Seven Years (22 page)

Not a kiss, not a check, not a single favor.

He’d matured into the most selfless man I’d ever met.

I emerged from the restroom marked “Cowgirls” and stared at our empty booth. Then I spotted Marcy Robertson, the former head cheerleader at my old high school. I hid my face and dashed toward the front door before she noticed me. Those chance meetings were so uncomfortable because I had to explain what I did for a living. It was like a competition to see who had succeeded in life. Most of the girls knew who I was back in high school, even if I wasn’t the most popular, because they all used to crush on Wes.

The balmy June air smelled clean compared to the heavy aroma of grilled meat from inside the restaurant. I glanced around and wondered where he parked the car, because when we got here, Austin had dropped me off at the door so I could get a good table.

I stepped down on the curb and took a seat—my beers had been served in tall glasses and I had always been a lightweight when it came to drinking. My eyes were losing focus and God, how embarrassing was that? Here was Austin, trying to show me a good time, and now I was sitting on the curb because I couldn’t hold my liquor.

Still, I’d had fun. Hanging out and talking with Austin was so effortless now. He could spin a good yarn, and he attentively listened as I filled him in on some of the things I’d done in the past few years. While we still felt like strangers, an indefinable intimacy existed between us—one that happens with those who have seen you at your worst and remember you before all the big events in life happened.

A car engine prowled closer from the street entrance, growing louder by the second. My eyelids drooped and I closed my eyes, deciding I was going to crash on the sofa when I got home.

And then I blacked out.

***

The minute Lexi closed the bathroom door behind her marked “Cowgirls,” Austin slid down in his booth and rubbed his face.

Holy shit
. He hadn’t felt so alive by a woman’s mouth on him since he kissed her seven years ago. All that time he wondered if he had built up their kiss in his mind to something it wasn’t. Even the brief interlude in Jericho’s bed didn’t confirm anything because he’d just woken up and wasn’t thinking straight.

No, now he knew it was more than the kiss. It was
her
.

Austin had thought it was going to be tough going back to The Pit—facing all the old memories of him and Wes bonding the way friends do. Losing Wes nearly broke him. But it felt good going back to their old hangout, like he was putting to bed all that anger he had carried with him over the years. Everyone has that one place from their youth that transports them back to an earlier time. The Pit was that place. It’s where they’d scoped out girls, talked about muscle cars, and where they fell in love with old-school rock instead of the current stuff on the radio. It was a rustic joint with personality, ambiance, and initials with hearts surrounding them carved on the wooden tables. It was the kind of place you could smoke a cigarette and no one would say anything as long as you kept it hidden.

After cleaning their plates, he decided to bring the car around front and save Lexi the walk of drunken shame. Austin smiled, thinking about how she had asked him to order her dinner. “
I trust your choice
,” she’d said, which was code for, “
I want to see if you really remember a damn thing about me
.”

Of course he did. He even knew she liked a cup of sauce on the side to dunk her roll in. Why he remembered stuff like that was crazy, but he’d thought about her a lot over the years.

Except in those thoughts, he’d imagined Lexi had already settled down with a man and had kids. Her being single made no sense to him. Then again, it was for the best considering she was a Shifter. He also noticed nothing had changed in regards to how men’s eyes were all over her. Lexi had always possessed a natural beauty and he didn’t think the Shifter allure was behind every roving eye.

When Lexi rose from the table and bent over to mess around with him, Austin’s eyes skated to the left and caught a guy checking out her ass. That’s when a possessive feeling took hold, but it didn’t make him want to pound the guy’s face in like he might have ten years ago. Austin wanted to grab her ass and claim her as his woman, just to rub it in.

Funny how being around her made him feel young and stupid again.

He even let her talk for five minutes with a piece of coleslaw stuck to her cheek because he thought she was too damn cute to spoil the mood by embarrassing her. He was afraid she’d eventually discover it and scold him for not telling her, so he’d cleverly pinched her cheeks in the middle of a conversation about how Wes used to call her chubby cheeks when she was a toddler. The topic was a diversion that allowed him to brush the coleslaw away without her knowing.

Austin wouldn’t allow their night to be tainted with bad memories. He remembered all too well an incident when she was a young teenager that left her crying on the curb outside The Pit. Some of Wes’s friends were real dicks and teased Lexi a lot, but what she didn’t know was that they did it because they liked her. They just didn’t want Wes to find out.

Austin twirled his keys around his finger as he walked out of The Pit. He thought about how amazing Lexi’s slim legs looked in those Capri pants and liked that casualness about her. Not once during their talks did he think about Wes, and wasn’t that a strange thing?

When Bonnie had come up to their table and hadn’t mentioned Wes, it had become the elephant in the room. He knew damn well she remembered who Wes was because she dated him for about a month. It must have stung Lexi to hear that.
Everyone
knew those two were best friends. When he saw her gazing somberly out the window, he reached out and took her hand. Maybe she didn’t understand why, but he wanted to console her. It felt instinctive.

When Austin walked outside after their meal, he closed a chapter of his life. It was time he found a new joint to create memories. Maybe the Dairy Queen where he first saw Lexi the day after he arrived in town, or the bar where Denver worked. It was time for change.

He lifted his chin and scoped the parking lot, jingling the coins in his pocket. Something felt off. An icy chill skated across his skin and the metallic tang of adrenaline settled on his tongue. Instead of walking directly to his car, he dodged around the back end of the building and approached it from behind.

That’s when he saw Beckett standing by his Dodge Challenger, holding a wooden baseball bat in his hand.

***

“Wake up, Nashoba.”

I wrinkled my nose at an unfamiliar scent, rubbing my eyes and peering through my lashes. Animal fur covered me and I looked around to find myself in a stranger’s bed. Lorenzo was standing beside me with his brown arms folded. Directly over the bed, a large mirror captured my stunned reaction.

I scrambled beneath the covers, fearing I had shifted and was lying naked beneath his silk sheets. Thankfully, my Capris and stretchy tank top were still accounted for.

A smile curved up one cheek and he lifted his brows. “You growl a little in your sleep.”

I sat up, looking at my surroundings. “Where am I?”

“My home.”

“And why am I in your bed?”

Then his face tightened so that his cheekbones appeared to be carved out of wood and his lips pressed into an angry line. “Because that alpha you were with left you alone—intoxicated and passed out in a parking lot. If you were in my pack, Alexia, I would never leave you unprotected. I make sure my women are properly looked after.”

I ripped the blankets away and rubbed my eyes.

Wow
. Lorenzo was loaded. The canopy bed had four posts with detailed designs carved into the wood. Native American artifacts and paintings decorated the spacious room. The ceilings stretched higher than fifteen feet, the floors were polished wood, and the window view made it seem like we were in the treetops.

His bedroom alone was a fully functional apartment, equipped with a small bar, a sitting area with cozy chairs, and a fancy bathroom farther down on the right. All I could make out was an oversized Jacuzzi with two steps to get in. But what really made the whole thing breathtaking were the windows that lined the walls in front of me, all the way down to the Jacuzzi. The golden light of sunrise shimmered on the glass.

Lorenzo played statue on my left by the door, watching my appraisal of his living accommodations with avid curiosity. Then I saw one of those fancy hotel carts with silver trays and food on it.

“Why did you bring me here?” I hopped out of bed, looking for my shoes.

“You would have rather I left you passed out in the gutter?”

“Austin was coming for me.”

“And how do you know this?”

My hands rested on my hips and I carved him up with an intolerant glare. “Why are you trying to plant doubts in my head? I know Austin better than you do, and he was coming for me.”

Lorenzo nodded and walked around the bed. “Ah, but I was
there
for you.”

“To show off your swanky place? Sorry, it doesn’t erase the fact you’re my
cousin
,” I murmured, lifting the covers and looking under the bed. “Where are my shoes?”

“If you keep saying that, I’m going to take you to my father and have him explain why we’re not related by blood,” he said in a clipped tone.

“No,” I almost shouted. “I’m not meeting your family. Tell me what you did with my shoes because I have to go home.”

“Home to what?”

I shoved his chest. “My baby sister, you idiot! I left her alone all night with my neighbor.”

The humor melted away from his face. “Which neighbor? I’ll bring her here. Why would you leave a child with someone who is not family?” he hissed.

“Because I was kidnapped?”

He lifted his phone and dialed a number. “It’s Church. You know the young wolf’s apartment you’re watching? Her neighbor—”

I snatched the phone and hung up. “Don’t you dare send one of your men to get my sister! You’re having me watched?” I stuffed the phone in my back pocket. “Take me home,
right now
,” I said in slow words.

He chewed on his lip for a moment, considering my request. “I’ve had my men on you since one of them first spotted you at the cemetery. He sensed you were a Shifter and word spreads fast when it comes to rogue females.”

That damn dog really
was
a wolf.

“Tell your friend the next time he chases me up a tree and tries to gnaw on my leg, he’s going to end up tangling with the wrong wolf. I bite back.”

Lorenzo moved forward and lowered his chin. A dark intensity flickered in his eyes. “He did
what
?”

“I guess your pack isn’t so loyal, after all. If you don’t give me my shoes, I’m walking home barefoot.”

“Then you’ll end up hiking over sticks, and I won’t have that. If you insist, I will see that you’re safely escorted home. But you will not be permitted to leave my house until you are well fed. There is breakfast on the tray. Use my phone to make any calls you need to.” Lorenzo made no attempt to brush away the long strands of hair that fell in front of his right eye. “My home is always open to you,” he said, inching closer so that our bodies bounced heat off each other. His mouth brushed against my ear. “And my bed is still open whenever your legs are open, my sweet Nashoba.”

I drew in a sharp intake of air and stumbled back before he got me worked up again. There was no doubt that alphas had an undeniable magnetism that lured you under their spell.

I reached behind me, grabbed a croissant, and stuffed it into my mouth.

Lorenzo laughed heartily and cupped his hand against my cheek, patting lightly. “You are a wild little wolf. I think your spirit is what attracts me to you. Have all you want, and if there is anything you desire, let me know and I’ll get it for you. When you are ready to go, I’ll be downstairs.”

Clever man. He brought me here to dazzle me with the luxuries he could offer. Money, a huge bathroom, and croissants. He seriously didn’t know what kind of girl I was.

Although, the croissants
were
scrumptious. They had a flaky consistency with a sweet glaze, and…

“Alexia, I do hope you change your mind and consider joining my pack. You don’t officially belong to anyone yet, so you are your own woman. Make the right decision. Cole lives in a shed and can offer you nothing.” He slowly threaded his hair away from his face, steadily watching me. “I take very good care of my own.”