam was interested.

Hooking his arms around his knees, he looked at the big whitecaps touched by pale moonlight. Hanging in the sky, the moon shone down on the sand. His wolf looked at the silvery light and longed to howl and run free. Race after Sam, throw her to the wet sand and...

No.

No matter how much his wolf wanted to mate, he had to play by the Skin rules.

He couldn't force Sam or she'd bolt. And this little business retreat provided a great opportunity to mix business with the pleasure of growing closer to Sam, until he coaxed her into his bed.

He'd have dinner tonight with the group. "I hope they have red meat," he muttered.

No salads, not for him or Sam. She was Lupine, damn it. He'd teach her everything she'd forgotten and show her the pleasure of having a Lupine's sensual nature.

Drawing in a deep lungful of briny air, he silently vowed this.

Before the next full moon, Sam, I will claim you in my bed.

You will be mine.

Chapter 9.

Two days after they'd arrived at the beach house, Sam was ready for a vacation.

It was tough being one of the few women in a mostly male business. She'd fought hard for a promotion. Staying under the radar at Comairise Energy was career suicide, so Samantha had worked long hours, taken on extra projects and did everything to be noticed.

But it was even tougher trying not to notice the sexy Lupine who wanted her to mate with him. She'd tried to focus on work and brainstorming ideas for future projects. Sam wrote another proposal to further expand green energy at the Mitchell Ranch.

Tonight, HG had treated them to dinner at an expensive restaurant. She might as well have eaten cardboard, for all she could taste was Darius' scent on her tongue.

Though she tried hard to suppress her Lupine instincts, being around Darius had awakened her wolf. His delicious, strong male smell of cedar and fresh rain teased her senses. His slow, sexy smile made her melt. And with his mop of ebony curls and piercing blue eyes, he looked like a wicked Cupid clad in an Italian silk suit, white shirt and cobalt tie. She'd turned into a big sucker for men in business suits and Darius was irresistible in one...

Oh. Wow. Yum.

Samantha resisted the urge to moisten her lips and stare at Darius as if he were her favorite chocolate chip ice cream. Although her wolf liked the idea of licking him from the top of his silky hair to the bottom of his toes...

What is it with all these licking fantasies? She scolded her wolf. Darius is not ice cream!

You settle for ice cream. I'll take the guy, her wolf answered.

All this Lupine had to do, and she'd seen it before back in their pack, was focus his intense cobalt gaze on a woman, giving her undivided attention, and she'd turn into clay in his elegant, capable hands. Hands that stroked and caressed and brought women to one exquisite peak of pleasure after another.

Images surfaced in her mind of a sinful night rolling between silk sheets, his wide mouth covering hers...

By the time the last fork had clinked onto a plate after dessert, Darius had agreed to the deal. And everyone wanted to celebrate, from Tom the sales director to Evan, the director of finance.

"Drinks on me," HG said, wiping his mouth on a linen napkin. "There's a good bar in town. Shall we?"

Sam felt depressed. Late tomorrow afternoon they were all returning to the city where Darius would sign the contract. And then he'd climb aboard a plane and leave. He had a life apart from her.

Darius smiled. "I'll pass. It's been a long day, but please, enjoy yourselves. I'm returning to the house."

HG and Ken exchanged glances. "Samantha, could you be a dear and drive Darius back?" HG asked.

"Sure," she muttered.

As they left the restaurant parking lot, thoughts swirled in her head. Deep inside, she was unhappy and did not want him to go. A hollow ache pulsed in her chest, an ache that only intensified when she thought about him returning to the ranch.

She pulled into the driveway and parked, and then shut off the ignition.

Darius turned and faced her. "Are you going back to town to join them?"

She thought about having drinks with the guys, celebrating her first big deal, the one that would land her a promotion. She thought about how her dream had finally come true. She'd become "one of the guys."

And then she looked at Darius, at the quiet hope on his face, and remembered the good times they'd shared when she was in his father's pack. She didn't want drinks at a bar. She wanted the quietness of the beach house, the crash of the ocean waves upon the shore, and the delicious scent of Darius entwined around her senses.

"I'd rather stay here with you."

A smile tugged his mouth upward. "Good. Let's get out of these formal clothes, change into something comfortable. Meet me in the living room in ten minutes."

After changing into jeans and a favorite red T-shirt, she went into the living room and sat on the comfortable sofa. Darius was behind the bar. He found a bottle of red wine and opened it. He snagged two glasses from an overhead rack and brought both along with the bottle to the sofa, setting them onto the cocktail table.

"You didn't drink much earlier," she observed.

"I never do with clients or business partners. I keep the upper edge."

He poured the wine and handed her a glass, then raised his. "A toast. To Sam, whose beauty is matched by her stunning intelligence in business."

The wine was heady and tasted of oak and cinnamon. Darius leaned back and flung an arm across the sofa's back. He thoughtfully stroked his wineglass stem with a long finger. The grace in his hands brought a vivid image; Darius caressing the soft skin of her inner thigh.

Samantha clenched her legs and gritted her teeth.

"What now? Anything in particular you'd like to do?"

Let's get naked. The words danced on the edge of her tongue. Samantha bit her lip. Amusement sparked in his gaze as he watched her.

The wolf knew her thoughts.

"We can play billiards. Or watch a movie."

"How about we sit and talk?" He studied her intently. "It's been too long since we really talked, Sam."

She thought of those conversations they'd shared years ago, so intimate they'd shut away the world. Pain rippled through her. When she'd lost Darius, she'd lost more than a potential mate. She'd lost her best friend and closest confidant, the only one who really understood her.

She tucked one leg beneath her, suddenly curious about his life since he'd left Maxim's fold. "Tell me what happened to you? Where did you go after you left?"

His mouth curved in a humorless smile. "I stayed as close as possible to the pack. Hung out in the woods a hairline from Maxim's borders. Stayed in wolf form and hunted, until one of his patrols spotted me and ran me off. The second time it happened, I left for good."

It must have taken enormous persuasion to get him to leave. Darius was famous for his stubborn streak. Samantha thought of the rifles Maxim's males took on patrol to scare off intruders.

"How bad was the gunshot wound?" she asked quietly.

Darius rubbed a spot on his muscular thigh. "You guessed it. Nearly nicked my femoral artery. I healed, but it hurt like hell. And I realized hanging around might jeopardize your safety. So I headed east, hitchhiked and took up odd jobs. Busing tables, working at a gas station. It was lonely, being on my own."

"And your current pack?" He looked distant, a haunting sadness lingering in his eyes. She wanted to remove it and remind him of happier times.

"Aiden, our alpha, and I met at a bar in Billings. He was on a business trip to negotiate a bank loan for his ranch. We got into a fistfight."

Well, this was different. "Arguing about a girl?"

"Arguing about last call. I was bartending. He wanted another drink. I refused."

"And he won, because he's the alpha."

A deep chuckle that warmed her insides. "I won and threw him out. That's when he asked me to join the pack he'd formed. Said he needed someone that strong and determined to control the males."

She laughed, and he grinned. They talked and drank the wine. She told him about volunteering to teach reading to adults and taking a few online courses. He asked about the people at Comairise Energy.

"The company is small, and everyone is casual. They're my friends. We're all like family," she told him.

Darius shook his head. "Don't mistake business for your family, Sam. When it comes to money, they'll cut you off at the knees every time."

"They're not like that. Ken promised me a promotion if I nailed this deal with you. He's like an uncle."

She didn't care for his cynical expression. "An uncle who'd cut you out of the family will if he thought it would save him a dollar. Consider how much return on an investment you're making with your time and energy with them. Ken told me at dinner that he'd just fired an employee for not putting in enough hours at the office."

The firing had made her uneasy because Ralph often worked from home. But the official word was that Ralph had taken advantage of the situation. "They demand quality performance from their staff so they can give excellent service to their clients. It is business. And they've been good to me."

"Not like pack, Sam. Nothing can replace the closeness and loyalty of pack." Wineglass dangling from his fingertips, he gazed at the bay windows overlooking the ocean. "I learned that the hard way."

When the bottle of wine was empty, Samantha glanced at the clock on the fireplace mantel, stunned to realize they'd talked for two hours straight. Like old times. Oh, how she'd missed this.

"We always talked to each other about everything." She watched as he put the empty bottle on the bar and washed the glasses in the sink.

Darius dried his hands on a paper towel and joined her on the sofa. "Not everything. We never did talk about this..."

Cupping the back of her head, he drew her forward and kissed her. Every nerve raged with need. She wanted him, badly.

And then common sense kicked her, hard, and she pulled away.

This was Darius, the Lupine who seduced legions of women. They were both leaving tomorrow. Samantha didn't want to be another notch in his bedpost. The look he gave her was so tender and languorous, she wanted to melt into his arms. Samantha steeled herself against it. He possessed the power to hurt her badly.

"Let's do something else," she suggested.

"What?"

"We could watch a video. Though the most entertaining ones I left in my apartment. They feature you with several women."