It was just after seven and there were three shifters in the whole place. A couple sat in one of the booths, but they had just finished their meal and Tori had already brought them their cheque, and a rabbit shifter was nursing a drink at the bar.
“I’ve never seen it this empty,” Hudson said.
“Most shifters think the bar closed today for renovations.” Porter had come out of his office and he surveyed the empty room. “That’s not a bad thing, actually. If I can get started on some of the renos tonight, I’ll definitely be back open for the Friday night crowd. In fact,” he walked over to the rabbit shifter and gave him a friendly slap on the back, “you sticking around for much longer, Benny?”
The rabbit shifter shook his head. “Nah. I gotta get home to the wife. It’s baby-makin’ night.”
“Don’t you already have six kits?” Porter said.
“Yep. Going for lucky number seven,” Benny said with a grin before slapping some bills on the bar. “See you, Porter.”
“Bye, Benny.”
The couple followed Benny out the door and Judd grinned when Porter shut off the open sign and locked the door. “You closin’ early, Boss?”
“Yep. Might as well. Go home, you guys. I’ll see everyone back here on Friday. Tori, can you come fifteen minutes early? I’ll want to go over the new cash register with you before your shift starts.”
“Sure can, hon.” The perky rabbit shifter said. She disappeared down the hall and into the staff room before reappearing only a few minutes later. Her heels were replaced by tennis shoes and she had her jacket on. She stopped in front of Judd and he leaned down so she could kiss him on the cheek. “See you handsome. Enjoy your days off.”
“You too, gorgeous.”
Judd slapped her on the ass and Tori giggled before wiggling her nose at him. She headed toward the door, putting a little extra sway in her hips.
“You want me to walk you to your car, sweetie?” Judd asked.
“Nah, I’m good, hon. It’s only seven. Bye, guys.”
“You sure you don’t need us to help with renovations?” Hudson asked as Porter stepped behind the bar.
“Yeah, we don’t mind,” Judd said. “Back in the day, Hudson and I worked construction for a couple of years.”
“I appreciate that, but I’ve got my brothers coming in as well as Bishop and Ronin. We’re good. Enjoy your two days off and I’ll see you Friday.”
He grabbed the cash register drawer. “Hudson, I’ll cash out for you. Judd, don’t forget to punch out your timecard before you leave.”
“Will do,” Judd said. “Thanks again, man.”
“You bet. Lock up behind you, okay, Hudson?”
Hudson nodded, and he and Judd headed to the small staff room. They both punched out and grabbed their stuff from the row of lockers on the left side of the room.
“What are you doing tonight?” Judd asked.
Hudson shrugged. “Nothin’ planned.”
“Let’s have dinner. I know a good restaurant not too far from here. It’s shifter friendly so they got big booths. Even your giant ass could fit in one.”
“Sure,” Hudson replied.
“Cool. We’ll take your truck and swing back to the bar on the way home so I can pick up my bike. Sound good?”
“Yep.” Hudson followed the bear shifter out of the bar and locked the door.
* * *
“Thanks for having dinner with me, Rosalie.”
“Thanks for inviting me.” Rosalie smiled at Maggie. “I was really happy to get your text yesterday.”
“I’m glad. I know you said you were open to hanging out, but I wasn’t sure if this was too soon or not. Porter was teasing me last night, said I was acting as nervous as he was the first time he asked a girl out.”
Rosie laughed. “You didn’t have to be nervous. I like you, Maggie.”
“I like you too,” Maggie said. “I have a hard time making friends sometimes, and I’m awkward as shit so…”
“Oh my God, me too,” Rosalie said. “Like, I always feel like I’m either coming on too strong or being too aloof. There’s no happy medium with me.”
Maggie grinned at her. “Welcome to the brain of Maggie. We should get along just fine.”
Rosalie returned her smile before leaning back in the booth. “My God, the hostess wasn’t kidding when she said these booths were massive.”
“I know,” Maggie said. “Are you sure you don’t mind sitting in a booth? They’re specifically designed for shifters which means they’re giant. We can wait for a normal-sized table, if you want.”
“It’s fine. The restaurant is super busy, we were lucky to get this booth,” Rosalie said. “As it is, I’m pretty sure we’re going to have to wait like half an hour before the server even takes our order. This place seems crazy popular. Besides, I like sitting in a seat where my feet don’t touch the floor. It makes me feel like a little kid again.”
Maggie laughed and stared at her own dangling feet. “I thought I was going to have to ask the hostess to give me a boost into the booth. The good news is, with the table almost to our chins, there’s no chance of spilling food on our boobs.”
“Speak for yourself,” Rosalie said. “I don’t think I’ve gotten through a meal without some of it landing on my boobs since I started puberty.”
Maggie eyed Rosalie’s chest before staring at her smaller one. “I can only wish I had your boobs.”
“Yeah, they’re great until someone tries jogging without wearing a proper sports bra,” Rosalie said.
Maggie laughed and Rosalie eyed the restaurant as she sipped at her glass of water. The restaurant was large and decorated in pale blues and greys. It featured modern art on the walls, and the large tables and booths were made out of solid oak. The booths were padded blue leather and very comfortable. Of course, she would have to sit forward on the very edge of the booth to eat, but still, they were comfortable. There were a wide variety of people – no shifters, she corrected herself, most of them were probably shifters – at the tables and booths.
“So, do you think we’re the only humans in here?” She asked.
Maggie shook her head. “Nope. Porter and I come here all the time and he says it’s usually about fifty/fifty for humans and shifters. It used to be just shifters, but I guess word got out about how amazing the food was and humans started showing up.”
“I wonder if that bugs the shifters.” Rosalie eyed the other patrons. Some she was pretty certain were shifters, just based on sheer size, but others – she had no idea if they were human or shifters.
“Maybe some of them, I guess. Shifters are a lot more like humans than most people think, you know?” Maggie took a drink of water. “There are nice shifters and there are asshole shifters - just like humans.”
Their server, a harried looking woman of about fifty, stopped beside their booth. She handed them both menus and took their drink order before leaving.
“So, did Heath call you?” Maggie asked.
“Uh, no, he didn’t.”
“That’s so weird. He was totally into you on Saturday. Even Porter noticed. I can ask him why he hasn’t called, if you want?”
“Oh God, no. That’s way too embarrassing. I must have said or did something to make him lose interest. Besides, it’s fine, I’ve got a new plan anyway.”
“New plan for what?” Maggie eyed her curiously.
Rosalie blushed. Was she really thinking about telling Maggie her seduction plan for Lincoln?
Why not? If you can have sex with a stranger, why can’t you tell someone about it?
Her inner voice had a point. Besides, she was dying to tell someone, and she really didn’t have anyone else to tell. She couldn’t tell Bria. She liked the tiger shifter a lot, but she was dating Rosalie’s boss and if Jace ever found out what she was going to do…she’d die.
She took a deep breath. Okay, she would tell Maggie, and if Maggie decided not to be her friend after, so be it.
“So, I
want to tell you something, but first – I’m not, like, crazy, okay? I know when someone prefaces a story with ‘I’m not crazy’, it usually means they’re crazy, but I’m not. I swear it. Just, maybe a little desperate and a lot…horny.”
Maggie burst into laughter. “Noted. Go ahead and tell me.”
Rosalie hesitated and Maggie gave her a kind smile. “I’m not judgmental, Rosalie. I promise.”
“Okay.” Rosalie took another deep breath. “You know that I’m in love with a lion shifter named Lincoln, right? Well, the only reason I’m not with him is because he’s totally into kinky sex, like most lion shifters are, and while I am not completely inexperienced in the bedroom, I’m not kinky at all. But, I’m willing to learn, and if I do, I’m almost certain that Lincoln will be into me. Like, he flirts with me a lot – and yeah, some of it’s just so that I’ll pick up his dry cleaning or bring him a coffee or whatever – but it’s not all that. There is an attraction between us. I can feel it.”
She wiped her finger across the condensation on her glass. “He doesn’t want to sleep with a woman who doesn’t know how to be crazy in bed, I heard him say that himself. I know if I could just be different in the bedroom, be more adventurous and open to the idea of kink, that I would have a chance with Lincoln.”
“Okay,” Maggie said.
Rosalie hesitated. “I know it doesn’t absolutely guarantee that Lincoln will date me, but I’ll have a much better chance of winning him over if he knows I can keep up with him in the kinky bedroom behaviour department.”
“It makes sense,” Maggie said.
“Yeah?” Rosalie gave her a look of relief.
“I think so. I don’t know a whole lot about lion shifters, but Mal’s mate Willow knows a couple and she says they’re as far from vanilla as a person can get when it comes to sex.”
“Has she, uh, been with them in bed?” Rosalie asked.
“Oh God, no,” Maggie said. “She found out about their bedroom antics when… well, it’s a long story how she found out and kind of hard to believe so let’s just stick to your story. Okay?”
“Sure, okay. Anyway, after this week, I’m off on vacation for two weeks and so is Lincoln. I found out that Lincoln is attending the kink fest for shifters in the Crossroads village. It’s not open to humans until the last day. It runs the fifteenth to the twenty-fourth, which means once I start my holidays next week, I have almost two full weeks to learn to be kinky. Then on the last day of the kink fest, I’ll show up and seduce Lincoln.”
“Okay,” Maggie said slowly. “Learn to be kinky with who, though?”
“On Saturday I thought maybe Heath, but that obviously isn’t going to work now. Plus, I don’t have a lot of time to learn to do the things Lincoln is looking for in bed, so I can’t waste my time with someone who may not be kinky. I’m not even certain Heath is kinky, right? And that’s not exactly something you can just ask a person.”
“That’s true,” Maggie said.
“What I need to do,” Rosalie said, “is sleep with other lion shifters. We know for a fact that lion shifters are kinky – well, there are exceptions to the rule – but generally speaking, if I want to learn to be kinky for a lion shifter, what better way to learn than with a lion shifter. Right?”
“It would be the fastest way, I guess. But, are you sure you just want to sleep with someone you don’t even really know? Don’t take this the wrong way, because I am exactly the same, but you don’t strike me as the kind of girl to just sleep with a guy she doesn’t know.”
“I’m not. But I’m changing that. Starting on Saturday night.”
“What happens Saturday night?”
“I’m going to find a lion shifter and bang him.”
Maggie laughed before taking another drink of water. “Solid plan. Where are you finding this lion shifter?”
“Actually, I was thinking Bud’s Bar. It’s full of shifters.”
“True,” Maggie said. “But humans aren’t always welcome there. Especially lone female humans.”
“I’ll be okay,” Rosalie said. “I’ve been there before, and Hudson is there. He, uh, helped me once before when a shifter gave me a hard time at the bar.”
“Still, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go alone. I’m not working Saturday night. I could go with you if you’d like?”
“Seriously? You’d do that?”
“Of course. Everyone needs a wingman – wait, wingwoman – right? I’ll be yours. Plus, I’m there so much because of Porter that I know a lot of the shifters. I don’t know any specific lion ones, but I bet I could help you find one.”
Rosalie smiled at her. “I’d really appreciate that, Maggie. Thank you. And thank you for not thinking I’m super weird or…slutty.”
Maggie laughed. “You’re welcome. I’m just going to use the powder room. I’ll be right back.”
* * *
“It’s gonna be an hour for a table.” Judd grimaced. “You wanna go somewhere else?”
Hudson shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me. You decide.”
“Yeah, maybe we’ll try and – oh, hey, Maggie! Maggie, over here!”
Hudson watched as Porter’s mate turned and smiled at them. She weaved her way through the crowd of people waiting for a table at the front of the restaurant. “Hi, Judd.”
“Hello, gorgeous.” Judd leaned down and kissed her cheek. “How are you?”
“Good. Did Porter close the bar early?”
“He did,” Judd said with a grin.
“He mentioned he might if it was slow. Hi, Hudson.”
“Hello.” He nodded to Maggie.
“Waiting for a table, I assume?” Maggie said.
Judd nodded. “Yeah, it’s busy as shit in here tonight. We’re thinking we might go someplace else. It’s a shame because I fuckin’ love their steaks. Excuse my language.”
“You should join us,” Maggie said. “We have one of the big booths so there’s plenty of space.”
“Yeah? You sure you wouldn’t mind?” Judd said.
“Not at all,” Maggie replied.
“What do you think, Hudson?” Judd turned to him.
Hudson hesitated. He had seen Maggie a lot at the bar, but he had never really talked to her. Spending dinner making small talk with a human he barely knew wasn’t his idea of a good time.
“We shouldn’t interrupt your dinner,” Hudson said.
“I’m having dinner with Rosalie. I know she wouldn’t mind if you guys joined us,” Maggie said.
His polar bear made a happy growl at just the mention of Rosalie’s name. He was immediately even warmer than usual, and he had to fight the urge to adjust the front of his pants.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Judd said. “We’ll find -”
“We’d be happy to join you. Thanks, Maggie,” Hudson said quickly.
Judd stared up at him. Hudson ignored him as Maggie smiled. “That’s great. Follow me.”
They followed her to the booth. The server was just setting down drinks, and Maggie said, “Rosalie, look who I ran into. They’re going to join us for dinner.”
He couldn’t tell from the look on Rosalie’s face whether she was happy to see him or not. He hoped she was, he wanted her to be.
“If you don’t mind,” Judd said.
“Not at all.” Rosalie’s voice was welcoming. When it looked like Maggie was about to slide in next to her, Hudson pushed past the server and slid into the booth beside Rosalie before Maggie could. He was acting like an idiot, but he couldn’t give up the chance to sit next to her. The booths were big, but he still took up a lot of the space, and Rosalie’s thigh pressed against his and her hip brushed his.
She tried to move over a bit more but was thwarted by the wall. She gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, Hudson.”
“It’s fine,” he said gruffly.
Judd was sniffing the air, and Hudson glared at his friend when a smile crossed his face. Judd winked at him before gesturing to Maggie. “After you, Maggie.”
“Thanks.” She slid into the booth, smiling at the server who was standing a little impatiently at the end of the table. “Sorry, we’ve added a couple more people.”
“Yeah. Do you need more menus?” The server asked.
“No, we can share,” Rosalie said.
“What do you guys want to drink?” The server gave Hudson and Judd another impatient look.
Hudson ordered a beer, as did Judd, and the server left. Rosalie sipped at her drink before smiling at him. “So, are you off tonight?”
“Porter closed the bar early.”
“Oh, that seems strange,” she said.
“We’re doing renovations tomorrow and Thursday,” Maggie said. “We’re hoping to be finished by Friday so we can open that night.”
“If you’re running behind, just give me and Hudson a call,” Judd said. “We told Porter we can help.”
“Thanks, Judd. We should be okay. Heath and Ellet are pitching in, and Kat said she could hold down the fort at the security firm so Bishop, Ronin and Mal will help too. But I’ll definitely call you if it looks like we’re behind schedule. Now,” Maggie flipped open the menu, “let’s decide what we’re having before our server comes back. If we’re not ready by the time she comes back with your drinks, pretty sure she’s just gonna abandon us.”
Rosalie laughed, and the front of his jeans was suddenly too tight. Judd sniffed the air again before giving him a knowing grin. Hudson ignored him as Rosalie flipped open the menu on the table in front of them. “Here, we can look at it together. Okay?”
“Sure.”
She bent her head, and he stared at the way her dark hair gleamed in the light. She was wearing it down tonight and her dark curls looked silky soft. He wondered how it would feel to thread his fingers through them.
What would she do, he wondered, if he slid his hand into her hair and tugged her head back? If he pressed his mouth against hers, traced her full lips with his tongue? Would she accept his kiss? Would she make a sweet moan as her mouth opened under his? Would she press her soft body against his and beg him to make her his right there in the restaurant?
His polar bear was growling with excitement and he could feel his fangs dropping. A sharp kick to his shin made him jerk and Rosalie looked up at him. “Hudson?” He could smell her alarm. “Are you okay?”
Rosalie Undone (The Shifters Series Book 6) Page 8