He sighed. “Did I tell you I was sorry about that?”
“No, don’t be. I really enjoyed our time. I’m not going to say it didn’t hurt, the way you ended it, but I totally understand. That was a lot for you, in a really short amount of time. I think you handled it pretty well, all things considered.”
He threw her a skeptical look and she laughed. “No, really. You got poisoned, were seriously ill, met me, which, you know, is huge.” She laughed when he rolled his eyes at her this time. “And hearing about Arizona and Hillary and Alexis, and all while feeling enormously attracted to me, I’m sure it was very overwhelming.”
“Okay, yeah, we’ll go with that,” he said, dryly. “By the way, we’re expected at dinner tonight, with Hillary and Zach and some of the others. Not exactly how I was planning the evening to go, but I was overruled.”
She smiled. “I heard. I also heard they offered us a place to stay that wasn’t a houseful of other sharp-eared werewolves.”
“Reward for agreeing to sit through the dinner.”
“Ah, you’ll have fun. You enjoy their company, admit it.”
“We’ll see how I answer that once I have you alone.”
“Uh huh.” She reached to the radio and fiddled through Hillary’s preset stations, until she’d tried them all. Then she tried the search button and didn’t stop until she hit the Eagles, and finally sat back. She pretended not to notice his shoulders visibly relax at her selection, turning her laugh into a small cough.
“You haven’t told me what you do,” he said as they turn off the highway.
“Oh. I record audiobooks.”
“Well, you don’t hear that every day. How did you get into it?”
“A friend of a friend needed someone to do a cheap voiceover spot, so I helped out. I enjoyed it, and decided to look into the whole thing for some side money. I wanted to buy a house. I was doing office work for a shoe company owned by one of the pack elders at the time. Eventually the side money was good enough for me to the buy the house, and then quit the office job and focus on it full time. I settled into audiobooks, mostly fiction.”
“That’s great that you get to do something you enjoy.”
“Absolutely. I mean, it’s definitely work, and sometimes it feels like it, for sure, but I love the flexibility. I can schedule projects to what works best for me, do the recordings when I want as long as I meet deadlines I’ve helped set, and I don’t have anyone hanging over me all the time.” She glanced over at him. “Will you tell me more about this whole stealing-from-drug-dealers thing?”
“I was being a bit of an ass. I don’t really do that anymore. I did do it a couple of times, early on when I needed money and when I had absolutely no doubts where the money I took came from. I also made huge donations in the drug dealers’ names to various charities.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
He looked over at her but didn’t respond. He drove up to the Jenners’ gate and punched in a code. Before long Hillary was admitting them into the warm house, low music on in the background, delicious smells coming through from the kitchen and the low hum of several people talking.
After giving Myra a hug, Hillary grabbed Adam’s arm, leaning in close while she walked him back to the large kitchen. Travis was pulling two pans of what looked like chicken out of the oven. Molly was using tongs to stir around a large pan of green beans on top of the stove, Zach was pulling bottles of beer out of the fridge and already had a bottle of wine tucked under his arm. Tracy, Alex and Stephen sat at the island, munching on something Adam couldn’t identify. He could see Aaron and Peter in the dining room, setting the table. Hillary moved to help Zach and Myra took a seat at the island, so Adam followed suit.
Myra scooped something up with a bit of bread and offered it to him. He eyed the bland looking substance skeptically.
“It’s hummus,” she urged.
Shrugging his shoulders, he accepted the bread and popped it in his mouth, pleasantly surprised to enjoy it. It didn’t taste at all like the baby food it resembled. He vaguely listened to Myra and Stephen discussing favorite hummus brands and considered what a hell of a turn his life had taken in the last week.
Here he was surrounded by powerful wolves, one stronger, two equal, and several just beneath him in power level, and he wasn’t in the least worried about it. He didn’t have any concerns about losing control of himself, or of those around him losing theirs. On the one hand, everything seemed very normal, very traditional and familial. On the other hand, there was no doubt that they were werewolves and the room held a great concentration of power and strength. But none of it set his radar active.
Well, Myra did. But not because she was stronger than him. His awareness of her was sexual. But more than that, he had to acknowledge as she slid the hummus closer to him, handed him a piece of the bread, all without interrupting her conversation with Stephen. Even though part of him wanted desperately to be alone with her, to be tearing her clothes off just enough that he could thrust into her, slam her back against the wall, knowing she could take it, wanted it, pounding into her—Well, shit. He shifted uncomfortably and tried to redirect his thoughts. Because while they were a very real idea of what he wanted to be doing, he’d also enjoyed talking to her on the drive down, didn’t mind sharing this little island with her and being offered food by her while listening to her and Stephen discuss the relative merits of a food processor.
He felt Alex’s gaze on him, met the other man’s eyes. Found a twinkling amusement and understanding. Zach came by and plopped a bottle of beer in front of him, one hand resting easily on Adam’s shoulder.
“Drive up and back was okay?” he asked.
“Fine.” He leaned to the side a bit so Zach could get to the food. “It’s a nice drive.”
Zach nodded around his bite. “We like it out here. Perfect blend of out of the city but close enough to get to the airport, or for some of the pack to commute. Close enough to have some big clients for the security guys.” He pointed his chin at Alex.
“We keep an apartment in the city,” Alex said. “And rotate personnel through every week so that there’s always someone available to get to the client right away, if they have a system issue. And backup only an hour out.”
“Makes sense.”
