“Then I guess you ask Flora for an extra day of PTO. Moving on. Chop, chop, ladies. Luxe, what time is your shift at work?” I say, clapping my hands and making a show of clearing the serving dishes. Luxe sighs, lazily gazing at the stove clock, pursing her lips.
“In an hour,” Luxe says. She gets up to leave, but does her own surveillance of the house before she goes. Shifting into her wolf form, she does two laps around Willow’s house, stopping and sniffing any scents she deems necessary before she takes off, presumably, to her own place.
I see Flora wink at Willow, which brings a blush across the woman’s face. She leaves with a “Goodbye, darlings” as I’m sure her mate is here to take her to work. Willow finishes her meal, and before I can take her plate, she snatches the plate from the table.
“I am perfectly capable of cleaning my own dish, thank you.”
“We’re feisty in the mornings, aren’t we?” I say, gently taking the plate from her hands and washing it before taking a seat atthe table. I pull a pancake to my own plate; I’ll wait for her to get ready before dragging her back to the Enchanted Pack house.
Willow dresses in wide-legged pants and a small tank top, her shoulder purse resting on the counter. Her beautiful auburn curls cover her shoulders. All this to say, she is gorgeous. Can I convince her to stop at my place for a change of clothes and a quick shower?
Yes,I was indeed successful at convincing her to stop at the Enchanted Pack house. After a quick shower and a change of clothes, we were on our way to buy safety gear.
“Is this necessary?” she asks, lolling her head into her hand. She’s leaned against the counter of the tech store in the home security department. I stand with her, paying for her alarm. I wanted her to pick it out, though—it was her house, after all. I have no idea why she’s allowing me to drag her everywhere, but she has, and I’m not gonna waste it.
“What about this stick thing?” I ask her, turning around showing her the object. It’s a white rod with a red bottom that props against the door, keeping it shut. I don’t think it could keep a shifter out, but the banging noise of it hitting the ground would at least notify her of an intruder. I drop it on the floor to be sure that it would make a loud-ass noise, and based on the glare Willow is giving me right now, it’s loud enough.
“Eddie, I’m about ready to leave you here.”
“Except I have the car keys, sweet pea. Plus, you are way too nice to do that,” I say. I am getting over the shopping too, but Willow’s safety is more important than her irritation with me. We walk towards the cash registers; she’s getting this stick and a couple of other little things to help protect herself when she can’tshift into her bear. The person after her knows how to prevent a person from shifting and is obviously experienced in whatever the hell is going on here.
“You’re lucky I didn’t want to make a scene with all this noise you’re making.”
“As if you’d make a scene in there. Your cheeks are already blushing.” Her hands fly to her cheeks, pressing them together. It makes her look borderline adorable.
“How would you know that?”
I stop and turn around to face her, letting her body crash into mine. Her chest against mine and her shoes bumping into my own makes my bear perk up with excitement. “Cause, Buttercup, I can taste the heat coming from them.”
My fingers draw up to draw light circles on her cheeks where her blush tries to hide. Her breathing becomes as shallow as mine. My heart races, and I’m sure she can feel it with her hands pressed up against my chest.
“How do you know my last name?” she stammers, shocked. Her wild eyes search mine while I step away and move so her hand is interlocked with mine.
“I saw it on your ID,” I lie. The witch had to know her full name yesterday, but I don’t want to remind her of that whole ordeal yet. She is freely walking beside me, blissfully unaware and carefree, and I can’t ruin that.
“You’re fluffing annoying. You know that?” she says, glaring at me. She still hasn’t taken her hand from my grip yet. Thank the Moon Goddess.
“Only for you, Buttercup. Let’s go,” I say, still not letting go of her hand. The only way she’ll get her hand back now is if she realizes I have it and lets go herself.
7
WILLOW
My happiest placeis the local bookstore. Standing in Written Memories, Rainfall Avenue’s biggest bookstore, always makes me happy, yet this time I am racked with nerves.
Paperback books line the shelves as I walk straight to my favorite section with a pressing stare on my back. Eddie is following me. He said he wouldn’t be my bodyguard, but it sure appears as if he is. Breathing down my neck and following my every move, how could I not be racked with nerves? I have a permanent blush flushing my face from the closeness of his presence, and there is no calming it down.
My flush only gets deeper as I walk into the romance section. The book covers suddenly seem more scandalous than usual and incredibly embarrassing as I now had company with me. My eyes constantly track between the covers with shirtless men and Eddie, as if he could follow my line of vision and is judging the crap out of me. I’m getting shy.
Why was I here again? Could the carpeting swallow me whole? Watching Eddie gaze over the covers, both innocent and not-so-innocent, my face is completely ablaze. I watch every tickof his arm and slight raise of his eyebrow as his eyes glide over the shelves that hold all my favorite books.
“These are some interesting covers, Willow,” Eddie says, turning his attention back to me. His brown eyes melt into mine. I can hardly breathe as he stares down at me. He has his glasses on again: half-round rims with black hardware at the top. His braids stop at his eyebrows, and his teeth shine. Darn, even his teeth shine. His smell. Oh my Moon Goddess, his smell. I can’t focus on much more beyond his smell. He smells euphoric. Vanilla and tobacco. Am I fawning over him right now? I can’t. I can’t be into him.
“I’m not in charge of the covers,” I murmur as I scan over the covers. Sure, some of them were... interesting, but it’s a huge part of the story. These books captivate me, whisk me away to dreamlands I can only find in these stories. If I wanted to be a bakery owner in a small town and fall in love, I could. If I wanted to fall in love with a mafia capo, I could. It is one dream world after the next. How dare I be ashamed of what I like? I love these covers, naked men and all.
“Which one do you want?” Eddie asks, looming over me with an intense amount of eye contact that warms my insides. Looming didn’t happen often for me, seeing as I am 5’7”, but Eddie is tall, and his wide, lean build swallows my own wide frame. I never thought I would enjoy being loomed over, but here I am with my heart fluttering and my forehead breaking out in a sweat. I had completely forgotten I dragged him in here for a specific book.
“Um, uh. This one.” I try to play it off as if I hadn’t been eyeing the book for weeks now and have the description on the back cover memorized. I am only now convinced that I deserve to walk out of Written Memories with this book in hand.
