Midnight Moon: A Paranormal Werewolf Romance (Roadside Angels Motorcycle Club Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

wanted to save money.  He could see her going over, in her mind, what would make giving in to him acceptable.  
     
    “I suppose I could chalk it up to business expenses.  After all, I will need to go into some property with rather unexpectedly rough places.  I hadn’t packed for that.  Since I’m sure there will be lots of press on this story I’m about to break on an unsuspecting world, I’m sure Ray will reimburse me.”
     
    Lex smiled at her.  He loved how she gave herself reasons for her behavior she could live with.  Now the only hurdle remained paying for the items.  He fully intended to pay for them.  How he would win that battle he still didn’t know, but he would win, one way or another.  By the time they were walking past the cowboy hats, which he could not persuade her to add to the items in the cart -- “Really, Lex?  I need a cowboy hat to investigate wolf attacks?  In whose reality?  Ray would roll his eyes at me, much like I’m doing now at you!” -- Lex had decided he would begin by suggesting they were a gift.  He suspected that wouldn’t fly, but it was a starting point.  If push came to shove, he’d pay for them before she could, and then she’d just have to deal with it.   
     
    With that in mind, he took his wallet out while she was distracted by the beef jerky and other snacks, and handed it to the cashier even before he started to unload the cart.  By the time she turned back around, the items were being scanned, and she reached for her pocketbook.
     
    “It’s all taken care of,” Lex said smoothly, accepting his card back from the cashier, who smiled sympathetically at Tamara as she sputtered and glared at him.  He signed the receipt, prepared to have his parts handed to him verbally as soon as they were out of earshot of anyone.  One more thing he had learned about her in these last few days is that Tamara hated making a scene.  For which he was grateful.
     
    “Lex, I told you I’d pay for those things!” she began, when they were once again seated in the truck.  “Why did you pay for them?”
     
    “A gift?” he began, going with his plan. 
     
    “I can’t accept anything from you, Lex!”  She was vehement in her objections, but he bore her anger and frustration because he had done what he set out to do and there really wasn’t anything she could do about it.  “How am I supposed to be reimbursed from work if I tell Ray it was a gift?”
     
    “So don’t tell him it was a gift, and don’t ask for reimbursement.”  Lex used his most reasonable tone.  It didn’t help.
     
    “This wasn’t the arrangement...wait a second.  This is what you were up to, isn’t it?  All along, you were planning to pay for the things I picked up,” she fumed.
     
    Lex could almost see steam shooting out of her ears, and he had to struggle not to pull over and take her mouth in the kiss he’d been wanting since he’d seen her walk into the station house.  When she was angry, she was hot as hell.  Instead of acting on his baser desires, however, he told her calmly, “Okay, if it’s such a terrible thing to accept a gift from me, you can pay me back later, all right?”
     
    She glared at him, clearly not satisfied, and rather ungraciously agreed, as though she suspected he was still tricking her.  Which he was, but she would never know that, as he knew things were going to get sufficiently busy and she would forget.  Or at least, he hoped she would.  Which brought him back to the business at hand.
     
    “We can go see Dave this evening, before dinner, and share the pictures with him.  Or do you just want to send them to him by e-mail?”
     
    She thought about that as he drove, and decided she would send them to him by e-mail first, and if he had any questions, she would meet him then.  Lex got the impression she had other things on her mind, other plans she was not sharing with him, and he sincerely hoped she wasn’t going to test him by going