In the meantime, she would just have to continue imagining what she’d like to do to him in her mind, without actually acting upon it. That was the trick, not to cross any lines. Living among humans where she had to keep her abilities hidden was a lot harder than she expected.
In Carnation, she could change freely in a substantial portion of the town. It was all either wolf shifters or shifter friendlies who weren’t shocked by the metamorphosis, which could be oddly beautiful, but also brutal in the way portions of the body shifted and folded, exposing blood and tissue beneath the skin and then reforming moments later.
She glanced at the clock and realized it was just after five. Nasteau was still in his meeting, so she took the opportunity to slip out and go home. It wasn’t like she was leaving early or anything, at least not by a normal person’s standards, but no doubt, Nasteau would be displeased that she didn’t wait on him to finish. It was just too bad, as his meetings sometimes went on for hours, and she wasn’t planning on sitting around with her thumb up her ass while they waffled on about golf scores and mistresses.CHAPTER FOURTEENThad
Though he had known she worked in the building for Nasteau, he hadn’t expected her to be in the meeting. It had been hard to keep his eyes off her and he hadn’t missed that she made every effort to not look in his direction any more than necessary. He’d wanted to talk to her afterward, but Nasteau had descended on her too quickly, barking orders in a condescending tone. It had angered him, not just for her but for everyone that had to put up with that miserable old bastard’s attitude.
It seemed like it took an eternity for Saturday to arrive, despite having had a busy week. He had even joined the pack for a night run over on Blake Island, something they got together for every month. Hopefully, he could do it one day with her, but it didn’t seem likely if she intended to remain stubborn. Still, he was determined to bring her around without using the power of their natural attraction against her. The way he saw it, he had a few weeks left before she went in heat again.
It wasn’t a lot of time to win her over, but at least he could make an impression that would make her want to reconsider. He threw on a pair of khaki pants and a sports jacket over his button down and checked himself in the mirror before heading out to the car. He hadn’t driven it since he brought it home, but he sucked up any qualms he might have about it and got behind the wheel, opening the garage door, and backing out.
The drive was uneventful, but he still felt a bit uneasy as he arrived. It was all forgotten when she opened the door. He hoped that what she was wearing was indicative of her commitment to really giving this a shot. Though she was petite, her legs looked incredibly long as they peered out from under the above-the-knee-length, body-con, black dress that clung to her every curve. Nude heels brought her closer to his height, though she was still diminutive compared to him.
“You look amazing. Are you ready to go?”
“I am,” she said, skirting past him and turning to lock the door.
Thad found himself admiring the view from behind just as much as he had the front, quickly looking away when she began to spin back around toward him. They were quickly on their way to the car.
“New ride?” she asked as they approached.
“Yes. I just got it last week.”
“It’s very nice.”
He nodded and opened the door for her to have a seat, jogging around to the driver’s side and slipping behind the wheel. Despite the bit of anxiety that remained about driving, it felt good to be out on the road again. It felt even better to have her leaning against the cool leather seat beside him.
“I found a new Italian place I thought we might try,” he told her.
“Sounds good,” she said.
He pointed the car in the direction of the restaurant and changed the topic a bit.
“You seemed surprised to see me at the meeting with Nasteau.”
“Yes. I didn’t know you were on Hutchins’ team.”
“I’m not. We’re bankrolling it, so I was there as a consultant.”
“You were very quiet.”
“It was pretty much a done deal. All they needed to know was that they weren’t changing anything that would upset their funding from us.”
“I see.”
“Nasteau, he’s not a very pleasant person and he’s been known to screw people over in his deals.”
“How so?”
“Puts clauses in the contract at the last minute that cause people like me to withdraw funding. The buyer either has to default on the contract or tries to make the payments through other means. They fail, he profits.”