by Jana Downs
After checking in with his crew and going to the meeting with his bosses, he was pretty tired. A glance at his cell phone told him that he hadn’t gotten any new e-mails from sHarmony, but he cautioned himself to have patience. He had a whole other list of things to do when he got back to his place, including checking Orion’s Spanish homework. He had a pretty good working knowledge of it already, but all the grammar gave him a headache.
He threw his truck into park as he pulled into the driveway. It was only seven thirty, but it was still a bit later than he’d told Mikey he’d be. He wouldn’t be surprised if the man was halfway through a six-pack, dozing in front of his flat screen. It would be what Mikey would be doing at his place. The small two-bedroom he’d bought was neat and tidy in appearance from the curb. He’d painted it white when he’d bought it, and the dark-gray shutters he’d added were a positive change from the fuchsia and bubblegum-pink shutters in a big way.
Orion came out of the front door of the house and walked along the walkway to the driveway. Logan opened the door before stepping out. He opened his mouth to greet his little brother only to be interrupted.
“Are you seriously doing a dating site?” Orion blurted, excitement and derision warring in equal measure in his expression. He was a younger version of Logan. Same dirty blond hair, same build when Logan was his age, same smart-ass grin. The only difference between them was their eyes. Logan had his father’s blue while Orion had his mother’s green.
Logan frowned. “I thought I told you to be doing homework when I got home.”
“I’m done. You know only losers and weirdos do online dating.” Orion crossed his arms over his chest and leveled a pointed stare at him.
“Mikey does it.”
Orion did the dramatic eye roll that all teenagers seemed to be experts at delivering. “Case in point. Uncle Mikey is a damn weirdo.”
“Watch your mouth, brother.” Logan shut the truck and hit the lock button. He started toward the house with Orion right on his heels.
“Besides, he has to stay at school with other weirdo professors all day. It’s obvious why he goes to a dating service. Logan, seriously, man. You can’t do this. It’s embarrassing.”
He wouldn’t admit how much the words stung. “No one is going to find out. And it shouldn’t matter. I’m not a loser.” He finally reached the door before pushing it open. He nearly tripped over the shoes Logan had left in the foyer. He cursed as he nearly face-planted for his trouble. Orion’s black cat, Gemini, hissed at him as he got near him. The damn thing couldn’t stand him. “Get your beast, Oreo.”
Orion sighed loudly. “Why don’t you ever listen to me? You’re losing street cred.”
Logan snorted. “I don’t have any street cred. I work construction. I’m not a hoodlum.”
“See? Right there! You’re using words like ‘hoodlum.’ Who the hell talks like that?”
“One more curse word out of your mouth and I am going to ground your ass,” Logan threatened. “Now where is the damn pizza?” He turned right into the kitchen and encountered an empty box. Logan growled. Between a teenage metabolism and Mikey’s appetite, he was SOL on the food. A TV dinner it is.
His phone pinged, and he fished it from his pocket. The new e-mail was from sHarmony. A new match, already? He opened the message.
We have three potential matches for you. Please review our choices and select one for the initial date. We’ve also posted your profile to our member site and will notify you of any additional matches whenever they become available. Good luck on your service.
The sHarmony Team
Interesting. He grinned as the profile pictures came up. “Are these losers, Orion?” He held up his phone, and Orion’s mouth dropped.
“Damn, bro. Them some hotties,” Orion drawled. He grabbed Logan’s phone.
“Those are some hotties,” Logan corrected. “God, where did you learn to talk, a music video? Are you Vanilla Ice or something?”
“Who?”
Logan laughed. “God, you’re young.” He took his phone back from his brother and looked at the pictures himself. The second picture in particular stood out to him. He was a gorgeous human. He had a thin build, chocolate hair cut short, and pretty hazel eyes.
He’d made his decision.
Chapter Two
“You got matched already?” Evan whined as Jude read his e-mail to his two business partners. Their office lounge was more of a man cave than anything else, complete with bean bag chairs, big screen TV, and every game console known to man. They were on their lunch break when the e-mail had come through.
Jude grinned. “Yes. He’s meeting me at a bar called Eclipse.” And he was a hottie, too. The picture they’d sent him was gorgeous. Mr. Logan Carter’s blue eyes alone were enough to make Jude drool.
“Oooh shiftery,” Collin teased, plopping down on his bean bag chair with a Philly cheesesteak in hand. “If it were any other night, I’d crash your date hangout.”
“Call us the second you get home,” Evan said, picking up the controller for the PS4. “I want to know all the dirty details.”
Jude rolled his eyes. “There won’t be any dirty details. It’s a first date. Come on.” Unless I really, really like him. His cheeks heated at his wayward thought. He’d never gone home with a guy on the first date before, and he wasn’t going to start now. “The prep didn’t say dating a shifter was any different than dating an average joe.”
“Do you think he’ll shift for you?” Collin asked, excitement lacing his words.
Evan scoffed. “Not on the first date. Besides, it’s not even a full moon.” He paused. “Do they shift on a full moon?”
“No, idiot,” Collin said, leveling a disbelieving look at Evan as Evan shot a zombie in the head on screen. “Stop getting your facts from Wikipedia. Shifters can change shape whenever they want.”
“Well, I’ve never dated one before. Sue me.” Evan slammed his finger on the X button over and over as he was swarmed by hordes of the undead. “I hope mine is as hot as Jude’s.”
Collin picked up his sandwich. “Seems all the ones on the website are pretty. I’m going to scroll through the profiles tonight and see if I can find any that suit my fancy.” He took a bite and moaned at the taste. “Dear God, thank you for suggesting Levi’s, Jude.” Levi’s deli was the only place to get a Philly cheesesteak in his mind.
“You’re welcome.”
The conversation moved into work territory after that, thoughts of shifters and first dates lost as they ate their lunch and took a break from the day.
Work had taken forever to finish. By the time five thirty rolled around, Jude was chomping at the bit to get home and start getting ready. His apartment was only a few blocks away and he walked most of the time, but today, walking just seemed to take forever. The guys made sure to give him parting shots as he all but bolted out the door. He was excited. He couldn’t hide or help it.
An unfamiliar number popped up on his cell phone as he pulled up Logan Carter’s picture one more time. He knew it was silly, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Logan was pretty, and he was nervous that he wouldn’t like him. Logan was a shifter and a gorgeous hunk o’ manflesh. But beyond that, his profile said that he had adopted his little brother after his parents died, which was just too sweet. Jude didn’t feel like he had much to offer a guy like that. He did some charity work, sure. But he was scrawny and disheveled, his muscles more from good genes than any sort of workout. His wardrobe was leftover from college, jeans and T-shirts were staples.
He hit the send button and lifted the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hi, Jude,” a familiar voice drawled from the other side of the phone. “Is it true that you just put up a profile of yourself on a dating website?”
Jude frowned. “How did you get my new number, Nick? And why the hell do you care? We’re over, remember?” His ex had an uncanny way of popping up when Jude least expected it.
“A friend of mine at work told me that
you were whoring yourself out on the net. I just didn’t believe it.” Nick sounded like he was getting pissed, and for a split second, Jude felt an answering fear of disappointing him creep up. He banished the feeling immediately, replacing it with rage.
“Good-bye, Nick.” He hung up the phone and quickly blocked the number. He sighed. He’d have to get his number changed.
Some of his excitement was gone because of the incident, but he was determined to enjoy this. He wasn’t letting Nick or anyone else ruin it for him. He turned his attention back to where he was walking and sidestepped a discarded newspaper on the sidewalk. The only thing he needed to worry about was what he was going to wear.
* * * *
Logan nursed his beer as he waited for his date to show. Though Orion had told him that he looked like a stud, he didn’t really trust the opinion of a sixteen-year-old who had a propensity for wearing shirts with slogans like “If you think I look good, imagine how I taste.” He’d kept it simple with a black T-shirt and dark-wash blue jeans with his good sneakers. He didn’t want to set outlandish expectations by wearing a suit to what amounted to a shifter bar.
He’d taken up residence at a table across from the entrance so he wouldn’t miss the human when he came in. He scented the air and realized that it wouldn’t be that difficult even if he didn’t see him. The bar was packed with shifters and very few humans. It was odd that sHarmony sent them here first. He figured they would prefer a more neutral territory like a restaurant. This whole sink-or-swim principle seemed a bit extreme to him. However, with all the shifter bashers out there who insisted that shifting was a “lifestyle” choice since they didn’t have to shift, it was understandable that they would make people go to a shifter-friendly venue. Though Logan knew at his size and strength that the average bigot wouldn’t be able to do any damage, someone like the little seahorse who worked at sHarmony as a receptionist probably wouldn’t fare as well.
He raised his head in time to see a little slip of a man come through the door. Logan’s reaction was even more profound then when he first saw the human’s profile in his e-mail. His cock twitched in interest, and his animal stood up and paid attention, straining against his metaphysical leash in an effort to get a little closer. He resisted the urge to adjust himself through his blue jeans and instead raised his hand in greeting. At this time of night, the crowd was still light and only two dozen people or so were packed around the bar and tables. The dance floor was empty.
Jude Lawson smiled prettily when he saw Logan and beelined toward his table. Logan’s heart tripped over itself as the smaller male approached. He was a gorgeous little thing. It wasn’t that he was gorgeous in the traditional sense of all-American surfer, but he was certainly appealing in a little bit nerdy way. He had on a collared gray T-shirt with some kind of logo on the chest and a pair of blue jeans. His outfit ended in a pair of Converse that made the whole ensemble seem a little bit boyish.
Logan smiled. “Hi. You must be Jude.” He extended his hand for a shake and was pleased when there was no hesitation in Jude’s acceptance.
“And you’re Logan Carter. It’s a nice to meet you.” His hand fit neatly into Logan’s, and the spark between them was almost visible it was so strong.
“Pleasure’s mine,” Logan rumbled, unable to keep a little bit of the animal out of his voice.
Jude swallowed and licked his bottom lip. “Uh, so, I see you’ve already got a drink. You mind if I go to the bar and grab one as well?”
Logan shrugged. “You’re welcome to go, or I could flag down the waitress when she comes by.” He smiled. “Human’s choice.” He had told himself he wouldn’t point out the fact that they were from two different subspecies, but it had just slipped out. Way to go.
Instead of getting offended, Jude just tucked a stray lock of chocolate-brown hair behind his ear. He needed a haircut, but it was cute. Apparently everything about him was cute to Logan. “I’ll wait. Don’t need to spend our entire date trying to flag down the bartender and convince him I’m of age.” He laughed, and Logan couldn’t help but smile at the lyrical sound. “I’m twenty-two in case you were wondering.”
“I didn’t think you had a fake ID,” Logan teased. “Plus, they send me your age in your profile.”
“Oh,” Jude said, the smell of blush permeating the air. He was adorable.
“But it’s always nice to be reassured,” Logan said as the silence stretched on. He hadn’t meant to make the man uncomfortable. “Erm, so why did you get on with sHarmony?”
“My friend Evan found the site and decided that me and our other friend Collin were going to sign up with him. I was surprised I got a date so soon. I thought it would take longer. Evan is so jealous. Especially since you’re so—” He cut himself off, his cheeks reddening visibly despite the dim bar light.
Logan chuckled at his slip. “That’s okay. My younger brother was pretty impressed with how beautiful you were as well.”
“You think I’m beautiful?” Pleasure blossomed over the human’s expressive face.
“Of course.”
The waitress sidled up to the table, her notepad at the ready. “Hi, darlin’. What can I get for you?” She was a pretty little thing with long brown hair and big brown eyes. She was a deer, too, by her scent.
Jude turned his head to look at her head-on. “Gin and tonic, please.”
“Coming right up, suga,” she said, closing her little pad before tucking it into her apron. “You need another beer?”
“Please.”
She wandered off, leaving the two of them alone once again.
Logan finished off his bottle of beer. “So tell me about yourself, Jude.”
“Quid pro quo, Mr. Carter. It’s my turn.”
He loved that movie. “As you will, Dr. Lawson. Ask away.” He was enjoying this. He’d expected this initial meeting to be much more awkward than it was turning out.
“So you live with your younger brother?”
Logan nodded. “Yes. I should have told you that right off the bat. I took in my little brother after my folks died. He’s a big part of my life, and if you can’t accept that I come with an appendage, this ends now.” He had to make that a hard line after what happened to Joshua. He didn’t want any misunderstandings later.
The gin and tonic was delivered, and Jude took a sip. “I’m not going to lie and say that the prospect of helping raising a teen doesn’t intimidate me a bit, but I’m willing to give it consideration if this works out.”
“Orion doesn’t need a parent,” Logan said, needing to reassure Jude that he wouldn’t be that. Orion didn’t need it. “He just needs occasional guidance and support, which I’ve got covered. I’d ask you to be a friend more anything else.”
“Noted,” Jude said, inclining his head in acknowledgement. “Orion is a pretty name. I like it.”
Now that the situation is clear. “So what do you do for a living, Jude?”
“I work as a website designer. My other two friends are partners with me at the company we started.”
“Oh nice. I’ve always wanted to date an artist.” He loved creative people. The architects he occasionally worked with were always people of fascination for him. “I work as a construction manager.”
Their conversation continued on in the same fashion, the banter easy and carefree. Logan relaxed as they finished off two drinks a piece. The club was starting to fill up now, the dance floor crowded and moving as they played the top fifty hits. Orion would’ve probably loved it. Logan didn’t know most of the songs, but they had pretty good beats. He, like his favorite character from Supernatural, was addicted to classic rock.
“Do you want to dance?” Jude asked, motioning toward the dance floor. “It looks pretty lively out there.”
“I’m not a great dancer, but I could be convinced,” Logan said, grinning. Jude hopped off his seat, and Logan followed suit.
Logan’s eyes followed Jude’s movement as he walked gracefully to the dance floor. sHarmony real
ly knew what they were doing with these matches. Logan couldn’t remember the last time he had such a good time. His animal was enjoying Jude, too, which had never really happened before either.
He was feeling especially bold when he reached out and twined their hands before spinning the smaller man into his chest. Jude laughed, his eyes bright. “You sure you’re not a good dancer?”
“Maybe I needed the right partner.”
The beat changed, becoming earthier with a bass that was designed to bring up the most primal instincts in all the shifters in attendance. The fine hairs on his forearms stood on end as his animal all but howled to get closer to his date. He shivered as Jude moved against him, his body aligned perfectly with Logan’s. Jude twisted his hips, his cock grinding against Logan’s thigh as they danced. The man was half-hard, and Logan couldn’t help but notice. His inner fox made a growling sound of happiness that erupted from lips.
Jude’s eyes met his. “Was that a good noise?” Logan would give it to him. He didn’t look the least bit scared of the prospect.
“A great noise.” Logan pulled him even closer so Jude could feel the answering press of his arousal against his body. Jude’s pupils dilated, and the scent of arousal perfumed the air. Oh wow. He smells delicious.
“Completely inappropriate, but do you want to get out of here?” Jude asked, giving a particularly eye-crossing grind.
“Coffee?” Logan asked, not wanting to get the wrong impression. He would give his canines to be able to get naked with Jude right now, but it seemed rushed by human standards. Shifters usually didn’t have the same compulsions when it came to the dance of courtship, but he respected Jude’s human boundaries.
Jude licked his lips. “Then will you come home with me?”
Logan’s cock jerked and his animal howled in triumph. “If you want.”