It could have been that I was so desperate for Lucas to return my romantic feelings for him that I’d translated his perfectly innocent scent into something strong and wanting.
I told myself to get over it and move on. Lucas wasn’t lusting after me. I was falling for him, and I was falling alone.
But then it happened again. Days of telling myself I must have been wrong, all undone in a few short seconds.
Errol’s latest boat load of tourists had included a group of women on a day trip. As soon as they crowded into Island Books, unwelcome licks of regard bristled across every inch of my exposed skin. I offered them a tight smile before they dispersed among the shelves and I tucked my nose into my scarf to avoid the barbed edge of their attraction.
Most of them didn’t pay much attention to me beyond that first look. They moved around the shelves in twos and threes, their arms gradually filling with twisted thrillers and fantasies with colourful sprayed edges.
Only one of the women’s gazes kept sweeping back. Each time, a fresh burst of want cracked over me.
There was no way I could avoid the fact that a great many people looked at me and liked what they saw. Years ago, I would have revelled in how my enhanced nose allowed me to ascertain exactly when someone was into me.
But something changed between Mum getting sick and when I’d ditched my law degree to run off to a Scottish island. I wasn’t interested in relationships that went no further than skin deep. I wanted a future partner to find me attractive, but I needed more than that. I wanted them to desire me as much when my body was young and pretty as when it would inevitably become weathered and wrinkled.
The changes I’d gone through when I became a wolf had made it even harder to trust someone in such an intimate way, to allow them to see all of me. Even the thought of it had me burying my chin deep into my scarf.
The woman walked over to the counter, her coat undone to show off her dress underneath. I wondered if she had leant so far forward at the bakery or during a brewery tour.
I was a bisexual man with eyes, which darted to the cleavage generously on show. Another spike of desire scratched over me as she noted the brief flick of my gaze.
I’d served her quickly, saying just enough to be considered polite. Maybe she thought I was shy. Maybe that’s why she stayed at the counter. She grinned at me like we were in on some joke together, but I’d never felt further from laughing. I wanted her stink of lust away from me.
I hadn’t realised I was clenching my teeth until my mouth fell open.
I’d been so preoccupied with dodging the woman’s unwanted attention that I hadn’t noticed when Lucas came into the shop. He stormed over to the counter with a book I was fairly certain he’d picked up at random – he’d never expressed an interest in shed building before – and coughed loudly.
The woman flinched, then twisted to look at him.
He practically growled at her. ‘Have you been served? I need to pay for this.’
The woman turned back to me, perhaps ready to exchange a puzzled look about this strange man covered in fur, but I only had eyes for Lucas.
Around the edges of the woman’s sharp attraction was something warmer. As she moved out of the way and Lucas stepped closer, the new scent swept over me.
The harsh edge of jealousy didn’t take away from the deep pool of incredibly welcome want spilling from Lucas.
There was no mistaking it that time. Lucas liked me as more than a friend.
He stayed in the shop until closing. After the women left, the sting to his scent fled. By the time we walked upstairs, his unignorable desire had mellowed back to familiar softness. He seemed content to cook and work on a puzzle together, none of his touches roaming beyond anything other than friendly.
I didn’t know what to do about it. Didn’t know if I should do anything about it.
But over the next few days, it kept happening. I burst into laughter when Kat pressed her face into Lucas’s for a fishy kiss and his want pulsed over me. I talked about the bookshop award and his scent would heat. I gave him a book I thought he’d enjoy and his eyes skittered away from mine, his heart pounding.
I watched him closely. If anything, he seemed disconcerted by those moments. Aster had assured me – with a fair amount of moaning – that his best friend was disgustingly straight. If he was right and this was the first time Lucas had felt attraction towards a man, then it had to be confusing.
I longed to talk to him about it, to reassure him that what he was feeling was okay, but that wasn’t possible. I wouldn’t have known about his attraction if I wasn’t a wolf. Lucas’s actions stayed the same. He was kind and his mouth ran away with him in the best ways and he held me like a friend. No one without the advantage of my super charged senses would have any clue that anything else was going on.
So I left it. I basked in the glow each time his warm desire flowed over me, and I left him to find his own way.
But I hoped. I couldn’t stop that. If Lucas could get over his discomfort and acknowledge his feelings, then maybe I could have everything I’d ever dreamed of.
The door of Island Books crashed open, shocking me back to the present. My laptop was still on the picture of Lucas. I quickly scrolled away.
Louisa sauntered in, her hair tied back with a yellow ribbon and her curves showcased by a bright red jumpsuit.
‘You ready to film this video, then?’
