Chapter 6
I’d never booked a service in the salon or the medspa, but boy, oh boy, could I’ve used one.
I’d been inside the salon once, when I’d only been here a few weeks, but I’d never made it past the lobby.
Since the board meeting, I’d become more curious than ever about how they operated.
Maybe I’d even get a romance package of my own. For just me.
Not that I would let one of the Twins give me a massage.
I was still way too self-conscious for that.
Hell, I’d only let Lauren work on my leg because the pain had been too intense not to.
Plus, she was a lot more coercive than the Twins.
The South Bridge goddess Iris was still styling my hair from her house on Bridge Island, and I wasn’t much into pampering myself. But they had other employees.
After a frustrating session with Cupid, I was seriously considering it by day’s end.
The sun was already setting when I headed home. Though Cecelia had created a back door that led to the stairs up to my house, I’d opted to go out front and round the side of the Magnolia instead. I wasn’t sure why other than that I wanted a quick meander before I settled in for the night.
I was inspecting the nails I’d worried down to the quick, thinking maybe a manicure would be a good thing, and paying zero attention to the space in front of me. Which was why I ran directly into Ray.
I bounced off his marble chest with a grunted ooph, taking two stumbling steps backward before I flung my arms out to keep from landing on my ass.
Unfortunately, my feet didn’t get the memo.
They tangled up in each other, my right foot going left and my left foot going right.
My eyes widened and the world tilted. This was gonna bruise my tailbone something fierce.
Lucky for me, Ray had the reflexes of an animal. He lunged forward, grabbing my waist to keep me upright. He held tight while I steadied myself, his fingers digging into my hips. But his upper body angled away, as if he were afraid to be too close to me. A hint of his wolf glimmered in his eyes.
“Simone, I’m sorry.” He was so close his breath warmed my already burning cheeks.
He smelled like a day of hard work, that oh-so-male musk of sweat and earthiness that should have been off-putting.
But it wasn’t. In sharp contrast to Ethan, there was nothing polished about Ray.
He was calloused fingers and broad shoulders and unstyled hair.
I really, really liked it. “I didn’t sense you. ”
He released me, much to my chagrin, his brow furrowing in what might have been concern.
“Why would you?” I asked, smoothing my shirt in an attempt to de-wrinkle it. And settle my emotions. “Sense me, I mean. Is that a wolf thing?”
“No, it’s …” He trailed off. I waited for him to finish his sentence, but apparently he wasn’t going to. Something was bothering him. Or the animal inside of him. It was hard to tell. He cocked his head and sniffed the air, his frown deepening.
“Ray?” I had an intense urge to sniff my armpits to be sure I wasn’t the one offending him. The hairs on his arms were raised, and a low growl vibrated in his throat. I laid my hand on his forearm. “Everything okay?”
“I don’t know.” He said the words slowly, still scanning the air around me.
His eyes crinkled around the edges, like he was straining to see something I couldn’t.
He barked. A soft woof under his breath that chilled the air.
And boy was it disconcerting to hear someone that looks like a human bark like a wolf.
After another moment of quiet, he shook his head. “It’s probably just allergies.”
Huh? Why would having allergies keep him from running into me? He still looked perplexed and made a show of checking his watch. Apparently our two minute run-in had drastically altered his schedule.
“Were you coming to see me?” At his blank stare, I pointed toward the back of the house. “Is that why you’re in the alley?”
Ray’s eyes followed the direction I was pointing. He looked at the back garden. Then at me. Then at the garden. I think I preferred it when he was ignoring me outright.
“No,” He finally answered. “Routine security check.”
“Oh. Right.” Ever since my cousin Julia had broken through from the fae dimension and tried to wreak havoc on my chances of becoming Supreme, Ray and his team at Lone Wolf Sentries had ramped up security around the Magnolia.
According to Cecelia, they were walking the grounds twice as much as before.
Despite there being no actual danger, Ray insisted on the extra level of precaution, and who was I to argue with seeing him more often? “Find anything big and scary?”
“Not this time.” His first genuine smile since our collision warmed me in a whole new way.
I missed Ray. Romance potential aside, he’d become a good friend during the Trials.
But almost as soon as Cupid had become my patient, he’d drifted away.
Now, I barely saw him. And when I did, he acted like I was a stranger.
Or like he had no idea how to talk to me. Or like I was a stinky little boy.
He had no idea the effect he had on me physically. The times I felt attracted to Ethan, it was always like a quick storm. Sudden and intense, but calm afterward. He and I always recovered from those moments and reverted back to our friendship.
But with Ray? Ray was a tornado that picked me up and swept me away. To a hurricane that spun me around and threw me into the water. Where a tidal wave tossed me to and fro like a wanting rag doll.
Nobody needs sex, Cupid had said. Harrumph.
Maybe I didn’t need it. But I sure as shit wanted it.
And I still wanted Ray, just as much today as I had thirty years ago.
Something in him, something primal, spoke to me.
And there was no sense in denying it. Not that I was trying to, while we stood there in silence and he stared at his feet, his boots toeing the grass so he wouldn’t have to look at me.
“That’s good, I guess.” He looked up with that same confused look. “That you didn’t find anything big and scary,” I clarified.
“Yeah. Yeah, it is.” He attempted something that might have been a smile. If he was constipated. “How … have you been?”
“Oh, you know.” I gestured toward the house. “I haven’t burned the town to the ground or released any tornadoes lately, so all in all, I think I’m doing pretty well.”
“It has been mostly calm.” Ray let out an awkward chuckle. “For Treater’s Way.”
Mostly calm, he’d said. Mostly. And I wanted to press, to find out what that meant, but he seemed so agitated.
“You look great,” Ray said, breaking the silence. For just a moment, the briefest of seconds, I saw my old Ray in his eyes. The way the green deepened, like he’d grabbed onto an old memory. Like he’d clawed his way to the surface just to see me. “You look healthy and happy.”
“Thanks, Ray.” Heat rose along the back of my neck and cheeks. I was blushing and just hoped the lighting was dim enough he couldn’t tell. “All things considered, I am healthy. And happy.”
“Good. That’s really good.” His lips trembled, and he lifted one hand, as if to touch me. He dropped it in a second, sidestepping me by pressing himself as close to the fence as he could so he wouldn’t have to touch me. “Well, I’ll see you.”
“Wait.” I grabbed his bicep to keep him from hurrying away. Okay, maybe I ran a thumb along his skin, too, but if he noticed, then the man had one hell of a poker face because he didn’t react other than to lift one eyebrow in a what-do-you-want gesture.
“Are you free to grab a cup of coffee on Saturday?” What was I doing? He stared at me, mouth slightly open. “Or lunch on Sunday?”
A thousand hours stretched between us while I waited on him to answer, giving me all the time in the world to chastise whatever intrusive thought I’d let take over.
The question had come out on impulse, a whim I barely had time to recognize before it danced away from me.
I wasn’t sure I knew why I’d asked. It had sort of, just, popped out.
“Do you mean on a … date?” I had to admit, the pause before he’d said the word date threw me. Was there hope in that pause? Or anything I could latch onto?
All in all, it wasn’t a horrible idea that my subconscious had. Ray and I had overcome the initial tension of the way we parted thirty years ago, and we’d found something like a friendship. Mostly casual, save a few intense moments, but still a friendship.
Part of me worried my attraction to him, however intense it might be, was based on our brief but impactful teenage fling.
Maybe, without the looming threat of us jumping back into bed together, we could get to know one another better.
This was a perfect opportunity to take the Cupid dilemma and turn it into an advantage.
With no chance of nookie on the table, I wouldn't even have to shave my legs.
“We haven’t talked in a while, Ray. Not really. I just thought it would be nice to, you know, catch up. As … friends.”
Did men analyze pauses the way women did?
Noting every word, every tone, every inflection?
Or was that just a girl thing? Either way, he was backing slowly away as if to escape, while still sniffing the air, which might have been weirder if he were human but was still pretty darn strange.
After another moment, during which the sun set fully, casting us in uncomfortable darkness, he twisted his lips and nodded. “Sure. Lunch on Sunday sounds fun.”
Well. That wasn’t exactly an enthusiastic response. But at least he hadn’t shut me down.
“Cool.” I said it way too loud, making him jump like a scared bunny. “Illusion Square, then?”
“Yeah. Okay.” He tilted his head and stared at me. “Noon.”
With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned and left.
“It’s a date,” I called out. His steps halted, just a touch, but he didn’t stop walking. I watched his retreating figure a lot longer than I needed to. Then I headed upstairs for a nice, cold shower.