He heard the shower end.
David walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel. “Did she respond?”
“That had to be the quickest shower you have ever taken.”
David usually used up all the hot water before Wade could take a shower when they shared a room. He wondered if David was afraid he’d miss out on hearing from Maya.
“I wasn’t very dirty,” David said with a gleam of amusement shining in his eyes.
“There was no response from her. She might be out checking on the garden.”
Wade headed for the bathroom, and David pulled his phone out.
“Don’t you text her, too,” Wade said, a warning in his voice. Before he closed the bathroom door, he saw his brother gave him an evil smile.
Chapter 21
That night, when Wade and his brother arrived at the club, Wade couldn’t help but look for Maya. Maybe he should have been more concerned about watching for Lion Mane, Candy, and whoever else might lead them to clues about the buyer, but Maya had been all he could think of since he left her at the airport yesterday afternoon. He half expected to see her and her hulking cousins, but there was no sign of her.
“She can’t be here yet,” David said, bumping Wade’s arm as he motioned to an empty table. The club was filling up fast. “Huntley and Everett’s flight wouldn’t have arrived that early, and then they still had the drive out to her place. She won’t be here for another hour or so.”
“We should have picked her up.”
“They wanted to meet Connor or Kat. They’ll be here.”
Wade hoped they’d all be more prepared tonight. Martin had checked out Houston and the surrounding communities for any other place that the buyer might go, but he’d concluded that as territorial as cats were, this was it. He’d also researched Thompson’s background and discovered he had been rescuing animals from hunters from the time he was ten years old. He was definitely one of the good guys where wild animals were concerned. If the zoo man had been a jaguar shifter, Martin would have already recruited him.
The music was playing and the drinks flowing while David and Wade spent more than three hours observing the crowd. Then Wade smelled Maya’s sweet fragrance and instantly stood up from his seat. Despite the mob, he glimpsed her headed in their direction.
He just gaped at her. She was wearing a sexy red minidress with a low-cut bodice showing off the swell of her breasts. Wade wished he could take off his shirt and cover her, feeling that she was way too exposed for this horde. Before he could greet her, Maya rushed between him and his brother, brushing against them the way cats would in greeting when they didn’t move out of her way fast enough.
They just stared after her before they followed her, Wade wishing she hadn’t left her sweet scent on his brother, too.
“Where are your cousins?” Wade asked, just short of tacking on a “damn it.”
“They’re late. They texted and said they couldn’t make it on time and would meet me here. Flight arrived late, and they missed their connection.”
“Your brother let you come here alone?” Wade took a seat next to her.
Maya’s lips parted for a second, her amber eyes darkening, and then she snapped her mouth closed. Looking around the room, she turned to Wade and said, “Get me a Singapore sling, will you?” Then she left the table, walked over to another where two men were eyeing her with interest, stretched out her hand, and asked one to dance.
Wade stared at her in disbelief.
“I wonder what that’s all about. Maybe she’s still serious about seeing other shifters.” David shook his head and waved for a waitress. “Two beers and a Singapore sling.” While he was placing the order, he saw Candy, and so did Wade. “Why don’t you dance with her?”
“I think I will,” Wade said, getting up from his chair. He was trying his damnedest not to look in Maya’s direction, wondering what she was so angry about, while he approached Candy. She flipped her hair off her shoulders and smiled up at him.
“I see your girlfriend is still dancing with others. Want to dance with me?”
He shrugged. “That was the general idea.” Wade meant to dance with Candy away from Maya, to question her in as subtle a manner as he could about Bettinger, but he found his feet drifting in Maya’s direction. The guy with Maya kept putting his hand on her ass, and she kept moving it to her waist.
Wade was about to rip the man’s arm out of his socket when Candy tugged at his belt and said, “I’ve missed you since the last time. Where you been?”
“Hunting.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? I have a couple of friends who hunt.”
“What do they hunt?” he asked, getting interested. He was trying to focus on Candy and not on Maya, but it was killing him not to look and see if the asshole dancing with her was molesting her.
“Cats,” Candy said, smiling up at him.
“Really? I hunt cats. Lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars.”
Candy’s eyes sparkled with interest. She moved closer and whispered, “Ever capture one and want to… sell it to someone?”
“You know someone who’ll buy?”
“Maybe.”
“You said that Bill Bettinger had asked you to date him. Are you still seeing him?”
She shook her head. “I learned he’s got a wife and two kids. Bastard. If a guy’s got a wife, it doesn’t matter to me. I figure it’s her fault she can’t hold on to her man. But when he’s got kids, I draw the line.”
“What about Lion Mane?”
She narrowed her eyes at Wade.
“Aren’t they brothers? And he’s single?” Wade pressed.
“Why do you want to know about him?”
“I heard he’s a hunter, too.”
Candy stumbled. He smelled fear emanating off her beneath the flowery perfume she wore. “He’s… he’s dangerous.”
Bill Bettinger was dangerous, too. Or rather he
Wade shrugged and glanced around the room to see where Maya had gone with her dance partner. Hell, now she was sitting at the two men’s table, ignoring him!
He ground his teeth. Candy looked at where he was glowering and laughed. “Looks like she’s found some place else to sit.” She pulled Wade back to his table, motioning to the Singapore sling, and said, “Oh, for me?”
“It’s for Maya.” David grabbed it and headed over to the table where she was sitting.
Still unsettled about Maya’s behavior and what he’d said wrong to her, Wade took a seat beside Candy and ordered her a margarita.
“Is your brother also a hunter?” Candy asked.
“Yeah, he is.”
“Thought so.” She leaned back on the chair covered in leopard print. “It looks like he’s got Maya’s attention.”
Wade turned to see what his brother was up to. He was taking Maya to the dance floor, leaving her drink sitting on the other men’s table! On one level, he knew his brother was really in protective mode, taking care of her so the other clowns didn’t think they had a chance with her. That didn’t change how Wade was feeling about her.
Where the hell were her cousins? And why was she so mad at him?
“So, you want to split and go somewhere else… less noisy?” Candy asked.
