Wolf with Benefits

CHAPTER FIVE

Toni had been waiting forty-five minutes for her interview, but she didn’t mind. She had a book. As long as she had something to read, Toni could self-entertain for hours. It was a gift she had.

Still, she did wonder if there really was some sort of problem going on that kept Ulrich Van Holtz and the hockey team’s coach too busy to meet with her. Or were they just trying to find a way to break it to her nicely that they didn’t even think she could manage the office copier? Not that she blamed them. Except for the occasional volunteer position, she’d never had a real job. Not anything she could put on a résumé.

Then again, she was probably just being paranoid and insecure. They couldn’t all be away trying to figure out what to do with her, and even the snooty bobcat receptionist wasn’t around.

She glanced over to her right.

The wolf, though, was still sitting there. Quietly. Staring at the wall across from them. He didn’t look bored. Or annoyed. Or angry. Just . . . calm.

She hadn’t said a word to him. Not because she was upset with him but because she was curious to see how long he could go without talking to her. She’d thought he would have gotten fed up by now and found a very nice way to leave. She couldn’t see him storming out in a huff. That didn’t seem to be his way. But politely finding an exit strategy? Yeah. That seemed more his style.

She finally had to ask, “You’re not bored?”

“Not at all.”

“Really?”

“I’ve found that if you wait long enough . . . the entertainment often comes to you. You just have to be patient.”

“Okay, but it may be awhile. I don’t know when—”

“That’s fine. I’ll just keep on sittin’ here . . . lookin’ pretty.” He grinned at her, showing those perfect white teeth. “Enticing you with my charm.”

At that point, all Toni could do was cross her eyes and go back to her book. But just as she’d settled in, the bobcat receptionist returned. He charged in through the glass door, barely glancing at her or the wolf as he passed.

Toni sat up straight, not knowing if the receptionist would be part of the hiring process, and said, “Hi. I’m here to see—”

“Yeah, yeah.” He dismissed her with a shake of his head while he grabbed a messenger bag from under his desk. He had it in his fist and was just moving around the desk when the glass door was thrown open and the hockey player from the day before, Novikov, stood there. He wasn’t in his training gear, but in jeans and a T-shirt, a duffel bag over his shoulder. And even though she didn’t know the man very well, Toni could say with great confidence that he was definitely seething.

“What,” Novikov began, spitting out the words through clenched teeth, “do you not understand about a schedule?”

Uh-oh. Toni remembered her brother Troy beginning a conversation with his onetime babysitter. Afterward, the babysitter sued for medical bills and pain and suffering, plus got a restraining order against her brother. In the end the family settled with her out of court. At the time, Troy was six and weighed about thirty pounds.

Novikov was thirty something and at least four hundred plus pounds . . . so this situation could easily end up much worse.

Trying to defend himself, the bobcat began, “I did what you ask—”

“No!” Novikov cut the cat off. “You didn’t do what I asked. Because if you’d done what I’d asked, I’d be surprising my fiancée in Chicago with the wonder that is me. And later tonight, I’d be watching a bout with her and a bunch of other hot girls racing around a banked track in tight shorts and tank tops and pretending it’s a sport. Instead, since last night, I’ve been in Iowa. Then Kentucky. Then Minnesota. None of which had my fiancée, but did have grizzlies. Lots and lots of really pissy grizzlies! Who aren’t fans of polar bears or lion males! And I’m both!”

In the face of that roar, the bobcat backed up against the wall behind him, his messenger bag held against his chest. “I just got your schedule confused with Markowitz’s. It was an accident.”

“Wait a minute . . . you’re telling me that Markowitz is in Chicago? With my fiancée?”

“I doubt he’s with Blayne.”

“Does Blayne know you got the schedules mixed up?”

“Well, she called—”

“Which means,” the hybrid growled, “she probably felt bad for Markowitz and now she’s making sure he’s doing okay. You know how she doesn’t like anyone to be sad. And we all know how Markowitz is a scumbag leopard who’ll take advantage of any do-gooder idiot that comes along. Especially when they have legs as long as my Blayne’s!” The player stalked over to the bobcat’s desk and slammed really big hands onto it, making the thing nearly buckle. “But you know what’s the worst part of this? What really sets my teeth on edge and makes me want to just twist your head around until it pops off your body? The worst part is that because of you I haven’t had my workout today. I haven’t had my swim. I haven’t had my practice. Because of you I’ve missed almost an entire day of my schedule.”

The bobcat blinked. “That’s really more important than your girlfriend?”

Utilizing years of unplanned training, Toni dropped her book, charged across the room, and cut in front of the bobcat, her one free arm stretched out in front of her. She knew her skinny jackal arm and battered shoulder would never stop the player from getting those big hands on the idiot cat, but she felt the need to at least try because she, above everyone else, understood what was going on here.

Because Toni understood drive. The drive that one had to have in order to be the best.

So while the bobcat didn’t “get” Novikov’s schedule issues, Toni did. She also knew that she didn’t want to spend the rest of the day in a police precinct giving a statement on a tragic shifter-on-shifter murder case.

“When’s your fiancée’s thing tonight?” she asked loudly in an attempt to get Novikov’s attention and keep him on the other side of that very flimsy-looking desk. “Eight? Nine?”

Novikov yanked his hand back and, since it had been dangerously close to her face, she appreciated that he had enough self-control to do that.

“Eight thirty Chicago time,” he snarled, blue eyes still locked on the bobcat behind her.

“Great. I know a carrier that I use for my family all the time. There’re eleven of us not counting my parents, and regular planes and full-human run airports are not always the friends of jackals with pups. So I can easily get you on a direct flight to Chicago, have a car meet you at the airport to take you right to wherever she’s playing her game tonight.”

“It’s called a bout.”

Bout? Was she a boxer?

“Okay. Her bout. I can get you to her bout.”

“You can do that?” he asked, looking a bit calmer.

“Just need a phone and a computer.”

The player pointed at the bobcat. “You. Out.”

“This is my desk.”

Toni rammed her free hand against Novikov’s shoulder before he could finish climbing over the bobcat’s desk and strangling the feline to death. She had no illusions that she was somehow physically holding him back. Instead she was trusting in his desire not to hurt the one person who might be able to help him.

“Go take a break,” she ordered the bobcat. “I won’t be long.”

“Whatever.”

The bobcat sounded tough, but he still slinked around them and then darted out of the room before the player could get his hands on him.

“Sit,” Toni firmly ordered, using the same tone she often used with Kyle.

“I’d be making everyone’s life easier if I just took that cat’s neck and—”

“Sit. Now. Over there by the wolf.”

Novikov walked over to Ricky and glared down at him. Toni thought she’d have to jump between those two when the wolf only stared back. That same placid look on his face. But Novikov, instead of fighting yet another person, just grabbed the chair Toni had originally been sitting in and pulled it close to the desk.

Toni decided to ignore the fact that the chair had been bolted to the floor. Nope. It was better not to think about that little feat of strength at all.

Sitting down behind the bobcat’s computer, Toni willed herself not to comment on the background picture he had on his monitor of some hot car model. So typical.

“Your full name?” she asked.

“Bo Novikov.”

“Right.” She gave him a small smile. “I appreciated how you handled my brother yesterday, Mr. Novikov.”

“Call me Bo,” he ordered. “And does he ask everyone if he can sketch them naked?”

She gave a small chuckle while typing into the Web browser. “No. Only worthy specimens.”

“What happened to your arm?”

“Got hit by a truck saving a dog.”

“A dog dog or . . . family?”

Toni rolled her eyes. “A dog dog.”

“You risked your life to save a dog?”

“I already had this conversation with my parents—I’m not having it again!” she snapped.

“Okay, okay. No need to get snippy.”

“You haven’t seen me snippy,” she muttered as she forced herself to ignore the pain in her wounded shoulder so she could use both hands to type.

“So why are you here today?” Novikov asked her.

She went into the site for the shifter-run airline. She had full access because the owner loved Jackie’s music and because Toni worked with them so often she’d become friends with most of the staff. She didn’t use them for everything—they were unbelievably expensive—but they were great for last-minute arrangements to foreign countries when the entire family was going. So many jackals in one place was pretty much asking for trouble when full-humans were around.

“Hoping to get a job for the summer,” she replied without looking at him. “Looks like my family is staying here for the next few months.”

“What do you do for a living?”

Toni sighed. “Babysit.”

He grunted at her, and Toni glanced at him. His right leg was bouncing, his fingers were tapping the arms of his chair, and he was staring at the wall. He wasn’t bored or annoyed. He was anxious. She knew the signs.

“You know what?” she said, keeping her voice light. “I bet your info is in these files. I’ll dig it out, get your schedule all lined up, and you can go and skate or whatever it is you hockey players do to keep in shape. You just give me your fiancée’s info on this Post-it, and I’ll take it from there.”

“I better not.”

“It’s not even noon, Mr. Novikov. You get some practice in and I’ll handle everything else. Trust me. You’ll get there and she’ll be surprised and very happy. I’ll make it happen.”

He leaned back, studied her again. “Like I said, the name’s Bo. And why are you protecting that bobcat?”

“I’m not protecting the idiot. I’m protecting the genius.” She smiled, shrugged. “I guess that’s also what I do.”

“You sure?”

“You can’t get on a flight this wound up. You’ll startle the flight attendants . . . a lot of them are cats. You know how that’ll end.”

“Yeah. All right. All right.” He took the pen she held out for him and jotted some info on the paper. “You don’t have to get that tone. I’ll be at the training rink if you need—”

“I won’t need anything. Go. Now. Work out. Get your head together.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

He got up, walked out, and Toni went back to work.

After a few seconds the wolf remarked, “Ya see? You wait long enough . . . the entertainment comes to you.”