by Lola Kidd
Sarah sat up in bed. “He lives in Sunset Falls.”
“Yup. He sure does. I knew you two were perfect for each other. The minute I saw you walk up at the airport, I just felt it in my bones. He was the whole reason I wanted you to sign up. I didn’t think I’d be able to convince him, but he called me last night. This is all very exciting. I just know you two are going to hit it off. Would you like me to tell him it’s okay to contact you?”
“Yeah. Send everything over and initiate contact. Thanks, Liv.”
Sarah hung up and flopped back down on her pillow. She’d been matched with an American. She hadn’t specified that she wanted someone from her country. At the time, it hadn’t seemed very important. She’d thought she wouldn’t mind the adventure of a foreign match. Now that it was happening, she felt different. Why would she want to move to America? Yes, her aunt and uncle were here and loved it, but that didn’t mean she would love it too. The town was nice, but could she stay here forever? She had friends back home and her parents were there most of the year.
On the other hand, her entire family were travelers. Her parents spent months every year traveling now that they were retired. They were looking into buying property in South or Central America for the winter and were even talking about getting a rental property somewhere in the States. All her cousins had also moved out of the country. It wouldn’t be a stretch for her to emigrate too.
Kai was a very good-looking man. Extremely good-looking. He had seemed very nice while they were flying, too. Maybe they were fated mates or something. But he was a father. Sarah wanted a family, but she wasn’t sure if she was ready to be a mom to an almost-grown child. She and KJ weren’t that far apart in age. It would be weird to have a stepson in high school. What if he hated her for telling Kai his secret? She knew it was the right thing to do, but teens weren’t the most reasonable people in the world.
There was so much to think about. She looked at his profile and then checked her email for the morning. In addition to emails from her parents and best friends, Sarah was surprised to see an email from Kai already. He was going to be out of town all day but he wondered if she wanted to grab a late dinner at Two Wolves that very night.
She put her laptop on the floor and then pulled the covers over her head. She hadn’t thought he’d get back to her so quickly. It hadn’t even been an hour yet. Kai must have been very excited if he was so quick to respond.
She’d barely had time to process the match and he was ready for a date already. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this mail-order bride thing. She had only applied on the advice of a woman she’d known for a couple of hours. This was why she tried to never do anything rash on holiday. It was too easy to get caught up in the relaxed mood and think she was invincible and only made good decisions.
She lay in bed for another hour mulling over her fears and options going forward. Two Wolves was the best American restaurant in town. She’d been planning on going to grab lunch there at least once while she was in town. It couldn’t hurt to go on one dinner date with Kai, she decided. She was going to try the restaurant out at some time anyway. Besides, it wasn’t like they were going to get married right away. There was still time for her to turn him down and go back to her life in Australia. No pressure. Just a fun date with a hot guy.
Four
“You look wonderful.” Reba took another picture of Sarah with her phone.
“That’s enough. Mom has seen me in a dress before,” Sarah told her aunt.
“This could be the first date you have with your husband,” Reba protested. “I can’t take enough pictures. Your future children will thank us.”
“You’d be the first in the family to have shifter kids,” Pete said. “First veterinarian and first with shifter kids. You must really love animals, eh?”
Reba glared at Pete. “You can’t call them animals. What century is this, Pete? You’re going to embarrass us and we’ll have to move again.”
“It was a joke,” Pete said. “I wouldn’t ever call anyone an animal. I’m just trying to lighten the evening up. Don’t take this too seriously, Reba. It’s only a first date.”
“It’s a mail-order bride date. I’d say that was pretty serious.” Reba took more pictures of Sarah walking down the porch steps.
“Don’t get your hopes up yet.” Pete put his arm around his wife and smiled at his niece. “No offense, girlie. You haven’t said you were going to marry the chap yet. It’s just a date. Remember that, ladies. It’s just a date.”
Sarah waved over her shoulder. “No offense taken. Don’t worry, Uncle Pete. I’m not taking it too serious. I’ll see you guys later tonight.”
She was meeting Kai at the small park down the street from Pete and Reba’s house. He’d wanted to pick her up from the house but she’d convinced him the park was the better choice. Reba was making way too big a deal of the occasion, and it was making Sarah nervous.
She’d only made a small investment so far. She was wearing a new dress and tights she’d bought in town. It was a very pretty look but not overly sexy. She was trying to set the right tone for the evening. Had Kai met her at the house, it would have been ruined. She had been trying to keep her hopes at a reasonable level and her excitement tempered.
The short walk was invigorating and made her feel even lighter than before. Even repeating “this is not a big deal” to herself didn’t help. She saw him sitting at the gazebo and waved. Her heart beat furiously in her chest and she couldn’t help smiling ear to ear. He was just so handsome. She wasn’t even fooling herself. She was very excited for the date. Even if he was an American and had a kid, he was still a nice guy with great potential.
He jumped up and came to meet her on the sidewalk. “Nice to see you again.”
Sarah smiled. “Very nice.”
Kai offered her his arm as they began the walk downtown. “It’s a pretty short walk to Two Wolves. We won’t have to walk home, though. It can get chilly here once the sun goes down. I’m parked at the restaurant.”
“Good thinking,” Sarah said. “How was your work day?”
“Pretty easy for a Monday. I didn’t have any passenger flights, but I did do a supply run for someone in town.”
“Right. Supply run means they pay you to pick stuff up, right? I bet that’s very expensive.”
“Not usually. I try to keep my rates reasonable for my customers. I try to wait until I have multiple runs before heading out. If there are five people paying for special pickups, it’s a lot cheaper for each one.”
“I see. Do you fly every single day?”
“No way.” Kai laughed. “I’d be braindead if I did that. I fly four days a week, but I have to be in the office for three days now that things are busy.”
“You work seven days a week?” Sarah was impressed. “I usually work six and people think I’m crazy.”
Kai held the door to of the restaurant open for her. “I’m really only in the office for six days. I try to stay out of work at least once a week. It’s hard being my own boss sometimes. I know exactly how much work is piling up when I’m out of the office. And I know what’s possible if I work just two hours each day on the weekend.”
Sarah looked around the place. It looked exactly like she pictured an American eatery. It also smelled delightful.
They sat at a booth near the back. Once they had their menus, Kai continued the conversation. “You’re a vet, right? You can understand what it’s like to be dedicated to your work.”
“Oh, for sure. My friends tell me that I’m going to have to slow down once I have kids, but I can’t imagine it. I’ll just work more nine-to-five days, but I couldn’t see myself not coming in every day. My animals need me.”
Kai nodded. “It’s tough. I worked less when KJ was younger. My parents were still living in the same town as us back then. I had it easy since my mom would babysit all the time. But I still didn’t want to miss those important milestones.”
“Oh, totally. That makes much more sens
e to me.” The waitress came and took their orders. Then Sarah went on, “Speaking of KJ, we have to talk about that, right?”
“I would say so. I have to thank you big-time for taking interest in a kid by himself, and an even bigger thank you for telling me what you found out.”
Sarah shrugged. “I didn’t have much of a choice. Once he told me, I had to tell you or I would have felt awful. I know how important shifting is and how unusual KJ is. If it was my kid, I would want to know. How’s he doing?”
Kai sighed. “Not great. He’s just hitting the rebellious phase and it isn’t helping that some punk counselor at the school is spreading misinformation about shifters.”
“That’s awful. You have a very vibrant shifter community in Sunset Falls. How is he getting away with doing that?”
“I don’t think anyone knows. I’ve heard grumblings before, but never anything like this. I’m going to have a word with the principal later this week.”
“Good. Seems like they’re adding to your already full workload with that kind of behavior.”
“They are, but it’s always something. I’m sure that things are crazy at your job too.”
“Not really,” Sarah admitted. “That’s why I came here on holiday. I work six days a week because it’s easier for my patients. I don’t want to make an animal have to wait for treatment because I got a little too drunk on a Wednesday girls’ night.”
“You have other doctors at your clinic, right?” Kai asked.
“We do, but…I don’t know. I guess I prefer to work. I don’t know what to do with myself when I’m not at work.”
“Your parents travel too, right?”
“They do.”
Kai nodded. “Mine do too. I think part of the reason is that antsy feeling they got once they both retired. I think I’ll end up the same way if I ever retire. Even with KJ, I’m like you. I do like to work. It makes me feel like I’m giving back.”
“Exactly. That’s how it feels. I haven’t been on holiday since I graduated and started my job.”
“How’s the holiday going?” Kai smiled. “I hope you say it’s going very well. I don’t know, thanks to a dashing leopard shifter, maybe.”
Sarah laughed. “It’s going really great. I’m actually enjoying myself. This town is so wonderful. And of course there are the dashing shifters.”
“Of course, I hope that you like it enough to live here one day.” Kai was serious again. “I know it’s a far move but I think you would love it here. If it came to that, I mean. I don’t want to pressure you or anything.”
Sarah cleared her throat and took a long drink of water. She hoped that would be the last talk of moving for the night. She liked being around Kai. She’d felt that way since they met at the airport. She just wanted to get to know him more before starting to make grand plans in her mind. Even talking about it made her nervous.
Thankfully, the rest of the date went swimmingly. There was no more talk of moves or anything else of the sort. They talked about themselves and their past. By the end of the night, Sarah felt even closer to Kai. It had only been one date but he’d been completely open with her. She’d never been out with a more direct and honest man. It was so much easier since they both knew why they were there. She should have checked out this mail-order bride thing ages ago. It cut through all the games that plagued the first few months of a relationship. It was truly the best date she had ever been on.
At the end of the night, he drove her back to Reba and Pete’s. They sat in the car awkwardly before Kai leaned across the gearshift and kissed her. Sarah let herself lean in to the kiss and ran her hands through his thick black hair.
“Good night.” Kai leaned back and caressed her cheek with in his hand. “I had a great time tonight. I hope we can do it again.”
“Me too,” Sarah said dreamily.
“Great. I’ll see you on Thursday?”
“Oh, okay.”
Sarah got out of the car and swung her purse as she walked up the front steps. She wasn’t sure yet if she liked Sunset Falls enough to stay, but she did know she liked Kai Waters very much. Enough to begin considering a move halfway across the world.
***
Kai made sure Sarah was inside her house safely before heading back to Two Wolves. When he’d parked his car earlier, Mark Lunar had spotted him and wanted to talk. Kai had said he was on a date and they could talk another time. Mark said it was important, so Kai had agreed to meet him after he’d dropped Sarah off. At least it ensured he’d be a gentleman on their first date. After that kiss, he was glad he had the extra incentive.
Sarah was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He’d liked her when he first saw her, but he chalked that up to lust at first sight. When they were matched via LK Brides, he’d known it might be something. His leopard was telling him that this was it, but his human side was worried. It wasn’t just that Sarah was a human woman. She was also from another country. What if she didn’t want to move to America? He also had to think about KJ. He might still be angry with Sarah for breaking his confidence.
The date and subsequent kiss had proved to him that he didn’t need to be worried much. KJ could get over Sarah spilling his secret. It also didn’t matter that she was a human. She seemed to be very knowledgeable about shifters. He only had one thing to worry about. Would she like him enough to move to America for him? Only time would tell but he was feeling very good when he parked at Two Wolves for the second time that night.
He found the alpha twins of the Lunar Pack waiting at the counter inside.
“Thanks for coming.” Mark shook his hand. “I didn’t want to let this one wait much longer. We’ve had some disturbing news about a counselor at the school.”
“McGarber.” Kai scowled.
Mark and Matt exchanged glances. “KJ’s told you about him?” Matt asked.
“He said that the guy has been giving him shifter ‘facts’.”
Mark snorted. “If that’s what you want to call them. Did you know that KJ shifted in school?”
Kai nodded. “I heard about it. Not from KJ. He won’t talk to me about it much. He seems really conflicted. I don’t think this McGarber guy is helping.”
“You know two of the pack boys are trying to teach him how to control himself?” Mark said. “It isn’t going great. They broke a coffee table in one of the boys’ homes. That’s how we heard about all this.”
“We’ve heard stirrings about this McGarber guy before,” Matt said. “No one mentioned him by name, but they said things were different at the high school now.”
“It’s trickling down to the middle school now and I’m sure in time it will hit the elementary school too.” Mark growled. “I don’t want this guy filling our kids’ minds with lies.”
“I’m meeting with the principal to discuss the matter on Wednesday. You could come along,” Kai suggested.
“That would be great. You’re one step ahead of us, man,” Mark said. “We want to get Owen Brooks in on this too. He’s an alpha too and I’m sure he’d want a voice in this.”
“We were going to meet with the principal as alphas, but maybe it would be better if there were more parents there,” Matt said. “Do you know anyone else who’d be interested?”
Kai shook his head. “I don’t talk to many parents.”
“That’s fine,” Matt said. “I think we can get some of the pack moms to talk to their friends.”
“Sounds great.” Kai yawned. “It’s getting late. Want to talk about this again tomorrow? Maybe an email chain?”
“Sure.” Mark shook Kai’s hand again. He pulled Kai in close before letting go. “But you can’t leave before you tell us about your hot date.”
Kai grinned. “There’s nothing to tell. Yet. This was our first date.”
“We know,” Matt said. “Olivia was in earlier. She’s been crowing about your match all over town.”
“You’re her white whale.” Mark laughed. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to g
et away from this one easily. She’s going to want to see an engagement before she leaves town.”
“I don’t know if I can give her that,” Kai said. “It’s just been one date. I have a kid. I can’t go getting married whenever I please.”
“Does KJ know you got matched?” Mark asked.
Kai nodded. “I did it because of him. He thinks I’m not dating or shifting because I hate being a shifter. I think one of the best things I can do for him is show him shifters can have loving relationships too.”
“Has he been sleeping this last year?” Matt asked. “There were triple the normal number of marriages last year in Sunset Falls.”
“And we’re having a baby boom this year,” Mark added. “Don’t feel like you have to get hitched to teach him a lesson. He was pulling at straws.”
“Naw, I’m not feeling pressure. I’m actually enjoying myself. Sarah is a great girl, and my leopard likes her a lot. I think we could have something.”
“Congratulations, man.” Matt gave him an impromptu hug. “Enjoy it while you can. It’s a crazy ride in the beginning.”
“I’ll try.” Kai smiled. “I’ll send out an email tonight and you guys can add whomever.”
Matt nodded. “Will do. Have a great night, man.”
Kai left the restaurant feeling great. Things were going sideways with his son but he was confident they would turn around. He had a whole community to stand with him. And he had a great relationship starting. He should have taken Olivia up on her offer sooner. Life was better when you were with LK!
Five
“They’re filming a new ad, did you hear?” Reba asked Sarah.
“No. Makes sense. It was a very popular ad, from what I hear.”
They were in the shop. Pete was making a late lunch order in back and Reba was pressing Sarah for more details about her date—but Reba was using the most roundabout method to go about it.
“It was. Maybe you’ll be able to be in this one?” Reba asked.