Hunting Season: Werewolf Bodyguard Romance (Guarded by the Shifter Book 1) by Kate Rudolph (e novels to read online .TXT) 📕

excited to see just how he planned to build them up again. Owen wasn't like any man she'd ever dated, ever kissed. And if he got under her skin, she didn't know that she'd be able to let him go.

Who was she kidding? He was under her skin already.

Em sank down onto the couch next to her and gave her a bright, questioning look. "What's going on? You're grinning."

"Nothing's going on." Stasia bristled. Sure, she was having happy thoughts about Owen; it didn't mean she wanted Em to come in and make it weird.

But Em had the instincts of a little sister and she wasn't about to drop it. "You keep touching your lips. Those pillows over there are way more messed up than you would ever allow. And that guy looked at you like he was thinking naughty thoughts and you didn't do anything to tell them off. So what's going on between the two of you? Bodyguard?" she scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"He is my bodyguard. We just also kissed a little bit." Stasia blushed even deeper as she admitted it. What was the point in hiding it? Em could have been Sherlock Holmes if her music career hadn't taken off.

"Oh my God!" She bounced up and down on the cushion in excitement. "I didn't know you had it in you."

"Shut up." She wanted to swear Em to secrecy, but that was likely to have the story spread around the family out of spite. Em was eight years and two marriages younger than Stasia, and they'd only gotten close when Stasia lived in the same property as Em while she was in med school and Em in high school. Out of all her siblings, she was closest to Em, and she only saw the others on rare occasions when the lawyers pulled them together or there was a big gathering.

That reminded her. "Are you going to the birthday party?" It was a bit evil to ask, and the grin she had from kissing Owen turned into the kind of maniacal smile only an older sister could give.

"I hate you," Em scowled.

Score one for Stasia. "You love me."

It was enough to set Em off and to have her stop asking about Owen. Win-win as far as Stasia was concerned. "She stole my name. There is room for one Emerald Selby in this family and it's me. She can change the baby's name and then I'll go meet it."

Stasia winced at "it." "I think you're going a little too far." She didn't need to play peacemaker, but she didn't want her sister stuck in a grudge forever.

"I'm not going far enough." Em's scowl got even darker, like she was planning something vile for Riley.

"It's a baby. And it's not the baby's fault." They'd been over this conversation any time the family came up in the last three years, and Stasia had her part memorized by now.

"Doesn't it have a middle name it can go by?"

"I think you're being more childish than Riley. You can't force her to change the name now. When the baby's old enough maybe she'll want to go by something else. Just like you do." Stasia and the family were just about the only people who called Em by her name; even Riley usually referred to her by her stage name, Mercy. Naming the kids was up to his wives, and that little misunderstanding was how their father ended up with two daughters named Emerald.

Em deflated since Stasia wasn't commiserating enough. "Are you going to the birthday party?"

She might have been the only Stasia in the family, but that didn't mean she wanted to go to a toddler's shindig. "I'm trying to claim attempted kidnapping. AR doesn't want to buy it. If I can avoid it I will."

Em scrunched up her face. "Are we terrible?"

"We might be." But Stasia was pretty sure it was normal to want to avoid family occasions. Every movie and TV show about normal families seemed to have some sort of plot revolving around it. The Selbys weren't normal, but they could fake it.

Em grew concerned and curious. "So was the kidnapping because of Dad's bullshit this time? Again?"

"Can't imagine it was anything else." Safe in her own home with her sister by her side and Owen somewhere in the building, she wasn't freaked out, she was angry. Selby Group had a finger in every pie, many of them completely illegal. The first kidnapping attempt back in Bermeja had been about ransom. Stasia didn't know if it was the same thing now or something worse. She chose not to use the Selby name to honor her mother and for the slight anonymity it gave her. Apparently it wasn't enough.

"You sound sure they'll have it taken care of."

AR had sounded confident, and Stasia was trusting him for now. "I don't want a bodyguard for the rest of my life."

"It's not as bad as it sounds," Em tried to reassure her. She normally traveled with half a dozen hulking men who kept her from the public, so it was almost strange to see her alone.

"But some of us are not in the public eye." Doctors didn't need the same protection as rock stars.

Em shrugged. "It's a living."

"Are you ready for the new tour to start?" Now that Em was here, Stasia remembered that she was about to embark on a nationwide tour for months. This week was her last chance at anything approaching free time for awhile.

Em nodded. "I'm excited. We had a stupid delay on the album. Some of the files got corrupted on one of the masters. Had to completely re-record. But it's all fixed now and only delayed the album release by a month. But I'll be ready to start the tour soon."

"You sound happy." And Stasia was glad for it. Em had worked hard to climb to the top and Stasia couldn't wait to hear what the new music sounded like.

She shrugged. "Happy enough." She was done talking about herself. "Now dish about