“I’m kind of busy today, the earliest I can get out there will be later this evening.”
“But?”
“Sorry lady, that’s the best I can do.”
“Okay. Okay. Do you happen to have a loaner I can borrow?”
“A loaner? Huh, never been asked that before.”
“So I guess that’s a no,” I say on the verge of tears.
The catch in my voice must have been audible, because a moment later, he sighs.
“I guess you can borrow my old truck. I’ll be out that way in a few to check out your car. It maybe something simple and you might not even need a loaner.”
Before I can say anything, I hear the click as he hangs up the phone.
“Well, how’d it go?” Delight asks when she reaches my side.
Scratching my head, I look up at her still wondering what the hell happened.
“I’m not sure. To start with, it was going to be later this evening, then he wasn’t sure about the loaner, then he changed his mind. He’s on his way now.”
“Tears can tear a man up faster than anything else, it’s a woman’s stronghold. You be sure and remember that.”
We both laugh and I wipe the droplets that cling to my lashes away.
I hear the tow truck before I see it. It’s an old number, but it looks to be in pristine condition. The red glistens in the sunlight as an average looking man with brown hair and pretty dark brown eyes steps out of the truck and looks around. When his eyes land on my silver Honda, he removes the hat he’s wearing and slams it against his leg.
“Fuck, it had to be a fucking foreign job,” I hear from my position within the Diner.
Standing from my bar stool, I walk out of the diner and greet him.
“Hello, I’m Gianna Jones. I’m the one who called you.”
“Yeah, I figured as much. I’m Issac Kincaid.”
“Nice to meet you Mr. Kincaid.”
“Yeah, you too, Miss. Jones. You might as well go get comfortable while I check on your car.”
“Okay, yell if you need me.”
“Humph. I don’t yell, and especially at a woman.”
“Okay, here’s the keys,” I say reaching into my purse.
I walk back into the diner for the third time today, and sit in the booth by the door so I can keep an eye on Mr. Kincaid.
As I sit here waiting, the most handsome man I’ve ever seen opens the door and walks inside. He strides right by me, never looking my way. God, he stands well over six feet with the richest chocolate brown hair and, oh my God, those jeans he’s wearing hug his trim hips and ass like they were made for him.
Swoon girl. This is what an f-ing swoon is. He puts my ex to shame and I’d yet to see his eyes.
“Kaden, honey, what can I help you with today?” Delight asks while batting her rich brown eyes up at him.
“Gimme my usual, to go, please,” he answers, and his deep timbre reaches my ears.
“Henry, did ya hear him or do I need to repeat it.”
“Got it,” Henry calls back as I watch him through my lashes.
His voice. Oh my God, his voice. Let’s just say my panties became drenched the moment he walked inside, but his voice sends me into overdrive. It’s smooth and rich, but not so deep that you have to bend your ear to hear him. As I watch him, I swear he lifts his head and sniffs the air then turns to look at me. Of course, I swiftly turn to watch Issac outside.
“Who’s the new girl by the window?” I hear him whisper to Delight.
“That’s Gianna Jones. I thought she was just passing through, but it seems she’s set up shop in my diner,” Delight says and laughs at her joke.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Oh, you know. Poor girl’s car broke down on her right outside the diner. She called Issac and now she’s waiting while he checks it out.”
“She planning on sticking around?” He asks.
“Why are you so interested, Kaden St. Claire?” She quizzes him.
“I’m not, but you know Elias always wants to know the goings on around town,” he replies, glancing at the kitchen window as the bell dings.
“Here you go Kaden. Now, don’t be a stranger.”
“Delight, with Henry’s cooking and your lovely demeanor, you know I’ll be back,” he flirts.
He lifts the white sack off the counter, nods at Delight, and turns for the door. I catch him sniffing the air once more before he strolls outside.
“What’s wrong with you girly? You look like you got stars in your eyes.”
“Huh?” I reply, looking out the window. I follow Kaden St. Claire with my eyes as he crosses the street and gets into a tall, black Chevy Z-71.
“You know what I mean,” Delight smirks down at me.
“I do, but I refuse to answer on the grounds it may incriminate me,” I respond dryly, and she chuckles.
“Oh my heavens,” she responds then heads back toward the kitchen after I refuse to answer her.
I look back out the window just as Mr. Kincaid opens the diner door and walks in.
“Well, Miss, looks like I’ll be towing your car to my garage. I can’t get her running out on the street, so if you’re ready, let’s go.”
Standing, I grab my purse, yell a quick goodbye to Delight, and follow Mr. Kincaid out the door.
As we head to his garage, I discover he’s a very quiet man. I try my damnedest to get him to converse with me, but he just stares off into the distance. I get a grunt here and there, but nothing verbal. I can say one thing, for the man I thought was average a short while ago, his damn biceps were freaking huge.
We pull up to his garage, if you want to call it that, and he stops the tow truck. It’s a small place right on the edge of the forest. I can see the trees from here and they are freaking tall as hell, the tallest trees I’d ever seen before.
“Never been this far west, have you?” He asks getting out of the tow truck.
“No I haven’t. I’m a southern girl. I’m from North Carolina, actually.”
“I’ll get you the keys for my truck and you write down some info about where you’re staying and a phone number I can reach you at.”
“Okay,” I reply.
He brings me a piece of notebook paper and I write down the number for the cabin I rented and my cell number, not that it’ll do him any good since cell service is non-existent.
“Here you go. Do I need to give you a deposit on the truck rental?” I ask, digging for my wallet.
“I’m not renting you my damn truck, I’m lending it to you for a couple days. Sides, I got your car.”
“Thank you so much. You’re too kind.”
“Humph,” he grunts, handing me a set of keys. “This way and I’ll take you out back where it’s parked.”
I stumble and come to a stop when I see the blue beast of a truck sitting there. It has to be brand new or nearly.
“I can’t borrow that.”
“That’s not the truck I’m lending you. It’s beside that one, you can’t see it because of ole blue.”
Walking around the monster of a truck, my eyes land on a small two door truck. It’s older, but in excellent condition.
“Oh, I see why you’d lend me this one over that monstrosity.”
“Ole Blue isn’t mine, now red here is.”
“Men and their trucks,” I whisper to myself, but I get a humph in return from Mr. Kincaid.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Kincaid for lending me your baby,” I say clearing my throat a little over baby.
“Issac.” He replies.
“Huh?”
“You can call me Issac. I’m not my freaking father, he’s Mr. Kincaid.”
“Okay, Issac it is then.”
“Anyway she’s all yours until your Honda is fixed,” he says then stands waiting for me to leave.
I go around to the driver’s side and climb behind the wheel. After I slip the key in, I give the ignition a turn and, to my astonishment, it starts right up.
As I start out, I wonder at the height and breadth of the trees, they are freaking massive. If I was a photographer, I would have to pull over and take pictures. When I reach the cabin, I look around at the cozy feeling of the place. A tall chimney off to one side lets me know there is a fireplace. There is a huge deck with a swing on the right and a small dinette to the left, and I smile as a feeling of peacefulness surrounds me.
I am completely mesmerized by the small cabin. Walking up the steps, I look on my sheet of paper and, just as the website stated, the key lays waiting for me to retrieve from under an ornamental wolf beside the door.
Letting myself into the cabin, I smile at the clean fresh smell of the place. There is a hint of lemon and the smell of a recent fire hanging in the air, and it lets me know the cabin was recently cleaned. I walk from room to room and notice the furniture isn’t new, but it looks comfortable. The kitchen isn’t very big, but it’s perfect for one person, or a couple, who loves to cook.
I pause to dump the grocery bags on the counter and continue my tour through the rest of the cabin. The master bedroom has a balcony door that opens to overlook the forest beyond, and the master bath is small, but perfect for me. Inhaling the scents, I walk back into the living room and outside to gather my few belongings. When I reach the old, beat up truck I look inside and realize I’ve forgotten to transfer my luggage from my car to the truck.
A trip back into town was now my only option. God I hoped Issac hadn’t closed shop with my car locked inside.
“Oh damn, he has my keys, too. Fuck, fuck, fuckety fuck!” I yell jumping up and down. “Okay, okay fit over. Get it together Gianna.”
I run back inside and quickly unload the groceries then fly back outside to drive back into town. When I reach the garage, the doors are open and my little silver Civic sits inside one of the bays. Issac is leaning over the hood with some kind of contraption in his hand and a bright light overhead shines down into the engine.
“I figured you’d be back when I saw your bags in the backseat,” he says without looking up.
“Yeah and I was praying you’d still be here. So what’s wrong with my baby?”
“Really Miss Jones? You’ve been gone for an hour and you think it’s all fixed and ready to go?” He replies, gruffly. Those are the most words he’s said all day to me.
“Ummmm, well, since I don’t know shit about motors and cars, let’s just say I was hoping.”
Mr. Kincaid’s mouth gaps open for a split second before he grins. “You have a mouth on you, missy.”
“Oops. Yeah, I’ve been trying to cut back,” I mutter in response.
“Anyway, your car needs a new fuel pump and computer. I was going to stop by later and ask if you’re okay with me ordering them.”
“Whatever it needs, but will it be very expensive?” I ask, calculating how much money I have left.
“Couple hundred for the computer and around eighty bucks for the fuel pump, plus labor.”
“Okay sounds good. How long will it take to get the parts in?”
“With the weather system we’re expecting to come in, it could be a while,” Issac says with a grunt.
“Alrighty then, let me grab my luggage and I’ll get out of your hair.”
He goes back to work removing the bad parts on my car and I pull the three pieces of luggage from the backseat. After carefully placing them in the back of the truck, I’m off to the cabin again.
Thank God the directions are still inside the truck or getting lost in the middle of nowhere is where I’d have ended up. Turning the truck down the lane that leads to the cabin, I see a black truck parked near the steps, and I frown. It looks familiar, but I have no idea where I’ve seen it. After stopping the truck beside the black one, I turn the ignition off, gather my belongings and head inside.
Kaden St. Claire is standing in the middle of the kitchen, hammer in one hand and a cabinet door in the other.
“Excuse me, what are you doing in my cabin?” I question, trying my damnedest not to stare at his deep blue, sapphire eyes.
“I’m replacing the cabinet doors in all of Marcus’ cabins. I didn’t know anyone had rented this place. Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. I won’t bother you. I’ll just go put my clothes away while you finish up in here.”
How I didn’t stammer, I’ll never know. Damn that man is fine. He fills his jeans out better than any man I’d ever seen. I think to myself as I take one more look then walk into the bedroom and shut the door.
When I finish putting my clothes in the closet and dresser, I wash my face and apply some lip gloss, then mush up my hair and walk back into the living room kitchen area. I notice Kaden tilt his head back and scent the air, what the hell is up with that. I thought only animals did such things.
“I’m all finished in here. I guess I’ll see you around,” Kaden says, while gathering his supplies.
“Yeah I’ll see you around,” I reply. I want to groan or ask him on a date, but I’ve never been that type of girl, so I just look down at my shoes. Besides I’d just gotten out of a bad relationship with my ex Owen, and I am not ready to start anything new, or am I? I question myself. It’s been four months, but Owen won’t stop with the damn texts and phone calls. Wanting me back, begging for me to move back in with him, crying and urging me to forgive him. That’s why I left home. I needed a breather from his constant whining. He’d been the cheater, the scumbag who fell into his secretary’s bed and when I caught him, he’d been the one to hit me across the face, blacking my eye and I’d carried around his finger marks on my neck for two weeks. I’d had enough and I wasn’t going back to him ever. EVER, he could plead with me for the rest of my life, but he was my past!
“Are you okay?” I hear Kaden ask. I look up into his beautiful eyes, I’d thought he’d left, but he stands half in the door half out.
“Sorry, what?”
“I asked if you’re okay. You had this faraway look in your eyes, and you hunched up your body, almost as if you were afraid.”
“I’m alright. Sorry, yeah, I was somewhere else, regretting a previous life. A life I never want to return to,” I sigh.
“I’m Kaden, by the way,” he says in his velvety smooth voice.
I slide my hands free of my jean pockets and reach out to shake his hand. “Gianna Jones.”
“Nice to meet you, Gianna,” he murmurs in his deep, rich voice.
“Nice to meet you as well,” I reply, holding my legs together because his voice saying my name is enough to melt my panties right off my body.
Damn, and there he goes sniffing the room again. I swear I hear a growl coming from deep within his chest.
2
Kaden
Fuck, I knew the minute I ran into one Gianna Jones, she was going to be trouble. My wolf was giving me hell. He was on repeat inside my head, “my mate, mine.” But not only was he giving me hell, her scent was driving me insane. She was all I could think about since seeing her at Delight’s earlier.
I knew damn well she’d be in this cabin and I’d made a fuss with Marcus about getting the new doors on before the renter arrived. Luckily, I timed it perfectly and she’d walked in before I could get everything finished. When I scented the fright coming off her in waves, it sent tingles through my body. I wanted to rip something or someone into pieces with my bare claws. I know she feels the mating bond, or her body wouldn’t be reacting to me the way it is, but she’s human and she’ll never understand what she’s feeling. We just met and I’ll be damned if I tell her what I am yet.
I stand with my hands in my pockets and look at her, wondering if she’d go on a date with me, or out to dinner as friends. She was definitely a cute little t
hing, and her head would rest against my shoulder perfectly. She was slender, but all the right curves were there and when she smiled, she had a dimple in her right cheek. She had a mass of curly dark hair and her eyes; I could get lost in those emerald depths. They had small flecks of gold going around the outside of her pupils. Why does she have to be human? Why couldn’t my mate be like me? This could easily turn into one big clusterfuck.
“Gianna, would you like to have dinner with me this evening?” I ask before I can talk myself out of it. My wolf is pleased with me for asking her. He wants to claim her right here and now, and I have to fight to control him. He’s a powerful beast, but I win this round.
She opens her mouth to answer, but before she can, her cell phone rings in her purse.
“Sorry let me check that real quick. It’s the first time it’s worked since arriving here,” she says and my eyes bore into her. She’s nervous, but I can tell she’s interested in me, too.
“Sure, go ahead,” I say, and watch as she pulls the phone out of her purse.
When she utters a curse and lets it slip back inside, my wolf howls in my head. He wants out to protect his mate as the scent of fear permeates the air.
“Really sorry about that. It’s someone who just won’t get the message through his head that we’re done,” she brushes her hands through her hair then takes a couple of deep breaths that seem to calm her, and my wolf comes off the ledge as well, knowing his mate is safe.
“I’d love to go out to dinner with you. What time should I be ready?” She asks with a smile.
“I’ll be here around seven, if that’s okay with you,” I answer, knowing I’ll be ready long before then.
“That’s great, I’ll be ready. See you later, Kaden,” she says softly and looks up at me from under her lashes.
“See you soon, Gianna,” I reach up and brush the hair out of her face and have to fight myself to pull my hand away before I trace her lower lip with my thumb.
I turn and close the door quietly behind myself. Running, I jump in my truck and head home. As soon as I reach the cabin I call home, I run up the steps. My plan is to grab a quick shower and shave before heading back to Gianna’s, but when I step up on the porch I see Sam, one of the pack hunters, out of the corner of my eye.
Dark Moon Falls: Volume 2 Page 83