Well, hell, yeah. Not only was I a man, I was also a wolf.
As her father had so generously been prepared to point out.
I could still hear his cackling laughter after she’d announced we were leaving. Not that I’d wanted to stay, other than to put my fist through his face. That certainly wouldn’t bode well for my relationship with his daughter.
What relationship?
I’d done the unthinkable. I’d faked my identity. Who did that kind of shit? This boy right here. I’d taken a perfectly good opportunity, actually the best I’d had with a delicious member of the opposite sex, and I’d tossed it into a garbage compactor. Okay, so I hadn’t wanted just another puck bunny to ask me to show off my two genitals, but had I really needed to create an entirely different personality?
“What is wrong with you today?” Tony asked as we strolled through the parking lot headed into the arena.
“What do you mean?”
Tony chuckled. “You walked in a few minutes before six this morning. I thought maybe you’d been out with a girl, but you were covered in dirt from head to toe. Granted, for a few minutes I was jealous. I mean who the hell gets that dirty on a date?Then I remembered you’re some kind of beast. A wolf, right? I guess that means you need your time in the forest wallowing for grubs.” I’d be damned if he didn’t take a step further away from me, his face sheepish yet full of terror. “Or humans.”
“Oh, come on. Do you really believe that?”
“I don’t know what to believe. If you weren’t hunting, why were you covered in dirt?”
Grumbling under my breath, the last thing I wanted to do was admit defeat. But hell. It seemed to follow me around like having a steel anchor around my neck.
Or a noose.
“I was planting flowers. And shrubs. Okay?”
He snorted, shifting into a laugh. “Good one, buddy. That should feed our ball-busting social media chick.” When I said nothing, he whistled. “You’re serious. What happened? Are you not paid enough for being a star?”
“I’m not a star. At this point I’m just some star’s brother who had potential once.”
“Oh, woe is me,” Tony threw out. “Well, shit. Look at that crowd up there.”
Wincing, I didn’t want to look but I did. For a few seconds, I allowed myself to puff up, even to preen. The signs were more positive than before. There were at least three dozen hot girls who wanted me. And a few haters. That was okay. “Yeah, not the same.”
“As what? Okay, I’ll bite. I’d prefer I did than for you to. Why were you planting flowers?”
I grumbled under my breath again. “If I tell you, you’re gonna keep your mouth shut.”
He threw up his hands, grinning. “Sure. Anything for you.”
Resisting giving him the finger, I shifted my duffle bag, filthy visions of the beautiful woman sliding through my mind. As they’d been doing for hours. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing images of her. And why? Because my body believed her to be my mate. Impossible.
Damn it.
“I was hoping to win a girl back.”
“I didn’t even know you were dating.”
“Steven Masters wasn’t. Danny Wright the Zamboni operator was.”
He took a few seconds, his brow wrinkling as he tried to figure out what I was saying. Then he stopped short. “Whoa. You pretended to be a Zamboni operator?”
“Yep.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
“To win the girl over. She doesn’t like hockey players. Her father, the senator doesn’t like shifters.”
“Oh, wow.” He burst into laughter, doubling over as if he’d heard the funniest thing in his life. “You know how to pick ‘em. Did it work?”
