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I guess I can’t blame him for finding my story unconvincing. I’m a shitty liar.
“Where were you headed?” Javi probes, narrowing his eyes on me in question.
“Home.”
The corner of his mouth ticks up as he hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “But isn’t your territory back that way?”
I open my mouth to respond, but no sound comes out.
Guess I walked right into that one.
I really should’ve thought of a contingency plan for getting caught so I’d at least have a passable excuse prepared. Thinking on my feet around this guy clearly isn’t going well.
Javi breaks up the tense silence hanging between us with a low chuckle, giving a little shake of his head. “Tell ya what, stalker girl. I’ll give you a pass this time.” He winks, and while the playful smirk on his lips is positively swoon worthy, his smugness is infuriating.
“Well, why areyouout here?” I counter, my hackles raising as my cheeks burn with embarrassment. “Maybe you’re the stalker.”
Javi pushes off from my window with a sigh, rising to his full height and taking a step back to peer in at me again. “If I wanted to stalk you, I’d probably go toyourterritory, not expect to find you here,” he says with a shrug.
Well duh. Guess that only further proves that I’m the stalker in this situation.
He raises an arm to card his fingers through his thick dark hair, glancing over the top of my car to the forest beyond. As he does, the hem of his shirt lifts to reveal a few inches of hislower torso. My stomach flip-flops and my mouth runs dry as my eyes linger on his defined lower abs and cut v-lines dipping into the waistband of his jeans, then trace the thin line of dark hair trailing down from his belly button.
“And to answer your question, I’m scouting,” he adds, arm lowering and hem dropping back down.
My eyes snap up to his face and the cocky smirk that greets me says that he definitely just caught me checking him out.
I raise a fist to my mouth and clear my throat, trying to cover the fact that I’m blushing like a fool again. “Scouting for what?”
“Just getting the layout of the forest here, setting a safe perimeter for my pack tonight,” he drawls. “Wolves gotta run, right?”
I’ve been so preoccupied with my search for information on Javi that I almost forgot the full moon is tonight. Shifter packs across the country differ on some traditions, but the full moon run is one that all of us observe. The moon calls to our inner wolves, drawing them out like a siren’s song.
“Madd tell you the rules for that?” I ask tentatively.
I wish I’d thought of the full moon when I was floundering for an excuse earlier- it’d make a whole lot more sense for me to be poking around out here to pass on a message about the run tonight rather than driving in the wrong direction and stopping to use my laptop.
So stupid.
“Yeah, yeah, stay away from your territory,” Javi mumbles, waving a hand. Then he leans down into my window again,resting a thick forearm against the door. “You guys are a real welcoming bunch, aren’t you?”
His scent assaults my nose, so damn addictive that it’s all I can do to stifle a groan. “We’re just cautious,” I mutter.
The playfulness melts from his expression as he presses his lips into a tight line, nodding. Then he pushes off from my car with a sigh, his thick bicep bunching as he lifts his arm to run a hand through his hair again. “Look, I get it,” he says. “We’re strangers. It makes sense that you’d be wary of us. I hope you’ll give us a chance, though. We don’t bite.”
Something mischievous flickers in his eyes, making me somehow doubt that last claim.
“It’s up to the council to decide,” I say pointedly.
He tilts his head, flashing me that charming grin again. “You wouldn’t want to put in a good word for me, would ya?”
My stomach does another somersault. “We’ll see,” I mumble, turning my key in the ignition to start the engine. “I’ve gotta go.”
“Right,” he nods, taking a step backwards and pointing behind my car. “Remember, your territory’s that way.”
I flick him an annoyed glare, hitting the button to roll up the window as I hear him chuckling to himself.
Asshole.
