Chapter Four
HER HEART WAS thumping a mile a minute.
They held hands in the back seat.
Penny and Noah were babbling back and forth, probably muttering sweet stuff to each other.
She and Isaac looked out their prospective windows.
But right there, between them, in a spot made much smaller due to the fact that his huge body took up more space than was humanly possible, they linked hands.
It was the sweetest experience of her life, just her and that big ole, tatted-up, bad boy shifter huddled in the backseat of her car.
When they reached the next town over and parked, they dropped hands and she was left feeling a little…
odd? Like maybe he didn’t want Penny and Noah to see they’d been holding hands.
Which made her feel childish and rejected, but only for a minute.
He scrambled out of the car to help her out. And this time, Penny’s eyes were wide and shooting her silent messages as she watched him hold his hand out for her like he was afraid she’d hurt herself just getting out of the back seat.
“Thanks,” she murmured, offering him a small, shy smile.
Noah had driven them to an outdoor mall, a collection of outlet stores. She and Penny wandered together while Noah and Isaac were discussing something between them.
“I think Isaac likes you,” Penny whispered.
She shook her head. “No, he’s just being polite because he’s the wolf-alpha and I’m visiting you.”
Penny snorted. “Like the host of the mountain? Leader of the pack?”
“Well, kind of.”
“If you could have seen him a week ago, you’d know”—she leaned in to whisper near her ear— “he’s never polite.”
Caitlin let her gaze drift over to Isaac, but her stupid eyes just fell to his muscular ass. “He seems really nice.”
“To you. That’s why I think he likes you.”
“He likes you too.”
Penny shook her head. “He tolerates me. More so now that he’s into my sister.” She nudged her with her shoulder.
Did he like her? Or was he some kind of alpha-host? It wasn’t easy to sort it all in her tired brain.
“We just met.”
“Doesn’t matter. Isaac’s wolf is a little different, but Noah said his wolf knew right away, as soon as he saw me. Animals are more instinctual, no preconceived notions about wait times like humans. But Noah was on the same page too. He and his wolf are more combined. Isaac and his are split.”
“Split? What does that mean?”
“When the wolf has the skin, he’s total wolf. Isaac doesn’t have control. And when he’s human, the wolf is aware but doesn’t have control. The two don’t communicate as one. They’re separate, fighting for the skin. Plus, the wolf is a little crazy.”
“So, when he’s a wolf, stay the hell out of his way?”
“Pretty much.”
They were staring into a store window at hiking boots. There was a gorgeous pair in pink.
“I want those,” Penny murmured.
“They’re pretty,” Caitlin agreed.
A reflection of the guys approaching showed in the window, so she wasn’t startled when Isaac came up, close enough to sniff her hair.
“We could match,” Penny said, turning slightly to smile up at Noah as he rubbed his chest against her back.
Caitlin wanted that. But Isaac was a stranger. A shifter with a crazy wolf. She had to be wary, at least until she got more sleep and her brain was functioning fully.
“I’m only going to be here a few weeks,” Caitlin reminded her. “Until your lease is up. I won’t need these in the city.”
“Hmm.” Penny was noncommittal.
“Let’s go inside,” Isaac rumbled, his mouth so close to her neck she could feel the warmth of his breath.
He was so close, smelled delicious. She wanted to turn around and wrap her arms around his neck, the way Penny would with Noah.
It seemed so natural, but surely she couldn’t do that.
Gooseflesh broke out down her arms as she fought the impulse.
Noah and Penny were already moving toward the door. Bemusedly, she turned to follow, giving their window reflection one last parting shot. This one would have to be etched onto her memory forever.
She looked hopeful, tiny next to his big, hulking body. His face was angled down, his concentration fixated on her. Not at the image reflected, but on her, the flesh and blood version.
They looked like a couple. They looked like two happy couples on an outing together.
She tore herself away, heading toward the door. He moved ahead to open it.
“It’ll be fun to try them on. Penny really wants them,” Isaac quietly said as she passed through the opening.
Sure enough, Penny was already gesturing to a salesperson, pointing at the pink ones in the window.
“Can’t hurt,” she agreed and sat in the seating area next to her sister. She slipped off her left shoe, because Penny had taken off her right and for as long as they could remember, they wore the same size.
The salesperson brought out a box of the boots and Penny reached for them, automatically handing her the left one.
They were so pretty, not an in-your-face pink, but more of a delicate, deliberate shade. She laced the boot quickly and stood, opposite Penny, walking back and forth, crossing each other like runway models. Who giggled. Then they paused in front of the mirror to take in the sight.
Caitlin felt a little pang in her heart. She could buy them, enjoy them for a couple weeks. Even leave them for Penny when she left. But Penny already would have the same exact pair.
She could buy them and take them home, put them in a closet where they’d probably never again see the light of day. A complete waste of money just to give her some joy.
A reason to match her sister.
But that was silly. She was no longer silly, she was the good sister.
And right there, hugging Penny in the mirror, one shoe pink, and wearing the matching goofy smile to the bad sister… she realized something. Being the good sister didn’t mean being the happy sister.
“You should take them,” she said to Penny. “They’re perfect for you.”
She leaned in and kissed her sister on the cheek, ignoring the instant shine that kicked up in Penny’s eyes.
She took off the beautiful pink boot, put her old black one back on, and went to wander other shoes.
She wasn’t even surprised when Isaac came up behind her again.
“Done looking around in here? We could go into the Levi’s store next. Penny and Noah have to visit the flower store. We’re having a ceremony next summer when she’s turned and she has to order early.”
“What kind of ceremony?”
“You know our kind has matings? This is a cross between a shifter mating and a human marriage. It’ll be the last day she has until she’s forced to register under the new law.”
Of course. The Turn Limitations that their father had a hand in. It made her feel kind of sick.
“She’ll probably send you an invite,” he said softly.
Her dad would probably hide the invite. Where had that thought popped from?
Instead, she smiled. “Yeah, let’s go outside.”
The outdoors was bright and sunny. There was a small seating area at the edge of the building where the store was, just a bench and some grass. They wandered there and she took a seat, leaving room for him.
His long legs spread out and his arm draped around the back of the bench like he was hugging her.
Gah, that was her lonely heart going a mile a minute. How tragic.
“What are you thinking?”
He had the deepest, sexiest, panty-melting voice she’d ever heard. But she couldn’t say that.
“How your arm draped along the bench seems like you’re hugging me. I mean… like you’re hugging your girlfriend. A girlfriend. Any girlfriend,” she babbled, smooth as an idiot.
“Hmm.”
She was not thinking filthy thoughts right now… but did the bulge in his jeans grow? She could see it out of her peripheral vision, but she couldn’t turn her head to look. She couldn’t even turn her eyeballs there, he’d notice. He seemed like a very watchful sort.
And what did hmm mean, anyway?
“Look!” Penny screeched, bouncing through the grass-dotted splotch right in front of her on pink hiking boots.
She wore her boots out of the store. Behind her, Noah dropped the bag next to Isaac.
“They’re beautiful,” Caitlin breathed, grateful that their attention was taken away from her awkwardness and her concentration away from staring at his bulge.
“Right? We’re heading over to the flower store, where I’ll show Misty. She’s pack. You’ll probably meet her.”
“Where are you two going?” Noah asked.
“Levi’s. And we’ll drop this stuff off in the car afterward, then meet up with you.”
They nodded and Penny giggled as Noah grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, then stooped and picked her up into his arms to carry, muttering about how her new shoes would be at eye-level.
God, they were so happy.
And oh, what was happening? Isaac—gorgeous Isaac with the thighs of steel—was shifting his manly bulge without any apologies and then squatting down, right in front of her, hands on her knees to gently push them apart.
What was happening?
Her lips parted slightly, and she sucked in a breath. She dragged her gaze down his muscular torso, where the tight cotton of his tee exposed hard biceps.
She got it now. She got the shifter draw. The show of power was effortless for them and for women? It was addictive.
He smiled wickedly, his hands planted on her knees, her legs open and her cheeks burning as she thought dirty, dirty thoughts with him kneeling in front of her.
Filthy thoughts.
This bench could be the sofa inside the cabin. She could be naked instead of clothed. His face would be…
He picked up one foot and calmly started removing her shoe. “You look turned on.”
Turned on? Was that meant to distract her? It worked. She brayed a laugh, sounding like a damn donkey shifter. “Me? Ha. He. Hee hee. No, not t-t-turned on. Not at all, at all.”
Oh why, oh why couldn’t she be cool? Or, at least, why couldn’t the world have a need for awkward lessons? She could teach.
He leveled her with a look. “I am too.”
“You… what?”
“I am too. Look down, Cait.”
And sure enough, there was that bulge pressing right there in his jeans like it would rip the fabric.
“If you were any closer, you’d poke me in the eye,” she whispered.
“If I was that close to your face, it wouldn’t be your eye I’m aiming for.” Smirky twist of his lips and now she had the image of her lips wrapped around his cock. Ooh, it was too obvious to squirm in the seat, wasn’t it? Yes, too obvious.
He reached into the bag, took the lid off the box inside, and pulled out a matching pink boot to Penny’s.
“What—” she muttered stupidly as he pushed it onto her foot and began lacing it.
“They looked good on you,” he said simply. “And I want you to come out to visit my property. I want you to come out a lot during your few weeks here. Least I could do is buy you the footwear to come walking.”
As he worked on her other foot, she laughed. “No one buys someone shoes to get someone to come over.”
He grinned up at her. Well, at her boobs. “Woman, if you take my attention off your feet, my eyes are going to be glued to your tits. Same level.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Your eyes were glued to my tits even when they’re not at the same level.”
She thought she caught him sneaking a peek at breakfast, but she really wasn’t sure.
“True.” And there was that wicked, sexy grin right over his sexy face.
“It’s really not necessary to buy me—”
“I want to,” he said.
“You probably shouldn’t fall for me,” she teased.
“I can’t make any promises.” This time he grinned and purposely stared at her rack.
She laughed and jutted them out just a little.