Page 26 of Fated to the Alpha

Shane conquered the last metal tread of the stairs with two pizza boxes balanced in one palm and a weighted plastic shopping bag hooked over a finger. He dressed just as casually as her in a pair of jeans and a black skirt that hugged the curves of his muscled chest and arms. Up to now, she had only ever seen him nearly naked and in work clothes. For her, he cleaned up nicely and she made an effort to show her appreciation. He did the same, his gaze raking her from head to foot.

They smiled at each other and once he was close enough, she reached out to snatch away the pizza boxes. “Thanks for the dinner. Bye, now.”

Kimberly spun to race into her apartment, already feeling a bit of her old, playful self return in the comfort of his presence.

Shane chased after her before she could shut the door. “Oh no, you don’t! One of those pizzas is mine! It’s got green peppers on it.”

Kimberly turned and grinned at him. He remembered. “I happen to like green peppers now.”

He snapped his fingers. “Darn, the luck!”

They shared a laugh, and she closed the door behind him. That entire exchange nearly broke the grip of her nerves. The teasing, the smiles, the laughter. Just a week ago, she couldn’t imagine feeling anything other than animosity. Now, she wondered if restoring their friendship really was possible.

Shane looked around and his witty smile returned. “So, you’ve still got a thing for plants, huh?”

Kimberly beamed with pride at her domestic jungle of plants and flowerpots crowded atop every available table surface and hanging by hemp ropes from the ceiling. The sliding glass doors in the living area led out onto an equally feral balcony. It gave the apartment a rich, earthy smell, a piece of the forest she could enjoy whenever she wanted. Her plush, white linen sofa, flanked by wicker ratan end tables, sat on the edge of a colorful rag rug. Her television and bookcase occupied half of the opposite wall. The shelves were packed with reference books on the proper care of all manner of flora, and chick-lit she let herself escape into every once and a while.

“Yeah. It’s kind of been my life for a while now.”

“I think I do remember you saying that you wanted to do something with flowers when you grew up.”

Kimberly’s hold on the boxes tightened. “You sure remember a lot.”

He shot her a clever look. “You’re a hard girl to forget.”

Instead of shooting him some scathing comment about how he did seem to forget her the day she and her family had to leave Warrington, Kimberly glanced down to the top of the boxes in her hands. The generic design of a mustached Italian man in a big white chef’s hat on the top of the pizza boxes told her he had picked them up from Marco’s Pizzeria.

“Nice choice,” she remarked. “The diner sells pizzas too, but they aren’t great. They’re much better at burgers.”

“Dominic suggested them when he was showing me around Tolstone.”

Kimberly set the pizza boxes on the counter. “I remember getting that grand tour.”

“How long ago was that?”

“About a year.”

Shane let out a whistle. “That’s a little long to be staying in Tolstone, isn’t it?”

She shrugged, realizing how it looked that her pack had virtually taken up permanent residence. “It is, but we’re a small pack. There’s only me, Gage, and Declan. We don’t take up much space, and we’ve paid back what we owe Dominic, so he doesn’t push it. Gage has a long way to go before he’s ready to be an alpha anyway. You want to eat off plates or straight out of the box?”

Shane seemed contemplative, but answered, “Out of the box, of course. Like we used to.”

Kimberly slid a stack of paper plates closer to the boxes. “Some of us acquired manners with age.”

Shane came so close his chest nearly brushed her shoulder. “And some of us still like to live a little.” He reached in front of her and picked up one of the boxes.

His voice turned husky and thick, and she wondered if he was talking about more than just table manners. His scent made her insides quiver with want, but he moved toward the living room and to a safe range. The moment passed so quickly, yet her whole body seemed to linger in that shiver of lust for just a little longer.

“You work for Ferrin, right? How was work this week?” she asked, throwing herself into a new train of thought.

Shane dropped on the sofa and slid the pizza box on the clean glass coffee table. “Good. We got the framing done on the house we started last week, and we’ll be moving on to another until it’s ready for the trim phase. And your work? How’s the flower rack thing working out for you?”

Kimberly moved around to the fridge to pull out two chilled cans of pop. “It’s been a hit. It’s been used several times already. But the bulk of what I’ve been doing is getting ready for a wedding that’s coming up in a couple of weeks.”

“That must be a lot of work.”

And just like that, Kimberly felt as if she were talking with a good friend and not the guy who ghosted her ten years ago. The conversation came easier with each passing moment, and she wondered if it was just as easy for him.