“Oh, dear,” she says, rubbing my cheek lightly with her thumb. “I’ve gone and made a mark on you. We can’t have that.”
“Dear God, no,” I laugh. “I’ll never live it down.”
“But what have you been doing, sweetheart?” Angela purrs, leaning close to me and tossing her long black hair. “I’ve been out of this beastly little town so long, I almost forgot how utterly boring it is. You showing up like this reminds me there are other things I could be doing with my time.”
She puts her hand on my arm and swishes her hair again, batting her lashes as she smiles at me with her bright red lips. Suddenly, the realization of what’s going on hits me like a freight train.
She’s hitting on me!
I recall in a rush all the times I flirted with Angela, but nothing ever happened. She’s human, so I knew I had to keep my distance, but I did get close more than once, and it’s clear she never got over her feelings for me.
Angela is still looking up at me from under her long lashes, her red mouth in a little pout as she waits for me to respond.
“I, ah—actually, I got married,” I say awkwardly.
“You did not!” she exclaims, shoving me and laughing. “Who’s the lucky girl?”
“Well… actually, it’s Trina.”
Silence falls, and it’s distinctly heavy. Angela’s eyes widen, and she looks at me, then over at Trina, and back again.
“Well, that is a surprise,” Angela tilts her chin up, recovering quickly from the shock to give me another feline smile. “Trina is so very… ordinary. Aren’t you, dear?”
Trina nods, and I can see her keeping her lips pressed together so she doesn’t scream. Dots connect in my head, and I suddenly realize exactly what’s going on.
Oh no. This is the boss she was talking about!
“I don’t know about ordinary,” I answer, looking at Trina with genuine affection. “But she certainly charmed me.”
“Wonders never cease,” Angela purrs, leaning in to kiss my cheek again, giving my arm a brief squeeze. “We’ll see each other again, Owen? I’m only staying in town a little while, and I’d love to catch up.”
“Of course,” I reply. “I’d be glad to.”
Even with my wolf senses dulled, I can hear Trina’s heart beating faster and harder as the exchange goes on. I look over and see that she appears composed, but inwardly, she’s completely losing it.
Is she… jealous?
“Are you free now?” Angela asks. “I’m dying to get out of this stuffy place for a bit. Do you still like the same bar?”
“Actually, I was hoping to pick up Trina,” I answer. “If that’s okay.”
“Well…” Angela looks over at Trina, barely concealing her contempt. “I suppose that’s alright. I can take over the phone for now,” she says to Trina, “but you better be in early tomorrow to make up the time.”
“No problem, Miss Mercer,” Trina says, standing up and grabbing her purse. “Thank you.”
I put my arm around Trina’s shoulders as we walk out the door, and Trina stays close to me until we get to the car. Then she practically hurls my arm away from her and slams the car door as she gets in.
“Hey, are you okay?” I ask as I pull away from the curb.
“Fine,” she grits out.
“Trina,” I sigh. “You are not fine. You’ve been avoiding me for days, and that’s why I came today. I really want to talk to you about it because I thought we were making progress, and now it’s worse than it was before.”
“I’m fine. I told you,” she snaps. “I’ve been stressed out at work, and now you’ve probably gone and made it worse, so thanks for that.”
As tempting as it is to chase that bait, I stick to the original issue.
“The work situation has been going on for a while,” I say. “But you started avoiding me after that incident with the pack the other day. Did something happen? You can tell me. I need to know if anyone’s disrespecting you, okay?”
