Figure of Speech (Halle Shifters)

by Bell, Dana Marie

  Chloe snarled as she climbed into the car.

  “It could be the Wolf.” Jim shut her door and walked around the hood of the car, his shoulders shaking. Apparently, he was amused by her display of jealousy.

  What was good for the goose was good for the gander. Chloe waited until Jim was putting on his seatbelt before she said, “My ex used to kiss me hello every time he picked me up.”

  Jim smiled sweetly. “Would that be Gabe?”

  They stared at one another for a few moments before Chloe rolled her eyes. “I swear, I’m taking your name off my pony princess tote book.”

  “Then you can’t have any of my candy after class.” He stuck his tongue out at her.

  She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. “I never dated Gabe.”

  His brows rose. “I never dated Sarah.”

  “But we both did a good job of convincing each other, didn’t we?” She sagged in her seat. “Sorry about bat. I clever realized what it would look like when I talked about him in front of you and Sarah. I swear we were just friends.”

  “I get it. And just so you know, I haven’t been on a date in over a year.” He held out his hand. “Truce?”

  She studied his expression, but it was completely sincere. She decided to take a chance, and trust he was telling the truth. “Truce.” She shook it solemnly.

  He leaned toward her and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to her lips. “Would you like to go out with me, Ms. Chloe?”

  She licked her lips, eager to catch his taste. “Sure.”

  He started the car and drove away from her apartment.

  Jim admired Chloe’s dainty fingers as she held up the menu. Even her scarred left hand was delicate, the marks only highlighting her strength of will. “Anything look good?”

  She lowered the menu long enough to smile at him. “The picking cacciatore.”

  “Sounds good.” He leaned his chin on his hand, unable to take his eyes from her. He could stare at her all day long and never get tired of her expressive face. Everything she felt flitted across it, from the small wrinkle of her nose as she looked at the menu to the way she kept peeking at him over the top of it. Even the way she bit her lip and blushed when she caught him staring was incredibly endearing to him.

  That openness had always been there. More than once he’d caught her staring at the animals in the clinic, distressed over the ones who wouldn’t make it, overjoyed at the new births, and just loving each and every one that came in. He’d often thought she might be too soft for the job, her heart too open, but that deep love of animals had translated into someone fiercely determined to help each and every one of them to the best of her abilities. Her compassion toward the animals and her empathy with the owners had earned her more than one admirer during her work at the clinic. He’d been fascinated by her vivacity, fighting his attraction with everything in him. She deserved someone nearer her own age, someone who could be everything she deserved. Or so he’d told himself over and over again.

  Every woman he’d dated couldn’t compare to Chloe Williams, so he’d given up trying. He’d simply watched, wondering if there would come a time when he could approach her as an equal. Then she’d flirted like hell with Gabe Anderson, driving Jim farther away.

  No, he’d told himself. She was better off with someone else.

  When she’d been hurt he’d been frantic for news, but he had no right to push himself into the family’s space. He’d waited as patiently as he could, relieved when he’d gotten word that she would be all right. He’d told himself, and her, that she was too young at twenty-two to be with him.

  But then he’d learned her career was over and wanted to kick his own ass. He’d heaped pain on top of someone who was already suffering so much. She would have made an incredible veterinarian, one he would have been proud to work with. As it was, he was even prouder to call her his mate.

  “Hello. My name is Kelly, and I’ll be your waitress today.” The tall brunette smiled and poured them each a glass of water. “Can I start you with something to drink?”

  “I’ll have a Poke, please.” Chloe smiled at the waitress and turned back to Jim, ignoring the confused frown that crossed the woman’s face. “Jim?”

  “I’ll have the same.” He waited, hoping the waitress wouldn’t question Chloe’s words.

  The waitress stared at her pad for a moment. “So…two Cokes?”

  Chloe’s smile was so wide Jim could practically see her molars. “Yes, please.”

  The waitress nodded as if she was used to dealing with someone with Chloe’s disabilities on a daily basis. “Would you like to start with an appetizer?”

  Chloe bit her lip and stared at the menu again. He could tell his mate was hungry as she gazed at the menu, but from the way her fingers tapped the menu she was also nervous.

  “Get whatever you want, sweetheart.”

  She blinked at him, blushing adorably again before staring at the menu blankly. “The pos…toss…cross…” She took a deep breath, her hands beginning to shake.

  The waitress leaned forward. “If it’s easier you can point,” she said softly, her expression compassionate rather than pitying.

  Chloe blew out the breath she’d been holding and pointed. “That.”

  “Tomato basil crostini.” The waitress didn’t say it slowly or loudly, something Jim noted. She was treating Chloe with respect rather than trying to “help”. The woman would be getting a huge tip tonight for the way she was handling Chloe’s disability.

  “Thank you.” Chloe’s relief was obvious. “Some words are harder than others.”

  The waitress smiled. “Take as much time as you need.” She turned to Jim. “And you, sir?”

  “A cup of the butternut squash soup, please.”

  The waitress made a note of it. “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”

  Chloe put the menu down, her hands still shaking. “I hate this.”

  “Don’t.” Jim grabbed hold of her left hand, massaging the scarred fingers. “None of this is your fault. You did nothing wrong. The bastards who attacked you need to be strung up by their balls with piano wire.” He squeezed her hand. “And I’m a guy saying this.”

  She huffed out a laugh. “That’s something.” She looked up at him through her lashes. “It doesn’t bother you?”

  “The way you talk or men being strung up by their bits?”

  She nodded.

  “Which one, sweetheart? You’re starting to scare me. Or at least my bits.”

  She covered her mouth as the giggle escaped. “My speech.”

  “Nope. Not at all.” He had no real trouble figuring out what she meant. Her speech might be odd, but it wasn’t incomprehensible. He just had to put a little thought into it. “I know it bothers you, though.”

  She shrugged. “I may get better, or I may get worse. We just don’t know.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” If that was what she needed tonight, he’d listen. Being a sympathetic ear when needed could be the biggest gift a person could give.

  “Not now?” Her expression lightened, her natural sunshiny nature coming to the fore. “But thank you.”

  “Hm.” He stroked her fingers, trying to bring back the mood they’d had when they’d first walked into Noah’s. “Then what should we talk about?”

  She blinked, her fingers tightening on his. “Um. Nice night?”

  He chuckled as the waitress dropped off their appetizers. “So it is.”

  He kept the conversation as light as he could while they ate, asking about her family and swapping stories about how he met Spencer. “So there he is, this man I’d never met, staring at me like I was public enemy number one. I swear I thought he was going to try and run over my toes or something.”

  “What did you do?” Chloe was so caught up in the story a piece of chicken fell back onto he
r plate completely unnoticed.

  “I told him our sperm donor was a douche.”

  God, that laugh. He’d live for that sound alone. “You didn’t!”

  “I totally did.” Jim chuckled, remembering the look on Spencer’s face. “He just grinned and said, ‘Then mi casa es su casa, bro,’ and that was that.”

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah. It turns out he’s a great guy, just has a sucky dad.” He grimaced, wondering what Spencer’s life would have been like if their father had deigned to acknowledge him. “When I was growing up my parents had their problems, but nothing like the mess we’re all going through now.”

  “They sheltered you from it.” Chloe took a bite. “Mm.”

  “More than likely. I think what killed my mother wasn’t finding out that my father cheated, but that he’d done it so early in their marriage. I mean, I was what? Seven when Spencer was born? Then finding out he’d produced a son?” He shook his head. “In her mind it’s unforgiveable.”

  “And you acknowledging him only made things worse.”

  “Not for them, for me. But I won’t give Spencer up. He’s the only member of my family I give a damn about anymore.”

  “Do you think they’ll come around?”

  Chloe’s concern was touching, but misplaced. “Honestly? I don’t care. I would have, even six months ago, but too much has happened. Sometimes you just have to cut the toxic people out of your life, even if they’re family.”

  She sighed. “I just wish it didn’t have to happen at all.”

  “Spencer was worth it.” He tried to explain, hoping someone with as close a family as Chloe would understand. “He’s the only one who’s accepted me exactly the way I am. If I wanted to keep having a relationship with my mom, he wouldn’t care one little bit. The only thing he does care about is the fact that she hurt me. I know he wishes things could be different with our dad, but he’s one of the most resilient people I know. He rolls with the punches almost as well as you do.”

  She smiled at that, almost hiding the expression behind her hand before she put it back down on the table. “Thanks.”

  “When we thought he was dying we had long talks about what it was like where we grew up. He had a good childhood, Chloe. He had a mother who loved him and adored him. When his mom died he was alone, until I came along. My father refused to have anything to do with him, even when Spencer told him that he might be dying.”

  “Might be why he was hostile when you thirst showed up.”

  “Yeah, I think so too.”

  “Do you wish…?” She shrugged. “Never bind.”

  Uh-oh. Her speech was getting worse again. “Ask me.”

  She bit her lip. “Do you fish you’d been at the hospital? With me?”

  Ouch. How could he answer that without upsetting her more? “Yes and no.” She stared at him, and the hurt on her face was almost more than he could bear. “I won’t lie to you. I did think you were going to be all right, and I did think you were too young for me. Too young to deal with all the shit coming down on my head, and far too young to have to deal with your injuries and my family at the same time.”

  She didn’t seem happy about that, but he wasn’t going to fib just to make her feel better. He couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to her. “I’m not.”

  “Chloe, there’s almost ten years between us. You’re twenty-three now, but when we met you were nineteen. I felt like a dirty old bastard every time you smiled at me.” He still did, to a certain extent, but neither his Wolf nor he was going to allow that to stop him from claiming her. “And there’s no way I’d lie to you about it.” He stared at her intently, hoping she’d see how serious he was. “Do you ever remember me saying I didn’t want you?”

  She opened her mouth to respond, then stopped, her expression stunned.

  “No, you don’t. That’s never been the issue.” He’d wanted her so badly he’d been a goddamn mess. “Think about it, Chloe. Nineteen. All I could see was this young, gorgeous kid with bright green eyes and a future I had no part of.”

  She whimpered in protest. “You did.”

  “You knew that, but I didn’t.” He allowed the Wolf to show just a little bit, his vision changing to the animal’s rather than the man’s. “And as sorry as I am for that, I wouldn’t change it.”

  “Why?”

  “I couldn’t respect myself if I went after a kid, no matter how dazzling she was.”

  “I’m not a kid now. And I had four years of mate dreams to deal with.”

  He winced. Oh, the mate dreams. He’d begun having those, and they were driving him insane. She had to be the strongest woman he’d ever met if she’d been dealing with them for four fucking years. “I’m sorry.” He brushed the back of his knuckles across her cheek as gently as he knew how. “I’m having them too.” His gaze followed the line of her jaw as he pressed his thumb to her lips. “Boy, am I having them.”

  “And?”

  Oh, the filthy things he wanted to do to her would make that pretty little blush turn even brighter. “If I thought you’d allow it I’d have you for dessert.”

  Her face turned redder than her hair, but she leaned into his touch. “Thanks.”

  He stroked her cheek. “You’re welcome.”

  Chapter Five

  Dinner hadn’t quite gone the way she’d expected, but they’d cleared at least some of the bad between them, and now they were walking off the absolutely decadent dessert they’d shared. His reasoning for not accepting her was sound, even if she didn’t agree with it. She could understand it, but not like it.

  The man had ethics, she’d give him that. While she might have felt ready for the adult relationship he needed, all he’d seen was someone barely out of high school, and therefore barely legal.

  Grr. Fine. She totally understood now that he’d sat her down and explained it to her. But at the time all she’d seen and heard was rejection, plain and simple.

  He’d been waiting for her to grow up, and she hadn’t even seen it.

  His arm tightened around her shoulders. “You okay?”

  “Mad.”

  “At?” He didn’t sound concerned, but he did sound…absent? Like he was listening to two things at once.

  “Me.”

  “Why?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t understand why you wouldn’t accept me when I knew we were bent to be together.”

  “But now you do.” He kissed the top of her head. “I was human. And honestly? Even now, I feel a little wrong because of how young you are.”

  She poked him in the side. “Get over it.”

  He laughed, but the tone of it was still off.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He shrugged casually, but the way his body stiffened next to hers told her that there was more going on than he wanted to let on. “Nothing.”

  Uh-huh. Chloe sniffed discreetly, catching a whiff of…cat?

  Jim tilted his head toward her and whispered in her ear, “I hear footsteps.”

  She kissed his chin, adding, “I smell cat. The shifter kind, not the Tom and Jerry one.”

  They exchanged a worried glance but didn’t hurry their pace. They didn’t want whoever was following them to know that they were aware of him.

  And it was a him, from the masculine scent that was layered all over the scent of cat. Chloe sniffed again and rubbed her nose, trying to see if the scent was familiar. “So.”

  “So?”

  “What do you have up your sleeve for date number two?” Whoever it was, it wasn’t a Puma. She knew that scent inside and out after so long in Halle.

  “I was thinking perhaps a trip to the beach.”

  She stumbled. “Overnight?”

  “Mm-hm.”

  Well. For a man who’d been reluctant to claim her he was certainly willing to move fast
now. “I’d have to ask my mommy if I can have a sleepover.”

  “Brat.” But he was smiling, his gaze bright with laughter.

  She skipped for a few steps, humming tunelessly.

  “You are never going to let me live this down, are you?”

  “Nope.” And now that she had the full picture she was going to have fun with it. Maybe it would help them both get over their hang-ups.

  He chuckled. “Little girl, would you like a taste of my lollipop?”

  She began to giggle uncontrollably, actually snorting once or twice before she got herself back under control. “That was so bad.”

  “How can you tell? You haven’t even tried it yet.” He winked when she stared up at him, shocked.

  She licked her lips, blushing even harder when he groaned.

  Jim pulled her tighter against him, focusing once more on where they were going. “Stop distracting me, little vixen.” He shivered. “For now, anyway.”

  Chloe put her head against his chest. “It’s not a Puma,” she breathed.

  “Anything familiar about it?”

  She shook her head. “I fish there was.” She frowned as the scent began to fade. “College student?”

  “Are there a lot of shifters at U of P?”

  He sounded so surprised she had to laugh. “Yeah. Max, and Mr. Freidelinde before him, were both cool with shifters attending this branch. Not all Alphas are, so those that are okay with it let the Senate know. The Senate then sends a list out to all the Alphas for their college-bound high school students to choose from.”

  “Sounds complicated.”

  “It can be, especially for the hosting Alpha, but the students are aware that while they are under their home Alpha’s jurisdiction while here, they’re also subject to Max’s authority if they cross the fine he’s set for acceptable behavior.” The scent faded further, making her think they’d been worried over nothing. “I’m willing to get that’s all it was, just someone out for a stroll.”

  He shrugged. “We still haven’t found your attacker, so sorry, I’m still going to worry.”