“You don’t get it, do you?” Kim asked him. “I shouldn’t have even come to talk to you, but I’m desperate. I have to be very careful about every point I have, so whatever you come up with will have to be checked and double-checked. It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I can’t.”

Liam circled his thumbs on her shoulders. “Well, you will have to trust me, sweetheart.”

A shiver went through her body. She wanted to be touched; he could feel it. She needed it. But she fought it. Humans.

She glanced at his hands. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re not PC?”

“Why, because I enjoy touching your soft skin and call you sweetheart? Or because I won’t let you have it your own way?”

“What was the phone call you took about?”

“Oh, now you’re prying into my business, are you? It was personal. Do you have a boyfriend?”

She blinked. “Talk about personal.”

“Do you?” Liam repeated. “Someone special in your life?”

Kim pursed her lips as though she had to think about it. “Yes, a boyfriend. Sort of.”

“Aren’t you sure, then?”

“We don’t go out much. We’re busy.”

“That’s a tragedy.”

She bristled. “Why?”

Liam leaned toward her. She smelled nice, this human. He liked her hair, all silky and curly, and he wanted to bury his nose in it.

“If I had someone like you, love, I’d be with her all the time. I wouldn’t want her out of my sight. And I definitely wouldn’t let her run around Shiftertown by herself. What is this man thinking about?”

Kim looked annoyed. “He doesn’t know I’m here.”

“He needs to take better care of you.”

Indignation now. “He doesn’t need to take care of me at all. I’m my own person.”

“Maybe.” Liam leaned closer, feeling his eyes change as he inhaled her scent. “But when you’re in Shiftertown, I take care of you. No one will bother you here, I promise you that. They’ll answer to me.”

“I doubt I’ll come to Shiftertown again.”

“Even so.”

Liam slid his arms around her and drew her close. She resisted. He traced patterns on her lower back and rested his cheek on her hair until she softened a little. He was right; her hair was silky and warm.

Kim started to relax against him, her body reacting to his. He needed to protect her. He’d made that decision the minute she’d walked into his office, to protect her from all other Shifters, most of all the leader of his own clan. “Everything will be all right now.”

“Why do I want to believe you?” She sounded skeptical.

She had a nice voice, low and contralto. He imagined her whispering to him as she lay next to him in bed. Her hair would tangle on his pillow, and wouldn’t she be pretty? He could understand keeping his human form for lovemaking if the human was Kim Fraser.

He straightened up and brushed a curl from her face. “Give me your cell phone.”

“What for?”

“So I can admire the fine technology a human woman can afford to buy.” He held out his hand. “I want to give you my phone number. What did you think?”

Kim pulled her cell phone out of a pocket of her briefcase and handed it to him. The phone was fancy, as he’d suspected, with all kinds of buttons and extras. Shifters were allowed to have only old models, recycled, most of the features disabled. Not that some Shifters didn’t futz with them on the sly.

Liam started punching buttons. “I’m programming in my private number. For you only. If you need something, you call me. Any time of the day or night.”

Kim watched as he tucked the cell phone back into her briefcase. “Anytime?”

“Anytime.”

“What if I call every hour to check on your progress?”

“Then you do.”

Her brows rose. “You trust me a lot.”

“Because I’m asking you to trust me.”

Kim chewed on her lip, making it red and cute. “I suppose I can see that.” She held out her hand. “Thank you for your help, Mr. Morrissey. I’ll be in touch.”

Liam put his arm around her waist and turned her around. “I’m not leaving, love. I’m walking you back to your car.”

“Why? It’s only a few blocks away.”

“I told you, when you’re here, you’re under my protection. Do you think that means I’d abandon you right here on the sidewalk?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean.”

“I mean I’m walking you to your car.”

She made a noise of exasperation. “Whatever.”

Liam wanted to laugh. She was adorable, his fox terrier. And determined.

And bloody inconvenient. The phone call had been from his father, telling Liam news he’d been waiting to hear. Ms. Lawyer needed to get out of Shiftertown. Liam and Sean suddenly had other things they needed to take care of.

Liam liked Kim’s curves against his body as they walked, her narrow waist under his hand. She didn’t try to break away from him, resigned, it seemed, to let him walk with his arm around her. As if they were a couple, in human terms.

Something warmed inside him, a space filling. Liam abruptly cut off the feeling. He could not afford to get involved with her. Protect her, yes; enjoy her, no. No matter how tempting she was.