The Shifter's Gift

by Haley Weir

  Her gaze slid between the waitress, who appeared slightly amused to Noah, who looked as stunned as Isabella felt. Let her deep, intuitive feelings about Noah be damned. Maybe all this chaos was just a sign that they weren’t meant to be.

  The older man behind her grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her toward him. “What were you thinking slamming into me like that? I spilled some food on my shirt because of you.” His gaze slid down her front, pointedly resting on her breasts before continuing.

  She tried to pull away from him, but he was too strong. She started to panic. “Let go of me. I need to go to the restroom. My waitress spilled wine on me.”

  Noah was on his feet, pushing between them before she could figure out what was going on. He forcibly removed the man’s hand from her shoulder. She thought she heard the man’s wrist pop, but she couldn’t be sure over his cry of pain. “Come on. Let’s get out of here,” he muttered, placing his hand on her elbow. His eyes shot over to the waitress. “I’ll be speaking with the manager.”

  They walked to the front door, but he stayed behind for a moment to talk with someone. She kept glancing back toward the restaurant’s door, trying to decide whether to wait for him or just leave. Her brain told her to run as fast as she could away from this place, while her brain beckoned her to stay and give him a chance to talk things over with her. Maybe they’d exchange numbers and give a kiss goodnight before they decided to part ways. Maybe something good could come of this night.

  Her stomach growled. She glanced up at the sky, wishing she knew why this date had gone so horribly. This had to have been the worst one she’d ever been on. As soon as the date felt like it was on the right track, it completely fell apart. Maybe she just wasn’t meant to have a love like her friends did. She spotted Noah walking toward her with an irritated look on his face.

  “Listen, I’m sorry about all of that back there. It wasn’t cool what either of them did. I enjoyed talking with you when we had the chance.” His gaze slid down her front, stopping at the wine stain, then he looked over toward the marina as if he was looking for something or someone. “I guess this is where our night ends, huh? Your dress is pretty ruined and all. I can write you a check for it, if you know how much it cost.”

  Her mouth dropped open then she closed it again. That was it? It was over? “Don’t worry about it. I enjoyed talking with you too. Maybe we’ll see one another again sometime?” She chewed her lower lip, ready to give him the phone number of her burner phone. In her heart she knew that she wanted to see him again, even if this hadn’t gone according to plan.

  “Yeah, right on. Let’s plan on doing that.” He took out his cell phone before glancing over at her, ready for her phone number.

  At least this night wasn’t a total bust. She let out a slight sigh of relief, then read it off to him before putting his number in the burner phone. Thankfully she’d gotten a decent enough model that she didn’t have to feel embarrassed by having one of those serial killer flip phones. “I can’t wait to hear from you.” She took a hesitant step closer to him, wondering if she could hope for a kiss. Her body certainly wanted one. The attraction she felt for him didn’t entirely made sense, but somehow it just felt right.

  Noah tucked his phone into his pocket. He drew in another breath like the one he’d taken before when she’d passed near the table. Part of her had wondered if she smelled, but the alluring look in his eyes matched the one he possessed now. “Do you mind if I…?” He tilted his head to the side and leaned forward.

  Their lips brushed against one another’s, and she placed her hands on his shoulders, ready to press their bodies together and explore more of his mouth and body. She felt sparks shooting between them, but his hand on her shoulder kept them apart and brought her back to reality. How could a kiss be so passionate, yet so awkward at the same time?

  “Thank you for the night out, even if it wasn’t quite what either of us were hoping for.” She cleared her throat, trying not to blush. “Talk to you later.” Without another word, she headed back to her car, feeling her shoulders begin to hunch forward.

  After that confusing kiss, she doubted he’d call her. But who knows? Stranger things had happened. Isabella just hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.

  Chapter Ten

  On a scale from one to ten, Isabella couldn’t even think of a rating that fit how the date went. On one hand, he seemed like a great guy, he was handsome, and good kisser. They had things in common, and they got along well when they had the chance. On the other hand, their outlooks on life didn’t exactly match up. He thought a white picket fence life was bullshit, and while that wasn’t exactly something she was looking for, she wanted to keep her options open.

  She felt a strong, deep attraction to him, but could a relationship survive long term on that alone? She knew that it could not.She didn’t want something that would survive long enough for them to have a kid, but would dry right up once they hit any bumps in the road. That just seemed like a waste of time and energy that could be spent building something that was real with the right person. It had been hard to follow the tips she gave her clients each day when she was so frazzled by so many things. Pretending to be someone she wasn’t didn’t make things any easier, too.

  Maybe she needed to give up on dating, especially if she couldn’t be herself. Last nights disaster could be fate’s way of forcing her to get her act together and drop the contract for the dating service before someone, even herself, gets hurt.

  The office was usually bustling with energy in the mornings as everyone prepared for the day ahead of them. Today, it was eerily quiet as she headed past the waiting room. But then, it felt like all eyes turned to her the moment she stepped into sight. A few women quietly talked amongst themselves while others quickly averted their eyes.

  Isabella rushed to her office, feeling a sick sense of dread fill her stomach. What was going on? She closed her office door behind her, but before she could even make it to her chair, she heard a hesitant knock on her door. “Come in,” she said, her voice nearly cracking under her strained nerves.

  The door opened just enough to reveal Lyndsey, who looked equally as awkward. “Sorry to bother you, but Ms. Prince would like to see you in her office. It sounded...urgent.” She mouthed the word sorry before closing the door again.

  Her mouth nearly dropped open. Her stomach churned, and she looked over at the window with everyone staring toward her office. Did Ms. Prince know? Was she going to be fired? Did she need to be packing her things right now? She had no idea what to do. But Lyndsey said Ms. Prince wanted her in her office immediately, so the worst thing she could do was keep her boss waiting. She set down her bag and headed for Ms. Prince's large office, doing her best to plaster a neutral look on her face.

  The door was open, which was unusual. Ms. Prince's voice called to her, "come in and close the door behind you."

  Isabella did as she was instructed. At her boss's gesture, she sat on the sofa near her, even if she wanted to go far, far away from there.

  "You wanted to see me?" Isabella asked, trying to keep her voice calm and neutral like her expression.

  Ms. Prince stared down her nose at Isabella. "I'm sure you know exactly what this is about. Tell me the truth about last night."

  Isabella squirmed on the sofa and glanced down at the floor. "The truth is that last night I went out on a date with Noah Sinclair. I didn't know who he was before that. He was a nice guy...and he didn't have anything to do with what happened. It was all my idea. He doesn't know who I really am. It's not like he'll probably want to, anyway. The date went terribly. I'm sorry, Ms. Prince. I shouldn't have done that. I knew what the company's policy was, and I messed up."

  Ms. Prince hooked her index finger beneath Isabella's chin and pulled up so Isabella met her gaze. "You should know better than to meddle in business that isn't yours. You, of all people, should have known better. You betrayed my trust, and that isn’t an easy thing to earn. As for your date going terribly, yo
ur trickery impacted that. There are many things that one should not do. You played a losing hand with fate, and you only have yourself to blame for the match not going well." She removed her finger from Isabella's chin and folded her hands into her lap, sitting up straight. "You will need to prove your trustworthiness and loyalty to me and my company again if you want to maintain your place here." She tilted her head up and sighed harshly. "Your high priority clients will be divided between the other girls. You'll absorb their lower priority clients." She waved her hand at her in dismissal, turning her head away.

  Her mouth dropped open, and for a moment, her muscles felt like they'd forgotten how to work. She blinked, still feeling the pain of Ms. Prince's sharp fingernail digging into her chin. After a few seconds, she shakily climbed to her feet and left her boss's office. She didn't have the strength to meet anyone's eyes as she headed back to her office. When she got there, she leaned against the door and tried to catch her breath. Tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. It would ruin her makeup, and it would just make things even more obvious for the peanut gallery outside.

  She took a few deep, calming breaths then walked to her computer and began replying to the emails in her inbox, trying to pretend like this was just another morning at the Prince Dating Agency.

  * * *

  The date last night wasn't incredible by any means, but the feeling of Noah’s bear reacting to Isabella's presence was encouraging. Something about her just felt...right, even if nothing else had. When he saw the man grabbing her and ogling her like that, his bear had reared back, ready to burst from his chest and unleash some pain, if Noah allowed it.

  Of course, he hadn't handled it like that. He'd just possibly broken the guy's wrist and told the maître d' and the manager about both the waitress and the guy who acted terribly toward her. Letting her go like that hadn't been easy. Part of him considered going to the yacht and finding her some sweats to wear, but it would've been way too strange.

  Instead, they'd shared a great kiss and she'd slipped from his fingers. He ran his hands through his hair as he stared at his cubicle walls. Another email notification popped up on his monitor, but he didn't care. He couldn’t get her out of his head, and the only thing he wanted to do right now was send her a text. He wanted to ask her out to lunch or dinner. He would do whatever she was willing to do.

  Someone tapped his shoulder and he nearly jerked around in his chair to push them away. His boss took a step back in her high heels and frowned at him. “Mr. Sinclair, you’ve been staring into space for a while now. I’m sure you have something better to do with your time.”

  There were so many things Noah wanted to say, and none of them were nice. But he just plastered a tightly forced smile on his face before turning back around, shutting down his computer, standing up from the chair, and walking off. When he was far enough away, he let out a deep breath.

  “Hey, little brother,” Mason called from behind him.

  “Uh, hey,” Noah replied. Had his manager already reported his behavior to his brother? That was really fast, even for Mason. But the smile on Mason’s face told him that maybe he wasn’t here because of his boss. “What’s up?”

  “I was wondering if you wanted to head out for lunch. You didn’t call last night to say how things went on your date. I sent you a couple of messages, but I guess you were busy. Or…” Mason glanced over at Noah’s manager who had her arms crossed with a look of annoyance on her face. “Maybe you were distracted again?”

  “Bingo. I’m down for lunch. Let’s get the hell out of here before my boss comes over to bad mouth me. To put it bluntly, last night’s date was something else. I wish I could describe it better than that, but I don’t have the words, especially with her staring at us like that.” Noah didn’t wait for Mason to follow along behind him.

  As could be expected, Mason made a pit stop to say hello to his wife and give her a kiss. They headed down to Mason’s vehicle and drove to a pub not far away from where they worked. “Tell me what’s going on,” Mason said, taking a sip of beer. “What happened with this date? You said it was ‘something else.’ What does that mean? A good ‘something else’ or a terrible ‘something else’?”

  Noah only wished he knew how to answer any of those questions. They weren’t difficult, just complicated. “Both? First off, the reservation at the restaurant completely vanished from their system, but the maître d’ was able to rearrange the schedule slightly to give me a table. The table ended up being tiny and in a crowded area.” He sighed, feeling overwhelmed reliving the details. “The waitress was pretty cute, but when she realized I was on a date, her attitude changed. And bouquet I ordered over the phone for my date was incredibly wilted.” He could see his brother’s eyebrows climbing his forehead, and he wondered when they were going to reach Mason’s hairline. “Not to mention my date was like twenty minutes late, but when I saw her, it was different than meeting any ordinary girl. It was...special.” Mason’s comically high eyebrows began to descend to their normal spot. “We talked. It was awkward at first, like I couldn’t be sure if she was hiding something, but when we started getting comfortable, the waitress came by with our food. She spilled Isabella’s wine on her dress, and from the look on the waitress’s face and her scent, I don’t think it was accidental. Isabella jerked her chair back, which caused her to bump the guy’s chair behind her. He was cursing up a storm and grabbed her by the shoulder before ogling her.” Mason’s eyes were back near his hairline now, and the muscles in his jaw ticked as Noah felt his frustration come off in waves. “My beast reacted and I jumped up to separate them. I might have broken his wrist.” He shrugged. “We parted ways soon after, but we briefly kissed and exchanged phone numbers. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing her again. Under better circumstances, though. But at least it was memorable, right?”

  Noah didn’t feel convinced about that last part. He’d tossed and turned last night instead of getting the good night’s sleep he normally achieved.

  The look on Mason’s face was surprise tinted with sadness. He leaned over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear the date didn’t go well, but I’m glad you’re not going to let it stand in the way of your future. If your beast reacted to her, she’s your mate, Noah.” He tightened his grip just a little and gave his shoulder a shake. “You deserve to be happy. You said she’s a busy woman. Maybe you should call her up sooner than later. Hang out again and see how it goes without the pressure of an official date on your shoulders. Don’t worry about your manager. I’ll talk with her.”

  Noah nodded at the advice. It sounded solid. Maybe the reason things had gone poorly was the stress placed on both of them to do their best for the date. What they really needed was to just have a chance to get to know one another. “Thanks, man. I’m going to take your advice. Are you sure about talking with her? Ava talked to her the other day. I don’t want my manager to get pissed at me.”

  “Don’t worry about her. You do great work.” Mason smiled. “I read the report you wrote for the meeting with the clients. You laid everything out there and made it incredibly easy for her to relay those details to the clients. While it wasn’t great for you to miss the meeting, but everyone still saw your hard. There might be a promotion in your future.”

  Noah couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Thanks, man.” A promotion? That was incredible. Maybe dating was inspiring a great change in his life.

  Chapter Eleven

  The news of what happened spread around the building fast, especially since Isabella’s high priority clients were being handed off to everyone else. All of her hard work and dedication seemed to be tossed aside. Why? All because she’d wanted to have a life that consisted of more than work and the occasional outing with her soon-to-be married friends.

  Isabella wanted to lay her head on her desk and just give up, but she couldn't do that. Even though things were terrible right now, she was lucky to even have a job at all. When she'd been involved with the pr
evious office scandal, the woman who acted as the dating agencies hiring manager was flat out fired. But Isabella had worked her way back from that. She'd done what she could to regain everyone's trust, and she'd exceeded beyond even Ms. Prince's own expectations. The woman had said that herself.

  Now, she wondered if all of that even mattered. All but one of the clients she was supposed to meet with today were high priority, so that left her only with a two o'clock appointment. The rest of the time she'd probably spend her day twiddling her thumbs and praying for something to do to keep her busy.

  After a while, she'd ended up closing the blinds to her office. Every time she'd looked up from typing an email or signing a form, she noticed other women staring at her as if she were some sort of sideshow. To say it was distracting and gutting to her self-confidence would be an understatement.

  The brisk knock on her door nearly made Isabella jump out of her chair, but she cleared her throat, knowing exactly who knocked like that. "Come in," she called.

  Ms. Prince walked in without closing the door behind her. "I've thought more about our conversation earlier. If you'd like to keep your job here, you will break things off with Noah Sinclair. Do you understand me?"

  That was not what she expected Ms. Prince to say. She figured her boss would tell her that they'd fired the janitor and now she'd be the one scrubbing the toilets. Although, she didn't know which was worse.

  Isabella's mouth dropped open before she could contain herself. "E-excuse... what?" She looked behind Ms. Prince at the opened door. "Could you please close--"

  "You're an intelligent girl. I doubt I need to break it down any further. Do as I've asked of you if you'd like to remain employed here. End of story." Ms. Prince turned on her heel and closed the door behind her.