Page 118 of Knot What I Expected

Don't give a fuck.

I haven't seen her in days. Haven't heard her voice. Haven't smelled her. Haven't watched those amber eyes narrow when I piss her off.

And until I put my own eyes on Gabriella Santos and know she's safe?

I'm not sleeping. I'm not resting. I'm not doing a goddamn thing.

I start the engine. Monster settles for the first time all week.

Because we're going to find our female.

Chapter 13

Gabriella

Okay, apart from seeing my sweet son go off to enjoy his very first sleepover, tonight has been a total fucking shitshow.

And considering I spend most of my life waiting for a homicidal Wake of Bearded Vulture Shifters to find me, that’s really saying something.

It started with the keg.

Of course it did.

Not just any keg, either.

The keg for Dick’s most popular locally brewed IPA decided to stop working right in the middle of the Friday-night rush.

And Dick—the man himself, because yes, apparently there really is a Dick behind Dick’s—decided I was the perfect person to send into the basement to figure out why.

I bartend.

I waitress.

I pour drinks.

At no point during the hiring process did anyone ask whether I possessed advanced beer-delivery-system repair skills. But it was either do what Dick said or get sent home for the night, and I still had the bachelorette party to work.

An extra hundred dollars is an extra hundred dollars, so down to the basement I went.

Twenty frustrating minutes later, I managed to get the stupid thing working.

Mostly.

Unfortunately, I also managed to spray myself with enough warm beer to smell like I’d spent the evening wrestling a drunken frat boy.

So now the front of my black shirt is half damp, my hair has started frizzing around my face, and every time I move I get another delightful whiff of sour IPA.

Sexy.

Not.

I mean really Havoc Cross doesn't know what he’s missing. My stomach immediately clenches.

No. Absolutely not.

We are not thinking about him.

Especially since he hasn’t bothered showing his Viking-looking face around here all week.