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“She works so many hours, I am not sure if she even knows how lonely she is. At least until recently.” Tilly frowned. “But she let that jerk Jerome throw her off her game. Up until then, she said she was fine on her own, but when she opened up enough to let him in, even a little, it allowed him to hurt her so much.”
“We should go hurt him,” Collyn said conversationally. “My wolf would like his address.”
Tilly paled. “I can’t give you that, mostly because Haven would have my head and my job. But I like the concept. Anyway, she did all the coding and everything for the app and launched it entirely by herself, working at her kitchen table. I don’t think anyone was more surprised than her by the way the shifter community embraced it. That’s why she hired me, and within a year, we had the offices and a full staff and all the business we could handle.”
“Wow.” I settled back in the seat. While she spoke, I’d been leaning as far forward as the seat belt allowed, Collyn right at my side. “Why do you think she didn’t mention any of that? She had no problem telling us she was a CEO, but she didn’t say a word about the app.”
Tilly shrugged. “You’ll have to ask her. But we’re here!” As she spoke, the driver turned into a driveway and parked. “Remember what I said.”
We hadn’t entirely earned her trust yet, but that would come in time. And the one we really needed to convince of our good intentions was still at the office. Before Tilly drove off, she reminded us that Haven would be home as soon as she could, and told us to make ourselves at home. “The guest rooms are upstairs, on the left side of the hallway, so just pick the ones you want and relax. There’s probably not much to eat, but you can order just about anything delivered. Haven does.”
She gave us a key, not looking thrilled to do it, but “Haven’s orders.” And once our luggage was piled on the porch and the town car backing out of the driveway, I unlocked the door and we stepped inside.
“This is very nice,” Collyn said in a hushed tone.
“Way better than our place,” I agreed. It wasn’t fancy in the gold-toilet sort of way. More about being roomy and furnished with pieces that didn’t match…but looked nice together. Either she was a great cleaner or had a service. Since she apparently worked day and night, I was guessing the latter. Earth tones with pops of bright color to keep things interesting. “She has good taste.”
She could have used a designer, but nothing about it had that feel. “Nice but comfortable,” he said. “I suppose we should get all our luggage from the porch and find the guest rooms, huh?”
“Agreed. That way we’ll be all settled when she gets home and won’t be wasting time unpacking. Also, I could use a shower; I smell like airplane air.” It might have sounded weird, but that’s how I always felt after being packed in like a sardine on a flight. We’d flown business class, which was better than economy for legroom and such, but we were all surrounded by the same stale air.
Laden with our bags, we climbed the stairs and then both turned to look down at the high-ceilinged living area below. “Which room do you want?” I asked, although we hadn’t seen them yet.
“Doesn’t matter. Whichever.”
“I’ll take the first one, then.”
“Sounds good.” He turned and headed for the second door on the left. “I’ll catch you in a few.”
He sounded tired. I was, too. The guest suite I entered was just as comfortable and well-furnished as the living room, and the shower had great water pressure, so by the time I got downstairs again, I felt somewhat refreshed and anxious to meet Haven.
Collyn came out of the kitchen. “I thought I’d see what we could throw together for dinner, but Tilly wasn’t kidding. There’s nothing in there but a whole bunch of take-out containers with leftovers of varying age. Not even milk or eggs.”
“Let’s see if there’s a market within walking distance.” My wolf’s hackles were up at the idea our mate wasn’t eating well. “We can make her something nice.”
A quick online search on my phone showed a supermarket less than three blocks away, and in about forty-five minutes, we were in the freshly stocked kitchen, steam rising from pots on the stove and the scent of meat loaf wafting from the oven. We’d bought as much as we thought we could carry, wanting to be able to make breakfast in the morning and maybe another meal or two.
“I sure hope Haven doesn’t mind that we threw away all those containers,” Collyn said as he carried out the bulging garbage bag. “But most of them looked pretty terrifying.”
“What choice did we have?” I added a pinch of salt to the potatoes simmering on the stove. “There wasn’t any room for them.”
What we could carry was really quite a bit of food for both the refrigerator and the pantry.
Once the food was ready, we settled in to wait for Haven, expecting her home any minute but soon, we had to put everything in the oven to keep warm because the hours ticked away with no sign of her. We discussed texting but didn’t want to bother her if she was trying to finish working.
Finally, a pair of headlights shone through the windows, and we jumped up off the couch, standing almost at attention. Collyn looked over at me and grinned. “At ease.” We both laughed, but when the door handle turned, my heart beat so hard it pounded in my ears. She came in, talking on her phone, frazzled, but once we came face-to-face, she said, “I have to go,” and clicked the phone off.
“Hungry?” Collyn stepped forward and took her purse, hanging it on a rack behind the door. “We made dinner.”
Chapter Thirteen
Haven
I went upstairs, barely feeling my legs as I took each step. Collyn and Fitz, well, their pictures did them a huge injustice, and their looks weren’t the only endearing thing about them. The air in my home felt safe, maybe for the first time.
My wolf submitted to their presence. Howled for them.
Called out mate. Mate.
