aloud.
“ I don’t need a human in my life,” he said, forcing the issue.
She stepped closer. “You asked me out to dinner.” Where was the courage coming from?
“ It was a mistake.” She needed to get out of there. The scent of dampness between her legs, her arousal was doing things to him he wouldn’t be able to control soon. He’d want to ravish her body.
Hesitantly, she reached up and touched his arm.
“ You don’t know what you’re doing,” he warned. He watched her movements.
Ingrid’s curiosity was boiling over, edging out her fear. “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not a violent man.”
“ Are you a violent bear?” Saying the word bear pushed her adrenaline higher, like a rush through her veins, unlike anything she’d ever felt before.
He looked away and spoke his truth. “Only when I’m forced into a corner.”
Ingrid licked her lips and dropped her hand, realizing she was playing with fire. She wanted him to want her. She saw it in his eyes. With her fuller curves, he seemed unfazed by her size, unlike some of the other guys she knew. He wasn’t shy about his lustful desire. He didn’t rush to cover his erection and he didn’t turn away. He simply warned her to leave…because he wanted her. That alone set Ingrid ablaze, knowing he craved her body. She’d never experienced such raw sexuality before, open and daring.
“ You should go,” he said again.
She glanced back down at his hard-on and back up to his face. “What will you do with that?”
He shook his head. “Don’t start something you can’t finish. Go home, Ingrid.”
The words stung. But he was right. She had no idea what she was messing with. What was she trying to prove? The idea that he was half man, half bear scared her as much as it fascinated her. And yet all the things her father said left an imprint too. But there she stood fiercely attracted to a man that was capable of turning into a beast. What’s a girl to do? She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and gave him a shy smile. “I’ll be back tomorrow for dinner.” It bought her time to think. She could always back out, but the thought of heated sex with an incredibly sexy man, yeah, that was hard to walk away from too. Nobody said she was a saint.
“ That wouldn’t be wise,” he finished.
She ignored him and waved over her shoulder. “Tomorrow,” she said. With a grin he couldn’t see, she sashayed her hips just a little more than she normally would. For the first time in a very long time, she felt good in her skin. He obviously liked what he saw, so she flaunted it.
Sitting in her car, her heart was wedged in her throat. I can’t believe I just did that. Holy cow . She tried to keep her wits about her as she drove away, and gave out a little yip. She was high on the rush of the moment.
Chapter 6
She didn’t want to go home. Her father would still be angry and carrying on about her bringing a shifter right to their front door. Those mangy mutts were filthy beasts and incapable of controlling their primal longings . He was disgusted she even considered dating one. The hell he lashed out at her after Jagger Quinn left, it was the first time she truly heard him speaking. She heard the prejudice in his voice, the stereotypes, and the garbage he was spewing…based on what?
Her stomach lurched realizing her own father wasn’t truly protecting her, he thought he was protecting his clean blood-line. He didn’t want half-breeds tainting up his family. The words rang out as he spewed more and more, venting, angry, and yelling after the shotgun incident.
Ingrid opened her eyes and saw the ignorance. It was a hard pill to swallow. She’d never even given the shifters a fighting chance. She’d been brainwashed to believe all these things about them her entire life. And yet, now she was questioning why…why did she believe them? She trusted her father; he loved her and looked out for her. But was he