Read Online Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston - Free Book Online

of her—a small part she had control of after lots of anger management classes—wanted to bite his fingers clean off. “But at what price?”
    â€œI’m going to help him.”
    â€œHelp him with what? Orgasms?”
    Blayne curled her hand into a fist under the sweat clothes she still held. She made sure to dig her fingers into her palm so that she didn’t laugh. When she knew she had control, she asked, “He didn’t say that specifically, but there was some mention of a morning protein drink. I said, ‘I hope you like strawberry!’”
    â€œBlayne!”
    She waved away his concern. “Look, he’s actually really nice.”
    â€œSee, you already have me worried, Blayne. The Marauder is not nice. He’s what our mom would call a motherfucker. He’s a motherfucker on the ice and, from what I’ve seen and heard, a motherfucker off it.”
    â€œI heard he threw a guy off a building once,” Phil added in for no reason that Blayne could see.
    â€œWe’ll be underground at the Sports Center,” she clarified, making Jess and Gwen snort.
    â€œI heard he went after a fan with his hockey stick,” Danny tossed in. “And I mean his hockey stick. Hockey stick isn’t a euphemism for penis.”
    Yup! She loved the wild dogs!
    â€œWould you two shut up?” Mitch snapped.
    â€œWatch mouth, cat,” Sabina warned, “or I remove your tongue.”
    â€œDon’t you see, Blaynie.” Mitch put his arm around her shoulders. “You’re like an illegitimate little sister that I never wanted.”
    â€œThanks?”
    â€œAnd I want to keep you safe and sound, not sexually abused by sports stars.” He pulled her in close, cutting off her ability to breathe. “Novikov isn’t going to help you, Blayne. He’s going to use you.”
    â€œBut Gwenie said I should do whatever I have to when it comes to the team.”
    â€œI’m sure she didn’t mean—”
    â€œIf the rest of us,” Gwen cut in, “can put out to get our team to the next level, I don’t see why Blayne can’t.”
    Jess had to turn her chair around so she wasn’t facing Mitch, and Mitch looked seconds from his head exploding off his body.
    â€œ What the hell are you talking about? ”
    â€œDon’t yell,” Gwen said. “No need to yell. Blayne just understands what she has to do. For the team. Right, Blayne?”
    â€œRight!”
    â€œNow come on. We’ve got to get to work.”
    â€œWait a minute!” Mitch yelled. “You can’t just walk away! This conversation isn’t done!”
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    Ulrich Van Holtz rolled out of bed and, scratching his head and yawning, made his way out of his bedroom, down his hallway, and into his living room, grabbing the remote off the coffee table. Morning news and fresh coffee would get his day started, so he could face the lunch rush at the restaurant and hockey practice with the team that night.
    About to press the button that would turn on all the different pieces of equipment that made up his home theater, Ric jumped instead, barely keeping his grip on the sleek device in his hand when he heard, “You wanted to see me?”
    Ric closed his eyes and waited until his heart rate slowed down. As with all Van Holtz pups, Ric had been trained from birth to be aware of three things: When filet mignon was a perfect medium-rare, when it was the right time to sell stocks, and when a predator was lurking around one’s home. As his restaurant reviews and personal financial portfolio revealed, Ric had mastered the first two. And he’d always felt he’d mastered the third as well.
    Until he met Dee-Ann Smith.
    He’d met some “lurky types,” as Blayne liked to call them, nearly every day, but none had compared with the thirty-four-year-old She-wolf who didn’t seem to let little things like titanium doors,