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“How did you get so fit eating birdseed?”
Austin held out his right arm and flexed a little. “You think I’m fit? I could probably use a little more muscle. I’ve been slacking these past few months.”
He had to be kidding. If he had been any more toned, I might have dry humped his leg when I first saw him at Dairy Queen. Maybe that was extreme, but it made me laugh and I took a bite of the banana.
“Want to share?”
“Not really,” I said, knowing he was asking about my thoughts, not breakfast. “Are there any neighbors nearby?”
“No.” He quietly sipped his coffee and made an audible swallow. “I bought a hundred acres, so we’re pretty spaced apart.”
“How much did that cost?”
Austin didn’t answer. I guess at this point, it didn’t matter. Finally, he pointed to the left by a pear tree. “What do you think about putting a garden over there? I could make some wind chimes and hang them from the branch.”
“You know how to whittle?”
He gave a handsome smirk and his dark brows sank over his sparkling eyes. “Don’t look so surprised. A Shifter once showed me how to make them out of wood. It’s not difficult.”
It was such a little thing, but it gave me insight to a side of Austin I’d never seen. Suddenly I wanted to know everything he’d been through in the past seven years—even the bad stuff.
“Can you remember things when you’re in wolf form? I mean, everything in detail?”
After taking another sip, Austin set the coffee down and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankle. He’d put on a pair of brown hiking boots.
“Most of it. I can’t remember details of conversation too well, but I get the gist of emotions and things that I pick up through my wolf. Depends on the situation. Why?”
“Do you remember the lawyer coming by?”
“Ah, so that’s who that was.”
“My boss died.”
A blue jay squawked and flapped into a nearby oak tree.
“Sorry to hear that.”
After another bite of banana, I set down the plate. “He willed me his shop and I don’t know what to do. I’ve never run a business before; I’ll screw it up.”
Austin chewed on his lip for a moment, staring at the open stretch of land. “Do it. You’ve got my support, Lexi. Just don’t run yourself into a hole, and if it comes to that, then sell it or quit. You’ll regret it if you don’t try.”
“I know,” I said, resting my chin on my knee. “I just don’t know how to feel about it. Charlie’s gone, and it hardly seems like it’s the same without him.”
“But you knew how he ran the store and what it took to make money. You’re a smart girl, Lexi. I know you’ve picked up some business sense over the years working there. I’ll help if you need it. Maybe put Ben and Wheeler’s sorry asses in there to work for you.”
“Uh, no thanks. They’d scare the children.”
He laughed and leaned forward, chewing the granola and wiping his hand on his jeans. “When I was younger, they were more like Denver, personality wise. No tattoos, no morose expressions, and Ben worked with Wheeler for a while before he decided to play cards professionally. Something happened between them, and if I had to guess, it has to do with money or a woman. They still get along, but it seems more like they’re doing it because of rank or something.”
“How many more will you add to your pack?”
“Hard to say,” he mumbled, chewing the last bite of granola. I watched his strong jaw working hard and noticed he had shaved, although he’d missed a patchy spot on the side. “This house was renovated and has about fifteen bedrooms. If anyone brings in a mate, then that could double the occupancy without using up all the rooms. That’s why I bought the additional land. I’d rather not have everyone living in separate houses; that never works well with Shifters. But I can always build onto this one, or have a house just over there,” he said, waving his hand to the left. “We could connect them with a walkway or something.”
“What happens when the women go into heat?”
“They stay locked up in their bedrooms.”
I frowned. “That’s not practical. Maybe if you build an extra house, it could be the heat house.” I laughed so hard at my joke that Beaker made an appearance and I plugged my nose to make him go away. I hated my laugh when I got riled up because people used to make fun of me. It wasn’t any weirder than Pamela Jones, who used to snort with each breath. Or Danny (one of Wes’s friends) who would scream out his laugh like some old drunkard.
