Page 149 of Knot What I Expected

Rowan watches me. Just watches. He doesn’t move.

Which is almost worse.

Because this male is never still.

There’s always something simmering beneath his skin. His Wolf. His temper. That barely restrained dominance that makes the air around him feel charged.

But right now?

He waits.

For me.

My gaze catches his.

Gold meets amber.

Heat punches straight through me.

Fuck.

I should tell him to leave.

I should thank him for walking me home—or following me home, because apparently that’s a distinction that matters to my rapidly disappearing common sense—and send him back to his cabin.

Instead, I take one step closer.

His nostrils flare.

My heart skips.

“Gabby.”

Just that.

My name in that deep, rough voice.

Except I don’t want Havoc tonight.

Maybe that’s the problem.

Havoc is the Wolf everyone else knows.

The foul-mouthed firefighter.

The dangerous Alpha.

The male who sits at Dick’s nursing one beer all night while glaring at anybody who annoys me and leaving ridiculous tips I absolutely should not accept.

But I’ve started seeing someone else underneath all that growling.

The man who bought three giant cookies because my son wanted one.

The man who listened to Matteo chatter without once acting like a six-year-old was an inconvenience.

The man who quietly fixed my car without telling me.

The man who spent days fighting a wildfire, got hurt doing it, and still came looking for me the minute he got back.