Give me the energy I need to handle life, caffeine.
She led me to my family’s table at the back of the restaurant. As soon as I saw my mom and dad, I slipped into the big, curved booth across from them, ignoring the rush behind me as the hostess hurried away.
My side bumped a muscular one, and my nostrils flared.
Fuck on a fucking cracker.
I hadn’t smelled him over the food.
“Oh mygod, mom.” My fingers dug into my coffee cup hard. Good thing it wasn’t styrofoam.“Are you trying to get all of us killed?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, honey,”
I uncurled my fingers and gestured violently toward the six-foot-tall gym rat beside me. His thick, dark curls were the kind all women, straight or not, wanted to bury their hands in. His chiseled jaw, brown skin, and deep red eyes only added to the sex appeal.
Said eyes were currently brown thanks to contacts, of course, but the impact was still the same. And Ididn’t know how vampire guys could bulk up, but he had cracked the code, because he wastwice as strong as any other vampire I’d ever met. Most of us were on the soft side of average.
Thankfully, the thick scent of vanilla on my borrowed hoodie and the memories of what the Alpha done to me with his mouth the night before made me impervious to any sort of draw toward my ex.
“You can’t just invite Timber to lunch without warning me,” I hissed. “Do you knowanythingabout werewolves? I’m soulmates with their Alpha!”
“Well you didn’t invite the wolf, did you?” my mom demanded.
“Of course not. He invited himself.” I tugged at the neckline of my borrowed hoodie. “Okay. We need a plan. What do they have here that smells really strongly?” I looked around for the waiter.
“He’s coming?” Mouse asked, gesturing to the table. “Here? Right now? The Alpha?”
“Yes.”
“The werewolf Alpha?” my dad double-checked.
“Yes. And I already bumped into this asshole, so even if he leaves, Maverick is going to smell him on me and know that Timber was here. I tried to talk him out of coming, so he’s going to think I was trying to meet up with Timber on the side, and?—“
“Calm down, Bloom.” Timber put his hand on my arm. At least the hoodie was covering my skin.
Whimsy ripped it away, whisper-shrieking, “Don’ttouchher! Are you trying to make this worse?”
“Yes,” Timber said, at the same time my mom said, “Of course he isn’t.”
I ran a hand over the top of my hair, definitely messing up the bun I’d shoved it into. “I knew this was a bad idea.”
“You’re the one who switched it to lunch,” my dad pointed out.
“Maybe this is for the better,” Mom suggested. “We can make sure he knows you’ve been in love with Timber since you were a teenager, and maybe the wolf will back off.”
I gave her a deadpanned stare. “Have you ever met a werewolf?”
“I don’t think I’d be alive if I had, Honey.”
I filled my cheeks with air and let it out slowly.“We needed a plan.”
Whimsy spoke up. “I’ve got it. We’ll tell him that Timber is our cousin, or Mouse’s brother.” She waved him toward her. “Here, trade me places. That will make it easier to sell. I?—”
My nostrils flared.
Vanilla.
Fuck.
