Isaline Primrose doesn’t let anyone cut the line at her mom’s bakery, no matter how tall or sexy he his. His custom suit, expensive haircut, and deep brown eyes are making her want things. Very dirty things. It’s totally fine to look even if he is a bossy jerk. But is it okay to have naked fantasies with the commanding business man?

Beast Harte doesn’t do small towns, but Full Moon Bay has something other towns don’t: the perfect building for his deceased father’s long-time dream. When he meets his mate, life should be perfect. It isn’t. Pissing her off was not in his plans, but he wasn’t used to taking orders, only giving them. Now he has his work cut out for him.

Isaline sets up some challenges to see if Beast is the right man for her. What neither knows is other players are at work with their own hidden agendas. Beast guarantees two things—he's getting his mate and his building, and he won’t let anyone get in his way.

Chapter 1

Beast Harte glanced out the glass panel wall of his Fifth Avenue office. Snow fell over Manhattan giving the city a wonderland appeal. Tourists filled the streets. He liked tourists. They brought his hotels lots of business. But it wasn’t his hotels that worried him at the moment. It was the delay in his latest project in the town of Full Moon Bay.

A soft knock at his door took his attention from the fat white flakes falling faster every minute. 

“Come in,” he barked, turning to face whoever was going to annoy him now. 

The door opened and his VP of Acquisitions, Fierce Bradford, walked in. 

“I have news on project Little Rose.”

Little Rose. That’s the name his father had given the lot Beast had set his sights on for his newest condo project. His father had started the Harte Corporation buying small buildings and renting out storefronts. Beast had taken it to a new level ten years ago. He focused on luxury hotels and created the Harte Group, combining the construction, leasing, hotels, and other businesses his parents and he owned under one umbrella. 

“Tell me you got the renter to sign the contract.”

Fierce raised a brow. “We’ve been back and forth with this for months and you think she’d just sign it because you sent a fruit basket?”

“Uh, yeah?” he growled. “Wasn’t that the idea when we sent it? To soften her up?”

Fierce gave a sharp laugh. “You’re getting funny in your old age.”

Beast snarled, “I’m younger than you.”

“Yeah, but not as good looking. Wolves age better than dragons.”

Beast scowled. “So what the hell is the news, that she didn’t sign? That’s not news. That’s been our problem for six months now.”

“Yeah,” Fierce nodded with a slight twitch of his lips. “But I came up with a great plan. What if we offer to move her bakery out of the building and pay her rent for a year? Heck, we can even give her a new lease at Analai Hills, maybe even rent free for a few years if she goes for that.”

“Isn’t your pack from Analai Hills?”

Fierce grinned. “That’s right. The Silver Tip Pack has an empty storefront we can give her and there should be no problem moving her over.”

Beast raised a brow. “If she agrees.”

Fierce sighed and sat down. “If. Big if. So, I could personally go there and—”

“No. I’ll go.”

Fierce’s eyes widened. “You will?”

“Stop looking at me like that. You know when I want something done, I handle it myself if it’s taking too long.”

Fierce gave a loud chuckle. “Yeah, you will. I just didn’t realize you’d lost patience already.”

“It’s been six months of trying to nicely get this woman to give me back my property.”

“You make it sound like she stole from you. She does pay rent. Early. Every month. And it’s not her fault your father made a deal with her back in the day.”

He snorted. “Nobody has a lease as good as she does. She knows she won’t get anything like that again and is trying to keep her contract intact.” He glared at Fierce. “It doesn’t matter. I’m getting my building and project Little Rose will be back on track.”

“You might scare them with that attitude, which leads me to believe this is not all about the project. You’re pissed over something else and I have an idea what,” Fierce told him. “Let me guess, Rinelle LeFevre hasn’t gotten the picture that you are no longer interested in her and she doesn’t know how to take no for an answer?”

Beast growled. “Maybe.”

“It was bound to happen. She’s a model. She’s the one who breaks hearts, not the other way around.”

“Too fucking bad. I’m no longer interested in listening to her whine about seeing her photos without makeup in magazines.”

Fierce burst into raucous laughter. “Priceless. That chick is so full of herself, I don’t know what possessed you to go out with her to begin with.”

Beast knew. He’d been courting her father for a land sale and going through her made things easier. Now, he didn’t want to spend any time with her and she didn’t get the picture. Going to handle the Little Rose deal was easier than wondering when she’d show up at his penthouse trying to get back together with him.

“I’m done waiting around. I’m going to handle this myself.”

“Yeah,” Fierce chuckled. “You’re running from a needy woman. Did you think that maybe she’ll still be around when you get back?”

He motioned his friend to get out of his office when his phone rang. “Did you think that maybe she’ll have moved on to someone else when I do?”

Fierce got up and headed for the door. “You can hope. Call me if you run into any trouble.”

Beast picked up the phone and sighed. “Hello, Mother.”

“You can call me mom, son. M-O-M. Try it. Sounds nice. Like you care that I’m calling.”

He ran his fingers through his short hair and clenched his jaw. “Mom. How are you?”

“Good, sweetheart. I miss you. When are you coming to visit?” she asked, her tone sugary sweet.

His mother was good at making a dragon feel like a human teenager. 

“I’m about to go on a business trip to handle something. I’ll try to swing by when I return.”

“Try?” His mother gasped. “Try? How about if I had only tried to give birth to you? How about if instead I’d have let you sit in my belly, wanting to be born?”

He rolled his eyes and tried to keep his lips from lifting into a grin. “Mom, I’m going on two hundred years old.”

“So?”

“I’m a little old for you to use that line on me.”

“I think you need to learn from your sister and get your ass over here at least once a week.”

He leaned back in his office chair and turned to look out the window to the continued falling flakes. “You want me to be like Storm?”

“Not like her, but maybe try to visit more often. I miss you, son.”

He sighed, hearing his mother’s sadness through the line. “I’ll see you when I get back. I promise.”

“Thank you. I’ll make you some stew. I know you love my beef stew.”

“I do. I have to go.”

“I love you, son. You might have that whole dragon fire in you, but to me, you’re always my cute dragonling that needed his momma during his first shift.”

He grinned and turned back to his desk. “I love you, too, Mom.”

He hung up and picked up the file on the project Little Rose. A few hours and he’d get the contract signed. Nothing and nobody was going to stop this from happening. His condos were going up in the small town of Full Moon Bay.