Authors: Josie Walker
CHAPTER NINE
J
acob had driven her to a fancy restaurant over an hour away. There’d been a long line of people waiting outside to get in, but he’d pulled a key out of his pocket and led her in through a side door.
“If this date ends up with me getting arrested there will be no more dates for you,” she warned him sternly.
He chuckled as he opened a door that said “Employees Only,” and then he leaned in so close that his lips brushed the back of her neck. “This is my restaurant. It’s the thing I’m most passionate about, so I wanted to share it with you.”
When he said the word “passionate” it sounded like he was purring and she let loose a little giggle because all of his attempts at being sexy seemed to bypass her libido completely and go directly to her funny bone. He led her inside one of the biggest kitchens she’d ever seen and handed her an apron. It seriously made the kitchen in the diner where she’d worked look like a little kid’s play set or something.
“So now I have to work for my dinner?” she joked playfully. “You know I’m a waitress, right? So I’d probably do better on the other side of that door. I’m actually looking for a job right now if you have any openings,” she suggested. “Perhaps this evening won’t wind up being a total waste after all,” she thought to herself.
“If you were my mate we could run this business together,” he said earnestly. “I’d love that,” he admitted. “Having someone to share the restaurant with would be incredible. It’s a lot of work, but it’s what makes me tick. Does that make any sense at all to you… or am I just rambling here?”
She didn’t know what to say so she just smiled at him and nodded. They both washed their hands at a large industrial sink station, and part of the reason she was so thorough was because she needed a moment to collect her thoughts before she answered him.
“I don’t think that I’ve ever had a job that I’ve been that passionate about,” she finally admitted. The fact that it was the truth made her feel sad. “Work for me has always been about making ends meet. That’s why I want to get my nursing degree. Hospitals always need more nurses, and I feel like there would be job security in a field like that.”
“So what you’re really passionate about is security,” Jacob said insightfully.
His declaration made her feel uncomfortable, as though he’d gone poking about in her head. She hadn’t given him permission and she didn’t know if she had good feelings about what all he might find in there if he kept looking.
“Maybe,” she stalled, trying to think of another topic to switch the conversation to.
“Answer me this,” he said looking directly into her eyes. “What would you want to do if you didn’t have to worry about money? What do you love? What makes you tick? What’s your deepest darkest desire?”
He practically purred the last word but her problem wasn’t with his overt sexuality, it was with the panic he was evoking in her. He’d just shot her life goals all to hell and she didn’t even begin to know how to deal with that. She wanted to steal the ostrich’s classic move and bury her head in the sand and pretend that this conversation had never happened.
“I… I have no idea,” she finally admitted. And suddenly she felt almost paralyzed with the great unknown that her future had become. Suddenly she wasn’t quite so sure that she wanted to be a nurse, or that there’d be a guaranteed job waiting for her if and when she finally graduated. Was she chasing after all the wrong things?
Jacob handed her a knife, and she hardly even noticed how forward he was being when he wrapped his arms around her and showed her how to properly chop an onion. When she started crying it wasn’t because the onion fumes were burning her eyes, it was because he’d just blown the top off of her mind. How does someone make it to thirty-one without ever having been asked what they want out of their life? How was it that this man was the first person to ever seem to care about what she wanted out of her future?
How had she made it this long without amassing any real hopes and dreams? She had nothing to show for her life beyond a failed attempt to attain some financial security. Shouldn’t someone along the way, a teacher, a foster parent, a case worker, ANYONE, have asked her what the hell she wanted to be when she grew up?
All of a sudden she felt overwhelmed by the busy environment of the kitchen with all the prep staff bustling about. She felt like she was suffocating and she had to get outside where the air was fresh so that she could breathe. She dropped the knife and it clattered as it hit the wooden butcher block. She darted towards the employees only entrance and rushed outside.
Standing in the middle of the parking lot she gulped in a shaky lungful of fresh air as she sought to work through what she could only imagine must be a panic attack. Jacob followed her outside and he sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. He made gentle shushing noises in her ear as though she were an infant and she found it strangely comforting.
“You don’t have to figure everything out tonight,” he assured her. “But I can tell from just one date that you’re a woman I’d love to get to know better. Your life could be so easy if you chose me. You’d never have to worry about things like making enough money to keep a roof over your head or put food on the table. I have plenty of money, and I’m not just talking about what comes in from the restaurant. You wouldn’t even have to work if you didn’t want to. I’d be honored if you wanted to just stay home and raise our pups.”
“Pups?” she asked nervously.
“Call them babies if that makes you feel more comfortable.”
Michelle couldn’t say that talk of babies gave her any less anxiety, although it was better than imagining puppies. She couldn’t help but feel like he must not understand her as much as he’d seemed to. For him to bring up children so soon… well it was all just too much for her to handle. How could she ever trust someone else enough to agree to a lasting commitment, let alone build a family with them?
Jacob was a smooth operator, and before she even realized how it had happened he’d turned her about in his arms and he was kissing her. His mouth was warm and his breath was pleasant, but his touch failed to ignite anything inside of her. It wasn’t like Parker’s kiss had been. And then suddenly, as though her very thoughts had conjured him, Parker was there, and his arms were tearing her out of Jacob’s grasp and pushing her out of the way.
She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw him cock back his arm and throw a powerful punch straight at Jacob’s face. The wolf shifter lurched to the side, narrowly avoiding Parker’s fist. They continued to parry back and forth, and as the fight continued to escalate the strapping men quickly drew an audience.
When Michelle saw Parker’s skin begin quivering she knew she had to do something fast, or risk whatever consequences would play out if Parker lost control and shifted in front of a crowd of innocent humans. She doubted they could all be forced to marry shifters, and she was quite frankly horrified at the thought of somehow causing another person’s death. Common sense dictated that she flee in the opposite direction… but she wasn’t above being rash when she needed to be. She ignored her survival instinct and made her way towards the two fighting men.
“Stop it now!” she shouted loudly. “People are watching you.”
She reached a hand out and grabbed Parker’s arm. When he turned and roared at her she saw that he was even closer to the edge than she’d first realized. The moment he noted the look of anger and disappointment in her eyes he stopped fighting and tried to apologize. The words were trapped in his mouth when Jacob’s blow landed with a smack on the side of his cheek and knocked him to the ground.
“I said stop it!” she screamed and her date backed away with his hands raised in surrender. “What do you have to say for yourself?” she asked kneeling over Parker.
“He was trying to force himself on you,” the bear shifter began lamely.
“I’ve never forced myself on a woman in my entire life!” Jacob spat out defensively.
“You need to leave,” Michelle ordered firmly.
Parker tried to argue, but she cut him off with an icy glare. He sighed and pulled himself up off of the ground. He began shuffling slowly towards his truck. Once he turned back and looked longingly at her but then he continued on his way. Then he drove off without another word.
Michelle went back inside with Jacob, but the evening had been ruined for her. Jacob didn’t try to put the moves on her again. He’d seen something in her eyes, and now he understood things that he doubted she even realized about herself. The woman had a thing for the bear shifter, the type of thing he’d be a fool to try to get in the way of. The type of thing that lasted forever.
He escorted her to a private dining alcove and insisted that she order anything on the menu that struck her fancy. Normally a five hundred dollar bottle of wine would have made her feel like a queen, but for some reason she felt morose and depressed. She felt lonely. It made no sense for her to feel this way, given how she was literally surrounded by other people.
She couldn’t begin to put her finger on what exactly was bothering her, but for the rest of the evening she felt off. She spoke little and ate less. She mechanically chewed her food when Jacob asked if there was something wrong with it, but it might as well have been cardboard instead of steak. When they’d finished their dessert she asked him to take her back to the bear’s den.
Once there he gave her a chaste peck on the cheek and she thanked him again for a lovely evening before retreating back to her room so that she could be alone with her tumultuous thoughts.
CHAPTER TEN
T
he next day played out very similarly to the previous one. This time Sophia had arranged a challenge which was like an amalgamation between a debate team and a beauty pageant. When the bachelor’s name was called he would strut up onto the stage from wherever he’d been standing and then he would answer one of the many questions that Sophia had prepared in advance.
On the plus side, at least no one tried to manhandle her during this particular competition.Their only means of wooing her today were with their honeyed words. When the women gathered together once again in the living room to tally their scores she found she was distracted and unable to fully pay attention.
When push came to shove it didn’t really matter who she went out on a date with… so long as it wasn’t Parker. If she had her way she’d never spend another second alone with that insufferable man. She agreed with the majority vote, and found herself being whisked away on an instant date to the movie theater with James, a very shy were-rabbit who looked like he’d rather hop away than try to say two words to her.
The introverted mess didn’t even try to hold her hand in the movie theater, which was a trick most men mastered by junior high. It wasn’t like she wanted to be manhandled, but the man had no spine. She was fairly certain that Parker would have been all over her by this point if he’d had access to her in a darkened theater.
The previews had just ended when a lone figure slid into the seat next to her. She didn’t have to turn to know who it was. Her whole body turned on as though someone had switched on a light switch… which made her resent her traitorous body like never before.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Michelle hissed angrily at Parker. “I’m here for a date with James, not you!”
She turned and watched with mounting disgust as James fled down the crowded aisle, away from her, and away from Parker. She highly doubted that the pathetic rabbit would stop hopping until he reached the humble safety of his warren and disappeared inside.
“James and I came to an understanding earlier,” Parker explained in his best movie theater whisper voice. He reached around her and snagged the popcorn bucket and began happily munching away. His presence was overwhelming, almost like he was taking up all the oxygen in the theater. The man simply took up too much space to be ignored.
All too soon he was reaching past her for the candy and drinks that James had left behind. His leg brushed up against hers and she couldn’t even begin to focus on what was actually happening on the screen which meant she had no idea what was going on with the plot. She really hoped that two days had been enough time for Sophia to locate the love of her life, because as for herself she was done helping her perpetrate the great dating hoax. She just couldn’t do this anymore, not with Parker popping up every time she blinked.
When Parker slid his arm around her shoulders and reached for her hand that was the final straw. It didn’t matter that ten minutes prior she’d been blaming James for not doing the very same thing. Quite frankly it didn’t have to make sense. The man just made her furious no matter what he did. She lept to her feet in outrage and dumped her extra large Coke on his head. While he sat there sputtering in shock she ripped the popcorn bucket out of his hands and poured that over him as well.
Someone started clapping. Apparently even in the darkened theater someone had witnessed her actions and approved. She glared down at him icily, but Parker didn’t say a word in his defense. He just sat there looking as though he’d been tarred and feathered with a ridiculous expression on his face. She’d known many men that wouldn’t have hesitated to hit her if she’d pulled something like that on them, but Parker didn’t even look mad at her.
“You’re such an ass,” she whispered angrily before storming out of the theater in a huff. She eyed the ladies room as she stomped her way through the lobby. But she didn’t stop there, feeling fairly certain that he’d either follow her inside, or wait her out indefinitely.
There was just no escaping the pesky bear. And that was the root of her problems. Did he really expect her to just leave her whole life behind? It may not have been great or anything, but at least she’d made her own choices before he’d forced her off of that park bench. She’d reached the edge of the parking lot but she didn’t slow down as she continued towards the highway.
“Maybe I’ll just keep walking until I hit a new town,” she thought pitifully to herself.
“My truck’s back there,” Parker mumbled around a mouth full of Twizzlers. He wasn’t more than two yards behind her, but he moved so softly that she hadn’t even noticed him until he’d spoken.
“Why can’t you just let me go?” she asked hopelessly.
“You know I can’t do that.”
“But I promise I won’t tell anyone about shifters!”
“Even without the law I couldn’t let you go. My bear would never allow it,” he said huskily. “Being without you is like being without oxygen.”
“Sometimes I almost think you believe the crap that comes out of your mouth.”
“I’m not trying to bullshit you. I… I can’t explain it. I’ve just known from the moment I first saw you that you’re MINE. It’s like you were made just for me.”
“Stalker much? Are you always such a psycho with the ladies? Does your family understand just how unhinged you are?”
“I know you have feelings for me too,” he pleaded, taking a small step in her direction.
“You don’t know a damn thing about what I want.”
“Please just get in my truck and I’ll take you back to my parents’ den. It’s not like you were enjoying yourself with the scaredy rabbit anyway. The man’s a total wet blanket.”
“We were having a nice date until you showed up,” she lied out defensively.
“The bunny could never protect you like I can. And he could never show you the passion that we share. Would you like me to remind you just how good it was between us?” he asked her.
“No I wouldn’t,” she lied again, not caring if he could smell the falsehoods on her. “I want to go back to my own life. Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to get my nursing degree? I’ve missed so much class now that I’m sure they’ve dropped me. And now I’m out all that money… so I’ll just have to start over again. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to go to school with a bunch of teenagers when I’m thirty-one and I STILL don’t have a degree?”
“So being a nurse is what you want out of life?” he asked softly.
“I take it you’ve been talking to Jacob. Why is that so hard for you people to understand? What gives you the right to question my plans?” She knew even as she was speaking that she was being unfair, because it was really Jacob’s fault that she had no idea what she wanted from her future. He was the one who had shown her how feeble her “dreams” really were. “Do you think I’m too stupid to get a degree? Is that it?” And as she stood there screaming in his face she realized she’d just voiced aloud one of her deepest darkest fears… that she wasn’t smart enough to complete her college courses.
He dropped the bag of Twizzlers to the ground and ate up the remaining distance between them in two strides. His hand slid up under her chin, lifting her face up until he could see into her eyes.
“I think you may just be the smartest woman I’ve ever met,” he said softly. His eyes were like melted chocolate, and she wanted to throw herself in the dark pools and drown. Her lips parted in anticipation, waiting for his kiss. When he was touching her she didn’t have to think about how angry he made her, or how confused she was about the future. A loud horn sounded obnoxiously, and it effectively killed the moment before his lips had even touched hers.
“Sophia told us to tell you to stop hogging the girl!” one of the bachelors shouted from the loaded truck bed.
“You wanna go for a ride with us?” another one of the shifters asked.
“I’m going to kill my sister,” Parker muttered darkly. “I’ve been considering it since she hit puberty… but I don’t think I can hold back any longer.”
Michelle broke away from Parker and sprinted over to the back of the truck. She held up her arms and allowed the men to pull her up and guide her into the center. Parker glowered furiously at their retreating shapes as the truck peeled off down the highway. All he wanted to do was spend some time alone with his woman, but his high handed, interfering, busybody of a sister just had to invite half the world over to fight him for his mate. Damn WereWeb… everyone had been far too “connected” since his tech savvy uncle Keen had launched his shifter friendly version of Facebook.
One way or another he was going to win Michelle over. He’d thought he stood a chance tonight; he’d seen the telltale spark of desire in her eyes before the truckload of idiots had shown up. He wasn’t about to throw in the towel now, not when the stakes were so high. He simply wasn’t going to stop until he won her heart. But he knew he had to move fast before someone else managed to succeed where he’d failed.