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“Fine,” I say with a frustrated huff of breath. “He bit me. There are you happy?”
She laughs.
“What is so funny?” I ask as I glare at her.
“Is that it?” she asks as she looks at the mark on my neck. I tried to cover it up with make-up, but I guess I did a shitty job.
I nod.
“You’re mated to a bear shifter,” she says as she stares at me like I’m some kind of an idiot. “What did you think was going to happen?”
“I don’t know,” I say as I take a casual sip of coffee. “Maybe him not trying to eat me for one.”
She laughs. “That’s his mark. He wasn’t trying to eat you.”
“His mark?”
“Shifters are a little possessive and protective of their mates.”
“A little?” I say with a laugh. I still remember how he looked in my rearview mirror, holding my severed bumper as I sped away.
“Every shifter has to mark their girl,” she explains. “A quick bite on the neck. It happens once and that’s it.”
My hand goes back to the tingling spot. It feels electric under my hovering fingertips.
“Why?”
Debbie shrugs. “That’s how shifters know that a girl is taken. My sister is mated to a bear shifter—the lucky bitch. She told me about it. It’s like a tattoo that only shifters can see. Other men can sense it too, and the smart ones will stay away from you.”
“Oh, great,” I say as I shake my head. “So, you’re saying that he not only bit my neck, but he gave me a permanent man repellant tattoo as well?”
She laughs. “Pretty much. But why would you want to be with another man anyway when you have Westin?”
I don’t. At least, I think I don’t. I don’t even know anymore.
“He couldn’t help it,” she explains. “His bear was probably driving him crazy to mark you. He was probably out of his mind.”
“He was out of his mind all right,” I say as I glance into the parking lot to see if he’s there once again.
I see the Porsche from the other day pull into the parking lot and the two men, Mr. Frowny Face and Mr. Snooty in a Suity, step out.
Oh great, now I have to serve these guys again. I’m not in the mood to deal with anyone.
The bell rings over the door and they walk in, looking slick, good looking, and way too rich to be in this place.
“You can sit anywhere you like,” I tell them as they walk by without acknowledging us in any way. “Or, you can just go straight to hell.”
Mr. Snooty in a Suity glances back at me with a look that could kill. I just glare back at him. If he’s going to be rude, I’m going to be rude right back.
They walk over to the same booth they had last time and take a seat.
“I’d give him another chance,” Debbie says as she turns back to me. “This is normal stuff around here.”
“There’s nothing normal about a man biting his girl.”
Her smile turns into a sly grin. “Maybe not, but the best ones do.”
I laugh as I turn around, trying not to picture what kind of freaky shit Debbie is into.
After downing the rest of my coffee, I head over to the table in the back with the coffee pot.
“Hey guys, did you find your brother Aragon?” I ask as I pour them coffee.
“Aylwin,” Mr. Frowny Face corrects. “And yes, we tracked him down to the mountains.”
“That’s great,” I say, but they don’t look happy as they give each other a look. “Was he camping or something?”
“He was dead.”
My mouth drops as I stare at them in shock. “Oh, I’m sorry.”
“We’re sorry too,” the one on the left says as he stares at me with his bright jade green eyes. “Sorry for what we’re going to do to his killers once we get our hands on them.”
I’m a little shaky and quiet as I serve them breakfast. I’m filled with relief an hour later when they’re finally gone.
“So?” Debbie asks when she catches me looking out the window for the thirteenth trillion time. “Are you going to give Westin another chance?”
“I’m not sure,” I say as I feel the warm tingling on my neck. I do love the way it feels. “We’ll see.”
My heart starts racing when I see his truck pull into the parking lot. A tow truck with Mechanic written on the door is following him.
“See?” Debbie says as Westin shows the mechanic my bumper-less car. Westin gets my bumper out of his pickup truck and the mechanic gets to work on reattaching it. “He’s not so bad.”
I can’t take my eyes off him. He keeps glancing over, trying to find me through the glare of the sun on the windows.
God, he looks even worse than I feel. He looks awful.
He’s wringing his hands and rubbing his wrists as he looks over every so often with a pained stare.
I can tell this is tearing him apart. He looks like he was up all night. His hair is all messy and his shirt is on inside out. It hurts my heart to see and I actually start to feel bad for him.
Seeing how much I mean to him, how much pain not being near me is causing him, brings a smile to my lips.
The mechanic finishes with my car and I watch as Westin pays him.
“Go talk to him,” Debbie urges as the tow truck leaves the parking lot. “You’ll see. It’s going to be okay.”
My mind is spinning as he takes one last long pained look at the diner and then drops his head and shuffles over to this truck.
Then all of a sudden, my feet start moving on their own and I rush outside. “Westin!” I call out to him.
He whips his head around and there’s so much hope and longing in his eyes that I know I’m already going to forgive him. How can I not?
“Westin, wait,” I say as I rush over.
“I’m so sorry, Kimberly,” he says with a wince. I can hear the pain in his voice. “I’d never hurt you. I should have explained. My bear got me all worked up—you got me all worked up—and I just reacted. I wasn’t thinking. I can’t think straight around your beauty. I’m a mess without you.”
“Okay, relax,” I say with a chuckle as I raise my hand to calm him down.
His whole body is strained as he watches me with pained blue eyes and it hits me that this is real. We are mates. This intense connection is real.
“Debbie explained why you bit me. You were marking me?”
He slowly nods.
“So, I’m yours now?”
He doesn’t answer, but I can tell that I am. And it brings a smile to my face.
“I’m kind of a mess without you too,” I tell him.
His beautiful blue eyes light up. “Really?”
I nod.
I don’t want to spend another night without him.
“I finish at four,” I tell him as I inch a little closer to his tempting body. “Are you going to be waiting for me right here?”
“I’m not leaving this parking lot.”
“Good,” I say with a laugh. “But in that case, you might want to fix your shirt. It’s inside out.”
He quickly takes it off and puts it the right way as I get a full glorious view of his chest, abs, and arms.
“I’ll see you at four,” I say in a seductive voice as I turn away from him. I strut back to the diner, swaying my round ass for him, and I can feel his eyes on me the entire way.
Four o’clock is not going to come fast enough.
Chapter Six
Westin
Kimberly is in my house. My mate is in my house.
I still can’t believe it.
I can’t take my eyes off her as she walks around the living room, looking at the view of the mountains.
“It’s stunning here,” she says as she looks out of the floor to ceiling window.
My eyes are locked on her round ass. “It certainly is.”
She smiles as she turns around. “This was not what I was expecting.”
“What were you expecting?”
