The Werewolf Meets His Match (Nocturne Falls Book 2) (9 page)

She stormed out of the kitchen with no idea where she was going. Wasn’t like the place belonged to her.

She ended up in the garage, next to her motorcycle. She wanted to leave even though she knew she couldn’t. She had to stay here and see this thing through, but hearing Charlie referred to as a detail, like he was just one more box to be checked off, really riled her. Like the way Clemens had referred to her precious Charlie as a “weapon of mass humiliation”.

She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. She missed Charlie so much. She just wanted to pull him close and bury her nose in his hair and smell his sweet little boy smell.

Hank stomped down the garage steps. “Ivy—”

“What?” She whipped around, knowing her eyes must be gilded with the storm of emotions inside her.

He held his hands up. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have eavesdropped. And your son is definitely more than a detail. But you should have said something.”

“Again, you were one meal away from finding out.” She hated lying to Hank, but protecting Charlie and preserving the sliver of hope that she could make a better life for her son meant more. And what was she going to do? Tell Hank her father had sworn her to secrecy? That her father was trying to pawn off his unwanted grandchild onto another pack?

Hank raked a hand through his hair. “How old is…Charlie?”

“Just turned seven.”

Hank nodded. “Just had his first moon, did he?”

“Last month. His birthday’s May fifth.” That wasn’t adding to the lie, just answering in the vaguest way she knew how.

His eyes narrowed. “Does that date have anything to do with the five tattooed on your wrist?”

She smiled a little, feeling bad for dumping her anger on him. “You’re pretty perceptive.”

He shrugged, his broad shoulders pulling at his uniform in the most distracting way. Heaven help her, he was unfairly beautiful. “It’s my job.”

A moment of silence passed before he spoke again. “You understand why my knowing about your son is such a big deal, right?”

She understood. Too well. And there lay the crux of the whole thing. “Because if we marry, you have to take him as your firstborn. Unless you have another kid I don’t know about.”

He shook his head.

She put into words what she knew he must be thinking about. “I can understand if finding out about Charlie makes you want to back out of the deal. A lot of men, especially those in line to be alpha, would demand their firstborn be a child of their own blood.”

“I’m not most men. And I’m not backing out.” He gave her a very serious look. “But you can’t keep anything from me. If this is going to work, even on the most basic level, we have to be honest with each other.”

She hesitated, then nodded. “I agree, but again, that comes down to trust and right now…I don’t trust you yet. Just like I’m sure you don’t trust me. And until we get to that point, you can’t expect me to just go spilling my guts to you.”

He rested one hand on his holstered duty weapon. “No. You’re right. If this is going to work, then we—I—have to work at it. Anything worth having is worth working for.”

Her brows rose. “You think this truce is that important?”

“I think you are.”

She swallowed while her insides did a weird, fluttery thing. “Oh.”

“Starting tonight, I’m going to work on showing you that.”

“How?”

His eyes narrowed a little. Like he’d figured something out. “I’m going to woo you.”

He
was going to woo
her
. That was unexpected. She thought about how she could make him fall for her so hard that the truth about Charlie wouldn’t change a thing. She’d just give his wooing right back to him. She lifted her chin and stared right back at him. “I like the sound of that.”

“Good.” His thick brows knit in seeming concern. “Just because you’re a sure thing, you shouldn’t be treated like one. I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking this arranged marriage for granted. I’m not always so good with words but this way I can show you.”

She put her hands on her hips and cocked one out to the side. “I like that you’re willing to put in some effort to romance me. Do I get to make requests?”

“Sure.” He made a face. “Like what exactly?”

“I don’t know yet. But don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to carve my name on the hood of your GTO.”

He cringed. “Is that a thing?”

“No, and I would never want you to do something that sacrilegious as proof of your affections.”

“That’s a relief.” He smiled. A half-smile, but the corners of his mouth were going in the right direction so she wasn’t going to nitpick. “So…romance. And wooing. And pursuing. Not exactly my area of expertise, but…” He shrugged and seemed deep in thought. “I was an Army Ranger, I’m sure I can figure this out.”

She held out her hand. “Then it’s a deal.”

“What’s a deal?”

“You woo me, I’ll trust you. And together we’ll figure this marriage thing out.”

“And finally have peace between our families. Agreed.” He took her hand, but instead of shaking it, he pulled her toward him, causing her to lean into him. “You have little spots of chocolate batter all over you, you know.”

He was rock hard and smelled like the woods on a rainy evening. She sucked in a breath, inhaling more of his intoxicating scent. What had he said? Something about the cake batter. “I hope you like chocolate.”

“I love it.” His mouth found her jaw.

She closed her eyes and leaned into him a little more. He didn’t budge. “I’m…so…
oh
…glad.”

His mouth went lower, nibbling off the chocolate splatters as he went until he worked his way back to her lips and kissed her properly. The sweetness of the batter lingered on his tongue as it slid over hers. She moaned softly.

It had been a long, long time since she’d been this thoroughly kissed or had this much man to cling to. A long damn time.

Her body surged with need, fueled by the impending full moon. Judging by the grip of his hands and the possessiveness of his mouth on hers, he was feeling the same thing. When he broke the kiss, they were both panting.

“I should go back to the station.” He pulled her along with him as he shuffled backward toward the steps, eyes golden and driving her mad.

She nodded and pointed toward the kitchen as she went along. “And I should get that cake in the oven.”

“I’ll, uh, see you at seven.” He walked them up the stairs and back into the house.

“For dinner.”

“For dinner,” he repeated as he finally let go of her with one more quick kiss.

But even as he headed out to the squad car, she had a feeling dinner wasn’t all that was on the menu.

“I said I’d woo her, which she seemed to like. But…” Hank propped himself on the edge of Bridget’s desk in the tiny closet of a room she called Howler’s office. “I don’t have a clue where to start.”

Bridget snickered. “You’re such a man.”

“Which is why I’m here. Can you help me or not?” He raised his brows to punctuate the questions.

“Of course I can help you. I’m a bartender. It’s practically like being a relationship therapist. Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a woman. I know what works and what doesn’t. What’s the plan for tonight?”

“She’s making dinner and then I said we’d go out for a run.”

Bridget’s brows shot up. “
Hello
. A little romp in the woods three nights away from a full moon? You know where that’s going to lead.”

“We’re
not
having sex.” Hormones ran especially high close to a full moon, but they needed to burn off the building energy or it was only going to get worse. Granted, sometimes a good run was like foreplay, but this was strictly going to be about releasing excess energy. “Not tonight. Not tomorrow night. Maybe not even for a while after we’re married. It has to be when she’s ready.”

“That’s really sweet, Hank, but you know as well as I do what a run can do to you. Sure, it burns off energy. But it can also fill you with a whole ’nother kind.”

“I know. But jumping into the physical side of things isn’t the best way to start a relationship that’s going to end up in marriage. Is it?”

Bridget shrugged. “Again, you are such a man.”

Why were women so confusing? “Are you saying I should sleep with her?”

“Do you want to?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point.” The thought of Ivy beneath him, stripped bare, and his to pleasure filled him with such bone deep desire that he almost needed to sit down.

“If that’s not the point, why did your eyes change color?” Bridget shook her head. “Dude, you’ve got it bad. I’m a little surprised. I didn’t think you of all people would go in for the criminal element.”

“She’s not a criminal.” Irritation edged his voice. “Stop calling her that.”

Bridget’s brows seemed permanently stuck in the air. “You’re defending a Kincaid?”

“A Kincaid who’s about to be my wife. You befriended her. Why are you giving me such a hard time?”

“I’m not giving you a hard time, just curious why you’re all into her. And I befriended her because you know what they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“I’m ‘into her’ because I’m about to be married to her and better to like her than not, don’t you think? Why don’t you trust her?”

“Do you?”

He exhaled. “She’s alone in my house right now. I’m trying to think positively.” He lifted his hand. “I do trust her. Until she gives me a reason not to. Cut her some slack. I get the sense she hasn’t had an easy life with Clemens Kincaid as a father.” He cleared his throat. “Or as a single mother.”

Bridget almost fell off her chair. “What?”

“She’s got a kid.”

“Where is he?”

“With her parents.” He could see the wheels in Bridget’s mind turning. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Like hell it isn’t. You have to accept that kid as your own.”

“I know. And I’m okay with that.” He shot her a look. “So you need to be too. Understand?”

Bridget held up her hands. “If you’re okay with it, then I will be too.” Her eyebrows bounced once in a ‘how about that’ expression. “Okay, back to you and your need for romance. Let’s take it one day at a time, shall we? If she’s making dinner, you should bring flowers. Not those awful limp things from the buckets in the produce section of the Shop & Save. Nice flowers. Go see Marigold over at the Enchanted Garden. She’ll fix you up.”

He hesitated. Marigold Williams was one of three sisters, who along with their mother, Corette, were the most well-known witches in town. Alice Bishop was probably the most powerful, but she worked exclusively for Elenora Ellingham and tended to keep to herself. “At what cost? I’m not giving her any of my hair or anything weird like that.”

Bridget rolled her eyes. “Not every bunch of flowers she sells comes with a witchy price attached to it. Just tell her what you need. She’s got a gift. With flowers. Now I have a bar to run and you have a woman to get home to.”

She laughed. “Wow, that sounds even weirder out loud.”

“It’s not that weird.” He opened the door.

“It’s totally weird. You haven’t had a girlfriend in how long? Since the Rangers? Bro, do your parts even work?”

“Don’t worry about my parts.” He frowned at her, but there was no denying he’d had a long dry spell. Deliberately. But Bridge didn’t need to know that.

“Why
haven’t
you had a girlfriend?”

“I’ve been busy.” Truth was, he’d never seen a reason to get involved, knowing that an arranged marriage would most likely be required of him as the pack leader’s firstborn. And so, instead of entangling himself in a relationship that would only come to a forced end when his father dictated it, he’d opted to avoid relationships altogether.

It was also a way to spare Bridget and Titus from having to sacrifice their happiness for the sake of the pack. If he was available to be married off, they wouldn’t have to be.

For a soldier, sacrifice was easy. Being sheriff felt very much the same. Long hours, hard work, sometimes unfavorable conditions, the willingness to be the first line of defense…it was what he did best. Who his father had raised him to be.