I should have anticipated the question. It was natural for him to wonder. But telling him about other werewolves would open the door to more questions—including ones I wasn’t prepared to answer just yet.
“No packs,” I said, dragging my bread through the olive oil and herbs on my plate. “The others are scattered around the globe. We mostly keep to ourselves. As for your non-apology, I suppose I can just punish you later.” I popped the bread into my mouth.
The innuendo had the desired effect of steering his attention away from other werewolves. Even in the restaurant’s dim lighting, pink tinged his cheeks. But if the lust sizzling across our bond was any indication, his blush stemmed from desire rather than any sense of shyness. As far as I could tell, Caleb Lawson didn’t possess a bashful bone in his body. Throughout dinner, he’d sized me up the same way he did his steak. Even our waiter, a slim gay man, had noticed, raising his brows when Caleb handed over his menu and said, “I’ll have the Wagyu ribeye.” Caleb had smiled at me, adding, “Since I’m not paying for it.”
I plucked the bottle of wine from the table and refilled our glasses. Caleb picked his up and sipped, his gaze turning thoughtful over the rim. I followed his lead, letting the expensive red roll over my tongue as I waited for him to ask the questions that had brewed in his eyes since we left Hale Valley.
He set down his glass. “Have you always lived in New York?”
“Not always.” I toyed with the handle of the butter knife next to my plate. “I attended a teacher’s college near Hale Valley when I was young, and I taught high school in the area for afew years. I got my master’s degree from Syracuse. After that, I taught at the university here in Albany.”
He straightened, clearly recognizing the door I’d just opened. “What kind of classes did you teach?”
“History. My area of concentration is World War I.”
Our gazes held, and he seemed to choose his next words carefully. “Is there a reason for that?”
Damn, he was smart. I pulled my phone from my pocket, opened the camera app, and swiped to a photo I’d scanned from the original, which was too delicate to carry around. Then I slid the phone across the table.
He expanded the photo with his thumb and forefinger, studying the image for a moment before lifting his eyes to mine. “Your great-grandfather?”
My heart thumped faster. Christ, was Inervous? The answer came immediately:Hell, yes.Caleb’s wolf had claimed mine, but the man still ruled the beast. He could reject me. Abruptly, I realized I didn’t want that. Despite all the obstacles our bond presented, I wanted to know more about the big, golden-blond man across from me. If I was really honest with myself, I wanted to know everything.
I drew a deep breath. “I think we both know that’s not my great-grandfather.”
For a moment, silence reigned. I braced for Caleb’s features to crease in disbelief—or disgust. Instead, he slowly sat back in his chair. “Well, that’s a bigger age gap than I thought.” He studied me, his blue eyes roving my face. “It’s hard to believe. I mean, Idobelieve it. But you look and act like a college student.”
My nerves quieted. He hadn’t jumped up and fled the table. That was a good sign, right?
“I had to stop teaching,” I said, long-buried resentment stirring. “I loved it, but I wasn’t aging. Clothes and attitude can make you look older, but changing your appearance will onlyget you so far.” I ran a hand over my jaw, stubble scratching my palm. “I’ve looked like this all my adult life. I don’t know if it’ll make any sense, but I’ve never reallyfeltany older. Maybe because people have never treated me like an older person.”
Caleb nodded. “You Cullened out.”
“Pardon?”
“Edward Cullen. You know,Twilight. His character was way older than the girl he liked.” I must have given him a blank stare, because he widened his eyes. “You’ve never read it?”
“It’s a book?”
“And a movie. A whole series of movies, actually.” Caleb lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Just saying, I owe Taylor Lautner big time. I suspected I was into dudes, but I was confused about it for a while. Then Taylor took off his shirt in that forest.” He smiled, a devilish twinkle in his eyes. “Suspicions banished.”
It was hard not to return his smile, even if I’d developed an instant dislike for this Taylor guy. Although, if his chest was truly that spectacular…
“I’ll have to watch it,” I said.
“You can thank me later.”
I’d love to thank you right now.The emotion behind the thought must have shivered across the bond because the pulse in his neck fluttered a little faster. We stared at each other across the table, the votive candle in the center flickering over the remnants of our forgotten meals.
“Doing okay over here, gentlemen?”
The waiter’s voice snapped me to attention. “Yes,” I said, “and we’ll have another bottle of wine.”
The man slid a look toward Caleb before nodding. “Sure thing. I’ll bring it right over.” He moved off, his black pants hugging an impressive ass.
Caleb didn’t appear to notice. “Is your name really Jesse van der Meer?” he asked.
With a glance in the direction the waiter had headed, I pulled out my wallet, flipped it open, and showed Caleb my driver’s license. “It’s my real name. Aside from the birth year, all this information is correct, including my address. My house in Hale Valley is built on land my family used to own. We had a farm when I was young. I sold to a developer in the eighties, but I kept a few properties for myself.” I replaced my wallet just as the waiter reappeared. Once he uncorked the wine and left, I turned back to Caleb.
