Billionaire Bear’s Human Mate by Alicia Banks
Chapter 7
Shane
Even though Shane would have liked to have stayed and helped Vivica get acclimated to the office, he did not have the time for that. As always, there was work to do, and Shane never seemed to be able to stop. A small part of him worried that if he stopped, he wouldn't be able to pick back up again and he would be right back where he started, even though there was a very slim chance of that happening. He would have to really mess up to lose it all.
Shane was driven by many things, but poverty in his childhood was probably the force that kept him going the most. When he was young, his father was an outcast and did not get any help from the family. His mother died when he was young, and his father went from failed job to failed job. Even when he worked hard and did his best, Shane's father always seemed to get the raw end of the deal. It wasn’t until Shane was older that he realized that his father was just lazy and was always looking for the easy way out.
Because he was so miserable in his past, Shane decided that he would never be poor and took steps from early on to ensure that he never would be. He wished that he had his family clan behind him. It would have helped in many ways, actually. He would have had some kind of help behind him. Instead, Shane had to do it all alone. His father was useless. Shane sent him a little money now and then to tide him over, but he didn’t disclose his business dealings and his father didn’t ask. As long as he got free money, that seemed to be all he was worried about.
So, poverty drove him to the first million. Something else, darker and deeper inside, brought him to a billion and there was something there, a hungry beast that was never satisfied, which pulled Shane along at a break-neck speed. He didn’t need the money, didn’t feel much with each new milestone, but something made him do it.
Shane was a workaholic. He was usually the first one there and the last one to leave for the next day, because he never left before midnight. Today was different though. He was walking in at almost 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon, and he was getting a lot of strange looks from other people. Yeah, he had dropped Vivica off with Devin, but he was still thinking about her. She had changed everything, made him wonder what she was doing, messed up his whole day. Shane couldn’t focus on work.
He went to the side of the floor where Vivica and Devin were, finding them quickly, engrossed in a lively conversation that he couldn’t quite hear. He didn’t like how Vivica smiled at Devin, or how close his assistant was to the new hire. His hackles went up to see it, not expecting the feeling of suffocation that took over.
Shane walked to his office and sat down. Devin was busy and was not bringing him his coffee. Shane knew that it was the afternoon, but he needed his coffee on his desk. He didn’t know what to do without it, but Shane was sure that he would be fine. Time went on though and he wasn’t.
Afraid to run into them, he beelined it for the breakroom and was immediately relieved to not find the pair in front of him. He would likely say something that he would regret and have to explain later. That was the last thing Shane wanted to do. He didn’t like feeling feelings, and trying to explain them would just be even worse.
After taking a few moments to figure out the coffee machine, he had something recognizable as coffee in a cup he wasn't even sure whose it was. Shane needed to get back to work, so he started heading that way. He had several meetings that he had to take care of since he was late. They were going to be back-to-back-to-back. They still wanted to meet, of course, so Shane obliged. He just wouldn’t have any time in between them like he would have liked. He was buying small businesses, looking at equipment, buying real estate. It was a little bit of everything, and Shane couldn't believe that he had been so irresponsible as to stay home to wait for Vivica, instead of going to work like he was supposed to. That wasn’t like him.
About the time he was getting into his office, he heard Vivica laugh and it cut into him. All of his focus was obliterated just like that. Instead of going to his office, something he definitely needed to do because of everything that was on the agenda for the day, he went to go find the source. Where was Vivica?
Shane knew immediately that he did not want to see Vivica and Devin together again. He did anyway. Devin was closer, he was trying to impress her, and he was annoyed to no end with them both. He was irked at himself for giving a damn.
“I see that you guys are getting settled in well.”
He was looking at Vivica and she agreed that she was. The smile didn't disappear off her face, like it did on Devin’s. Devin most likely could read into how Shane was feeling. Shane wasn't the only shifter in the business, so Devon most likely knew exactly how Shane was feeling, and Shane wished that he could keep it to himself. It was embarrassing to have such emotions over a woman that he had picked up in the middle of the night and had never even met before. Surely, she wouldn't have told him everything, right?
Shane really didn't want that to be the case. He would have liked if nobody knew how they met. The way they met, it would assume that they were not together. Shane did not want that assumption to be made. He didn’t want people to think that she was open for anything. She wasn’t.
Even as he thought it, Shane couldn't believe his own thoughts. What the hell was he thinking? Vivica was a human. It's not like they could even be together. Shane knew the rules, and even though he wasn't with a shifter clan, there were some rules that just couldn't be broken. He truly believed that being with humans was one of them. He still thought about it though…
“Devin has been very kind and helpful. Thank you for sending me to him. He has been very helpful.”
Shane didn't like how many times she said very and the way she moved closer to Devin as she spoke. He wanted to snatch his assistant up and throw him.
He realized that he was going to be late for a rescheduled meeting if he didn't leave. He had work to do. Why was he standing there, messing with them?
Shane told them that he had to get to a meeting. Devin asked him if he needed anything, and Shane said that he had everything squared away.
“Made my own coffee and I will just record for notes. Everything is taken care of.”
Shane hoped that Devin realized how easily he could be replaced. He was loyal and a great assistant, a friend even, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t get rid of him over Vivica.
The sour feeling was because Shane wanted to stay with Vivica. Or he wanted to get Vivica away from Devin, who was entirely too charming for Shane’s taste. The two of them were too chummy for such a short period of time. Why were they so close?
He walked to his office, picked up the notes that he’d left behind and went to the first meeting. Usually he was excited for meetings, hoping for a score and a great win. He lived for the win of it all.
Today though, he didn't have the same excitement as he usually did. Instead of being focused and determined, all Shane’s mind drifted to was Vivica. He wondered what she was doing and what his assistant was doing. What if he asked her out? Would she say yes? Shane shook his head in amazement. Vivica was still bugging him, no matter what he did. Shane didn’t think that it was normal. It didn’t feel that way.
It was so bad that several people noticed, and Shane called it a day, long before he was supposed to. He should have gone long into the night, instead of going to Vivica and asking her at six if she was ready to get out of there. Shane had gotten nothing done but knew that he was useless in the current situation.
Vivica seemed shocked that he was ready to go so early. She said something about how he was usually there longer. She’d expected a longer day, she said, but Shane didn’t want to stay any longer. He couldn’t focus on anything anyway, except Vivica. He was embarrassed that he failed so badly on the control front. Shane was used to keeping his cool, no matter what. With Vivica, he was losing it.
“Do you want to stay longer then?”
“No, I just don’t want you thinking that you have to retire early because of me. I can stay as late as you want.”
“A woman after my own heart I see.”
Vivica grinned and Shane’s heart skipped a beat. Vivica was lovely, birds singing in the distance sort of thing. But when she smiled, that was a different story altogether. To Shane, it was like she was pulling down the very sun from the sky, and he wanted to kiss her, badly in that moment.
His whole body tensed up, ready for the contact and letting the desire roll through him. Shane knew better. She was off limits, but damned if he didn’t want Vivica. He wanted all of her and he turned away. Shane walked out the door abruptly, telling her that he was leaving in five, not giving her much of a choice.
Vivica was quickly behind him, and Shane had a raging hard-on and nowhere to put it. It was going to be a long ride home, even though it really wasn’t far at all.
