THREE
Will
While Bella Owens gets changed in my guest bedroom upstairs, I rush madly around the kitchen, stuffing dirty dishes into the dishwasher and shoving final payment notices into drawers.
I wasn’t expecting company today and the place looks like it.
My vampire employee and lodger, Ian, doesn’t count as company. Besides, he hardly ever leaves the basement, anyway. When he does, he doesn’t judge my slovenly ways. I guess I’ve let the place go recently.
At a soft tread on the stairs, I turn to find a goddess in a sparkly black dress descending. My jaw drops and I stare for a full half a minute before I realize I’m being awkward and try to snap myself out of it.
My wolf is still wagging his tail at the way the slinky fabric clings to her waist and hips and to be honest, my human self is not far behind him. “You look...” Unfortunately, the power of speech has deserted me.
Bella winces. “Ridiculous? It is a bit much for the middle of the day on a Sunday, but I don’t exactly have a lot of options.”
Guilt clutches me by the guts again and I flush. “Ah, yeah. Can I just apologize for the hundredth time? Perhaps I could lend you something? A shirt? A jacket?” I dash toward the stairs, then pause. “Wait here.” Then I pause again. “Sorry. I mean, would you please wait here?”
When she makes no move for the door, I rush up the stairs as fast as I can.
Why is the first thing I touch in my closet a wetsuit? A tuxedo? Why have I only got useless clothing?
Finally, I locate three clean, fairly respectable t-shirts and hurry down the stairs again.
Only, she’s not there.
I find her in the living room, looking at my bookshelves. They take up a lot of the space of one wall, all around the tiny television that’s really not much good for anything these days. It isn’t a smart TV and should have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Only, I can never quite be bothered to get rid of the thing. It’s mostly ornamental.
It’s not even very good for that.
“I’ve always wondered which books a book shop owner brings home. I imagine they’re the very best ones.”
She trails her fingertips across the spines and my heart catches in my throat when she stops at an elaborately bound copy titled The Illustrated Kama Sutra: a position for every day of the year .
“I can explain.”
“Oh, really? I’d love to hear.” Laughter fills her voice and I relax just a little, hoping she doesn’t really think I’m some kind of sex maniac. Inside, my wolf is howling that I could be a maniac where she’s concerned, but I ignore him.
“Ah, a present. Would you believe? I have the worst friends in the world.”
She only laughs. “I imagine it’s hard to buy a book for a guy who has a whole shop full.”
I hold up the shirts. “Listen, if you want any of these, they’re yours. Or a cup of tea. Or coffee? Or anything at all.” I stop just short of throwing myself at her feet and telling her I’m hers too.
She smiles and reaches for the Frank Turner t-shirt which happens to be a favorite. “Oh Frank Turner. I’ve always wanted to see him live. I’ve heard he’s amazing.”
“He is.” Did that even come out in English?
I didn’t think it was possible for me to become even more infatuated in such a short space of time, but I wasn’t counting on this. I hand it over and she slips it over her head, tying a sort of magical knot in the hem to make it cinch in at her waist and somehow bringing the entire outfit together in that effortlessly cool way celebrities have.
“Thank you.” Bella smiles.
“You’re welcome, and I’m sorry. Again.”
She starts to say something, but her phone rings and she picks it up. “Hello? Yes. Can I meet you—” She covers the receiver and looks at me. “Where’s the best place for my driver to pick me up near here?”
“There’s an alley at the back. Where the garages are? It’s called Lonsdale Road.”
She gives the driver the instructions. Then she ends the call. “Well, thank you for rescuing what could have been a really bad day.”
I’d love to say something witty, or memorable. Anything at all might be nice. If only my brain and tongue would cooperate. “The back door is this way,” I say, finally.
Good going, genius .
She follows me to the back door and I open it for her. Her body brushes my arm as she slides past me in the narrow hallway and my heart skips a beat. “Well, despite the incident with the orange juice, it was nice meeting you. What was your name?”
“Will. I’m Will. It was nice meeting you, Bella. Surreal, but nice.”
She glances back over her shoulder at me before she descends the three steps at my back door. I stare in stunned silence, but finally pull myself together enough to close the door.
Surreal, but nice? What the hell was I thinking?
She’ll probably remember me as the creep who can’t string together a sentence.
A tap at the door jolts me out of my train of thought. I open the door, wondering if she forgot something.
Bella takes one step over the threshold, leans up on her tiptoes, and kisses me. Her lips are soft, but firm on mine. There’s nothing particularly erotic about the kiss. It’s tender and so shockingly sweet I feel my insides going all gooey as my chest expands with a blissful ache. It’s so unexpected. I hardly have time to react. Which is lucky, because she pulls away before I can follow my instincts to grab her and never ever let her go.
She grins at me. “I hope you don’t mind. I couldn’t bring myself to leave still wondering what that would be like.”
My brain has now officially shut off. It’s all I can do to grip the door and struggle to keep my wolf from transforming me into a hairy beast. Somehow, Bella seems not to notice I’m shaking or my claws extending to bite into the wooden door frame.
“Bye.” She skips down the three steps and slides into the black car with the darkened windows waiting for her on the lane before I can compose myself. When the car pulls away, I shut the door and lean back against it, thunking my head back against the hard surface. “Fuck.”
A possessive growl rises in my chest. My teeth are sharp, and I know without checking that my face has elongated into the muzzle of the beast.
“Fuck.”
It’s not possible. It would be the cruelest twist of fate.
Imagine meeting my fated mate only to discover she’s completely and utterly out of my reach. And she doesn’t even know I’m a monster.