“No.” The word came out too forcefully. I softened my voice, channeling the diplomatic training my mother had drilled into me since childhood. “No, I can help. Allow me.”
I took her bags in one hand, they weighed nothing to me, and offered her my arm with the other. She beamed up at me as if I’d just offered her the moon.
“Such a gentleman! You don’t see that much anymore. Young people today are always in such a rush. No time for common courtesy. No time to help an old woman with her groceries.” She patted my arm. “My late husband was like you. Big man. Strong. Always helping people whether they asked or not.”
We began the painfully slow journey across the street. The crosswalk felt approximately seven miles long. I kept glancing back at the grocery store, terrified Riley would leave while I was stuck escorting this tiny human at a pace that would make a snail impatient.
“Are you from around here?” the woman asked.
“No. I’m visiting.”
“How lovely. Lysmont is a nice town. Quiet. Good people. A little boring, if you ask me, but safe.” She peered up at me. “Business or pleasure?”
I thought about Riley. About her smile, her wit, the fire in her eyes when she mispronounced my name. About the way my entire world had shifted the moment I saw her face.
“Pleasure,” I said. “Definitely pleasure.”
The woman nodded knowingly. “A girl, then. I can always tell. You have that look about you.”
“What look?”
“The stupid one. Men get it when they’re in love. My Harold had that look for forty-seven years, bless his heart. Couldn’t hide anything from me. Couldn’t lie to save his life.” She chuckled. “Made him a terrible poker player but a wonderful husband.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just kept walking.
“Is she pretty?” the woman asked.
“She’s...” I searched for words that could possibly capture Riley. Pretty felt insufficient. Beautiful felt inadequate. “She’s everything.”
The woman smiled, soft and knowing. “That’s how Harold used to describe me. He never stopped saying it.” She patted my arm again. “You treat her right, you hear me? Women like that, and if you don’t treat that girl right, she’ll find someone who will.”
I almost growled at that.
“I will.”
“And don’t be a coward about it. Tell her how you feel. Life’s too short for maybes.”
We finally reached the other side of the street, and I deposited the old woman safely on the curb with her bags. She thanked me profusely and patted my cheek with a papery hand, telling me to ‘go with my everything’.
So I did. I looked back at the grocery store just in time to see Riley exiting through the doors with her bags.
I resumed my observation from a safe distance, not at all creepy, like Thessa would call me.
We were three blocks from her apartment when she started walking faster.
I frowned. Her posture had changed. Shoulders tense, head turning slightly as if checking behind her. She’d noticed something…
She’d noticedme.
My wolf preened at the connection, pleased that she could sense his presence even without knowing what she was sensing. The mate bond was already forming, already pulling her toward me even if she didn’t understand why.
But my human brain kicked in with a very important realization.
I was scaring her.
She thought she was being followed by a threat, not me. Her mate, herprotector.The person who would die before letting anything hurt her. She didn’t know that. All she knew was that footsteps were getting closer in the dark.
Shit.
