“You mean a date?”
“I’m not asking to be your life mate. I just thought you could show me around the city. You have the day off, and I’m in no rush to get home. I want to know you, and that means spending time together.”
I thought about it. How often did I ever go out with someone other than my best friend and brother? After the stressful night I’d had, maybe a little lunch and sightseeing would put me in a better state of mind. “Are you going to tell me what your relationship is with my brother? It looked like you two wanted to toss each other out the window.”
He shook his head. “That’s between your brother and me.”
I wiped a hair off the counter. “Then you can’t ask me out. I could never do anything to dishonor my brother.”
Tak steered his attention to the glass counter on my right. “You have a lot in common with your jewelry.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He stared vacantly at everything in the store except me. “I guess I have no reason to stay.” He backed up a few steps and bowed. “It was a pleasure, Miss Church. I’ll be sure to let my father know his gemstones are in good hands.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. How could I risk damaging my relationship with my brother when I still didn’t know who this man was and why there was animosity between them? They could be sworn enemies.
The bell jingled on the door when he left the shop. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding. Surely Lakota wouldn’t have made enemies with the tribe who supplied my gemstones. It was better that Tak leave, but as I watched him standing outside, my wolf howled, calling for his return. I secretly hoped he’d turn around and look at me one last time.
But he didn’t.
Two women sauntered past him and turned for a second glance. I laughed when a gust of wind made the sarong open up at the side. The women noticed. No doubt their dirty thoughts would have set a confessional on fire. Tak stood with his face to the wind, unperturbed by his provocative display. The sun shone on his brown skin, and he looked like he should have been in a painting on my wall.
When Tak turned to leave, he bumped right into Dutch—the man who’d come into my store yesterday looking for feather earrings. They stared each other down for a brief moment, each man lifting his chin and not showing a submissive bone in his body. It was a common display among Shifter men, who were always posturing among one another.
Tak finally swaggered off, and I blew out a breath.
Dutch poked his head in the door. “Mind if I intrude? I know you’re closed, but I just heard about the trouble you had last night.”
“Watch your step,” I said, gesturing at his leather shoes. “I don’t know how well they cleaned up, and I still have to shake out all the clothes and sweep again.”
“Do you have a large box or something wide to catch the glass?”
I thought about his clever idea. “There should be some in the alley.”
Dutch disappeared and quickly returned with a cardboard box. “Shake them out in here.”
I collected one shirt at a time and thoroughly shook each one out inside the box, carefully inspecting them for glass particles. Dutch did the same, and the conversation dwindled for several minutes.
“Want to tell me about it?” he asked, breaking the silence. “Word spreads fast. When Mo Franklin is around, it’s never for a good reason.”
“Someone smashed my window. I didn’t see it happen, so there’s not much to tell.”
Dutch shook out another blouse, and I stole a moment to admire him. Not many men I knew wore dress slacks. His pale-blue button-up shirt made his eyes look like multifaceted gemstones, and a leather belt finished off the ensemble. Despite his crisp appearance, I liked that he wasn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves.
“Have you had this kind of trouble before?”
“When we first opened up,” I admitted. “We had a few obscene words written on the windows, and they even left a flaming bag of manure outside the door. I guess it was the welcoming committee.”
“Did you report it to the Council?”
“The Shifter Council? My partner’s former Packmaster had a talk with one of them, and he said without evidence, there wasn’t anything they could do. There aren’t security cameras on this side of town for obvious reasons.” I folded another shirt and set it aside. “Even if they did find the culprits, what could they do? A slap on the wrist is all.”
After we finished shaking out all the garments from the shelf, Dutch lifted the broken mannequin. “Do you want me to take off her clothes?”
I bubbled with laughter. “You barely know each other.”
He gave me a thin-lipped smile. “That’s rarely made a difference before.”
