Chapter 6 #2
At first, he’d feared awkwardness—the inevitable shuffle of limbs, the pressure of two people pretending not to notice the intimacy of their arrangement.
Instead, there was a slow, organic choreography: Selena turned, he adjusted, and soon it was as if his bed had always been meant to contain the two of them, a matched set.
He tried to play it cool, to keep his breathing unhurried, but he was keenly aware of the minute movements of her fingers as they traced lazy patterns on his bare chest. Their pheromones were already dancing around each other, showing their keen interest in one another.
For a few seconds, he wondered if she was even awake, or if she was sleepily lost to the world, the way her breath had softened and steadied.
But then she looked up at him, her eyes glimmering with something between amusement and relief.
Daniel realized that he didn’t know what came next, and for once, he didn’t mind the uncertainty.
He felt the tension that had colored his evening soften at the edges, replaced by a fragile sense of promise.
There was something in the air—a hush, a pause, the possibility of something real which he wanted to continue to explore.
He let himself enjoy it, the quiet miracle of her closeness.
She was so cuddly and fit him perfectly.
He finally fell asleep and woke to the aroma of coffee brewing in the kitchen. He was surprised she had left the bed and hadn’t woken him. He dressed in his uniform and then joined her in the kitchen.
“I hope you don’t mind that I made the coffee,” she said, dressed in a skirt, sweater, and boots for her grand opening.
“I must have been tired. I didn’t even feel you leave the bed.”
“You were. I didn’t want to wake you, but I guess you smelled the coffee.”
“I did. A surefire way to wake me. Do you want me to fix us breakfast? Sausage or ham? Hash browns? Toast?”
“Ham, hash browns, and toast sound delightful.”
“Coming right up.”
“Do you have honey?”
“Yes, and strawberry and grape jam.”
She poured them cups of coffee, then helped him warm up the ham and popped the sliced bread into the toaster while he made the hash browns. “Scrambled eggs?
“Sure.”
Then he figured she’d be all set for her final preparations for her grand opening. He just hoped Peter would let him stay at her shop for the day.
Once he was done cooking the eggs and hash browns, he served them up, and she added ham and toast.
He took the plates to the dining room table while she carried their coffee cups.
Then he called his boss. “Do you need me to take care of anything?”
“Are you going to be at the grand opening for Selena’s shop?”
“Yes, sir, unless you need me.”
“No. I need someone to watch out for Selena, and if you want the job, it’s yours.”
“Yeah, you know I do.”
“Okay, good. One other thing, some of our men found files belonging to Selena. They were scattered all over the woods. They gathered them up. I’ll be at the grand opening and drop them off.”
“She said they didn’t have any files that were relevant to their dad’s case.”
“Good, then they didn’t get any important files.”
Then they ended the call, and Daniel began to eat breakfast with her. “I’ll be taking you to the shop and staying with you the rest of the day. Some of our deputies found the files that those men stole scattered in the forest.”
She frowned. “I’m glad they found the files, but what creeps they are. I’m glad that you will be at my shop.”
“I agree.” He didn’t even want to think of the mess her files would be in. But he suspected it would be a tangle to straighten out.
They finished breakfast and then cleaned up the dishes. “Are you ready?” She sounded anxious, and he didn’t blame her. She was eager to get this over with and hoped it would have a good turnout. With a wolf-run town, he knew it would.
Sure enough, as soon as they arrived at the shop, the MacTire sisters came to help out in case she needed any assistance.
More boxes were delivered that morning, so she was glad to have their help. And they all began putting the merchandise up on the shelves and racks, while Selena stuck price tags on it.
“We’re going home to make some treats,” Laurel said.
“I need to make those chocolate chip cookies,” Daniel said.
Ellie smiled at him. “A man after my own heart.”
Daniel laughed. “But you’ll have to come home with me, Selena, and we’ll have lunch, then return to the shop.”
“Sounds good,” Selena said.
At lunchtime, they locked up the shop and the MacTire sisters returned to their hotel, while Daniel and Selena went back to his home.
“How about grilled ham and cheese sandwiches?” Selena said.
“Sure, that would be good.” He got the ingredients out for the chocolate chip cookies to make seventy-two.
She began making the sandwiches and grabbed a couple of individual packages of potato chips. Then she plated them.
They ate the sandwiches and chips, then he went back to making the chocolate chip cookies while she cleaned up the pan that she had used to cook the grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.
She helped him with the cookies, and then he put them in the oven to bake. But he had to bake several dozen before he was done.
She was already eating one of the ones hot out of the oven, the chocolate chips all melty.
He smiled and bit into one also. “I made enough for you to keep some for yourself.”
“What if we run out at the shop?”
“Other food will be there.”
“Or we can make more when we get home.”
“Sure, we can do that.” He ate some more.
She did too. “Okay, I’m ready to go back to the store.”
She sounded worried that they wouldn’t get back on time, but they still had another hour to go.
“All right. Let’s go.”
What they couldn’t believe was that there were cars parked outside of her shop already.
“I feel like I’m late.”
“You’re early. So are they. Customers just want to make sure they can get a look at your merchandise before anyone else can.”
Then Brett came with a big sign for the grand opening and helped Daniel hang it.
As soon as the Silvers arrived, they had the ribbon-cutting ceremony. And then Selena invited them into the shop.
A table was set up in front of the shop so guests could have food and drinks while shopping.
“I love the way you decorated it,” one woman said.
“It’s beautiful and just what we needed,” another said, carrying some Halloween decorations in her arms.
“Yes, I’ll be here a lot,” another said. “You have some adorable things. Love your personal display also.”
Selena glanced at Daniel and saw him eating another chocolate chip cookie. He looked sheepish. She smiled, wanting another cookie too, but she didn’t want to eat in front of all the customers.
The guests began picking out merchandise, and she thought this was going to be a fantastic sale day. She just hoped that it wasn’t just one day, and tomorrow, and the rest of the days, she would continue to sell.
But the more time she spent selling items, the more she thought she was in the right place to have opened a shop.
She was so busy checking people out that Daniel began packing up their belongings and carrying them out to their cars.
Silva and the MacTire sisters were helping to serve punch to the customers. Roxie and Kayla were showing customers different merchandise.
Even though she thought they would be done by four, more customers kept coming.
Some were humans, not local. That was beneficial because they would be passing through, and she would have more sales as a result.
She glanced at the chocolate chip cookie plate, and nothing but a few crumbs were left.
She sighed. They would have to make more tonight.
When the last customer left and the ladies who had helped her went home, Selena said, “The shop is a mess.”
“Yeah, but you sold a ton of merchandise,” Daniel said.
“Yeah, it was great. I’ll have to buy more merchandise and straighten up the shop.”
“Tomorrow. We’ll take care of it then. I think you have a great shop full of merchandise that everyone wants. We’ll go home and eat dinner now.”
“And make more chocolate chip cookies.”
He chuckled, then drove her to his house while she ducked down and pretended not to be in his SUV.
“It was a success,” Selena said.
“It was. Would you like some steaks on the grill to celebrate? I have corn on the cob that I can grill too. And champagne I picked up for tonight.”
“That sounds like a winning combination. I’ll make some more cookies while you’re doing that.”
“Just don’t eat them before dinner’s ready.”
She laughed. “Like you were eating them at the shop?”
He smiled. “I’m addicted to them, what can I say?”
“I know. Me too. I would have been snacking with you if I hadn’t been selling merchandise. Though Silva’s meatballs were great. I had to grab one of them before we opened. Do you want to go to another cemetery tonight?”
“Are you a workaholic?”
“I’m just so excited about making all those sales. I won’t be able to sleep after dinner right away.”
“I totally understand. We’ll enjoy a starlit walk through another cemetery.”
Then he began grilling the steaks and corn on the cob while she made a salad for dinner and started baking cookies for dessert. She was so glad he was agreeable about another stroll through a cemetery. She didn’t figure most men would be.
Once they sat down for dinner, she asked, “When Peter brought in the files they found in the woods, they smelled of the three brothers’ scents.”
“They did, which confirms they broke into the storage unit and took them.”
“Exactly. The food is excellent,” she said, taking another bite of the steak. “And the corn is nice and sweet.”
“Your avocado, spinach, and mushroom salad hit the spot.”
“You have to have your greens.” They drank a toast to each other in celebration of her grand opening.
Then, after eating dinner and cookies, they headed over to the second cemetery, and it would make her night perfect if she found something important there.