by Juniper Hart
Victor cleared his throat and glanced down. “Well, at first I went to Levi to explain what had happened. But as usual, Caden could do no wrong in Levi’s eyes. As I suspected, Levi told me to apologize to Caden.” Then he paused for a moment. “I stood there, staring at his smug, hungover face, and I kept hearing your voice in my ear, what you said last night. I may or may not have told Caden to get his head out of his ass in front of his father, so they weren’t all that sad to see me go.”
Molly cried out gleefully and kissed him again. “You really are my hero,” she told him. “You’re amazing!”
Victor grinned at her and nuzzled his nose against hers. “We should probably go before an angry mob comes looking, though,” he joked. “But first, I have something for you.”
Molly watched as he turned back to his bike and pulled out a paper bag. Her blue eyes widened in happiness as he pulled out a breakfast sandwich.
“I figured you might still be hungry from last night,” he declared.
Molly nearly howled with content, and she ravenously snatched the sandwich from his hand.
“If you keep this up,” she said, “I might just fall in love with you, lobo.”
He smiled softly.
“Then I better keep this up.”
THE END
Click Here to Read the Entire Shifter Pursuit Series
5
Shifter Pursuit: The Renovation
Dinner was unusually quiet, but Amy was painfully aware that her mother was reprovingly staring at her throughout the meal.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she finally demanded, knowing she was going to regret asking.
“Like what?” Carlene asked innocently.
“Like…” She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, like I have two heads or something?”
“No, honey, I—” Her mother paused for a second. “I’m not. Can you pass the salt, please?”
Amy’s blue eyes narrowed, and she leaned across the table to do what Carlene had asked her.
“Mom?” Amy tried again. “You’re acting like I just returned from the dead. What’s the problem?”
Her mother still refused to answer, and Amy looked hopelessly at her brother.
“Any input here, Joel?” she asked.
“She’s mad because you went to work with Kyle Peterson,” Joel informed her flatly, and Amy cast him a curious look.
“Why?” she demanded, turning her attention back to her mother, who seemed to balk at the words. “You’ve been on me about getting a job for the last two months, and now that I have one, you’re mad?”
“I am not mad!” Carlene insisted, dropping her fork melodramatically. “I just don’t think that working in construction is fitting for a—”
She stopped mid-sentence, cringing as she realized she had chosen the wrong words to speak.
Amy gaped at her mother and then glanced at her younger brother.
“Not fitting for the beauty queen that I am?” she asked sarcastically. “Not fitting for the head cheerleader that I was? What?”
Joel guffawed, and although Amy tried to maintain her annoyance, even she had to admit the idea was inane.
“Honey, you know what I mean,” her mother said. “You would be better suited to…” She gestured helplessly at Amy. “I don’t know…”
“A model?” Amy offered, her anger increasing. “Maybe I can, like, I dunno, do tutorials on YouTube or something!” Her family members grimaced. “Anyway, it’s not construction, it’s renovations. I’m not working with heavy machinery… not really,” she explained, but it did not seem to alleviate the pained expression on her mother’s face.
Carlene sighed, dropping her napkin onto the plate as if she had just lost her appetite. “I just don’t understand you, Amy,” she sighed. “You’re so beautiful—”
“Oh, my God, Mom,” Amy groaned, resting her head on her hands. “Please just stop. I’m more than just some blonde, blue-eyed replica of you, you know! This job pays well, and given my lack of experience, I’m lucky Kyle is giving me a shot.”
“And that’s another thing,” Carlene suddenly said. “Why is he giving you a shot when you have so little knowledge on the subject?”
“Mom!” Amy exclaimed. “I think you’re getting a little paranoid. Kyle is a nice man. He’s just trying to help out a local girl paying for tuition.” Carlene’s lips pursed together, and Amy rolled her eyes. “Not every man thinks with the head between his legs, you know.”
“Amy!” her mother cried. “Watch your mouth!”
“What? You’re a nurse. Are you telling me you haven’t heard worse?”
Carlene seemed to give up, and she went back to her meal.
Amy held back another groan. Every summer was the exact same thing: she would return home from school over the break, and no matter what job Amy managed to get, it was never good enough.
She knew that her mother resented the fact that she wasn’t the little princess Carlene had wanted, a princess she could dress up and then show off to all her friends. Instead, Amy was athletic, sharp-witted, and outdoorsy. The idea of doing her nails was both ridiculous and futile, because she would simply break them off camping or fishing
Amy looked forward to starting her new job on Tuesday at the contracting company. It was just the type of thing she needed for her resume.
It’s nice to have a degree, she thought, but hands-on experience is even better. I’m lucky Kyle agreed to give me a chance, no matter what Mom thinks.
Amy knew she had a lot to learn about the business, but she was eager to learn.
“Well, I think it’s cool,” Joel volunteered, and Amy offered him a grateful smile. Although the gap between them was of six years, she could always count on him to be on her side.
“It is cool,” she replied, shooting her mother a look. “You’ll have to come see me work one day.”
Joel’s blue eyes lit up. “Can I?” he asked.
“Sure!” Amy answered.
“No!” Carlene interjected.
“Why not?” Amy exploded, her desire to finish her dinner also diminishing. “It’s not fitting for him, either?”
“He’s fifteen years old,” said her mother. “A construction site is not the place for a child.”
“I am not a child!” Joel protested.
“It is not a construction site!” Amy cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation. She rose from her seat, shaking her head in amazement. “You had no problem having him here through your kitchen renovation,” she reminded her mom. “But I guess that’s different because it was on your terms, right?”
She didn’t allow Carlene to respond, storming away from the table before she could say another word.
Why did I even come home for the summer? It’s the same thing every year. Bickering with Mom, scraping money together, and I go back to school more exhausted than I left.
Amy didn’t have any real answer, except that she missed Joel when she was gone, and she enjoyed catching up with old friends.
And I miss Mom, too, she thought, whether I admit it or not.
Still, on days like those, she wished she had simply stayed at the Kappa Mu Pi house.
It’s okay. Once I start work, I won’t have to deal with Mom nearly as much, Amy told herself, heading down the back hallway to her room. She was just going to put on her headphones and drown out the sound of Carlene’s voice for the rest of the night.
She tried to focus on the fact that, when she finally started work, everything would be much better.
“Please tell me you’re kidding,” snapped the owner of the house. “There’s no way I’m letting a ten-year-old chick work on my man cave.”
Amy could not stop her mouth from dropping open, and she looked at Kyle incredulously. But before she could say a word, the owner of the company spoke.
“Amy, why don’t you go wait in the truck,” Kyle told her, arching an eyebrow meaningfully. “I’ll be out there in a minute.”
She looke
d at the man and then at Kyle again, shaking her head as anger mounted inside her.
“Hey, no offense, lady,” the jerk said as an afterthought, perhaps realizing that he had upset her. “I wouldn’t want any chick handling measurements, especially not a teenager.”
“I’m not a teenager,” Amy muttered, but Kyle gently grabbed her by the arm and steered her out of the basement toward the side door.
“Just wait in the truck,” he instructed. “I’ll be right there.”
Amy reluctantly headed toward the company vehicle parked out by the curb, her hands trembling. It was the first job she had visited, and she was being thrown out because she was a girl.
I hope this guy is single, she thought grimly. He and Mom are made for each other.
Amy waited on the bumper of the truck, since Kyle had not thought of giving her the keys, and she watched as another Peterson Co. truck appeared on the cul-de-sac.
Three workers jumped out and eyed her warily.
“Hey, do you mind not sitting on our trucks?” one older man in a hardhat asked. Amy glared at him, but she pushed herself off the front end, folding her arms against her chest.
The men mumbled something she couldn’t hear to one another. The youngest one of the trio offered her a tentative smile.
Amy was not in the mood to smile back at him, and she sullenly shifted her eyes away, gritting her teeth together.
Am I going to get fired on my first day without even doing anything? she wondered, watching as the men shuffled toward their job, each one pausing to glance at her as they continued. She wanted to yell at them to mind their own business, but she didn’t bother. There was no point in rocking the already dangerously full boat, after all.
After a few minutes, Kyle hurried out the side door to join her, his face sheepish.
“Sorry about that, Amy,” he said. “I should have warned you that some guys are misogynistic idiots.”
Amy snorted derisively. “You didn’t need to warn me that people like that exist. I just can’t believe he said that right in front of me.”
Kyle chuckled dryly. “Nothing surprises me anymore in this business,” he sighed. “Anyway, come on. We’re going to another job. No one currently lives there, so we won’t have the issue of dealing with that again.”
Amy eyed him speculatively and wondered if he had even bothered to defend her against the rude homeowner, but she didn’t ask. It was a good paying job, and she wanted to keep it… if only to annoy her mother.
She jumped in the passenger side and buckled her seat belt as Kyle drove through Toledo toward the next house.
A long silence ensued. She didn’t mind the silence, except that this one was getting to the point of discomfort.
“No one lives here?” she repeated.
Kyle shook his head. “No,” he replied. “It’s an entire remodel. In hindsight, I probably should have brought you here first. You can learn more here than you can anywhere else. We’re doing it all: kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, basement… It’s coming along, but we still have a few more months to go.”
“I guess it won’t be done by the time I go back to school?”
“Probably not until Halloween,” he confirmed, and Amy was impressed. She was looking forward to seeing the place.
When they finally pulled up to the house in the Beverly neighborhood, Amy was stunned by the size of it.
Toledo was not renowned for its glamorous homes, but the property was more of an estate than a house. It was gated and stone-faced, a light grey and shimmering white exterior, edged by a manmade ravine that had yet to reach maturity. The arched windows were large and plentiful.
“Who’s going to live here?” she breathed after Kyle unlocked the wrought iron gate.
He grinned and shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Some reclusive millionaire type bought it, but I don’t think it’s his primary home. He built the house on the land. There was nothing here before.”
Amy’s brow furrowed. “Why didn’t he just build it the way he wanted it, then?” she asked, and Kyle laughed, removing the keys from the ignition.
“He did. Now he’s bored and wants it redone.”
“Geez,” Amy mumbled. “Must be nice to have that kind of money.”
“Tell me about it,” Kyle agreed. “Come on, I’ll show you around. The crew should be here in about fifteen minutes, and you can show Oliver around. He’s back at the man-hole house right now, but he’s coming this way after things get underway.”
Amy burst into laughter. “Man-hole?” she echoed, laughing.
Kyle’s grin grew wider. “Well, it’s a mancave for an asshole, isn’t it?”
Amy already felt better about her new job.
The rest of the day went swiftly, and the initial downcast of the morning seemed distant as Amy followed Oliver around from room to room, learning and trying what he would allow her to do. Oliver was the young guy who had smiled at her outside of the man-hole house, and she seemed to hit it off just fine with him.
“Why didn’t you say you were on the crew when we saw you leaning against the truck this morning?” he asked. “I would have paid good money to see Mike’s face when he learned you were a new hire.”
“I was in a bad mood,” she confessed reluctantly. “The customer didn’t want me touching any of his precious man-stuff, so Kyle just sent me to the truck to wait.”
“Colin Fitz is a prick,” Oliver told her. “Don’t worry, not all the clients are like that.”
“What about the guy who owns this place?” Amy asked curiously. As the day progressed, she found herself more and more intrigued by the owner.
Probably because I’ve never met anyone this rich, she thought wryly.
“I don’t know. I’ve never met him,” Oliver replied, handing her a hammer. “But I hear he’s not overly social. Made his money in computers or software or something like that. You know, one of those nerdy, techy types.”
Nope. No idea what a multi-millionaire looks like, Amy thought, smiling to herself. She could envision some Professor Frink guy in a lab coat with coke bottle glasses, running around demanding that every tile in the bathroom be measured for precision.
At lunch, she was welcomed by the other members of the crew, and Amy was stunned by the effort they made to accept her.
Half of them probably don’t think I can hack it, but at least they aren’t making my life miserable as the only woman here.
At five o’clock, it was quitting time, and Oliver offered her a ride home.
“I can just take the bus,” she said.
“Nah,” he said with a laugh. “Unless you live in a really bad neighborhood. I don’t want the rims stolen off my Lexus.”
It turned out that Oliver drove a ’99 Jeep Cherokee, and it looked like it was at least ten years older than that.
Amy couldn’t help laughing when she saw it.
“I don’t think you have to worry about your rims in any neighborhood,” she teased him, and he feigned a look of hurt. He’s cute, she thought, watching him through her sidelong vision. I wonder if he has a girlfriend.
Amy didn’t ask, figuring that was a question for the second day of work.
Oliver dropped her off at her house and put the car in park. “Here we are.”
Amy turned her head to him to thank him for the ride, and the way Oliver stared at her made her think that he might try to kiss her.
That would be awkward, she thought. Wouldn’t it?
It turned out he didn’t lean forward or make any move to indicate he was going to kiss her, and she found herself slightly disappointed. It was at that precise moment that Amy recognized how lonely she had been feeling.
Would it be so terrible to have a summer romance? she wondered. Just while I’m back in Toledo?
While Oliver didn’t attempt to kiss her, he did wait until she got to the front door of the bungalow. She turned to wave him off, a fake smile on her face. Once he was out of sight, she sighed to herself.
“You’re an idiot,” Amy mumbled under her breath, turning to unlock the front door.
She groaned aloud when she realized that she didn’t have her purse. She noticed the television flickering from the front room. Well, Joel was home, at least.
Amy banged on the door until she heard her brother calling out, “Coming!” In seconds, she was staring at him, and he must have noticed the look on her face.
“Bad day at work?” he asked, his blue eyes inquisitive.
“I left my purse at the job site,” she moaned, pushing past him toward her room. “I need to go back and get it. Everything is in it.”
“Oh, that sucks,” her brother volunteered helpfully.
“Where’s Mom?”
“She’s working nights this rotation,” he replied, and Amy groaned again.
“Dammit!” she chided herself. “Now I’ll have to take the bus back!”
“Can’t you just get it in the morning?” Joel asked. “No one’s going to take it.”
“I don’t know that,” Amy sighed, digging through her piggy bank for bus change. “Kids could break into the site. One of the other workers might go in before me and see it there. I don’t want to risk it. Replacing all my stuff will be a pain in the ass.”
She considered taking a taxi, but she didn’t want to spend the money. Besides, it wasn’t too late yet. The buses were still running—it would be fine.
“Want me to go with you?” Joel offered, but Amy could tell by his voice he didn’t want to go.
“Nah. I’ll be back in a couple hours,” she promised. “We’ll order a pizza. If Mom calls, don’t tell her where I went. She’ll freak out and call the police or something.”
Joel chortled and agreed, watching as Amy slipped out of the house again.
This is turning out to be a really long day, she thought. She just wanted it to be over already.
It took forty-five minutes to get back to the house in Beverly, and when she arrived, darkness had blanketed the property almost entirely.
Amy silently cursed herself for not having brought a flashlight, but she remembered there were construction lights inside the kitchen where she had left her purse.
