She didn’t respond straight away, picking up a file from her desk and flicking through it instead.
“What are you waiting for?” Wesley sounded frustrated. “That’s a great offer. Personal protection so you don’t get attacked again? Just say yes. You can work out the details you don’t like later.”
She started to shake her head. “I don’t know…”
What didn’t she know? My guy wouldn’t get in her way, and she wouldn’t be hurt. It was the best of both worlds. Couldn’t she see that? Fresh frustration filled me before I realized.
“There is another option.” I couldn’t help my smirk.
Ithought it was a far better offer, but Jo probably wouldn’t agree.
“Oh?” She tilted her head.
My grin widened and I nodded my head. “Absolutely. What would an offer of help be if you had no choice? If you don’t like the idea of a chauffeur, I will personally show up to every place you go, and I have no intention of merely waiting in the car.”
15
JOSEPHINE
Everything about the way Patrick spoke was commanding, and my body responded easily to him. He affected me over the phone, but it was so much worse in person. His scent filled my chest and his presence captivated me, making it hard to think rationally.
Of course I could make decisions for myself. I’d never struggled with such basic things before.
Something about Patrick distracted me, though. Even from the basic things I’d always done.
It was like he created a need in me to please him. Or at least a desire to be close to him. The idea I could see more of him…it wasn’t entirely unwanted.
It wasn’t unwanted at all.
I shook my head as I made myself take a step back, trying to create distance between us so I could take control of my thoughts again. Being in the room with an alpha was a strange thing indeed. Maybe they all had this effect on people.
Even his anger was enticing. It was all on my behalf, and there was something very sexy about that. Like he’d destroy the world for me.
“What are you even waiting for?” Wes asked, and the sound of his voice brought me back to the room.
I’d been considering a side of Patrick I hadn’t really given too much thought to before.
“Why are you even doing this?” I didn’t ignore Wes exactly, but I didn’t reply to him, either — instead, challenging Patrick.
He shrugged, suddenly casual. “You’re mine to protect.” His words were simple but they sent a frisson of excitement through me.
No one had ever said anything remotely similar to me before, not even my parents. Perhaps that was part of the whole pack alpha mentality. Everyone he decided had anything at all to do with him became his to protect.
Everything he wanted, he took.
Perhaps I’d missed out by not belonging to a pack before. Wes certainly seemed to value being part of his.
Either way, Patrick Crenshawe clearly wasn’t a man to be toyed with. Like Wes said, he had power and he had influence, and he knew how to flex both of those things.
Of course…there was another reason he might have believed I was his, and I bristled a little at the thought. What if was because we’d had sex, amazing though it might have been?
Or maybe it was because of his interest in Gold Moon. The more I thought about it, the more reasons the man in my office seemed to have for having me guarded. And none of them were really about me.
They were more about his pride or his interests. I wasn’t sure I wanted that.
Yet, perhaps it would be rude to look a gift horse in the mouth. Unwise in this case, even.
There were two certain things as I stood in my office and faced down possibly the most powerful CEO in the city. One: I was seemingly in danger. Two: he could fix that for me, and he wanted to.