Ugh. Once again, her single status was a problem for others. “Well, I’ll help out any way you guys need.”
“It’s about to get crazy. You’ll be plenty occupied. I’ll get Jenny. She’s a pro back here.” Walking backward, she grinned while she finished tying her apron. “We gotta get you a mate!”
The last thing Kimber needed was a mate.
Besides, all she wanted was a vampire.
Two and half hours later, she was more exhausted than after that half-marathon she’d run a couple of years ago. And, technically, she’d probably gone about the same distance from the kitchen to the storage to the pantry, back and forth, nonstop. It felt good to splash her face with cold water afterward.
In the spotted mirror, she groaned at her appearance, not nearly as clean and fresh as it’d been when she’d left the house.
She started freeing her ponytail to brush her hair when Heather halted by the doorway. “There you are! Jenny said you were a tremendous help. We really appreciate it. Oh, and I’ll give you a ride home. Meet me at the gray minivan when you’re ready to go.”
It was almost three o’clock. Shain would be at the café soon. A smile moved her lips, her energy renewed at the thought of him. She dug through her bag, brushed her hair, and dabbed some liquid tint on her cheeks.
She said goodbye to Slick and the other volunteers before meeting Heather at her minivan, who was having an argument on the phone with a male voice. It had to be her mate.
“Sorry,” Heather apologized after hanging up. “I love him, but he drives me nuts. I ask him to do one thing while I’m out and he acts like he never heard me. Let’s go.”
“Do you mind giving me a ride to Montclair instead?”
“The park? Sure. It’s not exactly ideal weather, though.”
Kimber snapped on her seatbelt, hiding a private smile. “I like the park in any weather.”
The UV rays barely registered as Shain strode from his car to the café with the help of a specialized umbrella, one that blocked the sun as good as concrete. If only he could convince his tailor to make a decent suit out of it.
The hostess did a double-take with a smile as he walked in, folding the umbrella.
“Welcome. Seating for one?”
He breathed in her sensa, and it refilled whatever energy had been depleted on his way there. With a smile, he tucked the umbrella under his arm. “I’m meeting someone. I’ll take a spot at the bar.”
“Help yourself.”
Shain claimed a bar stool that gave him a perfect view of the entrance. “I’ll have a club soda with a lime, please.” He’d only been awake a few hours. A little too early to start drinking.
He had a feeling Kimber would come, despite her forewarning she might not be able to get away. If there was anything he knew for certain, it was that she would try. The day before last was confirmation she yearned to see him as much as he did her. He would no longer question that.
“Trevyn?”
Shit.
Shain turned to meet the eyes of Michael Ware, a pürblood, and one of Shain’s original allies. Now a former ally. Practical with his money moves, Michael had been a safe choice after Shain’s first Centurias. However, after his second, he’d outgrown safe, and made bold investments Ware couldn’t and didn’t want to keep up with. The risks had paid off and catapulted Shain into the higher realm, but his alliance with Ware had ended. Once in a while, they ran into each other. Ware was almost always by himself, a loner through and through.
“Michael.” He glanced at the front door, hoping he’d be able to get rid of his old ally before Kimber arrived. “It’s been a while.”
Ware shook his hand. “It has. I wouldn’t think this would be your kind of scene, even on rainy day.”
Meaning that coming to a basic, casual café was clearly out of the ordinary for Shain. Was it that obvious? “Sometimes I like a break from the same crowds.”
“You? Take a break from establishments where they treat you like a king? Find that hard to believe,” Michael drawled.
Shain swallowed his irritation. “Believe it. Who are you here with?”
“No one. I like the calamari.” Unfortunately, he took the stool next to Shain. “What are you drinking?”
“Club soda.”
Michael gestured for the bartender and ordered a craft beer.
Shain remained standing, leaning on the bar to see over Michael’s head and for the door.
Ware sensed his restless energy. “Expecting someone?”
Shain started to admit he was, then thought better of it. The less Michael knew, the better. If only he could send Kimber a damn text message. “I just like the view of the lake.”
“You’re facing the door.”
“My eyes were starting to hurt,” he lied.
“Right.”
The bartender set down the frothy beer in front of Michael.
Damn. That was a big mug. Hopefully, he was a fast drinker. Or maybe he’d just ditch Michael and wait outside for her.
“Heard you’re trying to romance Tanaka into an alliance.”
“If it’s meant to be, it will.”
“Yeah, right. Once you’re in the one percent, you’re practically untouchable. So. Good luck. I hear that’s about the odds that you’ll get the alliance.”
“I appreciate the support,” he remarked dryly, rethinking a bourbon.
Kimber. Where are you?
Kimber waved as Heather pulled away.
But her smile faded when she walked in and saw Shain at the bar in conversation. Shain spotted her right away over the man’s shoulder. Don’t approach, his eyes told her.
The other man had to be a vampire.
Well, she wasn’t leaving.
She shuffled to the bar and a handsome bartender with smiling brown eyes and nice arms greeted her.
“Hi there,” he said, setting down a napkin. His nametag read: “Andy from Houston.”
“Hi, Andy. Make me something delicious and adult. Don’t hold back.”
He grinned. “You got it. Hard day already? It’s only three-thirty.”
“I wish I could say it was a whole hard day, but it was really only an active two-plus hours. Even so, I earned it, trust me.”
He poured something into the shaker. “You got it.”
Shain’s nearness was no small feat to ignore. Kimber could feel his eyes on her. She burned to meet his gaze and tell him to end his conversation.
She was sure he was trying to.
After a while, she was on her second tasty beverage, and enjoying friendly chitchat with Andy. Human. Car enthusiast. Girlfriend moved to California and broke his heart last summer. She was sure he told her this to drop a hint he was available, and she might’ve been interested, had she not met Shain. But while Andy was a tall drink of water, he triggered nothing more than the appreciation of a handsome, virile human with great hair.
Shain’s companion got up and walked out, passing by her without a glance.
Finally.
She glanced over, but Shain wasn’t on his stool.
Did he leave?
And then, as if he materialized from thin air, he was on her right, his sleeve brushing her arm. “I’d like to settle my bill. And hers.”
The little hairs on her neck stood up. Oh, that voice.
“Sure thing,” Andy replied and printed it out.
What was going on? Were she and Shain going to pretend they didn’t know each other?
She sat still, her body tingling in acute awareness, going mad with the need to look at him.
“Shain…” she whispered, half in question, half pleading what to do.
“Follow me.” He dropped cash for the bill and walked toward the restrooms.
She waited until Andy was distracted with other customers, then followed. The women’s restroom was to the right, the men’s to the left. Which one?
Kimber used the light trail of his scent, straight to the family restroom ahead. She pulled down the han
dle and walked in.
A hand grabbed hers and pushed her into the corner while the door closed itself.
Shain planted his palms on either side of her, caging her in. “What do you think you’re doing, shiya?”
His words melted like hot honey over her ears. “Isn’t it obvious? Following you so we can talk?”
He shook his head and pushed off, going to lock the door. “You should’ve left the second you saw I wasn’t alone.” He came back to her, leaning one forearm on the wall. “I didn’t expect you to stay, let alone sit that close. You know he was a vampire, don’t you?”
“It was obvious, and I didn’t think it mattered with witnesses. I assumed, since you two were friendly, that I was pretty much safe. He walked right by me and didn’t even flinch.”
“Even if he’d caught your scent, he likely wouldn’t show you any disdain. Michael is harmless. Strange and a little spineless, but harmless. Still, one should never assume.” He looked her up and down. “The bartender was flirting with you.”
“Andy? He was just being nice.”
“You’re a smart woman; you can discern the difference between good customer service and plainly displayed desire.”
She cocked her head at his tone. “Jealous, Mr. Trevyn?”
He emitted a low, frustrated sound. “Yes. And I don’t like it.”
And he wanted to admit it? “Oh.”
If he expected her to apologize for having a friendly conversation with another man, he was going to be disappointed. “I was killing time. Waiting for you.”
Shain pursed his lips and tucked his hands in his pockets, taking two steps away from her before he pivoted on his heels. “He looks like your type. What I imagine what your type really is. A boots-wearing, six-pack-of-beer-drinking, drives-a-Jeep-with-a-Golden-Retriever-in-the-back kind of man. Safe. And human. That’s a man you should spend your time with.”
Not Shain, in other words? Hurt flared in her chest. Nya came to attention ferociously, which she always did when emotions spiked, and Kimber tampered her down. “You’re suggesting I go out with the bartender because he looks like my type?”
“Isn’t he? Shouldn’t he be? Think about it. You wouldn’t have to slip away or lie. You could meet him at normal places where you don’t have to worry about a shifter or a vampire walking by. Hell, I bet your pack would even make him dinner if you brought him over to watch Netflix and chill. I heard shifters hook up with humans all the time if they aren’t mated.”
She held up a hand, trying to figure out why he was endorsing another man. “Just a second. You see me having a polite conversation with a nice guy, and now you’re suggesting I forget you and hook up with him?”
“I’m pointing out that you have options. Less risky options, like Andy the bartender. By all means, give him your number. I won’t blame you. And I won’t care.”
She stepped closer to him, but his eyes betrayed nothing. “Don’t try to make it sound as if you’re doing me a favor. If you don’t want me anymore, be a man and say it.”
His teeth came down and he hissed. “Don’t want you?” His mouth moved around, as though he didn’t want to say the next words that came out, but was forced to. “Do you have any inkling what it was like to have you that close and not take your hand, not kiss you where you stood, not glare at the bartender and tell him you’re with me? Burning from the inside? Pretending your presence has zero effect on me while trying to hold a meaningless conversation? Having to bear another man look at you the way I want to look at you, without having to think twice about it?”
Her mouth opened and closed twice before she could form words. No, she had no idea his internal flame burned as bright as hers, yet he was pushing her away? “You really wouldn’t care if I spent time with someone else?”
Shain gave a dry laugh, as if the answer was obvious. “Of course not. I’m a vampire. Sex is sustenance to me. I enjoy it when I have it, and I forget it when my appetite is satisfied. Better for you to soak the sheets with a human than with me. Your pack wouldn’t blink an eye if you came home with his scent all over you.”
“Sex is not sustenance,” she argued gently. “It’s a physical expression of…of feelings.”
He mocked her with a huff of amusement. “The way you speak of it, so breathlessly, shows you’re talking about making love,” he said, with a near lofty tone. “Sorry, but I fuck. For certain, you could get Andy to make love to you. Hell, he’d probably do it in the woods with just his boots on—”
“Stop talking about him and kiss me.” At the blank look on his face, she added, “In fact, don’t just kiss me. Do more. Do it all.”
Shain stared at her. “What?”
The look on his face gave her the gall to keep going, though she didn’t intend to have sex for the first time in a public restroom, but to discover whether he was being honest about not caring.
She snaked a hand up his torso, felt his pec twitch, and raked her fingers across the back of his head. “I don’t want my efforts to meet you to be for nothing. So, let’s do this.”
His kiss was brutal, slow, and deep, his slightly sharp tips touching her lips as he walked her into the wall. The pain spiked her arousal, but her wolf continued to snarl at the game he was playing.
He jerked back, teeth down, uttering, “You don’t really want to.”
Dazed, she swallowed the overwhelming nervousness that he might seduce her right then and there. “Don’t tell me what I want.” Even she believed her lie. That had to be her body doing the talking.
He wiped a heavy hand down his mouth. “Well, too bad. I’m not doing it here.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have standards.”
“I thought sex was ‘sustenance’ to you. What does it matter where? Afraid we’ll get caught?” Though a voice in her head warned her not to test him, she added, “Or are you worried I’ll conclude you weren’t worth the hype?”
The harassed noise he gave, looking away, told her she was really pushing his buttons. He licked his lips, staring at a spot on the wall before finally meeting her gaze. “I’ve fantasized about you a thousand times. Fantasies of us taking everything we need from each other until there’s nothing left. I don’t just want to thrust inside you for a few minutes in a damned public restroom with my hand covering your screams, Kimber. I want hours. I want to take my time. I want you to sweat and shake and say my name.”
Lust coursed a vigorous trail down her spine. What a wildly frustrating man he was. “Sounds like lovemaking to me.”
“Call it what you want. Doing it my way will ensure we walk away and never look back. A quickie in here will only disappoint us both.”
How could she tell him she was only testing him? The confession refused to leave her mind. While it’d been insane to consider at first, giving herself to Shain was becoming less of an impossibility and more like…
Inevitability.
A cramp in her stomach hit and she squeezed her eyes closed, reining in her wolf. Damn, girl. That one hurt. “Admit it, Shain. You’re lying. You care. You just don’t want to.”
Shain didn’t respond, which equaled no argument in her mind.
She started to smile but another stab, this time in her heart, made her bend over in pain, pressing her stomach.
Oh, no. No, no, no.
She gasped at the animalistic power forcing its way through her. Having experienced it so many times before, she knew when it was a point of no return.
Kimber looked up into Shain’s eyes. “I…can’t…hold her.”
He took a step toward her. “Hold who? What’s the matter?”
“I don’t have much time.”
She took off her shirt and bra, kicked off her shoes, avoiding Shain’s eyes when she removed her shorts and panties. A lot like how bile collected forcefully up the throat, her wolf’s roar rocketed from her chest and out her lips, making her voice husky and barely audible.
“I’m—shifting, and I can’t stop.”
&nb
sp; Chapter Fourteen
Right here? Right now?
Shain watched in disbelief as Kimber collapsed on her hands and knees. She let out short, desperate pants, emitting the style of moan that manifested from a place of pain.
Head down, she dug her nails in the tile.
Shain went down on one knee. “Kimber. What should I do?”
No response. Apparently, she was incapable of one, by the choked sound she made.
She arched her back, her neck, lifting her face.
The transformation began, like an invisible hand had come down to sweep away her human body, replacing it with fur. Inch by inch, a wolf emerged, starting at her nose, down her throat to her shoulders, and kept going until the tail swept the floor.
Shain had seen wolves before—domestic and underworld—but he’d never watched a true, full transformation.
“By the gods,” he whispered.
Kimber’s wolf shook, stared up at him a moment, eyes white with blue rims, then paced.
Shain was at a loss. “Kimber?”
The wolf paused, puffed a breath, and resumed.
She hadn’t given him any instructions, and they couldn’t stay in there.
“Fuck,” he cursed.
He had to get her out of there. Waiting for her to shift back could take a long time. Best to control the situation before it controlled them.
How the hell was he going to sneak a wolf out of a café? He needed help. Human help.
With a sigh, he did a quick check in the mirror, righted his clothes, and reached for the door. He looked down at Kimber when she started to follow him. She wouldn’t know what he was saying, but he had a feeling she’d understand his tone. “Stay here. Be quiet. I’ll be right back.”
Kimber hung back while he quietly pulled the door closed, making sure it wasn’t locked so he could get back in.
He strode from the hallway, turned, and found the lone hostess with her back to him. Wait. He was rushing; it didn’t work that well if he rushed. He paused a few feet from her, leveled his gaze on her neck, and evoked his sensa so she’d feel him with her instincts first.
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