Talia gritted her teeth and counted backward from ten. “Excuse me—” Before she could finally tell Mina a piece of her mind, the bitch cut her off with a wave of her hand.
“Okay, so here it is.” Mina flipped through the book until she got to the page that had HONEYMOON sprawled in big black letters. “So, I need you make out an itinerary for the honeymoon. I want to make sure we don’t miss anything once we arrive in France.” Apparently, Kimberly, Mina’s second-in-command, who was nearly as bad as Talia’s soon to be bitch-in-law, was far too superior to do the grunt work.
She looked at the book and then back at Mina. Was this bitch for real? “You want me to make a list of all the things you plan on sightseeing while in France?” It appeared Talia was the lowest on the totem pole and therefore got to do the shit jobs. And who in the hell needed someone else to plan out their sightseeing?
“Well, I mean I know your schedule is pretty much free, what with you out of college and not working.” The pleasantly condescending tone that Mina gave her, coupled with the smile that had “bitch” written all over it, had Talia snapping. Oh hell no.
“Oh. My. God.” Mina’s breathy, almost dreamy words had Talia closing her mouth. Mina’s gaze was over Talia’s shoulder, and curiosity had her looking at what had seemingly changed Mina to a love-struck teenager. At first, all she saw was a younger human male kissing a young woman, but when those two moved to the side, her heart stopped.
Ford and another man who looked strikingly similar to him stepped into the café.
Of course he looked exactly the same, so damn sexy and his alpha bear pouring from him. He was speaking to the man he had come in with, but she watched in rapt awe as he stopped, lifted his head, and inhaled deeply.
Everything else faded as his gaze scanned the coffee shop before finally settling on her. For a long moment, all they did was stare at each other, and Talia’s intense arousal rose up like a raging wildfire.
There was a flash of heat behind his bright-blue eyes, and she knew his lust was just as strong as hers. It didn’t seem like only three days ago that he dropped her off, because everything rushed back, and she found herself back in his room with his sweat-slicked body over hers and his dick buried deep inside her.
Blinking a few times to clear her mind, she took in his face, one that was cut and bruised, and yet she hadn’t even noticed right away.
He moved his gaze away from hers, and a dark expression crossed his face as he focused on something over her head. The man beside him shifted on his feet and leaned in to murmur something to Ford. He shook his head forcefully twice and waved off the other man.
Ford moved closer to her, and Talia’s palms started to sweat. She swore she could smell his bear, that wild and untamed scent that drove her absolutely mad. Several other shifters in the coffee shop stopped what they were doing, moved out of his way, and stared at Ford approaching her.
The humans might not be able to smell that Ford was dangerously close to shifting, or that he was aroused and angry all in the same breath, but every shifter in there, including her, was drunk off it. It was all she could smell and feel move through her body since she had been with him.
He stopped in front of her, and she could see the vibrant-blue of his eyes. He held her gaze, and a flash of darkness from his bear starting to emerge turned the almost unreal color black. Slowly standing, they stared at each other, but as she opened her mouth to say “hello” or maybe even “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we parted ways,” Mina spoke from behind her.
“Ford.” The way Mina said his name reminded Talia of a lover’s embrace. She took a step to the side so she could see her, and the lust pouring off the other female was potent and suffocating. “It’s been a long time.”
Mina had since gotten up from her seat and now stood right beside her. She turned back and looked at Ford, but her powerful bear was no longer looking at her and instead had his full attention on Mina, the indifference clear on his face.
Talia looked between her brother’s fiancée and the male who had consumed her so ferociously she couldn’t even think straight, then everything clicked into place.
Holy shit.
Their reaction to each other, although subtle, had Talia’s fox bristling. Could it be that this was the person Ford was talking about getting married? What were the odds?