Then last night he’d had a job that wouldn’t end until late and he didn’t think he’d see her. Done by two, he still found himself driving over to her office. He wasn’t exactly shocked to see that the light in her office was on. Now that he and Mace handled all security for Jessie’s company, he’d let himself in, gone up to the top floor, dumped her over his shoulder, and taken her back home with him. They’d both been exhausted and ended up doing nothing more than kissing and nuzzling before they both fell asleep in each other’s arms.

He’d never slept so well before in his life.

And he’d had no intention of getting up early, until his damn phone went off.

Yawning, Smitty flipped open his phone but quickly realized it hadn’t been his ringing.

By the time he turned around, Jessie had her phone to her ear and was scrambling over the bed and over him, heading to the bathroom.

Before the door closed all he heard from her was, “No. I’ll handle this myself.”

She didn’t sound happy, but he figured he could dig into what was going on once she got out of the bathroom. He really hoped it didn’t have to do with that idiot Wilson. He had Mitch tracking him down. The lion could find anyone once he set his mind to it. But until they tracked Wilson down and Smitty had a chance to talk to him, he wouldn’t feel Jessie’s Pack was safe. At least not safe enough.

He soon heard the shower start while he had the coffee brewing, when his own phone rang.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, buddy. It’s Phil.”

“Yeah?”

“Okay. Not a morning person. Good to know. Anyway, the Pack needs you to do us a favor.”

“What?”

“Stay with Jess.”

Smitty’s lip curled back, he felt his incisors lengthen. Did he actually just have a dog tell him he should stay with Jess? As in permanently? Two things bothered him about that. One, he didn’t want the little runts ordering him to do a damn thing. And two... that “permanently” didn’t sound as bad as it should.

“Hello? Damn. I think I lost the connection.”

“No. I’m right here.”

“Oh. So you can do that?”

Taking a deep breath, “Don’t you think that’s up to me and Jessie Ann?”

“Well, she’ll just say no.”

And there went his hackles.

“What d’ya mean she’ll say no?”

“She’ll say she won’t need you.” The little runt said it so matter-of-factly too. Why wouldn’t she need him? They got along real well. Didn’t irritate each other too much, in his opinion. And had amazing sex.

Dammit. Now what was he doing?

“Are you there?”

Smitty ignored the pooch’s exasperated tone. “If she doesn’t need me why are you trying toforce the issue?”

“Because we don’t want her to go to Connecticut by herself. Since she’s our Alpha Female we have to abide by her wishes. But you don’t. And from what I can tell, you won’t.”

“Connecticut?”

“Yeah. What else have we been talking about?”

Annoyed, frustrated, and just downright pissy due to lack of coffee, Smitty slapped his phone closed and stalked to the bathroom, bursting into the room.

He snatched the shower curtain back, and got a lovely Jessie scream for his trouble.

“What?” she demanded, trying in vain to cover herself with a washcloth—although he didn’t know why. He’d spent many hours licking her from head to toe, exactly what hadn’t he seen? And tasted? And enjoyed?

“Why are you going to Connecticut?”

“Were you listening to my phone call?”

“No.”

She gave an adorable little snarl. “Damn Phil.”

“Answer my question.”

“No.”

She yanked the curtain closed. But Smitty just yanked it back open.

“Why are you going to Connecticut?”

“I need to check on something out there. Something that has nothing to do with you.”

She yanked the curtain closed again. Smitty yanked it back.

At this point he kind of guessed he was being a bit ridiculous, but that didn’t stop him from finding something else to go off about. “What is that on your head?”

Jessie glared. “It’s a shower cap.”

“I didn’t even know I had one of those.”

“It’s probably your sister’s. Now will you piss off?”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Like hell you are.”

“This isn’t up for debate.” He forced a smile. “Just think of me as your protection for when you’re not paying attention. Which is, from what I can tell, all the time.”

“I’ll make you regret this. I will talk. A lot. Just to piss you off.”

Smitty nodded slowly. “So all those other times you talked a lot, you weren’t trying to piss me off?”

“You son of a—now you asked for it. I’m so going to annoy you.”

He grinned and this time he didn’t have to force it. “Leave the shower cap on. That’ll do the job.”

“Oh!” She closed the shower curtain. “I hate you!”

“Now, Jessie Ann—”

“Shut up!”

“Come on now. I’m just jokin’.”

“Oh? Really?” She pulled the curtain back again, standing there beautifully naked, except for that cap and her washcloth. “Then fuck me while I’m wearing this cap.”