Free Deadlocked (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 3) by Lisa Emme

this now?
What brought this on?” I gave him another pointed look. “Okay,” he replied, shaking
his head. “But you’re not going to like it.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“When I shook your hand and looked into your eyes that first time, I knew right
then that you were my mate. The moment I caught your scent my wolf knew and he
wanted you.” He put up a hand stalling my reply. “I wanted you. I thought
you were the cutest, sexiest little thing I had ever seen. You were all
flustered and trying to act all business-like babbling away, but I could hear
your heart thumping in your chest, smell your arousal. You had on that sexy
little dress and I could see straight down your cleavage well enough to know
you weren’t wearing a bra.”
    I gasped in mock outrage. “You perv!” Nash gave me a
cheeky grin. I thought back to that day, remembering the look on Nash’s face.
“So why did you frown? Did it make you angry that I was your mate?”
    “Angry? Harry, no!” He pulled his truck into the parking
lot behind my building. “I was shocked, sure, but not angry. And I guess I
was feeling a little frustrated. You were involved in a murder I was
investigating. For all I knew at that point, you could have been a suspect.”
He shut off the truck and turned to face me again.
    “So you weren’t mad that I wasn’t a werewolf?” I looked
away, not wanting to make eye contact.
    Nash reached over and grasped my chin firmly, tipping my
head up so he could see my eyes. “No, I didn’t even think about that.” I
could feel his eyes on me as he waited. When I finally brought my eyes up to
meet his, he nodded. “I was struggling, Harry.” He ran another hand through
his hair. “You don’t understand what it means, what it feels like, when a
werewolf finds his mate. It took every ounce of will power I had not to pull
you up against me and kiss you. I thought I was going to go nuts. And then
later in the day, I could still smell your scent everywhere I went. I really
thought I had lost it when I smelled you in Bryce’s apartment.” He gave me a
dirty look and I tried to look contrite but it only earned me a ‘yeah right’
snort from Nash.
    There was an awkward moment of silence. Part of me was
wishing I had kept my mouth shut, the other was trying to get up the courage to
tell Nash that Salvador was my father. I had let my encounter with the
she-wolf bitch Melissa shake me though, so I kept my mouth shut. I grabbed one
of the take-out containers. “So, you up for some dessert? I bet I even know a
great little place to get some coffee to go with it.”

    ***

    I was right about the coffee. Isaac, Morris and the boys
were still playing with the new coffee maker. I’d let us in through the back
door. Nash paused in the new kitchen and looked around.
    “Wow! Quite the set up.” He looked impressed.
    “Thanks. I can’t take any credit for it. I promised Isaac
a gourmet kitchen to bake in if he planned and paid for it. All I did was
provide the space.”
    When we arrived out front, there seemed to be an argument
going on.
    “No, it’s just not right. You can’t make a proper
cappuccino with non-fat milk.” Isaac looked scandalized. “I refuse to allow
it.”
    Morris threw up his hands in disgust. “Bah! You will lose
business. Norms are obsessed with fat. Everything is half-fat this, no-fat
that.”
    “I don’t care. They can go drink half-fat swill somewhere
else. We are going to be a proper coffee establishment.”
    “Oh boy,” I said to myself and then waded into the fray.
“Hey boys, Isaac, Morris.” I nodded to the group. “What’s up?”
    “Harry, I refuse to serve coffee with non-fat milk.”
Isaac made a face.
    “Uh, okay, sure. We can give it a try....” In fact, the more
I thought about it, the more I was beginning to really like the idea. It could
be our ‘gimmick’, something to set us apart from the other coffee shops in the
neighbourhood. Besides, I had a feeling our core