Free Fascination: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Shifters Forever After Book 2) by Elle Thorne Page B

me. If you turn me in, then you’re going to create a problem with our families. I’ll just go in quietly, turn myself in, and ta-da! You’re off the hook.”
    The door opened. He entered the elevator. She took a step in his direction. “Thanks for walking me inside.”
    Before she could take a second step he’d reached for her, his large hand encircling her arm, he pulled her into the elevator.
    The door closed behind her. His eyes held her prisoner. “Listen.” He let go of her arm, scrubbed his face, the days’ growth scratchy.
    She leaned against the shiny metal wall. “Okay.” She crossed her arms.
    “I can’t. I can’t have you turning yourself in.” He looked away, pushed the button for her floor.
    Her stomach lurched and it felt like the temperature dropped a thousand degrees. He means he wants to take me in himself. “So the alternative is?”
    The elevator dinged. A crowd stood in front of her, blocking the way, but she couldn’t concentrate on them. She stepped out, her vision blurred with tears of helplessness.
    What the fuck. I don’t cry.
    The crowd parted around her and entered the elevator, swarming on.
    “Cadence.”
    She didn’t turn around fully. She didn’t want him to see her crying, even if it wasn’t tears of sadness or self-pity. Cadence shook her head. “No.”
    “Hold the door open,” he said to someone on the elevator. She swiped at her face, composed her expression and turned to face him.
    He was trapped by a baby stroller.
    “Wait,” was the last thing she heard him say as the door closed.
    That’s when she noticed— this isn’t even my fucking floor. She was two floors down from her floor.
    “Fuck.”
    And that’s exactly where he was going. Her floor. She didn’t feel like talking to him. Didn’t want to listen to his excuses about why he was taking her in personally.
    She crossed to the stairway and took the steps down two at a time, exited to the lobby and headed out the front door. She didn’t want to see Isaac Romanoff.
    God. I have to face it. The man I’m in love with is turning me into the cops. Hell, he’s not turning me in, he’s the cop arresting me.
    She wandered for more than an hour, then she’d come back in, made sure his car was gone before going up to her apartment.
    She’d still have to deal with him tomorrow. Unless she could avoid the Romanoffs for Christmas.
    I’ll call Laken, tell her I can’t make it. That I’ve got a tummy thing going on.
    That would do it.
    She slipped the key into the lock, opened the door, then closed it behind her.
    Carina wasn’t there. The place was quiet.
    Except…
    She paused.
    The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
    “You never let me finish what I was saying.”
    She jumped.
    Isaac.
    Her panther shifted part way, her teeth erupting, claws erupting. She snarled.
    ”Easy,” Isaac said. “It’s just me.” He stepped out of the shadows.
    She reshifted to her human. “You…” She couldn’t say scared me , because she wasn’t scared, but her alarms certainly went off enough to cause her panther to surge for a shift. “You caught me off guard.”
    “I didn’t mean to. Where have you been? I’ve been concerned.”
    “I’m sorry. I saw you tried to call.” At least a dozen times since I left you in the elevator. “I was thinking. What did you want to say?” That you were going to put me in prison?
    His eyes narrowed, a flash appeared in their depths, then his lips pursed.
    God, so very fucking kissable. She tore her gaze away from his lips, concentrated on his eyes.
    “What do you mean what did I want to say?” His tone had an underlying steel quality to it that vibrated throughout her body, sending waves of desire coursing clear to the very tip of her nerve endings.
    How the hell does he affect me this way? she thought back to a conversation she’d had with Laken before she and Ky had left for overseas. Laken had told her that a part of her had always known Ky was for her.
    When Cade