When we got to the hardware store and went inside, Daphne looked around, her lips parted slightly.
“You look like you’ve never seen a hardware store before,” I said.
“I’m sure I’ve been in one...at least once,” she said.
I raised my eyebrows. This was going to be an interesting job, that was for sure.
Instead of going back to the lumber area, I went to the counter. I knew exactly what we needed, at least for starting out. The first jobs would be the kitchen, a bathroom, and the porch, so that’s what I’d get supplies for.
“Aren’t we going to look at things?” Daphne asked, holding back.
I kept walking and said over my shoulder, “Nope.”
“But...ideas. There’s a display of faucets and things over there. And look.” She pointed, jumping up on the balls of her feet. “Paint swatches.”
“That’s for later,” I said.
Frowning, she went over to the display of sink fixtures.
I turned back to the counter, where Caleb was watching me with an amused look on his face. The mountain lion shifter always looked a little too smug, like he thought he was better than everyone else, and like everything was fucking hilarious. I hated the way he wore his stupid blond hair almost as much as I hated his face.
Even though I was the alpha of the Forbidden shifters, Caleb only barely recognized my leadership. He was the one shifter here consistently pushing against the rules. Nothing overt, ever, and nothing that could get him disciplined in a fight with me. More like stirring up trouble, trying to get people pissed off at each other, and then stepping back to watch the ensuing chaos.
He made my job as alpha harder, and he deserved a smack to the head because of it.
“Hey, alpha,” he said. “Who’s that?”
“Stay away from her,” I said, barely keeping the snarl from my voice. Not only did he look like an asshole, Caleb was a notorious player, and I was pretty sure he’d slept with half the women in Forbidden, humans and shifters alike. Daphne was too good for him.
“Whoa.” He held up his hands. “I didn’t know she was yours, man.”
I could have told him she wasn’t mine, but this was easier. He’d stay away if he thought I’d claimed her, and I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting her heart broken by him. My one-night-stands had always known exactly what the deal was. Caleb, however, reveled in toying with women’s emotions, making them fall half in love with him before metaphorically stomping on their hearts.
I placed my order with Caleb and was about to pay when Daphne returned to my side. Her arms were full of paint swatches, tile samples, and three different faucets.
“We’re getting these, too,” she said, dumping them on the counter before pulling a credit card from her purse.
“Big project, huh?” Caleb asked.
“Yep,” she said proudly.
“You two buy a house together or something?” he asked.
Daphne looked at me in horror. “What?”
“Yep,” I said to Caleb. “I’ll meet you around front to help load the lumber.”
Caleb went out through a side door, and I made my way to the parking lot.
Daphne hurried to catch up with me. “What the...what did you say to him?” she sputtered. “Why did you say we bought a house together?”
“You’re new here,” I said. “He’s not a good guy, and this way, he’ll leave you alone.”
“But—that’s super presumptuous,” she said.
“Any more presumptuous than inviting yourself on a trip to the store and climbing into my truck?”
Caleb approached, carrying a load of lumber in his arms. Fucking show-off. As far as shifter strength, it was only moderately impressive. To a human, though, he probably looked like a bodybuilder.
And he’d picked up on the tension between Daphne and me.
“Trouble in paradise?” he asked with a smirk.
I ignored him. Once the lumber was loaded, I checked out the back of the truck.
“It’s just the rock salt and a few boards left,” Caleb said.
Daphne wrinkled her nose. “Rock salt?”
“I paid for it with my own card,” I said. “It’s for personal use.”
I didn’t know what was up with the slugs in her place, but I didn’t like finding them inside, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let them anywhere near the trailer when I was staying in it.
Shrugging, she turned around and climbed into the truck, carefully balancing her paint swatches and faucets. I followed Caleb to grab the rock salt and remaining lumber. When we came back out, Daphne was sitting in the cab. She had her scrapbook open and was looking through it, her tongue sticking out over her lower lip while she concentrated.
“Cute,” Caleb said. “Let me know when you’re done with her.”
It took all of my willpower not to grab a two-by-six from the bed of my truck and whap him over the head with it. Especially when he laughed at the expression on my face.
The morning passed quickly. James, who preferred to work alone, was in charge of the porch roof. Brody and Moira knocked out the walls in the first bathroom downstairs. Luckily, the dry rot didn’t go far around the shower bed, so they only had to rip up the aged linoleum and a little bit of the flooring beneath. Still, I could hear Brody’s colorful cursing as he encountered a nest of rats.
They made fun of me for my insect and bug phobia, but not Brody for hating rats? Unfair.
During a few minutes when Daphne was out of the room, Brody came into the kitchen. “Where’s Mini Martha?” he asked.
“What?”
“Daphne,” he explained. “With all her crafty books and shit, she’s like a Martha Stewart Lite.”
I laughed. It was a good nickname. I doubted Daphne would see the humor in it, though.
I didn’t find any more slugs as Finn and I worked in the kitchen. No roaches, either. We took a break for lunch—James volunteered to go into town for sandwiches, probably so he wouldn’t have to talk to us. I snickered when Daphne volunteered to accompany him, because his “hell no” look was strong enough that her words died before she finished the sentence.
“It’s okay,” Moira said, wrapping an arm around Daphne’s shoulders. “It’s not you. He’s like that with everyone.”
“I’ll get him to smile,” Daphne said. “By the end of your work here. Mark my words.”
“Not gonna happen,” Finn said. “Getting James to smile is harder than teaching a cat to do tricks.”
Daphne smiled brilliantly at him. “No problem. I can do hard things.”
By the end of the day, we’d made excellent progress, despite Daphne’s “help.” She had opinions on everything, and I was surprised she didn’t take my hammer out of my hands and try to school me on the proper way to slam a nail home. Infuriating woman.
My brothers and sister all said their goodbyes and left. I looked at my little trailer—my new home for the next few weeks, and frowned.
As soon as the sounds of Moira’s truck faded away, I grabbed my bag of rock salt and got to work.
I woke up after not sleeping so great. I kept imagining things crawling on me. Shit, I could stare down another shifter and make him expose his neck and belly to me. I could roam the forest for days in my wolf form and scare the piss out of any critter I chose. Not that I’d do that—I wasn’t a sadist or anything. But I fucking hated bugs.
As soon as I woke up, I stepped outside to check my slug boundary. The front door of the asylum slammed open and Daphne stepped out.
All thoughts of slugs flew out of my head when I looked at her. She was wearing a bath towel, nothing else.
“Well, good morning,” I called out.
“Crap,” she said, turning pink. “I forgot you were staying in the trailer.”
“Did you think we left the trailer here for fun?” I asked.
“No. I just…”
“What are you doing running around in a towel, anyway?” I asked.
&nb
sp; “I didn’t have...nothing.”
I grinned at the look of embarrassment on her face. “Nothing?”
She threw her shoulders back, like she was trying to be brave and dignified. The towel slipped another inch down her chest. I was mostly honorable and mostly kept my eyes on her face.
“If you must know,” she said, “I didn’t have a clean pair of underwear, so I was coming out to my car to get some.”
She was living in that pile of creepy rubble? I hadn’t seen her leave last night, but I figured she was in there late, messing with her scrapbooks, and that she’d left after I had gone to sleep. I couldn’t believe she’d sleep in there. The woman had cajones, that was for sure. Or, not exactly cajones, given how very feminine she was. But she was brave. And fucking sexy.
The blush was darkening over her cheeks.
I struggled to keep my face straight. “By all means, go retrieve your panties.”
Her mouth fell open in shock. “Underwear. Panties sounds…”
“Sexy?” I suggested.
The blush on her cheeks traveled down her neck and to the top of her chest.
“Anyway,” she said, marching to her car, “what the hell did you do to the ground out here?”
“What are you talking about?”
She pointed at the circle of rock salt I’d made.
“Oh,” I said. “Slug repellant.”
“It was just a couple of dried-out slugs in the hallway. You look like you’re preparing for the slug-apocalypse.” She laughed.
Yeah, I’d heard it all before. Paranoid Declan, scaredy Declan, the alpha who was afraid of bugs. Bugs and...what were slugs? They weren’t insects. I wasn’t curious enough to look it up, and no doubt any Wikipedia page would be accompanied by pictures of slugs. No, I didn’t need to see that. Calling them “bugs” was good enough.
Maybe the slugs weren’t all that dangerous. But the sight of Daphne’s ass wiggling beneath that towel as she walked back into her building? I had the feeling it would be the end of me.
Chapter 5
Daphne
I hurried back inside, underwear—not panties—in hand. I’d never been so embarrassed in my life. It wasn’t just that a man I didn’t know had seen me practically naked. It was that the man was Declan O’Malley.
He was frustrating, aggravating, flat-out infuriating. I didn’t know why I let him get to me, but I couldn’t help it. He had a way of getting right under my skin. He didn’t care about my vision for this place. He didn’t want me to come to the hardware store with him, like I was supposed to just sit around and let him make all of my decisions for me. This was my project. My bed and breakfast.
I pulled my clothes on as quickly as I could, an old t-shirt and overalls. Then I grabbed my toolbox and headed down the stairs. I’d show Declan freaking O’Malley that I could do a lot of this myself. I deserved his respect, and he’d apologize for being such an ass.
I stepped into the kitchen and looked over the brown layer of grime on the black and white checkerboard tile floor. It needed a good cleaning, maybe some new grout, and it could work for now. There was a tutorial video on my YouTube watchlist about grout. I’d bookmarked a video for each job I thought I might need, so I could walk myself through how to do it.
I was a badass, who could do hard things. I was prepared.
I set down my toolbox on the counter and looked at the disgusting sink. Maybe it had been white at one point, but now it was cracked yellow with splotches of black where the ceramic had completely broken off.
I set a paper towel on the counter, and my phone on top of it, then I scrolled through for the video that would show me how to replace a sink.
There. I pushed play and watched as the happy guy in the video showed all of the tools he was going to use for this project. I had some of them, and some that looked kind of like some of the others. It would be enough.
First you have to take off the faucet. Climb under the sink and find the—
My phone started to ring, pausing the video.
Dad. Well, I couldn’t ignore him forever.
“Hey, Dad.” I answered the phone in a chipper voice that I hoped would make him believe everything was fine.
“Daphne, we’ve been worried sick. Your mother has been calling all of the hospitals in Kentucky, sure you must have died.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I’m okay. Reception’s super dodgy, though, so—”
“Are you ready to come home yet?” Dad asked.
“I am home,” I said.
He laughed, a kind yet condescending laugh. “Okay, dear. But when you’re ready to give up on this crazy business and return to real civilization, we’ll be here for you.”
I felt like I was supposed to thank him now. I held my tongue.
“I’m starting a business here. Forbidden is a beautiful town with wonderful people,” I lied. I’d seen almost nothing of the town, and I only liked one person so far—Moira.
“And the mansion?” Dad asked. “It can’t be all you think, not for the money you—”
“Wonderful,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. I decided not to mention my first guests—the vulture and the slugs and the rats. “It’s beautiful, too. Better than I possibly could have hoped.”
I closed my eyes and imagined the pages of my scrapbook were real, that I was standing in a huge country kitchen, with giant windows pouring natural light onto butcher block countertops. “I’m working on the kitchen today,” I said. “There’s so much inherent charm that I can focus on the little details that will make this place feel like home. Vases of wildflowers and welcoming pillows for the seating—that kind of thing.”
“Okay, well you know we’re here when it gets difficult. Your room will be ready for you.”
Again, I felt like I was supposed to say thank you. I wouldn’t.
“I’m fine. This is my home now. I have to go, love you.” I opened my eyes and hung up my phone.
I was a hell of a long way from picking pillows. But I could do it.
I grabbed my toolbox and looked under the sink. It looked nothing like the picture on the video. Under my sink was black mold and rat droppings, not pristine wood. The pipes seemed different, too. Maybe this wasn’t the right job to start with. Maybe cleaning should come first.
“What are you doing?” Declan’s deep voice made me jump.
I hadn’t even realized he’d come in. I noticed blue baggies on his feet, the kind workmen wore when they were trying not to track dirt on your carpet.
“What’s with the booties?” I asked.
He grumbled something about protection. Weirdo.
“Well I don’t know what you’re doing today,” I said, “other than being grumpy, but I’m switching out the sink.”
“You can’t do that.”
Fuck yes I could. I can do all the hard things.
I grabbed my screwdriver and jabbed it into one of the screws and tried to turn it. It didn’t budge. I was going to do this myself and prove him wrong. I grabbed the pliers and twisted a pipe joint. I’d just tear everything apart and start from scratch if that’s what it took. I was doing this.
“Daphne, don’t—”
Water sprayed in my face and I screamed in surprise. Declan bent down on the floor beside me and pushed me out of the way. Quick as could be, he turned the water off. I was cold and wet and feeling foolish as hell. If my dad hadn’t called, if Declan hadn’t shown up, I’d be watching my video, taking my time. I’d be fixing this sink all on my own.
I pushed Declan’s shoulder and rose to my feet. He didn’t budge, which made me feel even worse. “You’re a jerk.”
He stood up, towering over me. He was too handsome for his personality, and he smelled much too good, like hazelnut. His eyes were dark with hatred, the same way I felt about him. It should have been someone else here helping me in the kitchen. Anyone but him.
“I should call that guy from the store,” I said. “Get him to help me, instead of you. Caleb was his name
, right?”
“You will do nothing of the kind.” The flinty look in his green eyes went harder. A low rumble sounded in his chest, almost like a growl.
“You don’t scare me,” I said, lifting my chin.
“No?” Quick as a flash, he leaned forward. His lips crushed mine and stole my breath.
Fuck me, as mad as I was, I kissed the evil man back, moaning into his mouth. He lifted me up and set me on the counter. The wet front of my overalls pressed against him, and I knew if I looked down, I’d see the lace of my bra visible through my shirt. The overalls covered most of me, but at the moment, I wasn’t worried in the slightest about decency. I wanted to be indecent as his tongue stroked mine, as I drank in his taste and his low moans.
I was on the counter, my legs spread, Declan pressing hard into me as he claimed my mouth. My whole body was on fire. I wanted to tear off his clothes and punch him in the face at the same time. I wanted to tell him I hated him, and tell him to fuck me. His hands ran over my back, rough and desperate.
He broke away, ran his hands through his hair, and turned for the door.
He spoke to the empty space, angled away from me. “You want to work with one of my brothers, fine. But you stay away from Caleb Stone.”
With that, he left.
“You aren’t my boss,” I called after him, but he didn’t respond.
Damn him and his beautiful, rugged, handsome face. Damn him and his hard muscles. Damn him and that thick boner I’d felt through our clothes. I’d wanted it—so bad. How could I be so angry and so horny at the same time? Now that Declan wasn’t touching me, I noticed the chill of the cold water. I needed to change my clothes. I needed...I didn’t know what I needed.
I stared down under the sink, to the mess of water and dirt. I needed to clean up, both my clothes and my kitchen. Then I could take my time and figure things out.
A mountain of dirty rags and a few bottles of cleaning spray later, and I was content that I wasn’t going to catch the plague from touching the counter. Hell, I could eat off the floor. Okay, maybe I wouldn’t go so far as that, but one room was at least sanitized.
Claimed in Forbidden: A Wolf Shifter Romance (Alphas & Alchemy: Fierce Mates Book 1) Page 3