by Zoey Harper
Colton looked up from his phone. "Already did."
Tegan pursed her lips. "Of course, you did," she mumbled. Tegan flagged down a waiter, placed her order, then folded her arms and watched Colton scrolling through his phone.
"It's rude to use your phone at the table."
Colton looked up. "Good to know."
Tegan rolled her eyes. "Lunch is going to be a chore if you don't want to talk a little."
Both of Colton's eyebrows shot up, and he placed his phone on the table. "That's what my mom used to say. I guess you're not as timid as you looked back there."
"I'm generally not. At least not these days. Only certain things scare me."
Actually, only one thing. Male wolves with a dark side.
"Well, you'll need to work on your self-defense skills. What were you doing in that gym?"
Tegan relaxed into her seat. Colton was finally opening up. Maybe she'd get to enjoy a good conversation. She hadn't had one in the weeks since she left the salon.
Tegan had no friends in Stonewick, and her friendships with the girls at her previous job had faded rapidly.
No one wanted to go to lunch and a movie. It was all about the club scene. Tegan had tried going out with the girls once, but there was far too much touching and bumping for her liking.
So, she'd stayed home and watched movies and TV shows all day, applying for jobs that didn't need prior experience or qualifications in between. It had been solitary, to say the least, but every time she got sad about it, she reminded herself of what her mother and sister were going through.
"I was working. First day on the job."
"You had no business being in a place like that." Colton sipped his drink as soon as the waitress placed their glasses on the table.
Tegan scowled. "What is it with you men, telling women where they can and can't be? I needed to make a living. So, I responded to a job for a cleaner at a gym. Why should I turn down certain gigs because there might be a lot of men there? That's seriously limiting my options."
Colton raised his hands in defense. "Whoa, slow down there, Gloria Steinem."
Tegan's head jerked back. "You know, Gloria Steinem?"
"What?" Colton snorted. "Didn't expect a blue-collar guy like me to have read a book?"
"Honestly, no. Most of the men I've encountered hate reading."
"So do I." Colton grinned. "But I have an excellent memory, and an ex gave me some rambling speech about feminism and relationships years ago. The name stuck."
"Oh. Well, then you know where I'm coming from. Why should I have to think twice about where I go, what I wear and what I do, just because it might trigger a man? I'm over it."
"First off, I wouldn't care about you working in a human gym. But that place was a shifter gym. We're part animal. Some more than others. When it comes to women, some male shifters can't control themselves. It's about self-preservation. The wolf in you should want to keep you safe."
Tegan folded her arms. "Are you one of those shifters that can't control themselves? Do you get angry or horny and lose touch with reality?"
Colton shuffled in his seat and exhaled. "All I'm saying is that in my eyes, you're a little too soft for a place like that."
"What?" Tegan scoffed. "Are you calling me fat now?"
Colton laughed, a full throaty sound. His face crumpled into the cutest expression, and Tegan felt all her irritation fade. He had a boyish charm when he smiled. Another thing that seemed out of place on the hard angles of his regular facial expression.
"No. You're not fat."
"Then what am I?" Tegan challenged.
She'd gained weight ever since leaving the Bluewolf, and she was finding it hard to come to terms with her new body. When she was with her old clan, she rarely had an appetite. How could you when the other shoe could drop at any minute?
Now, she felt like she'd taken things a little too far. She was carrying at least an extra twenty pounds of fat, and she couldn't help but wonder if men still found her attractive.
Tegan felt disgusted with herself for thinking it, but she couldn't help it. The interest of Alex and his men had been predatorial, so she couldn't interpret that as attraction. It was probably a power game to them.
Colton threw his hands up in the air. "You're...soft."
Tegan snorted. "Thanks. That's what every girl wants to hear."
"It's a compliment!"
"Sure."
"What do you want me to say? I told you what I think in the politest language I know how, but if you want the unfiltered version, then you'll get it.
"I think you're sexy. You've got a perfect bubble butt, great tits, hips I'd grab on to when fucking you from behind, and pouty lips I'd like to see around my cock.
"You're a walking temptation, Tegan. That's why you can't work in a gym with shirtless men that are probably pumping themselves with hormones to get bigger and stronger."
Tegan's jaw hung open, and her heart beat faster. Colton's words had been disrespectful, and crude on a level she'd never heard. So, why were her nipples hard, straining against her t-shirt? Why were her thighs clenched, trying to slow down the pulsing between her legs?
This is bad. Really bad.
Tegan had never been attracted to a man the way she was to Colton at that moment. To be honest, most men put her off. For a while, she'd thought she might be asexual, but she still tended to her needs on a regular basis.
Tegan had dated a couple of guys and had sex with them, but it had always been at their request. No. Request was the wrong word.
They'd pushed her until she caved. Tegan had never been aroused, and lots of lube had always been needed. Except when a guy didn't care to wait for her to get it.
Yet here she sat with her panties damp, all because Colton had described the things he'd like to do to her.
Tegan took a sip of her soda and stared at the table. When she looked up, heat crept up Colton's neck. It seemed he hadn't meant to divulge so much.
Tegan smiled. His sudden bashfulness was too cute. Colton probably liked to think he was a bad boy, but Tegan was convinced that deep down, there was some good in him.
The crazy thing is, I wouldn't change him one bit.
Colton was a good guy that liked to act tough. Tegan's body liked that, and now she found her heart beginning to feel the same. She looked up and caught Colton's eyes. He quickly looked away.
The waitress placed their food on the table, and Colton quickly reached for his steak, barely chewing before he swallowed. "Eat fast. Your twenty minutes are almost up."
Tegan chuckled. Colton was blowing cold again. It was okay. She knew that deep down, he was a good guy.
"Actually, our twenty minutes start now. I asked for twenty minutes from when we started eating."
Colton lifted a fork and pointed it at Tegan. "Don't fuck with semantics around me, woman."
Tegan took a bite of her wings and mentally smiled when she saw Colton watch her lick her fingers. She liked him. There was no doubt about that.
Tegan had a pretty good feeling it would never go past that, but she didn't care. Here was the first man to turn her on. To make her want to flirt; something she'd never done.
All she wanted to do was spend a few more minutes with him. If this were the only time she'd get with a man she was attracted to, then she'd take it.
But the glare in Colton's eyes told her that he had caught on to her game and that he didn't want to play.
Too bad, Colton. I'm not letting you off easy.
I need the memories of this lunch to remind me that I'm not entirely broken. That deep down, there's a normal woman in me that could find love one day.
4
"Dumb fuck," Colton mumbled in between bites.
"Excuse me. Did you say something?"
Tegan's big hazel eyes locked on his, making his heart stutter. The way the light caught her long, honey-colored hair made her look like some type of angel. This is precisely why Colton was a dumb fuck.
Co
lton waved a hand dismissively. "Nothing," he grunted.
Tegan smirked. "I'll just pretend that little comment was directed at someone else."
Damn her enhanced shifter hearing. Colton glared at Tegan until she lowered her head and concentrated on her wings. He'd never been so damn mesmerized by someone eating anything, ever in his life.
Tegan's full heart-shaped lips would suck the remaining meat off the bone to make sure she got it all, and it just about drove Colton crazy. Actually, everything about her drove him crazy.
When he'd spotted Tegan surrounded by those jerkwads earlier, his bear had gone crazy. All he saw was this tiny, beautiful creature being surrounded by idiots twice her size.
Colton's usual policy was to live and let live, but something about seeing Tegan in that situation spurred him into action.
Stupid speck of gold.
The little part of him that wanted to do good had led him astray yet again. So, here he sat in a restaurant with the most beautiful woman he'd seen in ten years, watching her suck on a chicken bone, imagining what her lips would look like around his cock.
Colton placed his cutlery down and squeezed his eyes shut. He needed to think of something else. This little vixen was steering him down a path he'd find hard to come back from. His cock was already half hard, for crying out loud!
A man walked by their table, and Tegan flinched. Colton scented him, just in case, but he already knew what the man was. A wolf.
For some reason, Tegan had a particular fear of male wolves. Whenever one passed by, she'd freeze, drop her eyes, then lean away until they left. Colton had never seen anything like it.
He understood why specific smaller shifters would be submissive or afraid of bigger ones. But it made no sense for a female to be fearful of her kind. Despite distinct size differences, they could usually go toe to toe in a fight. At least in animal form.
Colton's phone buzzed, and he reached for it, needing a distraction. Tegan was a curious mix of sexy and timid, and it was driving him wild. The last thing he needed was to develop feelings for another woman.
Things with Emma had taught him that falling for someone wasn't a smart move. Plain and simple.
Colton picked his phone up and ignored the frown he saw on Tegan's face through his peripheral vision. He scrolled through the photos of the prefab work Damon was doing.
As always, things were perfect. He nodded to himself. He'd made the right decision leaving the guys under his second's charge.
Then Colton's thumb twitched when he saw one specific photo of the front end of a bike the team was working on. The Red Claw Rising garage handled routine maintenance. One lucrative venture they had just gotten into was flipping bikes. They'd buy old motorcycles, take them apart, then restore them and sell at a profit.
"Sloppy idiot," Colton growled, getting up and walking outside the restaurant.
He stood by the window where he knew Tegan could see him. Even in his anger, he still thought of her comfort.
What a wuss.
Damon picked up on the third ring. "What's up, boss?"
"What the hell are you guys doing over there?"
"What do you mean?"
"The green chopper. The one you say is ready to go out."
"What about it?"
Colton could hear the frustration in Damon's voice, but he didn't care to soften his approach. Yes, overseeing several projects by workers of different skill levels was difficult, but Damon should have known better. He'd worked on bikes as long as Colton had.
The Gray Shade Clan had a garage, too. Unlike Colton's, it was purely for fixing the clan's bikes and occasionally making the alpha a custom bike when he wanted something new and unique.
Colton and Damon had worked at that garage for years whenever they weren't going out to handle the clan's dirty business. While Damon was a fabricator, he should have spotted the mistake as well as Colton, a mechanic, had.
"The legs are on backward."
"The what?"
Colton heard the sound of a stool scraping back. Damon was probably going to check it out. Good, because the last thing Colton needed was to lose money on yet another bike.
Colton was done playing the long game. The Red Claw Rising and all their assets needed to get out from under Patrick's thumb. Poor reviews from customers would kill business, hence killing their plan.
"Oh. I didn't notice that. Good catch." Damon's voice was leveled. There was no heat or snarkiness in his voice, and Colton felt all his anger dissipate.
Damon could be an asshole, just like he could, but for some reason, he'd stopped showing that side of himself around Colton of late. Colton knew why, and an ache settled in his chest as he thought of his changed relationship with his best friend.
Fuck feelings.
"I want that thing fixed. Tell Bailey he’d better not fuck up again. I trusted him to take over as a mechanic when I could have called in help. He's on thin ice."
"Got it."
Silence filled the line for a good ten seconds. Damon cleared his throat. "So, how are things going over there? Patrick sent you on some slimy gig, didn't he?"
"He did," Colton volunteered.
He didn't want his crew focused on Patrick and his dick face. He also didn't need everyone talking about how big a bitch Colton was by jumping when Patrick asked him to.
"Well, how's it going?"
"Fine."
Damon sighed, and Colton stared at the ground. Things were so awkward between them now, and Damon was trying his best to be the perfect best friend. He'd given Colton space. Well, as much space as you could give someone when you lived and worked in the same building.
Colton felt horrible for being cold to Damon. His best friend had been loyal to him. He'd fought by Colton's side throughout the years and kept him distracted whenever his feelings for Emma had started to overwhelm him.
Colton's throat constricted. It was all Emma's fault. Everything had changed and gone to shit because of her.
He'd lost his clan, his father figure, and his relationship with his best friend had been damaged beyond repair.
"You still haven't forgiven me, have you?" Damon asked.
"I've got to go. Keep an eye on everything for me. The custom bike's coming along great, by the way."
Colton hung up, took a deep breath, and shook his head. He was a punk. Most guys would have gotten over what Damon did, but what he and Damon had shared was more than that.
Damon was the only person that knew just how big a crush Colton had on Emma. He'd stood by and distracted Colton as she dated one asshole after another. It was like she was running from something. She never stayed single for more than a week.
When she finally broke up with her last ex, Damon had run to Colton with the news and encouraged him to finally make his move. Colton did, and they’d started dating.
When he wanted to have sex, Emma came up with what he now knew to be a bullshit excuse about needing time to heal before jumping into the deep end again.
Colton had been so blind in love that he let it go. So, when he found Ramsey leaving Emma's house early one morning, he'd gone batshit crazy.
It turned out she'd been cheating on him with his brother for a couple of months, and the worst part was that Damon had known all along.
His best friend, who'd watched him pine over Emma, had known she was cheating and kept it away from him. Damon had sat there and listened to Colton gab about how he hoped Emma would open up to him emotionally and physically. All the while he knew she was cheating on Colton with his worst enemy.
Colton stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked back into the restaurant. He'd gone down this train of thought several times and come up against the same wall. Damon had betrayed him.
But to make matters worse, Colton had betrayed himself by letting that little speck of gold in his heart make him act like a lovesick boy.
"Who was that?" Tegan asked as he sat.
Colton cocked his head and thought about it. Damon was th
e person he'd trusted most with his life, but now he was the person that had betrayed Colton in the worst way. But then Damon had played a considerable role in establishing the Red Claw Rising, so he wasn't exactly Colton's enemy.
"No one," he said.
Tegan scoffed. "Again with the lack of information."
"My trust has to be earned."
Colton didn't mean to load so much emotion behind those words, but he did. He was done opening up. That kind of vulnerability didn't serve him well.
The weeks after Emma's betrayal had been hell. His bear was in a rage, leading Colton to seek out brawl after brawl. Those closest to Colton had betrayed him, and he regretted ever letting down his walls for Emma or Damon.
He'd learned his lesson, and he wouldn't forget it.
An awkward silence settled over the table, and Colton stuffed the rest of his food down, before draining his glass of his beer. Tegan sat with her head lowered, but it quickly snapped up when she heard the door to the restaurant open.
"Why do you do that?"
Tegan's eyes widened as she leaned away from the wolf shifter that passed their table. "Do what?"
"Lean away from every male wolf shifter. I've seen you do that several times."
Tegan reached for her glass, and Colton saw a slight tremble in her hand. Had someone done something to her?
Colton felt his anger stir, and despite his vow to focus on himself and not give a shit about anyone else, he felt the itch to know precisely what made Tegan so afraid that she was suddenly unable to meet his eyes.
"Has what happened with those wolves earlier happened to you before?"
Tegan inhaled and plastered a fake smile on her face. "I'd rather not talk about that."
Colton shrugged. "Just making conversation," he said nonchalantly.
Deep down, he was fuming. Someone had hurt Tegan. A male wolf or several of them.
The girl was fucking traumatized. Her entire mood had shifted, and that hadn't happened even when Colton had been rude and told her how he'd like to fuck her.
You idiot. That's the last thing she needed to hear after this morning.
Colton mentally slapped his forehead. He wasn't good at this type of shit. Colton was either all in or out.
