Motor City Mage Read Online Free

his distance when she wasn’t only gorgeous, sexy and smart, but also thoughtful?
    Remember your job. That helped. Some.
    She didn’t try to keep a conversation going while they ate. With her lupine metabolism, she dove eagerly into her sandwich and fries, polishing her plate, not picking at her salad like most women he knew.
    As the meal wound down, they began to chat. Des was unsurprised to find Lana was a voracious reader, but he hadn’t expected her to be a devotee of mysteries and thrillers. “I can’t believe you’ve already finished the latest Grisham,” he said. “I haven’t even picked it up yet.” Reading was one of his few actual hobbies. Besides martial arts, swimming, running and devouring world and local news programs, which were all job-related. Fiction was maybe his only form of relaxation.
    “You can borrow my copy if you want. I’ll just run upstairs and get it.”
    “I’ll walk with you, then head on out.” His parents had raised him to be a gentleman, after all. He stood and picked up his coat.
    “Then follow me.” Hips swishing, she preceded him out of the bar and up the three flights of stairs to her apartment.
    * * *
    Lana had climbed these stairs thousands of times in the years she’d lived above the bar. Sure, she’d only just moved up to the top floor, with its rooftop patio, after her cousins had moved out, but this was the first time she’d practically hyperventilated making the climb. She couldn’t believe Desmond Sutton was following her to her apartment.
    Too bad he didn’t plan to stay. The mage drove her crazy, but her body wanted his and had since the first day they’d met. Lana had been in a state of perpetual frustration since August. Even her favorite vibrator hadn’t done much to ease the ache.
    “I’ve got a few beers in the fridge, or I can put on some coffee if you want to stick around for a while. You still look dead on your feet.” She spoke over her shoulder as she reached the third-floor landing.
    “No, I want to go see if I can meet someone tonight,” Des said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I know somebody who should be able to get me a sample of the new drug.”
    She lifted one eyebrow and clicked open the lock without looking. “Oh? I thought I was getting you your sample?” Typical alpha male, no matter the species. Always certain the helpless little females couldn’t handle the simplest task. It had taken over thirty years for her to convince her cousins otherwise and that still didn’t always work. Protecting their women seemed to be an instinct for males the universe over. But Des couldn’t claim Lana as his woman and she had no interest in being subservient to any male, lupine or otherwise. She narrowed her eyes and glared.
    “You said you won’t be on campus until Monday.” He shrugged. “I’d already made plans to look for Luther tonight.”
    “So you never had any intention of letting me make the contact?”
    Des squeezed his eyes shut. “I assumed it was a backup plan. Luther is notoriously unreliable.”
    “But I’m not.” She heard the faint growl in her own voice. “Not that you seem to believe that.”
    “I’m used to handling things on my own.” He shoved his hand through his short, jet black hair. Even aggravated, he was the most stunning man she’d ever met, even more so than any Fae or lupine she knew, with his blend of European and Asian features. He was tall, like his British-Canadian father, but with the dark coloring of his Chinese mother and strong features that were probably a mix of the two. His eyes had just a hint of an epicanthic fold, giving him a permanent bedroom look that made her want to lick her lips—or his. When he wasn’t pissing her off. “Besides, I already have the contacts in place. I’ve been doing this for a living for the last fifteen years.”
    “Yes, well, I’m not exactly some fragile young flower either. Or have you forgotten the whole fur and fangs business? I can demonstrate