by Dani April
“Did the sun finally come out?” Sarah asked her.
“Finally came out and it’s a reasonably nice day, only a tad on the hot side.”
“I guess maybe the fresh air will do me good.”
Carrying their lunches, they started for the elevator. “Big plans this weekend?” Ruth always allowed herself to be nosey.
“My big plans are to sleep all weekend and try to finally recover from the postvacation blues.”
Just down the street from their building there was a scattering of benches and a few trees providing only minimal shade. Sarah and Ruth had eaten many a lunch here and back in the winter Sarah had even planned her vacation to Montana while seated on one of these benches. It was a spot to relax and people watch and forget about the rush of the day for an hour.
“Well would you look at that!” Ruth exclaimed and almost dropped her lunch-meat sandwich into Sarah’s lap.
Sarah had her nose in a magazine and was holding her untouched soda a few inches from her lips. Ruth’s call roused her from her lethargy, and she looked up. Immediately her eyes went in the direction of Ruth’s stare and she saw what Ruth saw.
A tall young cowboy was walking between the crowds of lower Manhattan. He was the cutest thing Sarah had ever seen in her life.
On closer inspection Sarah’s heart went into her mouth, and she almost passed out. It was TJ Hawkin, the young stud from Montana, and now here he was in New York. Somehow one of her cowboys had found her.
Chapter Seven
The first two thousand miles had been easy. Now the last several feet were the hardest he had walked in his life. During one of their lazy conversations on a picnic in a meadow of wildflowers, Sarah had filled him in on her job in New York and mentioned the name of the brokerage house she worked for. That had been the only clue TJ had to go on, that and his sixth sense as a shape-shifter to be able to find his mate, and it had led him here to lower Manhattan.
He spotted Sarah first, but within a moment her eyes had darted up and met his across the sea of people. Fortunately TJ was a head taller than most of them and didn’t have any trouble making his way over to the bench Sarah ate her lunch on.
She was standing up, and her mouth was hanging open as if his presence had just rendered her dumb and mute. For his part TJ’s heart was racing with adrenaline, and he had to admit a little bit of trepidation. This was the big moment, not only of his trip to New York, but of his whole life.
“What are you doing here?” she challenged him.
TJ reached up and pulled off his Stetson and held it limply at his side as he regarded her. “You left without saying good-bye.”
“Everything all right, Sarah?” the other woman Sarah had been having lunch with inquired.
Sarah seemed like she wanted to say something else but changed her mind at the last minute. “Yeah, we’re good.”
“I think I should get back upstairs.” The other woman was giving TJ the once-over, and TJ gave her a polite nod. “Unless of course you need me to stay?”
“No thanks, Ruth. I’ll see you back up there in a few.”
With another mystified look in his direction, the other woman took up her brown paper bag, threw her soda can in the trash, and left Sarah alone with TJ. They were in lower Manhattan, so there were thousands of people walking around them, and they weren’t really alone, but they were as alone as they were going to get for the moment.
“Why did you leave us like that, Sarah?” TJ asked the question that had been tormenting him for a week.
Sarah shook her head in what amounted to disbelief and briefly hid her face in her hands. “What are you, TJ?”
TJ gave a smile, a relieved grin brightening his features. “Is that what this is all about?”
“I saw you and Ryan and Lance turn into…” Sarah couldn’t even speak the words. She broke off and put her palm to her forehead as if she felt sick.
“You saw us turn into wolves?”
“Yes.”
“We’re shape-shifters, Sarah.”
Sarah shook her head and was still frowning and clearly confused. “What is that? I don’t know what that is.”
“We’re kind of an open secret in some parts out west.” TJ cast a glance around him at the roiling mass of people surging by on the street. Over on the next block a construction crew had started a jackhammer, and it was loud. TJ had to raise his voice over the din. “I’m thinking this isn’t the best place to have this conversation.”
“Look, TJ, I have to get back to work.”
“What time do you get off?”
“Why?”
“Because I’ll be waiting for you right here when you do.”
“That’s not a good idea, TJ.” Sarah also had to raise her voice as the jackhammer sounds from the next street now coalesced with traffic roaring past a few feet away from them.
“I’m not leaving New York City until you talk with me.”
Sarah had the cutest scowl on her face as her anger mixed with indecision, and she tapped her foot on the sidewalk and gave thought to his proposition. Feeling brave, TJ took another step closer to her. She smelled so damn good, fresh soap, lavender shampoo, perhaps just a hint of some alluring perfume, and that special Sarah Winter scent that was uniquely her own. TJ wanted to wrap his arms around her and kiss her right there in front of all of New York. Only with effort did he restrain himself.
“It’s Friday night.” TJ leaned in close. He could almost taste her breath. It was sweet and intoxicating just like her well-shaped body beneath her pantsuit. “We’re in the biggest city in the world. It’s summer, and it’s warm. Hell, we’ve even got a full moon tonight. You’ve got to say yes to me.” He capped off his proposal with a smile that he hoped she would not be able to say no to.
“I get off at five.” She sighed as a couple walls of her resistance went crumbling down, and he could see the wheels of her mind working fast and struggling for direction. “But I was five minutes late today so I won’t be off until five after. Also that’ll be rush hour so give me ten minutes to get down here.”
“Five fifteen then?”
“Yeah, five fifteen.”
Sarah gave him the faintest trace of a smile, and TJ knew his trip to New York had been worth every minute of the two long plane rides it took to get here.
Damn if he didn’t want to pluck her up off the sidewalk and hug her against his body as he kissed his way down her neck. This woman got his heart to pounding like no other. Once again it was by the slimmest of margins that he contained himself and let her walk away from him and back to the steel monster of a building she worked in.
He watched her retreating figure until it had been gobbled up by the crowd of foot traffic shoving past and knew the minutes would hang heavy until five fifteen.
* * * *
The Friday afternoon dragged by for Sarah. She couldn’t concentrate on her work and the digital clock on her computer screen seemed to count off the seconds in slow motion. Anticipation, anxiety, fear, along with jumbled other emotions that she couldn’t put a name to tore at her nerves as she waited for the end of the work week.
At last she heard the welcome sounds of her peers saying their “Have a good weekend” to each other while they headed for the elevator, and she realized her time had finally arrived.
She didn’t have time to be angry or to question where this unexpected meeting might lead. Locking her computer for the weekend, she caught the next elevator and headed down to the lobby. Rush-hour traffic was its usual aggravating headache, but she worked her way through the maze of people and down to the pedestrian benches where she ate lunch.
“I didn’t know if you would come.” TJ had one of his cowboy boots hiked up on the armrest as he waited for her arrival.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You have a way of getting away from me.” His smile was so sexy it should have been illegal. However, Sarah steeled her resolve. She wasn’t going to crack that easily. This cowboy still had a lot of ex
plaining to do.
“I want to talk,” Sarah told him as she fell in beside him. They had started to walk north on Broadway past Trinity Church. “I want you to tell me about shape-shifters. But I don’t want you to lie to me this time.”
“I never did lie to you, Sarah. None of us did.”
Sarah wasn’t too sure what to believe, but had to admit inwardly that it felt good to have his tall, gallant presence escorting her down the busy street. She liked TJ’s company and still found it hard to believe that he was here in New York City with her, found it impossible to believe he had come all that way from the Circle T just to see her.
“TJ, I saw all three of you turn into wolves out on the prairie last week.” Sarah spit out what had been bothering her ever since she had seen the horrifying sight.
“We do that all the time,” he told her as if there was nothing to it.
Just to hear TJ speak openly about it made Sarah feel relieved and put the whole terrible scene into a new perspective. “So I’m not losing my mind then? I really did see what I thought I saw out there?”
“You sure did.” TJ’s hat rode low on his brow, and he looked down at her with bright-blue eyes she wanted to get lost in. “I reckon an apology is sort of in order for that. We sure didn’t mean to scare you none. In hindsight I realize you had no way of knowing just exactly what you saw and must have been scared half out of your mind.”
“You can say that again.”
“We don’t mean anyone harm, certainly not you, Sarah.”
They walked another block in silence. A group of foreign business men in thousand-dollar suits rushing to an early dinner pushed past them, and TJ wrapped an arm around her to keep them together. Sarah didn’t object. New York was going crazy at this time of the evening, and his arm secured around her waist was an introduction of sanity into the reckless world unfolding around them.
TJ brought them to a halt at the curb and held his hand in the air for a cab. He seemed to have learned a lot about big-city living after only a single day. At this time of day it was hard to find an empty cab, but TJ had succeeded in spotting one, and it was already pulling up alongside them.
“Where are we going?” Sarah hesitated. Getting in a cab with a strange man was a definite no for any woman in The Big Apple even if the guy happened to be as cute as TJ.
“Don’t you trust me yet, Sarah?” TJ seemed to be hurt by her reticence.
“I can’t think of any reason why I should.”
“Come on, Sarah, we can’t talk here. I have a lot to say to you, and I’ve come a long way to say it.” Then he devastated her with that sexy smile again, and Sarah found her knees going weak. “Besides, you promised to be my tour guide if I ever made it up to the city.”
Still Sarah hesitated. She didn’t know what to do. This man and his two companions were out of her league, and she wasn’t certain she even wanted to try and understand them.
“Hey, do you want a cab or not?” the driver yelled out his open window to TJ through some kind of thick foreign accent.
“I’m sorry for the trouble, mister.” TJ handed a twenty to the driver. “Just keep the meter running while I talk with my lady friend here, will you?”
The driver gave what sounded like a curse in his foreign tongue, but took the money from TJ’s palm anyway and waited.
“If you give me a chance, Sarah, I’ll explain everything to you about shape-shifters and about the pack I come from.” TJ’s face was so open and honest, more authentic than any other she would see in New York City that night. Suddenly Sarah didn’t feel tired from her long work week anymore, all thoughts of going back to her apartment and sleeping forgotten. She wanted to learn everything she could about this fantasy that had become a reality for her.
“All right, you’re on.” She gave TJ a smile and slid inside the cab in front of him, off for a Friday night of adventure with a Montana werewolf in Manhattan.
Chapter Eight
TJ gave the driver instructions to take them to Central Park.
“Why are we going to the park?” Sarah was a little apprehensive around the strange cowboy.
“I want to take you on a carriage ride.”
“No, TJ.” She put her hands on his arms without realizing what she was doing. He felt solid, his biceps clearly defined under his snug-fitting shirt. A thrill of electricity ran down her spine, and she immediately let go of him. “Those carriage rides are very expensive. You don’t have to take me on that.”
He looked at her with a sheepish grin that highlighted the features on his handsome face. “Don’t worry about it. I’m rich.”
“You’re rich, too?” Sarah’s jaw dropped a few inches. “You never told me that either back in Montana.”
“Well you never asked me.” TJ still wore a friendly expression, but his smile had turned mischievous, playful. “It isn’t a secret. I recollect I did tell you I own the Circle T along with Ryan and Lance. It’s a lot of land and a successful business. Also, my parents left me well off after I lost them.”
“You do have a lot of surprises in store for me tonight, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but only the good kind. I’m going to be completely honest with you about everything.” TJ looked out the window at the passing skyscrapers, seemed to reach a decision, and then looked back at Sarah, deciding on still more candor. “And the carriage ride is also to romance you some. You can’t object to a little romance while I fill you in on the lore of the shape-shifters, can you?”
In spite of her earlier anxiety, Sarah indulged in a happy laugh. “You’re crazy, TJ.” But even as she said it she realized she had started to trust him.
However, she decided she was going to withhold full judgment on TJ’s virtue until she’d had a chance to hear his entire story.
The carriage in the park was waiting for them when they got there. TJ went over and had a brief talk with the driver and gave the bay a rub down. The horse took to him immediately and purred at his touch.
“You had this all planned?”
“I had all afternoon to wait for you. I had to do something. Setting up an adventurous evening for my first full night in New York City was kind of fun.”
TJ held out his hand and got her settled in the carriage. He was oh so cute and oh so near, and his arm briefly encircled her waist as he helped her up. Sarah knew it was going to be a battle to keep her wits about her that night, but after her irresponsibility out on the prairie it would be a battle she wouldn’t lose.
“It’s been over two years since I’ve been on one of these things,” she told him as she got comfortable in her seat and gazed out at the landmarks of the park. “So now are you going to tell me what shape-shifters are and how it is that you and your other two buddies can turn into wolves?”
“I come from a pack of one thousand shifters. They all live around the county the Circle T is located in. Ryan is the pack Alpha.”
“So Ryan is the boss?”
“That’s right.” He seemed so eager to tell her everything. He was like an open book when he talked about his ability and that of his people, and Sarah had the feeling she could have asked him anything and he would have answered her directly. “Lance and I are Betas. That means we’re second-in-command.”
He went on to explain how they shifted into their wolf forms and what it felt like and how he had been scared as a boy the first time the transformation had come over his body. TJ was so thoughtful when he spoke, like he didn’t want to leave anything out or forget an important detail. It was like he was weaving a mythical tale for her except it was all real, and when he was finished Sarah felted enchanted by all she had heard.
The shadows slanting across the park told her it was getting late. A check of her watch showed they had been talking for over two hours. She hoped TJ was as rich as he said he was because he was going to owe the carriage driver one whopper of a fair.
“You know, TJ, you didn’t have to tell me all of this.” Sarah looked down and tried to choose her word
s. “I didn’t mean to imply that you owed me anything. But thanks for sharing what you have with me.” Then she brightened and gave him a smile. “And the carriage ride has been awesome.”
“But the night’s not over yet.” TJ rested his arm behind her on the back of the seat, not really touching her but close enough to make Sarah feel very warm, almost too warm, and she knew she had to watch out for that dangerous animal magnetism of his. “I’ve made reservations at a seafood place just down the street from Central Park South.”
“How do you know about restaurants here in the city and making reservations?” Sarah asked him doubtfully.
“I read about it in this magazine during the flight from Chicago last night. I got my phone out and made some calls and wound up with a table for two reserved at nine o’clock. The review in the magazine said the food’s pretty decent, too.”
Sarah laughed at his ingenuity. He was always surprising her.
“I figure now that we’ve got proper introductions out of the way we have a lot more to say to each other, and I don’t know about you but I’m pretty hungry.”
“I am hungry, and dinner sounds nice.”
TJ’s face darkened. “Only thing is you might have to tell me where we’re going. I have a feeling I could get lost real fast up here on these city streets.”
Sarah laughed and took him by the hand to help him down off the carriage. “I won’t let us get lost, TJ. I’ll be our tour guide tonight.”
* * * *
So far, so good. TJ was satisfied with the way his last-minute plans were coming together. He had always been good at making the sparks fly with women in the past. But he had never put much effort into it and always relied on his good sense of humor and even better looks. The problem was with those other women he was just having fun. They hadn’t really mattered to him. With Sarah it was different. He wanted everything to be perfect for her.
The waiter poured Sarah’s wine. TJ was amused that she had ordered the cheapest glass on the menu. For his tastes he had just stuck with a bottle of domestic beer.