Oz
“Oz.”Ash’s voice was a low urgent whisper. “Your woman is heading in this direction, and she doesn’t look too happy.”
My head snapped up. In all honesty, I knew the moment she got up from her table. I had been half watching, half listening to her conversations all night. It was a creeper thing to do but I just couldn’t help myself. When she stood, I had expected her to head towards the bar, or even outside. If she had gone outside, I had been planning to follow her out, because this little game we were playing was starting to wear thin. But she didn’t head in either of those directions. Her shoulders set, she headed straight towards us.
“I know.” Leaning back in my chair, I watched her come. And so did everyone else in the place. It was the way her full hips swayed. They drew the eyes and mesmerised. I was no exception. She was exquisite. Crossing my arms over my chest, I felt my lips tilt in a smile. I was glad she was coming to me, it made things easier and deep down I had always known she would. Whether she was human or not, she couldn’t deny the animalistic attraction between us. No one could. Not for long anyway.
The moment she got to me, I was going to pull her into my lap and kiss her in front of everyone. I wanted to stake my claim. The men I called brothers knew she was my mate; they wouldn’t pursue her, but I could tell they liked what they saw. And who could blame them for that. Laura was beautiful.
She was about halfway to me when she froze. Like a deer stuck in headlights, she stared at me. And the indecision and uncertainty were clear on her face. I tried to make my smile welcoming.
And then she changed direction, heading towards the bar with her empty wine glass dangling half-forgotten from her fingers.
“Damn.” The smile slipped. She had changed her mind. Or maybe she hadn’t been heading my way to begin with. No, I knew that wasn’t true. She had been coming over here. Something had just spooked her.
Me, I had spooked her. something about my body language had changed her mind.
“Well, that didn’t go to plan, did it?” Leo laughed.
On his other side, his brother King shook his head. “You want my advice Oz?” He waited as I nodded. “If you want her, and I mean really want her as your mate. Then you need to talk to her, fight for her, before someone else snaps her up.”
He was right of course. But it was almost funny. Taking relationship advice from the permanent bachelor of the troop.
“She obviously doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“And you’re going to let that stop you, why?” His voice dropped an octave.
I knew he had a point, but I felt frozen in place. “Maybe next time we are in town, when she has had a chance to…”
King cut me off. “You’re going to risk her meeting someone else? I took you for many things, Oz, but a coward wasn’t one of them.” He settled back on his chair.
I bristled. Opening my mouth to bite back that I wasn’t a coward, I changed my mind. “If you will excuse me.”
Not giving myself a chance to change my mind, I headed towards the bar. It wasn’t busy so I managed to slide my body in next to hers. She stiffened slightly as I crossed my arms on the worn wood, but she knew I was there. She didn’t look anywhere but straight ahead. It gave me the chance to look at her up close. She had the same jeans on that she had been wearing earlier. I was sure of that because I could smell myself on them. But the oversized hoodie had been replaced by an off the shoulder black tee, it flashed just enough skin to make my mouth water.
It would be so easy to drop my lips to her shoulder and kiss her skin. I didn’t, but it was tempting as hell. It felt like an age since I had felt her under my lips not just a few hours.
“Hi.” Laura didn’t even move her face towards mine.
I couldn’t stop looking at her, before I could help myself, I tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She didn’t lean into my hand like I wanted her too, but she didn’t move away either. “Hi, love.” Her hair was silky. Just like her skin was.
There was so much I wanted to say to her, but the words wouldn’t come. “Do you want a drink?” Mentally, I slapped myself. What a lame thing to say. I knew everyone had heard and that I wouldn’t hear the end of it, but Laura made me tongue tied. She made me stumble over my words like a damn schoolboy around his first crush. “I mean can I get you and your friend a drink?” Or maybe I can whisk you back to your place, I added silently.
“It's fine, thanks though.”
She still wouldn’t look at me. And it was driving me insane. “Laura, I really like you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and they made her snap her head in my direction. Her almond shaped eyes widened. “Oz.”
“Stuart.”
Her eyebrows raised in question and she cocked her head to the side. “What?”
“That’s my real name. Stuart Osbourne. Oz to anyone who knows me. But I don’t want you to be just anyone, Laura.” I didn’t know why I was laying it all on the line so quickly but somehow it felt right. Laura wasn’t the kind of woman who played games. She respected honesty. And I didn’t have time to mess around. Not if I wanted her to come with me when we left. “I should have probably told you that to start with.” I held out my hand to her, praying that she would take it. The moment she did I let out my breath in a low sigh. Turning her hand over, I brushed my lips against the back of it. “It's so good to meet you, Laura.”
She shook her head. “You’re very strange, Oz, especially seeing as you are here with a date. Kissing another girl, offering to buy her drinks isn’t going to give her the best impression.”
I frowned, what the hell was she on about? Throwing a look over my shoulder, my eyes landed on Leo’s woman. The one that wasn’t his mate. Then I started laughing. “Oh, you’re really adorable, Laura.”
The look on her face was murderous, so I back peddled fast. “She's not my date, she’s here with Leo. One of my buddies.” I waved my hand in their direction absently, my full attention on her. “You’re the only person in this town that I am even remotely interested in, Laura.”
