Mated to the Wilde Bear

“Are you always so persistent about your job?” he asked.

“Are you always so hard to work with?” she shot back. He laughed.

Laurel leaned in, drawn to the way he seemed to let all his walls down when he laughed. She wanted to be the one to make him laugh.

“Not always,” he admitted. “Only for you, it seems. You bring out the grumpy alpha in me.”

She felt her lips curving. “Funny, I was hoping only to bring out the grumpy alpha in myself.”

His brow quirked. “You like being in charge, huh?”

She tried to decide whether he was poking fun at her, but he looked serious enough. “I guess I like being in control of things,” she admitted. “Probably a little too much sometimes. It’s a gift and a curse. But I’m pretty sure my boss calls it management material.” In fact, her boss, Gerald, was the only friend she’d made here and the only one she let joke with her like that. Until now.

He grinned. “You’re way more fun when you’re not trying to piss people off.”

off from the beginning. And now, standing so close she could practically feel his hot breath on her face, she couldn’t remember why she’d want to make him mad enough to leave her alone. “Maybe I was,” she finally admitted. “Sorry about that. Occupational hazard when you’re a woman working in an

darkened. “What do you mean? Did one of them threaten or hurt

like that,” she said quickly. She put her hand on his chest to stop him from getting so riled up and the same jolt shot through her again. Just like earlier, she tried yanking

alive,” he murmured in her

crap out of me.” She felt her cheeks

made you vulnerable. It made you more easily hurt or exposed—but Xavier just gave

her opportunity. If she shut him down now, she was sure he wouldn’t try again. But in the end, she couldn’t. Something about Xavier Wilde called to her. And not just her animal, but

getting to know me. My past. Rejection. I guess that’s why I piss people off.

her suspicions. People at work talked. Rumors, mostly, since none of them knew Xavier personally, but she’d heard about his past. The parties and the women when he was younger. But since his father had died, he’d been a

of pushing people away just like she was? Hard to believe someone like Xavier Wilde was scared of getting close to anything. But if the expression on his face currently

laid a tentative hand on his arm.

there was no other thought on his mind besides her. “I know what you mean about keeping people out,” he said quietly. “I know a thing or two about that.” He cast a quick glance behind her, probably at his guys. She had no doubt they were

she said, and his smile

he’d already slid his arm around her hip and led her back to the table with the