He's on My Mind

He’s on My Mind

Crystal Red

Edited by Marisa Chenery

Cover design by April Martinez

Copyright 2014 Crystal Red. Published by
Forever More Publishing, 31 Wycliffe Place, Kitchener, Ontario, N2M 5J6, Canada.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author.

ISBN:
978-1-92785-954-4

This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If
you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an
additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not
purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase
your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. The characters,
incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are
not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons,
living or dead, is completely coincidental.

When Kelsey Mayfield met Brandon Woltman, she thought he
was a bad boy, who wasn’t her type. It didn’t help she could read his mind
either. She discovered they were neighbors, and sensed he hid something from
her.

After he asked her out, they ran into
trouble that led to her to finding out he was a werewolf. Her fear of him soon
turned in to something stronger. His ex-girlfriend, Victoria, who happened to
be a witch, tries her best to end what Kelsey and Brandon have. No matter what
length she has to go.

Prologue

The colorfully decorated birthday cake
sat on the round pine kitchen table. Twenty-six. How had this many years of
Kelsey Mayfield’s life gone by already? She’d begged her mother not to throw
her a party. It wasn’t her thing. Maybe when she was a teenager, but not now.
She needed to get her life on track, especially her career as well as her love
life. Both of which were sucky with a capital “S” at the moment.

Somehow she imagined by the time she
reached this age, she’d be married or, at least, in love and engaged to the man
of her dreams. In actuality, she had yet to find a one who would accept her for
her.

“Come on, honey.” Her mom, Linda,
tugged at her tight, red t-shirt. She clawed Kelsey with a white-tipped nail.
“I lit the candles. Now make a wish and blow them out.”

The corners of her mom’s hazel eyes
crinkled as she smiled. Beth, her best friend, and a few other family members
were there also to help celebrate Kelsey’s birthday.

Kelsey mumbled under her breath and
cringed at the large wax two and six that poked out crookedly from the middle
of the cake. She closed her eyes and made a silent wish as she blew out the
candles, which was silly, because it was unlikely it would ever come true. Why
mess with tradition?

The rest of the night was blurry.
Maybe it was the whole bottle of red wine she’d knocked back or the fact she’d
wanted to permanently erase the memories of being single at twenty-six from her
brain.

Her mother must have led her to the
bedroom, because Kelsey whipped off the covers and sat up. A layer of sweat
clung to the back of her neck. She squinted at the dim light from the small
lamp on her nightstand next to her queen-sized bed.

The throbbing in her head gave away
how far she was gone. Besides the aching, footsteps creaked down the hall.
It’s
probably just Beth.
Her best friend of twelve years happened to be her
roommate. Beth Klause could be pretty noisy even when she didn’t have too much
to drink.

Kelsey climbed off her bed and
stumbled toward the door. “Beth? Is that you?”

“There you are.” Low and raspy, a
voice that didn’t sound like Beth’s came from the other side.

Her heart slammed into her ribs.
“W-who are you?” she sputtered.

The footsteps stopped. Did she imagine
the whole thing? She attempted to swallow in spite of the lump in her throat.

A loud knock on her door made her
breath catch. Hand on the doorknob, she slowly turned it and opened it to find
a woman with long, blonde hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in a long, black
silky dress and matching high heels. The woman smiled.
Who is this woman and
how did she get into my house?

Her heart drummed louder. “What do you
want?”

“Your wish has been granted.” A wicked
smiled touched the woman’s lips.

Kelsey’s forehead crinkled in
confusion. “What wish?” She blew out a long breath.
Am I really losing my
mind or is it the wine?

“The birthday wish you made earlier
this evening.” The corners of the woman’s eyes creased with a sparkly glow as
she chuckled. “Enjoy, Kelsey.”

She blinked. “Enjoy what?” Hell, she
didn’t even remember what she wished for.

“Your new gift. Not many women are as
lucky as you.” The woman clapped and turned. Her high heels clacked against the
hallway’s oak wood floor.

Kelsey scampered after her, but the
woman was too fast. By the time she made it to the front door, the woman had
disappeared.
Who the hell is she and what wish did she grant me?

Chapter One

One Week Later

Kelsey hit the snooze button on her
alarm clock for the fifth time. She rested her eyes for what seemed like five
minutes, but when she opened them again the clock read 8:05.

Shit!
She
groaned, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.
I shouldn’t have stayed up late
watching those chick flicks.

Somehow, she made it out of her bed
and into the shower for a quick wash. She dressed in light blue skinny jeans, a
white t-shirt with a red rose in the middle and her favorite flip-flops. She
grabbed her makeup and a brush, throwing them into a small traveling case.

She dashed out the front door and
locked it behind her. As she ran like a maniac, she didn’t see the tall, dark
figure until it was too late. A low groan escaped her lips as she collided into
an ebony-haired man.

He must have tripped over one of her
long legs, because he landed on the sidewalk with a loud yelp.

“Get off me! Why don’t you watch where
you were going?” He snarled and pushed her off his broad shoulders and muscular
arms she clung to.

“Sorry,” she muttered.

Kelsey stood on shaky legs and offered
him her hand. As he waved it away, she scrambled to pick up her belongings. At
this rate, she’d make it to work by noon if she was lucky.

The dark-haired man stood and scowled
as he faced her. “Why are you in such a hurry, anyway? Are you late for
something?”

As she stared into his gray eyes, she
felt herself flush. Dark, wavy slicked down hair with just a little bit of
facial stumble around his cheeks and chin. This man was the definition of
gorgeous, which meant he was way out of her league. She was used to guys who
were a bit nerdy and book smart. Bad boys who rode motorcycles and had one-night
stands weren’t her type. If he was like that. She imagined he was by the way he
was dressed.

“Sorry for being so crabby.” He held
out a black gloved hand. “I’m Brandon Woltman. I feel as if I’ve seen you
around somewhere.”

She shook his hand. Her belly
quivered. “Kelsey Mayfield. I don’t think we’ve ever met. I have to get going.
I’m late for work.” She frowned.

Who dresses in black
leather pants, a black t-shirt, boots and a leather jacket when it’s seventy
degrees outside? Kansas City is always warm in May, but that’s just how
Missouri is.

Brandon eyed her up and down.

Wow. Hazel eyes,
chestnut-colored hair and perky breasts with that slender body. I wouldn’t mind
seeing what’s under those girly clothes.

Kelsey crossed her arms. “Do you
always make rude comments to women you meet?”

“Huh?” He took a step back.

She narrowed her eyes. “Just because you
say stuff like that doesn’t mean my panties will drop at your feet.”
What’s
his problem, anyway?

He held his hands up. “I didn’t say a
thing. I swear.”

For a hot chick, she
comes off pretty crazy.

“I’m not crazy!” She ground her teeth.
I have to get out of here. This guy is going to make me lose my mind.
Kelsey
marched past him.

“It was nice to meet you, Kelsey,”
Brandon called.

She didn’t bother to turn around. It
wouldn’t matter since she’d never see him again. At least she hoped so.

Her heart pounded hard, and she
struggled to catch her breath. She’d run the whole way to the bookshop. She
stepped inside the old, dark gray, brick building. The sign above read This and
That Books. For a whole month, she and Beth had worked hard to get the bookshop
up and running. It wasn’t exactly her first career choice, but she didn’t have
many other options at this point.

Two months ago, she’d been fired from
her teacher’s assistant job because she’d hooked up with a teacher. Apparently,
it was against the school’s policy. It didn’t matter anyway. For her to work at
a school for the rest of her life didn’t fit in her plans.

She’d chosen to open the bookshop,
because her grandfather had passed away three months ago and left the store to
her.

Kelsey entered the backroom and
cringed as Beth approached her with a tight frown. She set down her things on
an empty shelf.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep
in.”

Beth’s green eyes darkened. “You
promised me you weren’t going to stay up too late.” Her hot cheeks complimented
her auburn hair and long, flowing curls.

Kelsey hung her head. “I said I was
sorry.”

“You can say it all you want, but it
doesn’t change the fact you wanted to reopen this shop.”

Kelsey sighed. “I want this to work.
My lateness didn’t help when I ran in to this guy on the way here.” She
shuddered at the thought of how weird he’d acted. How could he make such rude
comments to her and act as if nothing happened? What a jerk!

“You met a cute guy?” Beth raised a
brow.

Kelsey nodded. “Just not the way I would
have planned to be hit on.”

“What did he say?”

“That he wondered what I looked like
under my girly clothes.” Kelsey rubbed her temples. “The weird thing is he
acted as if he didn’t say it out loud.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”
Beth’s expression softened.

“Yeah, why?”

Beth shrugged. “Ever since your
birthday party you’ve been different.” She placed a hand on Kelsey’s shoulder.
“I worry about you. I don’t want you to lose your mind over a guy.”

Kelsey snorted. “I’m fine.” She jerked
away from Beth.

The front bell dinged, and she hurried
to the front to see who’d entered.

An elderly woman with a cane smiled.
“Do you sell romantic suspense books here?”

Kelsey’s lips pulled into an easy
smile. “Yes, we do. You won’t believe how many romance books we have for sale.
We must have at least five rows of them.” She led the customer down the aisle
where they had the romance novels sorted neatly into specific categories.

She and Beth kept busy throughout the
day, attending to customers who asked for certain types of books. Around dinner
time they closed the shop. Kelsey grabbed her things and then headed out the
door with Beth.

A cool wind picked up and hit her
face. She shuddered and looked at the sky. Layered with big white puffy clouds,
the sun peaked out slightly. It didn’t look like rain.

“I should have brought a coat.”

“You could always have your mysterious
stranger warm you up.” A smirk appeared on Beth’s face.

Kelsey wrinkled her nose. “He isn’t my
type.”

“Why, because he isn’t a gentleman and
says what’s on his mind?” Beth giggled.

“You’re mean, you know that?” She
stuck out her tongue.

Their walk went by quickly, and they
hurried up to the pathway to their rental ranch house. The outside had white
shutters on the windows and light blue siding all around.

Once they were on the porch, Beth
unlocked the door and stepped inside. Before Kelsey entered, she glanced to the
left, and something caught her eye. No, wait. Make that a certain someone.

She gasped as she stared at the man
who she’d run in to earlier this morning. He lifted heavy boxes out of a large
moving truck. When one fell to the ground, he shouted obscenities.

She smiled to herself and thought she
needed to think outside the box. If they were going to be neighbors, she’d have
to put her claws away for now.

Kelsey hurried down the wooden steps
and then dashed across the lawn over to Brandon’s house.

When he looked up, a scowl formed on his
face. “Are you kidding me?”

“About what?” She laughed.

“We’re going to be neighbors, aren’t
we?” His tone of voice dropped to a low growl.

Kelsey frowned and raked a hand
through her hair. “I live next door with my best friend, Beth.”

“I hope you have a boyfriend.”

She shook her head. “I don’t.”

“Damn it.” He struggled to pick up a
heavy box.

“Let me help you.” She reached for it,
but he swatted her hand away. “Why are you being so damn stubborn?” She crossed
her arms.

Another man came out of the house and
approached them. His golden-blond hair gleamed in the sunlight as he grinned at
her. The man’s blue eyes lit up as she stared at him.

Brandon groaned. “Where were you when
I needed you, Chad?”

Chad shrugged. “Sorry, man. I had to
piss.”

Brandon’s gray eyes narrowed. “Our
neighbor offered to help, but I don’t think she can handle the heavy stuff.”

Kelsey cleared her throat. “I’m right
here.”

“You would deny help from a sexy
woman?” Chad blew out a low whistle, shaking his head. “You’ve got to put aside
your damn stubborn pride, dude.”
Hmm, I wonder if she has a roommate. A redhead
one would be just my type.

Kelsey shuffled her feet, hoping Chad
wouldn’t notice the disappointment in her voice. “You prefer redheads, huh?”

Chad nodded. “How did you know?”

“You told me.”

Chad gaped at her and then exchanged a
questioning stare with Brandon. “Are you psychic?”

Why would he ask me
that? It’s not as if I’m reading anyone’s thoughts.

She felt her cheeks go warm. “No. I
should go.”

“Yeah, you should.” Brandon blew out a
harsh breath. “Let the men handle the real work.”
Even if I want to strip
her and taste every inch of her skin. Damn, she’s hot.

Kelsey clenched her teeth. “This is
why I ignore guys like you. You’re nothing but trouble.” Fists tight at her
sides, she stormed off toward her house without another word.