by Ava Walsh
I dressed for work as I listened to them talk in my small bedroom. I always pulled a shirt over the tank top to cover what I was wearing and help with the lie that I continued to tell. Daisy liked makeup too much to ask me about that since she considered it art. “I will see you tomorrow, Miss Maisy Daisy.” I had forced a full smile on my face before I leaned down to kiss her head. I started to wonder again who paid for our dinner the night before, and Remy came to mind before I shook my head. He’d have to be following me if that was the case, which was just creepy.
My fellow bartender that night was Lisa, who was not as cool as Jenna. She was a brunette who took a lot more than tips from the customers and played them as well as I’d seen anybody do, apart from the dancers. I already planned on doing most of the work that night and I just might keep more tips for myself as well, not that there were going to be fifties slid across the bar every night.
I slipped behind the bar and secured my purse before she swayed over to me with a big smile on her bubblegum-pink lips. “You have a special delivery tonight.” I looked at her, and she pulled me back by my arm to see a vase of beautiful red roses by the register up front. “Who is the new guy? There was no signature on the card.”
I shot her a dark look before she apologized for being so nosy. “I don’t have any new guy. I don’t know who did this.” There must be forty flowers at least in that vase of that dark red color that I loved so much. I secretly hoped they were from Remy and that in some parallel life we could work out.
“Huh. Well, you’re doing something right. Is he a customer, you think?” Lisa winked and walked over to help one of the businessmen who often popped in here after work before they went home to their wives and family. They seemed to be her favorite type, and I went to help someone else as I again wondered if Remy was behind all of this. There were just the regular dancers tonight, and it was a Thursday, so it wasn’t too crowded.
I didn’t see him at all inside the bar that night, but he was waiting by my car with another red rose in his hand and a hopeful look on his stunning face. “So are you behind the dinner and the roses inside? Are you staking your claim?"
“I was lucky enough to see you in one of my businesses before I finished work,” Remy assured me, as I thanked him and leaned forward unconsciously. He grinned, and I felt my panties melt with the look that was in his eyes. This man was winning me over with his seductive nature, and all of his attempts at getting me into his life, and I moaned as he leaned forward to kiss my lips. Wait…I still couldn’t do this because my life was no different. I could just enjoy the perks until he moved on to someone that was available. I weakened again as he deepened the kiss and cupped my face in his hands. “I need to see you tonight.”
“I…I don’t know,” I murmured, as he kissed me again and ripped a part of me away all over again as his tongue swept against mine. “Hold on.”
I stepped back to regain my thoughts and considered what I was about to do. I sent a text to Mrs. Mac asking if it was alright for me to grab some coffee and food after my shift. I knew that she would encourage it since she had married the most wonderful man on Earth, who had passed away just five years ago after sixty years of marriage. She wanted that for everybody, though mostly me, since she thought that Daisy and I needed someone to love us.
Of course she agreed and told me that she would go to sleep in my room. That was code for ‘stay out as long as physically possible’, and I blushed at the connotation. I turned to Remy, who was still looking at me. “I have some time. Where are you taking me?”
Remy took my hand and led me to a sports car that I couldn’t even name in the corner of the lot. We drove to this place in the city that had a sunken dining room and private tables with candles and the best music playing, greats like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. It was called The Windmill, and I’d never heard of it. We got seated right away in a private room with a fireplace and soft seats, and I stared at him as the hostess walked away. “What is this place?”
“I own it,” Remy admitted, as I looked around again. “I also own The Crust. I like to invest in businesses.”
“Is that how you got all of your money?” I asked, as he gave me a curious look. “Jenna talks a lot. I guess you come to The Goods a lot. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing you before."
“Is the money why you’re here now?” he asked, and I shook my head. "Not that it matters, because I want you no matter the case."
“No. I work hard to survive, and I’m doing fine. I don’t look for guys with money,” I assured him, because it was true. I would rather be alone than with a man who treated Daisy and me badly, even if he had all the money in the world. “I just can’t help but wonder why I am here now. There's so many pretty dancers at the club."
“I go to The Goods for my friends. They like it because they haven’t found their mate and want to play until that time comes. They like that I pay for drinks a lot of the time, though sometimes they do as well. You are mine, so I only want to focus on you.” The look he gave me was possessive and long, making me shiver.
“You don’t know me,” I protested, and he shook his head.
“I don’t have to. I just feel it,” Remy stated. He looked up to see the waitress coming in with some steaming cups of coffee. She set them down with creamer and sugar and meekly left before he spoke again. I wondered why as I watched her scurry away. “Tell me about yourself.”
“I live in an apartment with my seven-year-old sister, Mr. James.”
“Remy. Call me Remy.”
“Fine, Remy. I am supporting my sister because we have no parents and no family. I work at night and sleep when I can around her schedule. Is that what you want from a woman? I can’t do every night.” I waved my hand around to the setting that I would probably never see again. “My sister is worried that I am going to go away just like Mom did, and she comes first.”
“She’s beautiful and looks a lot like you. I saw her when you were eating dinner,” Remy softly told me, as I looked at him. “I can see how much you love her, and that’s one of the many things that I enjoy about you. I am willing to take care of both of you."
“Are you following me?” I asked him, as he gave me a long look.
“No. I just feel you inside of me all of the time. You came to my restaurant, Lucia. Have you ever thought that you were drawn there that night, or perhaps that I was brought to you the night we met?” Remy asked, as I held my hand up.
“That is not how the world works,” I protested, as he shook his head.
“That’s how my life works. I have been waiting for this, for you, for a long time. I live for fate, Lucia, and you’re it for me.”
“A long time. What are you, thirty at the most?”
“Not exactly,” Remy looked around the room and shook his head. “Let’s eat something, and then we’ll talk later.”
He told me a little bit about his family as we ate, though I could tell that he was hiding something. Two parents and four siblings, two boys and two girls. He was the middle child. It sounded healthy enough, and they lived in Montana now, out in the country. What a perfect upbringing.
Then he asked about mine. I filled him in on my father dying when I was ten, and then my mother being single until she met Daisy’s dad, who had skipped town after she was born. It was quite different than what he'd described, though he looked riveted by every word that I said.
My mom had died in a car accident five miles from home. I heard that statistic from time to time, but I never thought it would happen to me. I was confident that I was driving him away with my Lifetime movie drama, but when he paid for our meal and led me to the car by the hand, I felt the connection between us.
He drove me to my car and then followed me home. We sat outside in his vehicle where he kissed me until I was breathless. Remy knew how to use his mouth and those hands…I was ready to go at it right there and then. We got close, but as my bra came off and my pants ended up unzipped, Remy pulled back. “I want you, Lucia.
”
“I am right here,” I told him, as he stared into my eyes before kissing me again.
“I claim you when we get together like that. I make you mine…forever,” Remy told me, as I laughed.
“Just from sex? Are you a virgin saving it for the right girl?” There was no way with the way he looked, not to mention the way he had played my body.
“No, but this time I am in it for life.” It was so sincere, and I leaned back against my seat as I took a deep breath.
“I hope there isn’t a ring involved in our first…not even a real date,” I joked, with fear in my heart. I didn’t know this guy, but I was ready to let him have me in his car. Even odder was that he had denied me.
“No, but there is something you have to know,” Remy told me, as I looked at my messy state and stared at him. “My family has a certain gene, all of us. It makes me who I am, and it makes me want you so bad, but it can affect everything for us.” Remy looked into my face for a long moment. “I am a shifter, Lucia. A werewolf, to be exact, just like my parents before me.”
Chapter Four
“Werewolf?” I asked in disbelief, as he nodded slowly. “That’s only in books and movies.” Granted, I loved a sexy paranormal show just like the next girl, but I never thought that it would be in my face like this.
“It is all throughout the state. My friends at the bar are my pack. We’re as close as brothers, and we would kill for each other without a second thought. We would kill for you, Lucia…even Daisy,” Remy explained to me, as I shook my head. “You will never worry about anything again, including your safety and your financial security, if you choose this.” He leaned closer and brushed his lips against my swollen ones as I closed my eyes. “I can promise you that you’ll be very happy, and that I can satisfy all of your needs.”
I was losing my willpower even as his words played through my mind, over and over. This wasn’t what I should choose for my sister. I needed a guy with a nine to five job that could help out with her days. “What do you do? I mean, I know that you own businesses and have money. What do you do, though?”
“I’m the alpha of the pack. What I say goes.” The tone of his voice suggested that he was that role in every way possible. I hadn’t had sex in two years, and I wondered what he could do for me as I leaned in and met his lips. Everything that I should be thinking about left my mind, and I crawled over the center console to squeeze into his lap.
“I am not a small girl, as you’ve noticed.” I laughed as my body fit tightly into the space until he moved the seat back. Remy kissed me hard, and I wrapped my arms around his neck as I hoped that nobody was outside.
“I did notice. I love your curves.” His thumbs found my hard nipples, and I moaned as I arched them forward. “I didn’t want this to be in a car, baby. I’d like it to be in my bed. When do you need to be home?”
“She gets up at seven for school,” I admitted, as guilt washed over me. Remy kissed me again, before we adjusted ourselves and he drove down the street to a cabin on the edge of the woods. With a glance at the digital clock in the car, I knew that I had plenty of time. He parked in a big garage and pulled me out of the car and into his arms to carry me through the spacious house and into what I assumed was the master bedroom.
I dropped onto the bed, and my jeans were ripped down my legs before Remy crawled between my legs and kissed me with a raw need in his lips. He kneaded my breasts with his big hands, and my tongue met his eagerly as I whimpered. I lost myself to him as he kissed down my neck and slipped my shirt to the side to draw my nipple into his mouth. He moved back to slide off the white button-up shirt that he was wearing to reveal a sculpted chest and tattooed arms, before he unbuttoned the slacks that he was wearing. “You’re mine after this, Lucia,” Remy told me again and I nodded. There was no turning back right now for me. I was all in.
“I have been yours since I met you,” I assured him, before he dropped his slacks to the floor and stepped over to me with his cock hard and ready. He slipped my thong off with one swipe of his hand, and his fingers were inside of me as he felt how much I wanted him.
“You’re so tight, Lucia.” Remy dropped to the bed, and I watched as his mouth took over for his hands, and he made me come all over his gorgeous mouth as I cried out his name. He pulled away and gripped my face as he kissed me, before he spread my legs with his knees. My taste was all over his mouth, and then Remy was inside of me, opening me and spreading me wide as I gripped his hair. He moved slowly and deliberately for a few thrusts before I begged him to go harder, which was when he started moving faster and deeper.
I groaned as Remy lifted my feet to his shoulders and started driving into me like a man who had been waiting for me for as long as he claimed. I couldn’t comprehend anything at that moment as he kept moving, and my sensitive core started to tighten as I cried out his name again. I came with a release. He was so deep inside of me that it took my breath away, and I dragged my fingers down his chest in my rabid enthusiasm before he stilled and shot inside of me.
I looked up as my body continued to pulse around him. Maybe there was something to the fate that he claimed, because I had never felt like this about anybody. Before today, my only motivation was Daisy, and though she was still one of my biggest reasons for living, now I felt invincible inside.
He moved beside me as I looked at the bedside clock to see that I had about an hour before I would ask him to take me home. I looked at his chest to see the faint scratches healing before my eyes, and then I smiled at him. “Sorry about that.”
“I appreciated your letting go like that. I have a very high pain tolerance,” Remy assured me, before he kissed me. “How do you feel, Lucia?”
“Incredible. It’s like something lifted, but nothing has really changed but us.” I frowned. “We didn’t use anything, Remy. I am not on any birth control because I’ve been single for some years, and I don’t know if that should happen again.”
“I had to feel all of you.” I stared at him as my growing feelings for him washed over me all over again. What was happening? "You're meant to carry my babies, Lucia." My heart jumped into my throat as he kissed me again and held me on the bed.
We talked for as long as we could before I felt like I should get home, and then I convinced him into round two before we even left the house. There was something about this man that captivated me, and when he had me on my knees and was taking me from behind, I would have given my life to him just to scream his name.
I anxiously checked my phone on the ride back to my place, convinced that the world must have fallen apart because I wasn’t home with Daisy. I even stepped carefully inside the dark apartment, expecting some fanfare, but it was just a quiet house. I touched my lips, which were still tingling from his kiss good night, and smiled as I spun around the room.
Chapter Five
I watched television on the couch until Daisy came bouncing down the hallway to find me. “What’s Mrs. Mac sleeping in your room for? Where were you?”
“I think she was just tired, baby girl. I let her sleep and crashed out here for a while.” Lies. I was drinking coffee and daydreaming out here. “Want some breakfast? Get ready for school and I’ll make you some oatmeal.”
I started the food on the stove, adding brown sugar and cinnamon just the way that she liked it as I stirred it. By the time Daisy came back into the living room in some new jeans and a flowered shirt that she’d just picked out, I had it on the table with a fresh cup of coffee.
“What on Earth is all of this?” Mrs. Mac came into the kitchen with her bobbed hair looking disheveled.
“You were sleeping so well that I didn’t want to wake you,” I told her, as I poured another cup of coffee and handed it to her. I had gone in for some yoga pants and a shirt that was folded up on the dresser, but she didn’t need to know what time that was. “Sit down and have some oatmeal with us.”
I took Daisy to school while my neighbor waited at the apartment and asked point blank what I’d
been doing. “If only Daisy could hear you right now,” I admonished her, as I sat down on the couch and shook my head with a broad smile. “There’s a guy that I met at work. Not one of the weirdos, I promise. It’s such an awful place to meet anybody.” She knew where my job was and she supported it because it took care of Daisy and I.
“Tell me about him.” Mrs. MacKenzie urged me, as she propped her feet under herself as if it was story time. She was more like a mother than mine ever was, and I thanked my stars that Daisy had her growing up, and that she had basically become a part of our family.
“Well, his name is Remy James, and he’s gorgeous. I think he’s somewhere around my age, and he just started to talk to me and…I don’t know. I think I like him, but there is so much to consider.” I spoke as she smiled and patted my leg.
“I can see in your face that you do like him. You aren’t dead just because you have Daisy, Lucia. You should date. You know what, I have a family picnic coming up, I’ll take Daisy there and you can go on your date.” I looked at her with concern written all over my face. There was so much that I couldn’t tell her about him because it would scare her. She’d tell me that I was crazy for dragging my little sister into this. “Your mama made some bad choices, Lucia. You are doing Daisy good by being there for her, but you need to live as well. Between my kids, and me, and their kids, Daisy will have a ball, while you are too.” I laughed and blushed as she smiled knowingly. “His name rings a bell. I guess that he is Remington James the third. His family used to live here, but they went off somewhere…I can’t remember.”
“Montana?” I offered, and she nodded and looked at me.