Guarded (True Alpha 2) by Alisa Woods Read Free Book Online

onto Interstate 5 to head downtown. Mia sat quietly in the passenger seat, her new clothes a perfect complement to her features. The ink black pants matched her long, dark hair, now pulled back and clipped behind her neck. The sapphire blue silk top brought out the power of those mystical eyes… only her gaze was turned away from him, studying the skyscrapers of Seattle in the distance.
    He had to wonder what she was thinking. It was the right thing to move her out of the dorm—she had to know that—but what of the rest of it? The sex… him pushing her away… his reluctance to tell her anything about why .
    God, he was such an asshole.
    He kept looking over at her periodically, but she didn’t give any hints as to the thoughts swirling through her mind. They were halfway to downtown before she looked at him in return.
    “Is the hotel near the office?” she asked.
    There was a fatigue in her voice that he didn’t like. At all. His wolf growled at him, and he agreed again: he had to do a better job of taking care of her. It was his fault she was in this situation. He needed to make it as easy as possible on her.
    “Yes,” he replied, “but I need to stop by the office for a minute first. We kind of left in a hurry on Friday.”
    She frowned, then seemed to figure it out. “The LoopSource reports.”
    “I was just going to pick them up and bring them with us to the hotel. While you take a rest, maybe get some lunch, I’ll look over them. I need to have some kind of recommendation for my father on Monday.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not tired. Maybe I can help with the reports?”
    His first instinct was to say no. The dark circles under her eyes belied her claim of not being tired. Dammit, he was tired. They’d spent half the night exploring each other’s bodies. He couldn’t bring himself to regret that, but she had to be lying when she said it hadn’t drained her energy. Which meant she must really want to help with the reports. Or, more likely, find a way back into his arms. Which was definitely not something he could allow to happen again, no matter how much he wanted it. Or how much she did.
    But that was on him to resist. Short of that, he would give her anything she wanted.
    He looked forward again, studying the traffic and avoiding her gaze. “That would be great. I could really use someone to double check my analysis.” That much was true—he’d be lucky to form half a coherent thought this weekend with her nearby. “But Mia…” He glanced back, and her blue eyes were still trained on him. “We’re just working.”
    “Right. No sex. Not even kissing.” The corner of her mouth lifted.
    He looked back at the traffic. “I mean it, Mia.”
    “I know.” This time her voice was soft, and when he glanced at her again, she was back to looking out the window.
    Yeah, he was definitely an asshole.
    Another ten tension-filled minutes later, they arrived at the parking garage for the Russell Building where SparkTech sat on the 32 nd floor. There was no sign of last night’s attack by the Red wolves—the limo was gone, there was no blood on the floor of the garage—but he parked as close as he could to the elevator door, just in case.
    “You need to come inside with me,” Lucas said as he turned off the car.
    “Right behind you,” she said.
    He hopped out of the car and came quickly around to her side. He got there before she managed to climb out of the car in her tall, black heels. He took her by the elbow to help, but she pulled away—not strongly, yet he felt the rebuke nonetheless. And she was right: he would have to watch his tendency to put his hands on her without thinking. Still, he kept by her side, scanning the nearly empty concrete spaces for any bad actors. Or lurking wolves. There was nothing but the sound of her heels clicking on the tiled entryway to the elevator.
    The ride up was just as tense. He wanted to get in and out of the office as quickly as possible. Then maybe