“I know which family you meant, Olivia. But you only deal with my family. So I’m sorry if I’m questioning—”

“Antonella?”

“What?”

“Can I have the place or not?”

“Of course you can. It’ll be completely empty. Coop and Cherise are still in Europe on tour. But make sure you use the keys! No breaking and entering and no damn holes, Olivia. I mean it. But, look, that’s not the real issue—”

“Have a good time with the bears!” Livy cheered. “Love you more than soap!”

The call ended and Toni stamped her foot and wondered how long it would take her to get to New York if she left right now.

“Hey, little doggie,” an excessively thick Russian accent barked from inside the room. “You have work! Or did you forget?”

Toni pushed the door open and stared at the table filled with Russian bears. She’d long ago stopped feeling any fear at being around so many bears once she realized that the only bear she had to worry about at the moment was Ivan Zubachev, the Russian hockey team owner, who ruled with an iron paw.

She hated that he still insisted on calling her “little doggie” although everyone and their mother knew he adored her. Why? Because she had made him lots of money. The game between the Carnivores and Zubachev’s team had been a huge event, bringing in a lot of money not only to the two teams but to the Siberian shifter-run towns that had played host.

Now, it was time to bring the Russians to America, and Toni was on deck to make it happen. That was when she realized she couldn’t walk away from this. She couldn’t tell Zubachev that she had to go check on her friend but she’d be back in a week or two to finalize the deal. The Russians had hard and fast rules for negotiations, and Toni’s need to protect her friends and family from themselves wasn’t really part of that.

Toni looked down at her phone. No. She’d have to trust that Livy could take care of herself. Even if her family was involved, Toni was sure that it was probably just an issue with Melly or something. An issue that could easily be handled by violating that woman’s parole and putting her right back in a cell.

“She’ll call me if she needs me,” Toni reminded herself. “She’ll call.”

Clinging to that belief, Toni walked back into the room, closing the door behind her. “All right, gentlemen, let’s get back to work. And no, we will not force Bo Novikov to shift to his animal form and put him on display in a gilded cage at the Sports Center so that the world can see what a true freak he is. And stop asking if you can!”

With keys in hand, Livy walked up the stairs to the front door. She looked at the keys and back at the door. No. She had to do this. She had no choice.

Livy had the key in the lock when she stopped. “Are you going to keep shadowingme?”

“Yes.”

Sighing, Livy turned but ended up with her face buried in his stomach. She pushed and pointed at the street. “Down,” she ordered. “Down.”

Vic went down the stairs, and now she could almost look him directly in the eyes.

With space between them, Livy could be clear and concise and inform Vic that she would be doing this on her own. She didn’t need him or his help. She appreciated it and all, but she didn’t need it.

Livy started to speak, but thought she was too far from him. So she walked down a couple of steps, bringing her closer, but now he was taller again. She hated the thought of yelling up to him that she didn’t need him or his help. That seemed tacky.

She motioned him closer with her hand. Vic leaned down. “What, Livy?”

“Well, what I don’t . . .”

“What you don’t . . . what?” Vic frowned when she didn’t answer. “Livy?”

That’s when Livy grabbed the back of Vic’s neck, pulled him closer, and kissed him. She didn’t know why she kissed the man. She had no idea. Maybe it was those damn lips. He had the nicest lips. And such a handsome face.

Even worse . . . Vic kissed her back. His arms going around her waist, he lifted Livy up and walked forward until Livy was pressed against the front door. Their kiss was desperate and demanding and completely unreasonable. Unreasonable because this hadn’t been Livy’s plan. She was supposed to send him off, for no other reason than to keep him safe. Getting involved with her family was dangerous. Unbelievably dangerous. And she didn’t want to be the reason anything happened to Vic.

But when he pulled away from her, his eyes locked on her mouth, his breathing hard, Livy knew she wouldn’t be able to “shoo” him away.

“I’ll get us some clothes,” he said, slowly removing his hands from her waist. “And Shen. He’ll be good help for this. Okay?”

Livy nodded, instinctively licking her lips, which she immediately stopped doing when Vic started growling at her.

With a hearty snort, Vic turned and started off toward his SUV. But he abruptly stopped, glared at Livy over his shoulder. “Don’t make me come look for you,” he ordered.

“What if I do?”

“Olivia.”

“Kidding. I’m kidding. I’ll be here.”

“Good.”

Livy watched Vic until he reached his SUV and drove off. She blew out a confused breath. Her heart had raced from that kiss. Her heart didn’t race from much of anything. Maybe good sex but just a kiss? What exactly was happening to her? Because she didn’t like it.

Deciding not to worry about this on top of everything else, Livy went back to the door, unlocked it, and stepped into the house.