Secured Heart (Timberon Cat Book 1) Read Online Free

him. “Listen—” Two things stole her words and her breath: Ben down on one knee with a ring and Kal standing behind him, his amber eyes practically glowing in the shadows.
Oh, shit. No.
“ What are you doing, Ben?” She went to him and took hold of his arm.
“ Marry me. I want you as my wife, Lana.”
“ Oh, Lord,” she groaned and tugged at him.
A loud hiss/growl pierced the night.
There was no need for her to look for where it had come from, she knew. However, the sight of Ben whipping his head around to check behind him was comical.
Seeing Kal, who was practically looming over him caused her ex-boyfriend to topple to the side, landing on his butt with a hard thud. “What in the hell?”
Silent, Kal stood there, statue-like as he kept his gaze locked on the man.
“ You-you shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.” Ben stuttered, but managed to rise to his feet. Snapping the small box closed in his hand, he puffed out his narrow chest. Ben, at five nine, was seven inches shorter than Kal and slim. However, he took martial arts classes and she was sure he believed he could take Kal. “Thanks for giving my fiancé a ride home from the event, but she is fine now. You can go.”
Kal shot a look past him to her, piercing her with questions.
Questions she didn’t want to answer now. Maybe never. “Ben, I need you to go.”
“ What?” He faced her. “Why me? He’s just your ride, right?” He gritted out between clenched teeth.
“ Please. We can meet for lunch tomorrow or something. But, we are done. I was serious.” She kept her tone even. Ben could be a little thick headed when it came to opinions that weren’t similar to his. As a philosophy professor at the local college it worked, as a boyfriend it didn’t.
He shook his head. “We will never be done.” Ben peered over his shoulder at Kal as he declared, “I will give you space now, but we will discuss this at length tomorrow.”
Frustrated, she ran a hand through her hair, not caring if she messed it up. “Fine. Whatever.”
Ben stomped off across the street to a visitor parking spot were his blue BMW was parked. Had she been paying attention to her surroundings instead of the man in the car with her, she would have seen Ben’s vehicle. Her mind locked on the man who had driven her home, Kal.
Walking back to her door, she unlocked it. Glancing over her shoulder, she met his gaze. “You coming in?”
“ Am I invited?” There was an edge to his voice.
Lana didn’t need to be told he had questions about Ben. Men.
“ Yes.” Not looking back, she walked into her home. She removed her shoes in the foyer and picked them up. “Would you like something to drink? Wine or coffee?”
He followed her example and removed his leather Chukka boots, but left them against the wall by the door. “Water, please. Shifting makes me thirsty.”
Starting toward the kitchen she paused. “You shifted?”
“ While you were still at the event. I went to run at the Botanical Gardens down the road. “It was closed, so that gave me the solitude I needed until I can get up to our pride lands.”“
“ When we were in college you said it was a risk for you to shift in city limits.”
“ No worries, I kept to the shadows on the way.” He winked at her, even though his features were still stoic.
He hadn’t let go of the encounter with Ben.
“ Take a seat. Let me get you that water.” Crossing the gray-carpeted floor she went into the spacious area of her kitchen and set her purse on the island. Opening a cabinet she took out a glass and filled it with ice and water from the refrigerator.
Lana hadn’t had anything to drink all night to ensure she’d stayed alert while on the job. She poured herself a goblet of dry red wine that she had in her cooler. She took two healthy sips before going back into the front room where Kal was.
“ Is that guy why you are keeping me at arm’s length?” He hitched his head toward the door as he stood by the living room window.
It