by Jessie Lane
What he didn’t know was, by the fifth day, it had also made her smile after he left. The man had the balls to say it to her every day, and apparently, she liked that in a man more than she had realized. So much so, that later that night, while she had been lying in bed, she had started to think about him. His gorgeous smile and pretty eyes. How his rugged features made him stand out in a crowd. It was then that Dia had decided that, if Stone came back for more than a week, she would give in and let him take her out on a date.
Now it was day seven, and Dia was nervous. Would Stone come by again? Or had he taken all of her noes to heart and given up on her? It wasn’t until now, at the thought of losing his attention, that Dia realized just how much she had come to crave it. And here it was, five-thirty and Stone had yet to come by for the day.
Disheartened that she had scared away the man who had become the object of her fascination, Dia turned out the lights, walked out the front door, and locked her salon up for the night.
Completely preoccupied with her thoughts and feeling sort of sad, she turned and started walking toward her car, her eyes on the ground. That was probably why, as she walked around the front of her car, she didn’t see the car flying toward her down the busy street.
Tires squealed, catching her attention. She turned her head just in time to see a black Jeep racing straight toward her. Truly, it was only ten feet or so from hitting her, and she knew she was probably about to die.
That didn’t stop her from turning and throwing herself in the direction she had just come from, but as she felt something hit her hard, she realized it was too late. She hadn’t moved fast enough to get out of the Jeep’s path.
Her back hit the hood of her car and a heavy weight slammed down on top of her as she heard the Jeep rev its engine and drive on. Dia listened to the vehicle as it disappeared into the distance, unwilling to open her eyes. The weight on top of her was so heavy she figured it was probably a piece of the Jeep that had broken off. With her luck, it would probably crush her to death. She figured it would be better if she just laid there and hoped she died quickly.
A few silent minutes passed, and then the heavy weight on top of her shifted, just plain freaking her the fuck out! How could a piece of car laying on top of you move when you were lying still?
“Are you just going to lie there all night?”
Her eyes popped open in shock at the rumbly voice that had spoken to her, and she gasped.
There was Stone, not some piece of a Jeep, holding her down on the hood of her car. Now that she was paying attention, she could feel every hard muscle of his body pressing against hers. His legs were straddling her, lining his body up with hers perfectly, his manhood snug against her core.
Honestly, Dia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Part of her wanted to laugh because the very man she had been thinking about was on top of her. The other part of her wanted to cry because she had thought she was going to be a goner there for a second. Thanks to the man staring down at her, she was going to keep breathing long enough to try out that red hair dye she had been eyeing for the last year.
Dia was just about to thank Stone, but in true annoying man fashion, he opened his mouth and said, “You know, I just saved your life.”
“Yes, and I’m very grateful for that,” she told him honestly. “Now, can you please get off me? I think we should probably call the police. Whoever that was in the Jeep was driving like a maniac!”
Stone didn’t move a muscle. Instead, he asked, “Will you go out with me now?”
The question made her queasy stomach flip, which wasn’t really a good thing at the moment.
“You’re not going to give up, are you?” Dia asked, trying to push down the urge to be sick. It wasn’t that she had second thoughts about going out with Stone; it was the knowledge that she had almost just bit the dust! And here he was, lying on top of her and asking her out for a date!
He brought his head down until they were nose to nose. “On you, princess? Never.”
That temper of hers flared to life. “I just almost died! Are you kidding me? Get off me, you ass, so I can call the cops!”
“Not until you agree to go out with me.”
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” she yelled angrily at him.
Stone, however, wasn’t the least bit bothered by Dia’s anger. He just kept staring at her as he said, “Well, are you going to go out with me now or what? I can lie here like this all night, princess.”
“Yes!” Dia shouted in frustration. “Yes, I’ll go out with you! Now, please get off me.”
Stone slid down her body until his feet hit the ground, and then he grabbed her hand and pulled her up.
The moment Dia’s feet hit the ground, she was looking through her purse for her cell phone. And the second she whipped it out, Stone grabbed it from her.
“You won’t be needing that, sweetheart.”
Giving him an incredulous look, Dia asked, “Why the hell not?”
He nodded toward the direction the Jeep had disappeared. “That was old woman Jones. She’s almost ninety years old and drives to the grocery store once a week. Problem is, she has a lead foot, and I suspect she’s blind as a bat. She probably never saw you standing there. Now, you wouldn’t want to put an old lady in jail, would you?”
Dia’s jaw dropped open as she realized what he had just done. “You tricked me into a date.”
The infuriating man had the nerve to smile at her. “I’ll do what I have to do to get what I want. Keep that in mind, princess.” Handing her phone back, Stone then turned away and headed toward his truck, whistling.
Dia watched him open the door and climb in, still too shocked at his devious ploy to say anything else.
Before he closed the door, he looked back to her and winked. “See you tomorrow for lunch, princess.” Then the man shut his truck door and drove away like he hadn’t just turned her entire world upside down.
Damn men! If he hadn’t just saved her life, she would totally Taser his nuts.
Chapter Two
One week later…
“I want you to make me a strawberry blonde, but I don’t want you to use any red, orange, or gold hair dyes. Just the strawberry and the blonde.”
Dia looked at her new client with what she hoped wasn’t murder in her eyes. Why was it that women always thought they could come in here and ask the impossible of her? Did she look like some sort of wish-granting genie? Since she was wearing her normal black dress pants, a cute top, her favorite heels, with her hair and makeup done, she would have to say that, no, she did not look like a freaking genie. Unless there was an alternate world where genies looked like super curvy, hairstyling Barbie dolls.
She couldn’t just haul off and let the woman have it, though, so she tried to be nice about it. Miss Dempey—”
“That’s Mrs. Dempey, young lady,” her client told her with a disdainful sniff.
Dia’s temper flared, and she had to silently chant to herself not to cut a bald spot on the woman’s head.
Clearing her mind, she tried again. “Mrs. Dempey, there is no way I can make you a strawberry blonde without using red, gold, or orange. Especially the red. Hence the strawberry in the blonde.”
Outraged, the uppity woman stood up from the chair. “You’re just as incompetent as Betty Anne was! I’ll just have to drive into Louisville to get my hair done by real professionals.”
At the end of her tirade, the customer stormed out, leaving Dia seething in her wake. What she wouldn’t give to put some hair remover in that woman’s shampoo bottle.
Left in the shop with no appointments scheduled for the rest of her day, Dia took one look at the clock, saw it was three in the afternoon, and thought, Fuck it. I’m closing the salon early and going home.
In a foul mood, she started the process of closing. When she was down to sweeping the floors for the last time that day, her mind turned back to the man it thought of a little too much these days—Stone.
A week ago, s
he had given in to temptation and decided to let the man try to woo her. It might have sounded old fashioned, but that was only because Dia had grown up with two parents who were madly in love with each other. Her mom had always told her that she needed to wait for a man who made her body tingle from head to toe. Her father had said she needed to wait for a man that she couldn’t stop thinking about. It seemed Stone fit both of those criteria.
Since making that decision, she and Stone had been out on five dates. He had taken her out to lunch one day, dinner the next, and to a movie on the third night. He had held her hand, opened every door, and had paid for everything. She was starting to wonder if he was the perfect gentleman, up to the fourth date when he punched a man out for whistling at her ass as she walked by the man’s table.
That was when Dia realized Stone wasn’t just a gentleman; he was an alpha man. And she meant that in the best way. Stone was the sort of man to pound his chest and let the world know she was his woman. He wasn’t going to let anyone else look at, or even think about, what he considered his.
The question Dia had now was simple: Did she want to be Stone’s woman? The man was making it plain as day that was what he considered her. It was obvious in every protective, territorial move he made. The way he placed his hand at the small of her back when they were walking somewhere. How he kissed her breathless every chance she gave him. Even the way he checked her little apartment over the salon every night to make sure it was safe before he kissed her good night then left.
The man was a walking, talking caveman … and she was really starting to like it.
Dia was just finishing up sweeping when she heard the bell over her front door ring. She turned her head to see who was coming in and had to bite her lip not to smile. Every time she saw him now, Dia’s heart would skip a beat and other parts of her would tingle. The man was the epitome of butterflies in her stomach. Sex on a stick. Tall, dark, and sinfully handsome.
To put it mildly, Stone had become her shot of mantastic love drug, and she had quickly becoming addicted to him.
“Hey, handsome, what are you doing here?”
Stone stopped only a few inches from her. She could smell the cinnamon gum he had been chewing. Mmmmm … she loved cinnamon. That would make it fun to kiss him later.
That wasn’t what held her attention, though. No, it was his eyes. There was something about them today that was different. She just couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It was almost as if he was anxious or something.
“You have any more clients today?”
Dia shook her head.
“Will you come out with me, then? I have a surprise for you, but I warn you, it’s a bit of a drive.”
Leaning on the broom, Dia cocked her hip to the side and put her hand on it. “How far of a drive?”
“Two hours. Think you can make it that far, princess?”
She had gotten used to him calling her the nickname, but it didn’t mean she liked it.
Deciding to be sarcastic, Dia said, “Don’t know, handsome, might be too far. If we are out past my bedtime, I turn into a pumpkin.”
Stone leaned forward until their mouths almost touched. “What if I told you it was worth staying up past your bedtime?”
Her breath hitched at his innuendo. Was she ready to get handsy with the hunk she had been seeing?
Stone leaned forward and ran his nose along hers, before giving her a small, enticing kiss on the mouth. Then he pulled back and whispered, “Come with me.”
“Ever heard of the word please?” she whispered back, trying to sass him.
He shook his head, and she giggled as he wrapped an arm around Dia’s waist and brought their bodies flush together. It was then that his eyes pleaded with her as he said again, “Come with me.”
Dia felt that same feeling she had back at the diner when she had first met Stone. As if this moment was important, and her whole life was about to change. It sounded crazy to think that, but she couldn’t help it. So now the question was: Did she take a chance on the caveman and the crazy feeling?
Fuck it. Hadn’t that been what she had been doing since she told Betty Ann she would move to Battletown and take over the salon?
Dia took a big breath for courage. “Lead the way, Prince Charming.”
Stone cocked his head to the side instead of moving like she thought he would. “And what if I said I was the big bad wolf instead of Prince Charming? Would you run from me, then?”
Dia bit her bottom lip nervously. “What if I told you I thought wolves were cute and furry, so even you, the big bad wolf, couldn’t make me run away?”
Stone answered her cryptically, “Let’s hope you’re right.” Then, without giving her a chance to say another word, he pulled her out the door, only stopping long enough to let her lock up.
The next two hours and five minutes were spent in his truck, traveling the roads to wherever the surprise was. They sat in companionable silence, Dia curled up against Stone’s side on the bench seat as he drove. For a while, she thought he might be taking her to Lexington, based on the highway signs, but when she asked him if that was their destination, he told her no.
Finally, just before they would hit Lexington, in the town of Versailles, Stone asked her to close her eyes. Dia almost asked him why, then decided to let the man have his surprise. She had a feeling giving in just this once was going to be worth it.
She took one last long look at him, then gave him her trust by closing her eyes.
“Thank you, princess.”
Feeling playful, Dia reminded him, “I’m not a fucking princess,” to which he laughed.
When they stopped, Stone gently pulled her out of the truck, then hauled her up into his arms. “Hold on tight, sweetheart. This won’t take long.”
She felt him walk away from the truck and heard his steps in the grass beneath his boots. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, so she took the opportunity to put her nose at the spot between his shoulder and neck, inhaling his natural spicy scent. Stone gave her a little growl, and she couldn’t help laughing at the sound.
Dia had no idea how long Stone carried her to their destination, but just when she was about to say something to him about putting her down because she didn’t want to break his back before they could have sex, Stone finally stopped.
Setting her gently on her feet, his deep voice rumbled, “Ready?”
Dia was breathless with anticipation as she felt Stone move behind her, setting his hands on her hips before placing his mouth next to the shell of her ear.
“Open your eyes, princess.”
What she saw next took her breath away. It was a castle—in freaking Kentucky!
It was made of stone with several turrets, and even from a distance, she could see it was two generous levels tall. The sun was setting behind it, the sky a red and peach flow, in stark contrast to the lavender clouds. It was by far the most beautiful thing she had seen in her entire life.
Stone’s deep voice rumbled softly next to her ear. “Thought I could bring my princess to see a castle sunset.”
“I’m not a fucking princess,” she whispered back, still in awe.
He laughed, then buried his face in her neck. Mumbling against her skin, he said the three words she was getting oh so used to hearing him say. “As you wish.”
“This is like a fairy tale,” Dia told him, still staring at the glorious sight before them.
Stone’s body went rock hard with tension behind her, and his grip tightened on her hips, almost to the point of pain. “And do you believe in fairy tales, Dia?”
Prying his hands off her, she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. “These days, I think I do.”
“And what if I told you I was something straight out of a fairy tale, would you believe me?”
Thinking he was teasing, Dia teased back, “Is this where you tell me you really are Prince Charming?”
When Stone didn’t laugh at her joke, Dia took notice of the tension in the air around the
m and stiffened herself.
“Or, are you the frog under those clothes?”
He grabbed her tightly, almost as if he was afraid she would ask him to let her go. “I’m not Prince Charming, sweetheart.”
“Then what are you talking about?” Dia asked him, confused.
“I’m the big bad wolf, Dia.”
She started to laugh, thinking he was joking again, but his serious face stopped her.
Quickly getting confused and frustrated with his mood swings, she snapped, “Fine, if you’re such a big bad wolf, then how about you prove it to me, then? Do something … wolfy.”
One of his eyebrows cocked up. “Wolfy?”
Dia nodded, determined to straighten out this confusing mess. She had no idea what the hell Stone was trying to get at here, but she wasn’t one for bullshit. It was best just to cut right through the crap.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she reiterated her command, “Wolfy, mister.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Stone started to move, but not in any way she had expected him to. No, the crazy man started stripping his clothes off.
“What the hell are you doing, Stone?” Dia glanced around, worried someone might see him getting naked.
With a laugh in his voice, Stone answered her as he pushed his boots off his feet, “I’m getting wolfy, woman. Give me a minute, would ya?”
Tired of the man acting like a total lunatic, Dia put a hand over her eyes to block the sight of him and shouted, “You will put your clothes back on right this minute, Stone Blaylock, or I will never speak to you again!”
Stone didn’t answer her with words … There were grunts. Then a long groan. Followed by … a growl?
Past the point of confusion, and a whole lot worried, Dia peeked between two of her fingers to where Stone should have been standing. But he wasn’t there. That was when Dia removed her hand altogether and looked to find a massive wolf in his place.
Dia’s fear and adrenaline kicked in right away. She had good reason to be scared, too. The damn wolf was almost twice the size of any wolf she had seen at a zoo, and licking his chops like she was dinner.
