Caitlyn Wilde loves her career. She geeks out when it comes to spreadsheets and digging into numbers. Day one at her new job is going great until she meets her boss for the first time—the same man who was her first and only one-night stand the night before. She’ll get over it. Tall, strong and sexy is about to make her job extra hard.

Max Ellison, stud bear alpha and CEO, has met his match. His newly found mate is not only his company’s new controller, she completely controls her life. She’s not letting Max get near her emotionally or physically. At all. He knows she’s meant for him so he’s not gonna let the most intelligent, stubborn and beautiful woman he’s ever met out of his life.

Max is clueless when it comes to winning a woman’s affection. Especially when he can’t use his physical prowess to his advantage. He has got to figure out what his woman wants before she’ll give him the time of day. If he’s not savvy enough, he’ll lose her to the one person looking to put an end to her career and her life.

Chapter 1

Sloshing the liquor in her glass, Caitlyn Wilde patiently awaited the arrival of her cousin, Dee Wixx, and her close friend, Keira Wilson-Pierce.

Around her, the soft thrumming of the bar and passing conversations wafted by. Her eyes lifted, catching the precise moment the women entered the bar. They wore tight dresses and leather jackets, and carried little purses, a slight contrast to the jean jacket and billowy floral dress she wore.

“Caitlyn.” Dee hurried forward first, tossing her arms around her cousin. “Oh, you’re still as cute as I remember.”

“Cute?” Caitlyn glanced at her outfit. “That wasn’t the look I was going for.”

“Well, you pull it off effortlessly.” Then Keira embraced her. She sniffed at her neck. “What’s that perfume you’re wearing? Is it foreign?”

“You wear perfume now?” Dee asked, mouth falling open. Then, she clapped her hands. “Man, we have a lot to catch up on.”

Caitlyn nodded toward the bar. “Get some more drinks. I plan to have a fun night.”

With an excited squeal, Dee beelined it to the bar while Keira pulled out the seat beside Caitlyn. She rested her elbows on the table, sending her an easygoing grin.

“How does it feel, big shot? You’ve moved to a new town, and you snagged a great job. I bet you feel ten feet tall right now.”

“I’m not trying to be cocky, but …”

Keira snorted, leaning back in her chair. “Are you kidding? This is the perfect moment to be cocky. You deserve it. You’ve worked hard to be where you’re at right now.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” Caitlyn wrinkled her nose, feeling the familiar burn of alcohol coursing down her throat. She had never tried that particular brand of liquor, but she was feeling adventurous tonight. “You know me. I’ve never been one to brag.”

“Brag away.” Dee slammed three glasses of champagne on the table along with a large bottle. Then she took one for herself. “A toast to my beloved cousin, who’s paving a new path for herself and becoming the powerful woman I always knew she’d be.”

Caitlyn and Keira grabbed glasses for themselves and clinked them with Dee. Among the three of them, Dee was the most eager to chug the champagne, and she poured herself another.

“Don’t get too crazy,” Keira warned, pointing a finger at Caitlyn. “You start tomorrow, don’t you?”

“I’m not the one on my second glass already,” Caitlyn replied, gesturing to Dee.

Dee scoffed. “You were already drinking liquor before we got here. I’m just excited. I haven’t seen you in forever. How have you been? How’s life?”

“Pretty good, for reasons you guys already know.” Caitlyn smiled. The freckles that adorned her nose and cheeks complemented her face nicely that night. “Dee, are there shifters in this bar?”

“We’re surrounded by them,” Dee replied, followed by a quick burp into her fist. “Some of them are from Keira’s sleuth.”

“They like to offer protection every now and then,” Keira added with a shrug. “Nothing to get nervous about. They’re just having fun like the rest of us.”

“How do you …” Caitlyn’s eyes trailed the bar, landing on a few men who laughed boisterously around a pool table, “tell them from the rest of us?”

“You don’t,” Dee smiled, “until they shift, then you know for sure.”

“Some shifters act more aggressively than others, but they only do that when they’re trying to protect their own,” Keira explained, resting her glass on her bottom lip. Then, she perked a brow. “Max Ellison is here. He’s one of the good ones.”

“Max, who?”

Caitlyn followed Keira’s line of sight, turning in her seat toward the men at the pool table. Immediately, her eyes landed on the man standing at the head of the table, leaning casually on his cue stick as one of his buddies struck the billiard balls.

With shaggy hair, green eyes, and prominent muscles along his arms, Max was everything Caitlyn sought in a man. His smile was easygoing, enough to make her heart stop upon first glance. She wasn’t sure she liked that.

After all, falling in love was pointless.

“He’s a bear shifter,” Keira said as Caitlyn continued watching him from afar. “His sleuth is allied with mine.”

“We should go talk to them,” Dee suggested, bumping elbows with Caitlyn.

The strawberry blonde frowned deeply. “Why?”

“You haven’t been able to take your eyes off him since I pointed him out,” Keira teased, wiggling her eyebrows at Caitlyn, who blushed furiously and shook her head.

“You’re crazy,” Caitlyn remarked, leaning back in her seat and averting her gaze. “I was looking at the artwork on the walls. Not at him.”

“That artwork?” Dee jutted her thumb over her shoulder, gesturing toward the messy splotches of red and yellow clumps that adorned a portrait hanging on the back wall. “Looks like something a kindergartener would make for art time.”

“Okay?” Caitlyn rolled her eyes, knowing that the jig was up, and they had caught her red-handed. “I like weird art.”

“Come on. They don’t bite.” Keira rose from her seat, leading the way. Dee followed close behind.

Despite her initial reluctance, Caitlyn finished the alcohol in her glass and felt herself loosen up considerably. The fuzzy warm feeling in her chest made it easier for her to speak and more likely for her to laugh.

“Max!” Keira waved a hand, confidently approaching him and his friends. “Would you mind if we played a round or two?”

Dee placed her hands on Caitlyn’s shoulders, ushering her to the pool table, whispering brief introductions of each man into her ear as they approached them.

“You already know who Max is,” she started, muffling a snort. “Almost every woman in town knows who he is. You’re the exception, but that’s only because you’re new.”

“So you’re telling me he sleeps around?”

“More or less.” Dee moved on. “The blond one is Elijah, and the ginger is Wyatt. They’re bear shifters too.” Her fingers tapped along Caitlyn’s shoulders playfully. “But I get the feeling that you’re not too interested in them. Am I right, or am I right?”

Caitlyn wrinkled her nose, but she didn’t answer.

“Three versus three.” Keira raised a brow at Max. “Who says no? Unless you’re too scared at the idea of losing to a trio of women.”

Max chuckled, ducking his head. Then, he gazed at them from underneath his brows. For one reason or another, his eyes lingered on Caitlyn.

“Who’s the new girl?”

“Caitlyn Wilde,” Keira said, tossing an arm around her. “She’s my good friend.”

“She’s also my cousin,” Dee exclaimed, alcohol heavy on her breath.

“And I can kick any of your asses in a game of pool,” Caitlyn deadpanned.

Elijah whistled low while Wyatt’s mouth fell open slightly. Max narrowed his sights on her, readjusting his grip on the cue stick.

“All right, then,” Max decided, motioning toward Elijah to start organizing the billiard balls. “Whoever loses has to buy the other team a round of drinks. Deal?”

“Deal,” Caitlyn replied, accepting the cue stick from Wyatt. “I never lose, anyway.”

Both of Max’s eyebrows shot upward. “Really? That’s not likely.”

“Clearly, you haven’t bumped into someone like me before,” she replied bluntly, which felt like the equivalent of flames bursting past her mouth and scorching the bear shifters down to their core.

Max blinked, stunned by her audacious nature. Truth be told, the alcohol played a huge role in cracking open Caitlyn’s ferociously competitive spirit.

Once the round started, Caitlyn made easy work of the men who watched her quick, albeit somewhat tipsy, movements with wide eyes. She left them with no chance to compete. They couldn’t afford to make mistakes if they planned on beating her.

But they stumbled on their turns, misjudged the angles, and sent the cue ball into the pocket more than a few times. Keira, Dee, and Caitlyn claimed a smooth victory, which earned them a scowl and grumbles from Elijah and Wyatt, who fished out their wallets and made a move toward the bar.

Setting down her cue stick, Caitlyn leaned close to her friends. “I’m going to the restroom. I’ll be back soon.”

The women nodded before engaging themselves in a deep conversation with a man who offered to show them a card trick. Alcohol did wonders for human judgment. It was amazing.

Although, she didn’t have much room to talk.

As she made her way to the restroom, trailing her hand across the walls to guide her movements, she suddenly felt a presence behind her. Heat coursed to her cheeks and between her thighs.

What are the odds? Caitlyn wondered. Her hand rested on the door to the women’s restroom, but she didn’t go inside.

“How’d you get so good at playing pool?”

Max Ellison grabbed her gently by the wrist, pulled her to the wall, and leaned her against it. Stumbling slightly, Caitlyn smiled wide as the shifter’s eyes trailed her features desperately. Their closeness intoxicated her even more so than the alcohol she had downed earlier.

“I skipped school a lot,” she admitted. “And when I did, I would hang out with the older boys at a local joint, and we’d play pool. I wasn’t always so cocky, I promise. Took years to perfect my craft.”

“I didn’t imagine you as the type of girl to play hooky.”

“You met me thirty minutes ago.” Caitlyn wrinkled her nose. “You know nothing about me.”

“I want to,” Max answered, trailing a hand across her chin and hooking his fingers around her neck. “Why don’t you give me a chance to learn?”

Slowly, she shook her head, never breaking eye contact with him. “If you plan on getting something out of this …” her finger wiggled between the space that separated them, “relationship, then you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“On the contrary, I think I’m right where I’m supposed to be.”

She caught the subtle movement, the way his eyes focused on her lips, but did nothing to deter him. As he leaned in, her hands trailed up the front of his shirt and gripped him hard. Their mouths met in a passionate flurry while their fingers danced aimlessly across their bodies, aching for more but knowing that the hallway outside of the bathrooms wasn’t the right place to explore.

“My car,” Max gasped, breaking the kiss briefly to fumble out the word. He continued peppering her with small kisses between his words. “Let’s go to my car. It’s parked in the back.”

Caitlyn nodded, pulling him in for another ardent kiss as she wrapped her hands around his neck.

Max took charge of navigating them to the parking lot, his eyes wide and his mouth never straying from Caitlyn’s affections. Thankfully, the hallway led to the door that led to the lot where Max’s black Jeep awaited them.

Pushing her against the hood of the vehicle, Max swept his hands along her neck, down her waist, and snaked them along the undersides of her thighs, lifting one of her legs and wrapping it around his waist.

Caitlyn gasped quietly, batting at his chest. “Do you have any protection?”

“What?” Max whispered, losing himself in the warmth of her neck.

“Protection,” Caitlyn repeated. “I’m not about to fuck you raw.”

Slightly miffed, he pulled himself away and led her to the backseat of his Jeep. The bulge in his pants was painfully obvious. As she slid across the seats, already making quick work of removing her panties, he popped open the glove compartment and slipped out a few condoms.

Then, he eagerly joined her in the back.

The alcohol dulled her senses, for sure. This wasn’t how she acted. This wasn’t her normal. Something about Max grabbed onto her and wouldn’t let go. Something powerful and a bit scary.

Even still, all rational thought went out the window as she rode the bear shifter in the back of his car, spurred on by his loud moans and the way he dug his fingers into her skin.