“Thanks,” the courier muttered before swiveling around and stalking out of the office.
Eric grabbed his stuff and followed.
“Eric?” Lynette from accounting caught up to him as he made his way to the elevator, where the courier already stood waiting.
“Yeah?” He pressed the down button. The courier glowered at him, but when he shifted to take in Lynette, he straightened and smiled.
Lynette spared the courier a tight smile before turning to Eric. “We’re going out for drinks. Did you want to join us?”
The elevator doors dinged open, and Eric followed the courier inside without hesitation. He turned to face Lynette. With long, lush brown hair, falling in soft curls, a long sinewy body made more for the runway than crunching numbers, he’d once considered getting to know Lynette better. But she wasn’t a wolf and lacked something he wanted. She wasn’t Brenna.
Now, she was simply a pretty girl he worked with.
“Sorry, Lynette,” he said. “I have to be somewhere.”
Her pout showed her disappointment before the doors closed.
“Dude!” the courier whispered. “Big mistake.”
Eric grinned and shook his head. “Not at all.”
The courier shrugged and readjusted his bag’s strap.
Big mistake? His only mistake had been letting Brenna go ten years ago. He didn’t plan to make that mistake again.
Chapter 18
Brenna had made a huge mistake! Colossal. As she pulled her brown leather riding boots over her black skinny jeans, she replayed Eric’s messages on her answering machine. At first, she’d kept them to stay angry. Then she’d kept them to hear the deep tenor of his voice. Then she kept them to ease the pain in her heart and calm Maisie who practically howled continuously since she fled the cabin.
The last words of his message knocked the wind out of her. “I know you already rejected me as a mate all those years ago, but I want a second chance. Or a third. I want to make this right.”
He thought she rejected him? The implications of those words made her head spin. She’d never willingly abandon him or the true mate bond. And if he truly thought she had, that meant he’d never officially rejected her.
Told you, Masie huffed.Mate.
Her heart pounded heavy in her chest as her imagination ran wild with her understanding of the mating frenzy, replacing the main characters from the stories with her and Eric. She swallowed and tried to get her hands to stop shaking. She could have him. He was still hers…unless she messed everything up.
She listened to his messages again, followed by the one his parents had left unbeknownst to their son. Then the one from her own dad, who’d apparently talked to the Buchanans as well.
Then, finally, the last message, and undoubtedly the most shocking of all the messages.
The message from Heather Dufaine: “I want a man to speak about me the way Eric talked about you. There was never anything between us, besides our parents’ wishes, and maybe a few of mine as well. We never had a chance. I never had a chance. And I want you to know that. I wish you all the best.”
Brenna’s stomach lurched, and her heart ached in her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening the hall closet.
The woman probably got her number from Eric’s parents or her own, but her message split Brenna’s emotions in half. Knowing Eric spoke of her warmed Brenna’s heart, and having Heather care enough to clarify the situation sent a wave of gratitude through her heart. But she also regretted all the dumb blonde thoughts and unjustly cursing the walking pinup.
Brenna had assumed the worst of Eric and took off without giving him the opportunity to explain, without letting everything they’d shared that weekend speak more than one parental comment—one easily misinterpreted, apparently.
She grabbed her jacket from the hanger and pulled it on over her flowing shirt. With Eric’s address stored in her phone, she had plans to execute.
After spending half this week unbelievably angry at him, Eric’s calls and texts had stopped. Then she’d learned the truth. Fear had struck Brenna’s fingers numb and incapable of dialing the phone, and she spent the remaining half of the week racked with guilt and shame.
She had to make things right.
But as the work week finished, no ideas or magical solutions came to her. So Brenna pulled her big girl socks up and decided to go to Eric’s place. She’d be direct and apologize.
With a bottle of wine.
