The Shifter’s Nanny

by T. S. Ryder

  Did this sort of thing happen all the time with online dating sites? If that was the case, she didn’t need it. Better to stay single than to deal with this sort of ridiculous, uncalled for belligerence. Her phone buzzed a few times with notifications from the site, but she ignored them.

  When the bathroom was clean, she dressed for bed and brushed her teeth in her shining bathroom. Then she climbed into bed to read after putting her phone on “Do not disturb.” Maybe tomorrow she’d just delete her profile and be done with it.

  Chapter Four

  In the morning, Destiny was feeling better about her chat incident the night before. It had lost some intensity in her mind during the night and when she reached for her phone, she smiled to see that she had eight waiting messages. Over her morning coffee, she opened the app and looked at the list. Nothing from that jerk rider9843. But there was one from makeUpurrr and one from wildman28. Her heart jumped at the sight of their names.

  She read all eight messages and they fell into categories in her mind. Two of the men, she was not interested in at all. Three, she was highly interested in, and the rest fell into a place where she would keep messaging them, but if they didn’t get more interesting, she’d stop. The top runners at the moment were makeUpurrr, wildman28, and a new man who’d messaged her for the first time, hazzard666. The newest guy was a car buff. He explained his name had something to do with the car in Dukes of Hazzard. The fact that he often raced these cars was what intrigued her.

  She’d only had time to read the messages, not respond. After she got to work, listened to the voicemails that had come after hours, responded to and forwarded emails, and got the coffee made, she had some time to get on Wild Hearts.

  She started with the guys who seemed less interesting. One was outdoorsy, which she didn’t like, but he made weapons and was kinda cute, so that made her continue to message him. There was another gun guy with a photo showing off his display of gun racks. And a biker. But when she got to her top three, she found herself spending much more time answering those messages.

  She kept the Wild Hearts site open in a tab in her browser and checked on it throughout the day. After making copies for Caleb Greene, she checked it. After pointing Michelle White, the paralegal, to the fresh paperclips, she checked it. After lunch and after one particularly annoying phone call in which a man thought it was a law that any lawyer had to represent him for free, and therefore was demanding free counsel, she checked her inbox on the site.

  Messages would come through one or two an hour. Like the morning, if it was a new guy, she’d check his profile and decide if she was interested, then respond accordingly by either hitting delete or sending them a message back. She noticed, though, that when something came through from one of her top three, her heart leaped and a smile stretched across her face as she read. And those were always the ones she responded to the fastest and longest.

  By the end of the day, she had exchanged too many messages to count, and several each with her top three. That night, she stopped on her way home to get dinner. She wanted to spend as much time as possible messaging these guys. That meant no time for cooking or doing the dishes tonight. She sat down at her kitchen table with her laptop, a glass of wine and a huge grin.

  After sharing so much with these men, she started to wonder, what was the next step with this online thing? In person, it was easy. Give a guy your number, you start texting, you go out. But weren’t they doing something like texting already? Did that mean that these men asking her out was the next step, or asking for her number was?

  She texted her friend Francesca, who had done this sort of thing before. “I signed up for an online dating site.” She hit send and waited. Sure enough, the response was what she expected.

  “GURL! For realz?”

  “Yup. Tell me everything.”

  Destiny watched the texts come in short and sweet:

  “Make a killer profile with hot pics.”

  “Find guys you like, send them a flirty message. Make sure you call them hottie or something.”

  “You can tell pretty quick which ones are losers, because they say, like, nothing.”

  “If they ask questions, they’re interested. If they only ask about your cup size, delete.”

  “Some guys take forever, but others will ask you out immediately.”

  Destiny interrupted with a question. “There are a few I’ve been messaging. What’s the next step usually?”

  “Depends. Some guys just ask you out, some like to text first.”

  “What if I want to do the asking?” she texted.

  “They will love you.”

  “Really?”

  “Ya,” Francesca texted. “Dudes be lazy. You make the first move like that, and they’ll go nuts.”

  “Thanks, girl. :)”

  “I expect full details!”

  “Of course.”

  Destiny put down her phone and turned back to her computer. Okay then. Maybe she’d just go ahead and ask these guys out.

  “Hey.” It was a text from Francesca. “How long have you been on?”

  “Made my profile last night.”

  “Okay. Make sure you talk to each dude for at least a few days before you agree to go out with them. That will help weed out the pervs.”

  “Gotcha.”

  She pulled her mouth to the side in thought. It had only been a day. Maybe it was too soon to ask any out yet. A few days. Well, if those few days were as good as today was, that’d be no problem.

  She did what Francesca said and waited. But she need not have even worried over it. By the end of the week, a full four days of being online, she had graduated to texting three men and had two dates for the next week.

  When she had lunch with her friend Ava that Friday, she gushed all about it. “Two dates, can you believe it!”

  Ava took a long sip of her soda. “When are they?”

  “One is Tuesday, that’s with makeUpurrr—”

  “Wait. Don’t you know their real names?”

  “Oh.” Destiny smiled to herself, thinking back to the message where Jaxon had more formally introduced himself. “Yeah. Jaxon. He’s Tuesday night, and then Friday night with Aiden. Parker mentioned going out sometimes, but we haven’t set a date or anything.”

  “Are you texting all these guys, too?” Ava gave her a skeptical look.

  “Jaxon and Aiden. Then this other dude, Ethan. Sort of. I don’t know. Ethan seems boring.” She took out her phone and opened the screen with his texts to show Ava.

  “Oh. Bleh. Ditch him.”

  “Yeah.” Destiny sighed. “But now he has my number.”

  “So do telemarketers.” Ava stuck a forkful of her steak salad into her mouth and then pointed it at Destiny. “You better take pepper spray and text me before and after these dates so I know you don’t get yourself murdered or something.”

  “I will.” She grinned. “I’m so excited. It looks like I’m going out with two of my top three picks.”

  “Two? But you have three dates.”

  “Yeah. Well, Jaxon and Parker were in the top three. The other one, hazzard666 disappeared. I never knew his real name. Aiden seems nice. I don’t know. I don’t want nice.”

  “Well, hopefully, he’s more wild than he seems.”

  She thought of wildman28’s last message and grew warm all over. “I hope Parker and I nail down a date soon. He sent me a pic of him shirtless after working out.” She bit her lip.

  “Let me see!”

  Destiny brought up the pic and showed Ava.

  Her mouth dropped open. “Dang, girl. He is fine.”

  “I know. So is Jaxon.” She showed her his pic, as well.

  “What about Aiden?”

  She brought up her favorite of Aiden, where he was standing on the edge of a very high cliff, looking perfectly at peace being so close to possible death.

  “Aww, he’s cute, too! No shirtless pic of the others?”

  Destiny sighed. “Not yet, but I’ll se
e what I can do.”

  “I expect a full report.”

  “Obviously.”

  Chapter Five

  Destiny stood in front of the mirror, fully satisfied that she looked her hottest. A rumble outside sent her to the window where she could see Jaxon getting off his motorcycle. She pulled the door open and leaned against the doorframe as he approached.

  “Hi there,” he said.

  “Hello.”

  “Ready to ride?”

  She was taken a little aback by his abruptness. Where was the small talk? But she figured that once they got wherever they were going, there would be plenty of time for talking. “You betcha.”

  Jaxon did not have a helmet on, nor did he offer one to Destiny. So, he really did live on the dangerous side. The excitement in her chest increased. He was exactly what she was looking for. She climbed on behind him and held on tight, appreciating the feeling of his hard abs under her hands.

  His bike roared to life and they sped off, the wind disrupting her perfectly styled hair. They drove for a while and by the time he stopped the bike near a patch of green grass in a large park, she was sure she looked like a mess. She ran her fingers through her hair and tried to detangle it.

  Jaxon smiled at her. “Your hair’s perfect.” He pulled out a small duffle bag from the pack on his bike, then took her hand. “I thought a picnic dinner would be nice.”

  “Sounds very cozy.”

  He winked and she followed him farther into the woods until they came to a clear, flat spot. He pulled a blanket from the bag and spread it out, then took out several other items.

  “What is all this?” she asked.

  He pointed as he explained. “Wine, cheese and crackers, sushi, and cake.”

  She’d never had sushi, but she was ready to try anything. She sat and watched as he finished setting up. The last thing he pulled out was a rose, slightly battered from being shoved into the pack, but a sweet gesture all the same.

  Destiny picked up a cracker with cheese and took a bite. “So, what made you get on the dating site?”

  “Oh, well, I guess I don’t get out much. With the bike shop, it’s nothing but biker chicks, and they’re not usually my style. I spend most of my time there and when I’m not there, I hit the gym. Not too many lovely ladies there, either. Online seemed the way to go.”

  “You work a lot?”

  “Owning your own business takes a lot of time, but I try to make sure I have time for fun, too. Can’t be all work.”

  “Oh, you actually own the bike shop?” She hadn’t realized this from his profile.

  “Yup. Six years now.”

  She smiled and took another bite. “So, a bad boy and a businessman.”

  “I try to be well-rounded.” He chuckled. “What about you? I can’t believe it would be hard for you to find a date.”

  “Well, sort of. I get asked out, but not by the men I want. I guess I have a thing for danger, so when I found a dating site just for bad boys, it seemed perfect.”

  “I guess that’s one way to look at it.” He opened the container of sushi and put several pieces on her plate before stuffing a piece in his mouth.

  “What do you mean?” She picked up the sushi. He’d eaten the whole thing in one bite, but she didn’t think she could fit it all in her mouth. She took a bite, not sure if she liked it or not.

  “Well, not all shifters are bad boys. I guess most of us are, but there’s a lot more to us than that.” He scooped out a small blob of green paste. “Wasabi?”

  She put down her sushi. She couldn’t have heard him right. “Shifters?”

  He raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing.

  “Umm, you’re a shifter?” Suddenly, she felt cold all over. He was more than just adventurous, he was dangerous in the worst sense of the word. He could attack her at any moment.

  “Yes. That’s what the site is. A shifter dating site.”

  “Oh.” She stared at the food on her plate, then reached for her wine and downed most of the glass.

  “You didn’t know?”

  “I guess I missed that part. I thought the wild was just, you know, adventurous. Adrenaline junkies, that sort of thing.”

  “You’ve never dated a shifter before.”

  She shook her head.

  “And how do you feel about it?”

  She pressed her lips together, then decided to go with the truth. “A little scared, I guess.”

  “You said you wanted danger.” He chuckled and stuck another piece of sushi into his mouth.

  “Not the kind of danger that gets me eaten for dinner.”

  “Wow.” The expression on his face made him seem offended. Crap.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that you would. I’ve never been around a shifter. I just don’t know how it works.”

  “Okay, well. Do you have questions? And let me just say, I’m not going to eat you for dinner. We don’t do that.”

  “Good.” She laughed nervously and finished her wine. “Well, how do you shift? Is it controllable? Are you dangerous to be around when you do?”

  “It’s all controllable. I decide when to shift into bear form and when to shift back. I’m only a danger to those who I would be a danger to as a human. Meaning, if I get into a bar fight and shift, I might hurt someone, but I might also hurt them in a knife fight. I’m not going to just attack anyone. I’m still fully me when I shift. I’m just a bear.”

  “Oh. Really?” Somehow, it suddenly seemed a lot less dangerous.

  “Of course, if I’m angry and do want to attack someone, I’m much more deadly than someone with a knife or gun. So, just don’t piss me off and you’ll be fine.” He winked.

  She wasn’t sure if it was a joke or warning.

  “Destiny. I’m kidding.”

  She forced a chuckle. “Sorry.”

  “You have nothing to fear. But I can protect you better than any human, so there is that. I’m tougher and stronger, and I heal faster.”

  “Is this something I’d get to see sometime?”

  “If you want to.”

  “Maybe not right now. But sometime, yeah. I think I would.” She stuffed a full piece of sushi in her mouth and noticed that it was better all at once. She got the full flavor from each part of the bite.

  By the end of the date, she was feeling much better about the shifter thing. She was also feeling much better about Jaxon in general. They struck up some interesting conversations about bikes and working out, she told him about her boring job, and he held her attention. More than she could say for most dates recently.

  When he drove her home, she took her time finding her key. She turned to face him.

  “I had a really great time,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “I did, too. Can we do it again?”

  “I’d love to.”

  He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. He was a good kisser. Forceful, but not rough. Like he wanted her. And she liked that feeling.

  She went inside in a dreamy daze and put her rose on the counter. When she noticed her laptop, she opened it and went to the Wild Hearts site. After just a minute of looking at it, she felt like an idiot. There were signs everywhere that it was a shifter site. The claw marks, the bear paw print. She’d really been blind when she signed up. Maybe that’s why all the guys were so big and muscular then. It was apparently part of being a shifter.

  She did some research over the next days, and by the time Friday came around and it was time for her date with Aiden, she was feeling better about the shifter thing. Unfortunately, by the end of the date, she wasn’t feeling too good about Aiden.

  He’d shown up to the restaurant late, with some excuse about traffic when the roads had been clear. Their conversation had been forced and she didn’t find him all that interesting. Not compared to Jaxon. By the time he walked her to her car, she was sure she didn’t want to see him again. He gave her a quick hug and thanked her for joining him. No kiss. No mention of another date. So, apparently,
he’d been feeling the same.

  She was a little bummed, but still had her date with Jaxon to recall happily, and she and Parker had finally planned to go out the next night. As she drove to the restaurant to meet Parker, she hoped that this night would go better than the previous night had.

  Destiny got out of her car and found Parker waiting for her. So far so good. At least he wasn’t late. He handed her a small box.

  “Brought you a little something sweet,” he said.

  “Aww, and you also brought chocolate.”

  He smiled an electrifying grin and she wondered why he didn’t have a photo like that online. He looked even hotter in person than his pictures.

  As they were seated, she couldn’t help gazing at him and thinking of her shifter research. Strong, tough, adventurous. That’s what the human sites said shifters were. And best of all, when she’d found a forum of human women who only dated shifters, they all said their animalistic tendencies made them fabulous in bed. That thought alone had her warm all over. And Parker was easy to look at it. She couldn’t decide if he or Jaxon was hotter, but she didn’t have to. They were both so good looking, she wanted them both.

  “So, tell me about being a shifter,” she said as they ate their dinner. “I’m kind of new to this world.”

  He glanced around, then spoke in a softer tone. “I guess it’s cool. I don’t really know any differently. But having the ability to change into a bear has come in handy many times.”

  At the next table, she heard a man cough in a conspicuous way. When she glanced at him, he muttered “Freak” under his breath, and glared at Parker before looking away.

  Was this something that happened often? She knew there was a lot of shifter hate in the world, but she had never really seen it in action before.

  She looked at Parker and he lifted his shoulder. “Not everyone is a fan.”

  When she looked around more closely, she noticed a few glares from people at tables nearby, or they’d look away quickly to avoid her stare. She guessed she had said rather loudly that he was a shifter, and maybe that was a mistake.

  “Sorry,” she said in almost a whisper. “I didn’t realize. I guess I was a little loud.”