Chapter Two
RILEY
With a smile at the middle-aged blonde woman who was pretending to eat her meal but was really checking him out, Riley took a seat in the corner.
From there, he’d be able to see everyone who came and went.
Currently, the place was empty apart from him, the blonde, and a young couple who were whispering into one another’s ears without taking notice of anything around them.
The diner, with its worn vinyl seating and scuffed linoleum floor, was pretty much what he’d anticipated, though the specials the place offered had piqued his interest slightly. While there was plenty of the expected desultory diner fare, there were some rather more interesting dishes too.
At least he might not overdose on meatloaf if he ended up staying here the whole week, though God help him if he had to.
Just so long as the cook was a bit more with it than the server had been.
Without that slack-jawed blankness, he would have been attractive—long, lean body, dark curly hair and brown eyes framed by thick, dark eyelashes.
Speaking of the server, he’d just come out again and was heading over toward Riley. That had been quick. Except, Riley noticed, there was no plate in his hands.
“Jason, dear.” The blonde was trying to get the guy’s attention.
“Just one moment, please, Ms. Taylor,” he said. His cheeks were burning a dull red by the time he got to Riley’s table. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But—er—I didn’t write your order down. Could you repeat it, please?”
If Riley really had been writing a travel guide, he wouldn’t have been able to recommend this place to anyone.
“Baked pesto chicken and iced tea,” he said.
And then he remembered he was here to make nice with the locals.
“Please,” he added, and smiled, trying to look friendly and approachable and just the kind of person everyone would want to talk to.
The smile that lit Jason’s face in return was a fucking revelation. Those dimples—he was beautiful. If only the guy wasn’t unbelievably awkward, Riley would be hitting that so damn hard.
“Thanks,” Jason said, and retreated. He was waved down by Ms. Taylor, who seemed intent on speaking to him at some length.
Jason gestured toward Riley and excused himself swiftly, leaving Ms. Taylor staring after him in disappointment.
Just as he reached the counter, she tilted her head to one side.
Riley was almost sure she was checking out Jason’s ass.
Which, yeah, was definitely worth checking out.
Looking up once Jason had disappeared into the kitchen, he found Ms. Taylor’s eyes on him.
Well, he’d had enough practice at fending off approaches from men and women over the years, and if he was going to find out about this town and their pack, he needed to start talking to people.
He got up from his table and went over to her.
“Would you mind if I joined you?” he asked. “It’s kind of lonely, sitting on my own in a strange place.”
“By all means,” the blonde said. “I’m Nerissa Taylor.”
“Riley Clark,” he responded. A few moments earlier, speculation had been in her eyes as they’d raked over his body, but her gaze had now lost its sexually charged edge. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or insulted.
“You’re new to Elk Ridge, then?” she asked. “I’d remember if I’d seen you before.”
He nodded. “Got into town an hour ago,” he said. “I’m staying at the motel on Avery.”
“Well, you picked the best place in town to eat,” she assured him. “Jason’s cooking is just wonderful, and if you want anything not on the menu, he’s always happy to oblige.”
Was he, indeed?
“Oh, not like that,” she protested with a laugh. “Jason’s not some back-room Casanova. But don’t let me stop you appreciating the view.”
He choked. At least that explained why she’d lost interest in him, but he was definitely going to need to work on his game face if he’d been caught out so swiftly.
In his defense, he hadn’t counted on someone like this Jason guy being around—he’d thought Elk Ridge would be full of rednecks and cowboys.
Not that he objected to a cowboy in the least, but in his experience they generally weren’t too keen on gay ex-models, ex-actors, or ex-singers. Or any of the other ex- things he was.
He refused to let the thought sting and turned his mind back to what he currently was—an investigative journalist with the possibility of the biggest scoop since Watergate. Or Taylor Swift’s next release. Whatever. It would make his career, and he needed to focus.
“So, Ms. Taylor,” he began.
“Nerissa,” she corrected.
He pulled out his most charming smile from, frankly, an impressive bank of options.
And then a glass of tea was placed next to his elbow, and he couldn’t help looking up at Jason with a real smile.
The guy was lean but tall. Of course, some people would say that to Riley everyone was tall, but he didn’t figure five ten was short, exactly. Just not quite Jason-level.
“Your meal should be—give me five minutes,” Jason blurted out in a rush, and bolted back toward the kitchen like there was something after him.
“You seem to have made quite an impression on Jason,” Nerissa said.
“He’s not always like that?” Riley’s ears—and another part of his anatomy—pricked up at that. If Jason was more with it than he’d seemed, then maybe Riley could have a little fun while he was here.
“He can usually string a sentence together,” she said. “As for forgetting an order, I’ve never known it happen before. Tell me, Riley, what are you doing in Elk Ridge?”
He made sure to tell her his entire cover story, because he had the feeling this woman knew everyone.
“And so I’m spending some time here, finding out what would bring tourists a little off the beaten track,” he concluded.
“Working ranches, not dude ones, and hiking trails that aren’t crowded with other people. ”
“Sounds admirable,” she said. “But do you think we’ve got enough to offer them?”
He couldn’t help the grin that broke from him as he surveyed her really rather sumptuous figure, shown off to advantage by a black dress that was way too fine for lunch at a small-town diner.
“You know precisely how I meant that, Riley Clark,” she scolded him, but there was laughter in her eyes. She wasn’t immune to admiration from a man, even if that man was gay as could be.
“I was hoping that’s what the town can tell me,” he said. “When I was researching places around here, I read you’ve got your own shifter pack. That’s going to bring in shifters looking for a place to vacation, if they know there’s no prejudice here. There isn’t any, is there?”
Nerissa raised the napkin from her lap and folded it carefully before placing it very precisely on the table.
Her lips were pursed slightly, and Riley wondered if his question had been too pointed.
Shifters had possessed equal rights for decades now, but that didn’t mean everyone accepted them.
And clearly, clumsy phrasing could still blow things up fast.
“Sorry,” he said, with his best scapegrace grin. “Sometimes I get so enthusiastic about a subject, I just charge in and ask tactless questions.”
“I can see that,” she said, looking at him steadily. “You might want to ease back a bit if you want people here to talk to you.”
His chastened expression was genuine. “Sorry.”
“It’s a good town here,” she said. “There’s a few folk who haven’t taken too well to shifters moving in, but most of us don’t even think of the pack as shifters. They’re part of this town too, you know, and I don’t care for the way you seem to mark them out as different.”
Holy crap. He’d nearly blown this thing before he even got started.
“I’m sorry,” he said, as sincerely as he knew how.
“I guess I’m looking at this in terms of groups who might want certain vacations—young singles, families, seniors.
To me, ‘shifter’ was just another category. I didn’t mean anything more than that.”
“Well, good,” she said, and her teasing smile was back. “So just how can I help you, Riley?”
He picked up his glass, giving himself a second to breathe as realization hit—he’d been so focused on getting her to talk, it had never even occurred to him that she might be a shifter.
Would he have worded his question differently if it had?
He liked to think not. But the fact remained, he’d automatically assumed she was a normal person.
He wasn’t prejudiced, but shifters were alien to him. In his world, they were a headline, a political talking point, not people sitting across from him sipping iced tea. He needed to remember that anyone he spoke to here might be a shifter.
Riley set his glass down and flashed her his best, most unshakeable smile. “Well, for starters, you can tell me where a man can get a decent drink in this town.”
JASON
Jason fiddled with the beans once more, ensuring that they looked perfect on the plate.
He had no idea what it was about that guy that had stolen all his higher brain functions.
Sure, he was hot—make that very hot. And if Jason kept thinking that way, he’d never be able to set foot outside the kitchen, let alone take the guy his meal.
Jason wasn’t immune to attractive guys. Truth be told, he fell in love with at least three actors a year. But he’d never met anyone in real life who had anything approaching this effect on him.
Ms. Taylor would probably have invited that guy over to her table by now. That was the difference between her and someone like Jason. She knew how to flirt, how to exist in the world as someone other people wanted. Jason had never figured that part out.
But he still had to face this guy. He swallowed hard, then picked up the plate and marched out with it, his heart pounding.
He was sitting with Ms. Taylor. They were laughing together, and Jason’s heart stopped at the sight.
He wasn’t sure whether it was due to crushing disappointment at the way they were flirting with one another or simple appreciation of the picture before him.
The guy had been like every wet dream Jason had ever had—and as he was a twenty-four-year-old virgin, that was quite a few—when he was just ordering food.
But when he laughed, Jason’s brain went from short-circuiting to actual melting.
Those blue-gray eyes were dancing with humor as he leaned in close and said something to Ms. Taylor, who tapped him reprovingly on the arm in a way that somehow managed to be encouraging.
Jason took a deep breath and made his way over to their table.
He shouldn’t be surprised, and he definitely shouldn’t be disappointed.
The chances of some stunning stranger turning up in the diner in Elk Ridge were low enough.
The chances of that stunning stranger turning out to be gay were infinitesimally smaller.
And Ms. Taylor did like to flirt. He would drop off the plate and go back to the kitchen and leave them to it while he waited for Sam to return.
Then he could go back to the ranch and forget the longing that had taken up residence in his heart.
“Jason, dear,” Ms. Taylor greeted him. “I’d like you to meet Riley Clark. Riley, this is our Jason Nichols, who cooks like an angel.”
Jason’s cheeks heated as he put the plate down in front of Riley. “Enjoy your meal,” he muttered, finding sanctuary in clichés.
“Could I get a refill on the tea?” Riley asked. He was smiling up at Jason in a way that had Jason’s heart beating unevenly.
“Sure,” he said. Instead of fetching the jug from the fridge, he picked up Riley’s glass and took it back to the counter so he could take a moment and remember how to breathe.
There was a slight smear on the rim of the glass where Riley’s mouth had been. Once Jason had noticed it, he couldn’t stop looking at it and wondering just how that mouth would feel on something other than a glass. Something like Jason’s lips, for example.
For God’s sake, what was wrong with him? He determinedly straightened his shoulders, composed himself again, and took the filled glass back to Riley.
“Would you like anything else, Ms. Taylor?” he asked.
“I’m fine, dear,” she said, a smile curving her lips as she watched Riley’s reaction to Jason’s food.
“This is pure food porn,” Riley murmured, licking his lips. And damn it, that wasn’t helping Jason one little bit. Riley glanced up at him. “Did you cook this?”
Jason nodded. “I should—” he said uncertainly, gesturing back toward the kitchen.
Ms. Taylor grabbed his hand. “Oh no, you don’t,” she said. “Riley is writing a travel guide and wants to know all about Elk Ridge. Much as I’d like to help him out, I have a date.”
She stood and smoothed down her black dress, causing Jason to glance away because it was kind of tight and clingy. “I was telling him it would be easiest for him to learn about the town if he was shown around by someone who lives here. Don’t you agree, Jason?”
Jason nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense,” he said, and then ground to halt as he realized.
“I’ll leave my money on the counter,” Ms. Taylor called on her way out, sounding way too cheerful for someone who’d just set Jason up.
“I’m sorry,” he started, not daring to look at Riley’s face, because if he did, he knew he’d lose the power of speech. “You don’t have to, just because she—”
“Like you said, it’s a good idea,” Riley said.
When Jason raised his gaze, Riley smiled at him, and something in his eyes set Jason’s heart racing.
“I’m beginning to think this town has more to offer than I first thought,” Riley said.
Jason stared at him, not sure whether he was being flirted with or made fun of. The bell over the door jangled, and he looked up to find Sam was back. He excused himself, only for Riley to call after him. “Pick you up here tomorrow at three? That’s when your shift ends, isn’t it?”
Was nothing sacred when it came to Ms. Taylor? “Fine,” he managed, and fled past a surprised-looking Sam into the sanctuary of the kitchen.