That thought warmed my cheeks, and my voice trembled as I tried to talk. “I… I have to go and do… uh…something.”
Holt nodded and ran his hands over the scruff of beard stubble on his face. “Are you participating tonight?”
The question made me pause. Was it possible that he wanted me to say yes? Was he feeling the same massive chemistry that I was? I looked around at all the tables I’d set up and tried to imagine myself sitting at one with him, chatting to see if we’d hit it off. The sound of Charlie laughing from next to us brought me out of that daydream. She had an idea in her head of her brother settling with a strong wolf shifter. Maybe his mate. Not some human.
“Um… No. I’m just going to be overseeing things.”
He leaned closer to me as someone passed behind him and his masculine scent filled my nose. “That’s disappointing.”
My stomach fluttered and I laughed nervously. Was he serious? Was he really disappointed that I wasn’t participating? There were so many beautiful women already present. He was probably just one of those charmer types. Besides, quite a few shifter women had turned up for the event. Women more suited for him.
Charlie leaned back over to us and grabbed Holt’s arm. “Dana’s here! Come on. I want you to meet her before this thing starts.”
An aching jealousy overwhelmed me the moment I spotted Dana from across the room. Tall, stunning, and obviously a wolf, judging by the sharpness of her eyes as they narrowed in on Holt. My stomach flopped to my feet as I watched the two wolves come together. I turned away, my hands in tight fists at my side.
Matt, one of the men I’d invited from Smith, waved and came over to say hi. He was handsome, or so I’d thought so when I’d invited him. It was hard to find anything attractive about any of the men there after staring at Holt. “There are a lot of women here tonight.”
“Yes, great turnout.” I winked at him. “That means your chances of finding someone that interests you are better than average.”
He rubbed his hands together and nodded across the room at Muddy. “What’s her story?”
I sighed. Bless her heart for coming to show her support. There was no chance of her finding the man she wanted at the event. “You probably should steer clear of her. She’s one of my best friends, and I love her, but I can tell you with absolute certainty she won’t be dating anyone here.”
Before he could ask me to explain, I looked at the clock behind the register and clapped my hands. “Time to get started!”
I struggled to get everyone’s attention, but with the awesome turnout, I was swallowed by the crowd. Matt dragged over a chair and helped me climb up on it. Clearly, I was wobbling too much for his comfort and he clasped my waist to steady me.
“Hi, everyone! Thanks for coming to the very first speed dating event in Helen’s Corner. I’ll just go ahead and explain what’s going to happen real fast. Then, we can get started.”
I explained the rules with a big fake smile on my face. Fucking Dana had her hand wrapped around Holt’s forearm. I didn’t think she was right for him, even from across the room. There was something too perfect about them. Too “Barbie and Ken”.
By the time I was finished, I had the first group of women seated at the tables. The men sat down across from them with the understanding that after five minutes, they’d be moving one place to the right. Each participant had a notepad to take notes while they conversed.
Matt helped me down and took his seat across from a cute blonde who I happened to know was a bear shifter. Muddy and Charlie were each seated at a table, both looking like they were about to undergo a root canal. I had to give them props for coming and supporting me, though.
I set the timer and encouraged all to get started while I walked around, refilling wine glasses and being hostess-y. When I got to Holt and Dana’s table, my jaw clenched at the sound of her giggling at something Holt said. She was obviously enjoying herself. Bitch.
Holt shifted in his seat, his knee bumping me in the small space. That small touch made my girl parts clench and I fought hard against the urge to shove Dana aside and take her spot. I could fucking giggle, too if that’s what it took.
Dana excused me from their table with a “thank you.” I didn’t want to leave, but the longer I stood there, the more creepy-stalkerish it was getting.
I moved on, and a minute later it was time for the participants to switch. As long as I kept my eyes to myself and paid attention to everyone but Holt, I had a great time hosting and the event flew by. By the end of the night, there appeared to be more than a few matches made, and rather than the more formal plans I’d had in place, people chose to freestyle it afterward. They just mingled some more and if anyone had been impressed after talking to someone during the timed portion, they found them in the group afterward and exchanged numbers.
I chatted with Charlie and Muddy and watched the group contentedly. I’d made a few dollars and was already excited to do it again. My brain was buzzing with the possibilities. I could continue to do the events all year around, and hand out coupons for special flower arrangements for their first dates, special anniversaries, etcetera.
I fought hard to ignore Holt and Dana in the corner talking. But, when Charlie gushed about them I reflexively turned my head their way. Dana had her arm through Holt’s and was stroking his bicep as she spoke. Fuck. Charlie was thrilled. I didn’t want to ruin her high, so I just smiled and nodded. I should have been happy, too, but for some reason seeing them hit it off made me feel like the losingest loser in Loserville.
By the time people started leaving, I was tired, but I kept a smile plastered on. Charlie left with Holt and Dana trailing close behind her. Whatever. I just had to focus on the fact that my event was a success, even if my love life wasn’t.
6
Holt
There was no way I was squeezing into Charlie’s sardine can again, and I let her know it. She winked and said she wouldn’t wait up. I just let that go. Dana did seem disappointed, though, after I walked her to her car and refused her offer of a ride. Dana was nice, and attractive, but it wasn’t about that. Despite my sister’s prodding, I had no interest in anyone but the little dark haired beauty in the tight dress.
All evening I’d been so bowled over by the little human, Sonnie, that I could barely breathe. When she’d stood on a chair to address the crowd, some fuckhead had grabbed her waist, and I almost shifted and tore his fucking throat out. Just for touching her. I knew I was being irrational and skirting sanity, but the entire evening I had to fight to maintain control of my wolf. He wanted to kill the fucker who had put his hands on her.
I waited until the cars cleared and then casually strolled back into the shop. Sonnie was on the other side of the room, her heels kicked off and her hair tucked behind her ears. She looked up, surprised.
“H-Hey. You’re back. Did you forget something?”
Damn. I wasn’t sure how to play this. I’d never dated a human woman before. All I knew was they weren’t the same as shifters. With shifter women, I could be blunt and straightforward. Humans were fragile and easily scared off. They needed to be courted, or so I’d heard.
I shook my head and moved closer. “Nope. Just wanted to offer my congrats on a successful evening…And, I thought maybe you could use a hand with the cleanup?”
She ran her tongue nervously over her bottom lip and I fought the strong desire to trace mine along the same path. “You didn’t want to go hang out with Dana? Looked like you two hit it off.”
“She’s okay.”
Sonnie raised an eyebrow at me. “But?”
I laughed. “But, I’m not interested. Not in Dana.”
She remained silent for a few seconds and then cleared her throat. “O—kay, I need help stacking these chairs. I borrowed them from the courthouse. I’ve got to get them back tonight.”
“You got it. I’m just curious, why don’t you already have someone here helping you?”
She wrinkled her forehead. “With all
the other last minute preparations, I just forgot to ask.”
“Well, I’m happy to stack the chairs while you do whatever else you need to.”
The smile she flashed damned near made me cum in my pants. Her smile was stunning. Just like everything else about her. From the bangs that hung across her forehead and made her look like a Bond girl, to the bare toes that’d been painted pink.
She scrubbed tables clean while I made my way around the room removing the chairs. Every time she bent over a table to wipe it, my dick hardened a little more. It was getting difficult to walk. At one point, I brushed against her while moving around the table where she was working.
Her gasp was barely audible, but I heard it. Was she just as affected as I was? That little gasp had me fighting the urge to sink my fingers into her soft, plump hips and take her from behind. I wanted to hold her by the waist, the way the asshole earlier had. He’d touched her like he knew her. Fucker.
“Was that your boyfriend earlier?”
She looked up at me and frowned. “Huh?”
“The guy who held you while you stood on the chair.” I knew I sounded like a lunatic, but I couldn’t help it. I needed to know.
“Oh, Matt. No. He’s one of a bunch of guys from a gym up in Smith that I invited to the event.” She suddenly laughed. “Besides, he participated in the speed dating. I wanted it to be a success and all, but I don’t think I would have let my boyfriend participate.”
I stacked the last chair and drew closer to her. It had grown dark outside and the only lights on in the shop were streaming from the back room. “He would have to be fucking stupid.”
She chuckled wryly. “Been there, done ‘Stupid’ already.”
I didn’t want to discuss any other men in her past, so I let that comment slide. She had a few more tables to go, but I gently took the towel from her, my fingers brushing hers. “I’ll finish.”
She pulled herself up on the counter at the front and crossed her legs, while arranging the cash she’d made. After I finished the tables, I stopped to watch her. She must have felt my eyes on her. She glanced up. “The flower shop does okay on special holidays like Sweetest day and Valentine’s day, but certain months of the year are so slow. This won’t make me rich, but it’ll keep me from scavenging through Carter’s bakery dumpster for stale doughnuts.”
I leaned against the counter next to her. Her smooth thighs were just inches from my elbow. I had to distract myself from them. “What made you go into this line of work? Why a flower shop?”
“Well, it probably sounds silly to a big, tough soldier like yourself, but I think of flowers as Mother Nature’s little love notes to the human race. They make people happy. They’re pretty, they smell good, they feel good…”
“Feel good?”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “There was this scene in an old movie I watched when I was younger. It left a lasting impression. It was the real reason I wanted to spend my days around flowers.”
I turned to face her more. “I’ll ignore the big, tough soldier comment if you tell me about it.”
Her cheeks darkened with a cute pink blush. “It was a love scene, actually. A couple, very much in love, was in a room full of flowers. Hundreds of them. She was sprawled out on the bed and he was leaning over her and you could just see his devotion in his eyes as he gazed at her.
“Without ever touching her, he made love to her with his eyes—and a rose. He ran the silky petals over her arms and up her legs, across the sensitive skin of her stomach until she was writhing in ecstasy. And then he…um…” She squirmed and uncrossed her legs, only to cross them again, in my direction. “Well, you get the idea.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding and unfurled my fingers. I could smell her arousal and my dick was painfully hard. I was hit with a desire like I’d never before known. Fuck, I wanted to grab a rose, step between her thighs and show her my version of ecstasy.
Her pink-cheeked blush spread down her neck and chest. “I was a young teenager then, and I thought that was what sex was like. My first time turned out to be nothing like that, and I’m now well aware that sex and love don’t always coincide, but… to make a long story short, when I came to Helens Corner, I was a mess and being amongst flowers helped heal me. They were a reminder of that naive part of me that still wanted to know a sensual, caring, nurturing love.
“And now I’m embarrassed because I’ve never told anyone that story and here I tell it to you, practically a stranger.” She hopped down from the counter and slipped her feet into her heels. “I’ve got to get these chairs back over to the courthouse. Thanks for helping.” She motioned me toward the door.
“Oh, no you don’t.” I caught her wrist and stared down at her. “I’m not taking off until the job’s done.”
She grinned and nodded. I impressed her by carrying three stacks of chairs at a time while she struggled with one. I wanted to take hers, too, and I could have, but she refused to let me. When we were finished with the chairs, she moved around her shop, rearranging the tables into long rows against the outer walls.
I swept while she covered the tables in lace and fancy stuff, before adding plants and flowers back on them. When she finished, the shop looked perfect. Just like her. I was so fucking distracted. I couldn’t stop thinking about a rose stroking the curves of her smooth, milky white skin.
“I’ll walk you home whenever you’re ready.”
“You don’t have to do that, Holt. It’s perfectly safe in town.”
“I’m walking you home.”
She held my firm gaze and looked like she might argue, but finally blew out a rough breath and nodded. “Okay.”
I waited at the front door while she turned out the back lights and hurried across the darkened front room to reach me. It was so dark that she bumped into me as she was waiting for me to open the door.
“Oof…Sorry.”
I’d forgotten that she probably couldn’t see at all, the way I could. I took her arm gently and led her out. “Yet, you were going to walk home in the dark.”
“It’s different under the moonlight.”
I gazed down at her and my breath caught in my throat. Her dark hair and eyes sparkled in the reflected moonlight. The effect was stunning. “It certainly is.”
7
Sonnie
I was miserable. Miserably turned on and miserably emotional. The perfect man was paying attention to me, but he was off-limits. As Charlie’s best friend, I couldn’t sleep with her brother, anyway, but she also had plans to hook him up with Dana. I had to respect the fact that she wanted him to be with someone as stunning and strong as him.
Even though I didn’t think Dana fit that bill, I couldn’t cross Charlie’s wishes. It wasn’t easy, though. There was something about Holt that called to my body.
We walked in silence to my house, me leading the way, and stopped on my front porch. He waited for me to open my door and then hesitated.
It was like I could read his mind. He wanted to come in. His perfect physique and the look in his eyes promised pleasure beyond belief, but I had a feeling that it would only lead to heartache. He was a man I could fall head over heels for. I was a human. He was a shifter. He’d find his mate and crush my heart. It sounded dramatic, but it was fact. The man would steal my heart easier than I could tell another embarrassing story.
I stepped into my house but didn’t invite him in. “Thanks for helping me out. Charlie’s got a great big brother.”
Holt closed his eyes for a second and then stepped back. “When’s your next event?”
“I’m planning another in just a couple days. I’m making my rounds in the city tomorrow, scrounging up more men to come along.”
“I could help.”
I bit my lip and chewed on it for a second. “If I wanted more women to come, that’d be a good idea. I’m trying to lure men, though. Straight men.”
He nodded and stepped forward again. His forearm rested on the doorframe and he looked
down at me. “Be careful.”
“They’re the ones who should be careful. Not me. Haven’t you heard the rumors about Hell’s Crazy Corner? Women who are so hungry for men that they’ll just grab them and rip their clothes off.” Why was I still talking?
Holt looked down at his clothes and shrugged. “Maybe next time?”
I reached out and placed my hand over his heart. Giving him a gentle nudge, I stepped even farther into my house. “Goodnight, Holt.”
“Let me know if you need anything for the next event. I’m here if you need me.”
I shut the door and locked it before I lost all control and tackled the man to the ground. Racing into my bedroom, I threw myself across my bed and groaned loudly. “What the actual fuck?”
I was suddenly sensitive to touch. My clothing felt harsh against my skin. I was damp between my thighs, beyond eager to invite Holt in. My nipples were hard, my breathing erratic. All signs pointed to go, but my brain, thank god, was still functional. No matter how much I wanted him, I couldn’t have him. It was too complicated.
A cold shower, that was what I needed. I rushed to the bathroom and stripped out of my dress, moaning as the cloth brushed over my nipples and felt like torture. I turned the water on and stepped under the spray, punishing myself with the ice cold water. Maybe it would wake me up and help me remember that Holt wasn’t mine.
Afterwards, I crawled into bed and stared up at my ceiling, reliving the embarrassment of blabbering to Holt. Why had I told him that story about the movie? I’d probably looked desperate and needy, like one of the rumored “Crazy women of Hell’s Corner”.
It took me forever to fall asleep and when I did, my dreams were full of Holt. Holt in a loincloth swinging on vines through the jungle, Holt in a tux and fedora crooning Sinatra tunes, Holt covered in cookie dough and chocolate sauce.
Wolf Soldier Page 3
