Rachel and Addy were just stepping out of the dressing room, and he let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the gown draped over the girl’s arm.Finally.
He was about to round everyone up so they could get out of there when Rachel and Addy hurried over to a wall filled with more shoes than he’d ever seen in his life. The teen girl looked like she’d found nirvana as she eyed all the colorful footwear.
Knox groaned silently. They were nowhere near done, were they?
Despite the reality of being subjected to more shopping, he couldn’t help laughing as Rachel casually steered Addy away from the four- and five-inch stilettos, instead planting her firmly in front of ones with more manageable heels.
Knox considered asking if they needed help—just for the fun of it—when he caught sight of Addy’s mother sitting off to the side, not paying any attention to her daughter at all. Instead, she was staring at the blue gown Ben had quickly moved over to hold so Addy could check out the shoes, a disappointed look on her face.
He frowned, not sure why she was upset. Then again, he rarely understood women at the best of times. But as Jennifer’s gaze darted back and forth between the dress and her daughter, then the notepad and the cell phone on her lap, the picture started coming into focus.
While Addy had been shopping for her dress with Rachel, her mom had been sitting there working on her case. Maybe Jennifer hadn’t been aware how big a deal buying a gown with her daughter would be, but from the expression on her face, it seemed like she finally realized now what she’d missed out on.
Setting her notepad and cell phone on the table beside her, Jennifer stood and cautiously walked over to where Addy stood gushing about shoes, like she thought her daughter might rebuff her.
Rachel must have noticed the ADA’s hesitance because she gave Jennifer a smile and motioned her forward. Grabbing a pair of blue, low-heeled sandals, she handed them to Jennifer, then tugged Addy closer. The teenager laughed, and just like that, the gulf separating mother and daughter lessened a little.
As Addy and Jenniferoohed andaahed over the shoes, Ben handed Rachel the dress and smoothly extricated himself from the situation—well, as smoothly as a sixteen-year-old boy terrified of letting his best friend know he had a thing for her could do.
The kid wandered over to Knox with a look on his face that seemed to indicate he was glad he didn’t have to be responsible for the dress anymore.
“I think they’re almost done,” Ben said, clearly relieved.
Knox snorted. “Sorry, kid, but there’s a good chance they’re just getting started. Once Addy tries on a dozen or so pairs of shoes, going back and forth between the same ones over and over, they still have to find a purse that matches the whole outfit. Then there’s the endless jewelry and a wrap to keep her warm, of course.”
Ben stared at him like a pig checking out a Rolex. “A wrap?”
“Yeah. Like a coat but without sleeves.”
Ben looked even more confused. “Um. Do you think it will take them much longer to finish shopping? Seriously, when Addy invited me, I thought we’d be done in thirty minutes. I didn’t know buying a dress could take this long.”
Knox laughed. “You ever hear that old line about it’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey? Well, for some women, shopping is like that. They enjoy the process of the shopping more than buying. It gives them an endorphin rush or something. Regardless, guys don’t need to understand it. We just need to stand around patiently and carry the bags afterward.”
Ben nodded, quiet for a while, like he was considering what Knox had said. “I guess you’d have to know a lot about women since you’re dating someone like Officer Bennett.”
Knox was about to agree, until he realized exactly what the kid had said. “Wait a minute. Dating? I’m not dating Rachel.”
Rachel suddenly turned, throwing him a curious look from the far side of the room, and he lowered his voice as he spoke, just in case she could hear him. He remembered her saying something about werewolves having better hearing than regular people. His wasn’t any better than before he’d turned, but she’d done this werewolf thing longer, so hers might be.
“Okay, whatever you say,” Ben said, though he didn’t look convinced. “It’s just that I see the way you look at her. I might be in high school, but I’m smart enough to know that’s not the way a guy looks at someone they work with. I just assumed…”
Knox opened his mouth to tell the kid he was wrong, but right then he caught sight of Rachel reaching over to grab another pair of sandals to show Addy. The girl snatched them up and let out a squeal, making Rachel laugh. Knox couldn’t help but smile. He liked hearing her laugh.
He realized then that he hadn’t seen Rachel laugh much over the past few days, but truthfully, he didn’t know her well enough yet to say if that was normal for her. For all he knew, she was always this serious and withdrawn. Something told him that wasn’t the case, though. He hated to think he was the reason for it.
Unfortunately, he was pretty damn sure it was his fault. All because he’d tried to kiss her the other night. The worst part was he could barely understand why the hell he’d done it.
The relaxation exercise they’d done had been amazing. He’d felt more alive than he’d ever felt in his life, his whole body tingling as his inner wolf emerged. But when he’d opened his eyes and found Rachel sitting so close he could feel the heat coming off her, he forgot about his claws and his fangs and focused completely on her.
Her eyes had been glowing the most vivid and beautiful green he’d ever seen, and it had been impossible to look away, almost like she’d hypnotized him. Then her scent hit him, surrounding him in licorice jelly beans and cinnamon and something else he couldn’t put a name to—something so tempting and feminine it had taken everything he had not to reach out and yank her body closer to his.
Knox hadn’t realized he’d moved to kiss her until their mouths were almost touching, but when her tongue slipped out to wet her lips, he’d about lost it. It had probably been a completely subconscious gesture on her part, but damn, he’d wanted to eat her up.
The mere touch of her lips to his had been like heaven, but then she suddenly jerked away. Or maybe he had. Either way, it felt like a chain linking them together had snapped, leaving him to float weightless for a moment before slamming back into reality with an impact that left him gasping for air.
He’d wanted to apologize, but before he could get the words out, everything had gone downhill and Rachel had told him without saying the actual words that what had happened would never happen again. Since then, she’d barely looked at him. And yeah, that werewolf training he’d been hoping she’d provide had come to a screeching halt, too. He’d tried to talk to her a few times since then, but each time, she’d refused to engage, her expression making him think she was a hundred miles away.
“So, what do we do now?” Ben asked softly, interrupting his musings. “Just stand around and wait for them to tell us what to do next?”
