Chapter 5 - Lola #2
“I didn’t notice,” Lola said quickly, too quickly. “I mean, I did notice, of course. It would be hard not to. He’s…well, it seems he’s just…everywhere. It’s hard not to notice him stomping around like he owns the place. What I meant to say was that I noticed, I just didn’t…care.”
Cassie lifted an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“He does have a certain presence,” Bree murmured, sipping her tea and sending Lola a small smile, “in a sweaty, smirking, throw-you-over-his-shoulder kind of way.”
Lola let out a strangled laugh. “That’s… oddly specific. I hadn’t noticed anything like that about him.”
“You’re not wrong, though,” Poppy added with a grin, ignoring Lola. “Dane’s got a bit of a reputation.”
Lola didn’t ask what kind of reputation, because she didn’t need to. She could guess.
Player. Heartbreaker. Big, bad wolf who got what he wanted and left before the sun came up.
Which was exactly the sort of male she had no interest in.
None.
Not even when his dark eyes flicked over her in passing and her heart skipped like a scratched record.
Nope. Absolutely not.
She turned her attention back to her tea, trying to ignore the way her skin prickled with awareness. The warmth from the fire was no longer enough to explain the heat rising in her cheeks.
The conversation moved on. Plans for the fall festival, someone’s disastrous haircut story, and Cassie joking about her kids building a trebuchet in the back yard, but Lola found herself only half-listening.
Because Dane hadn’t just passed through.
He’d come inside.
She could hear him now. His laugh was low and rough, unmistakable. The way the room shifted subtly around him, the gravitational pull of an alpha male who didn’t have to try to take up space, because the space offered itself to him willingly.
She glanced over her shoulder.
Mistake.
He was by the coffee table, saying something to another male who threw his head back in a laugh. Dane looked relaxed. Confident. Like he belonged here in every way, she didn’t.
And then, of course, he looked straight at her.
Their eyes locked.
His grin was slow and unapologetic.
Lola whipped her head around so fast she nearly sloshed tea on her skirt.
Cassie let out a soft snort. “Smooth.”
“I wasn’t looking at him,” Lola muttered.
“It’s okay if you were,” Daisy said with her signature softness. “There’s definitely an allure. And he’s not always awful.”
“I didn’t say he was awful,” Lola said defensively, “I said he was arrogant and annoying and smirks too much and acts like the world is his personal playground.”
“Right,” Cassie said, “but not awful.”
Lola gave them both a flat look. “There is a difference.”
Cassie laughed, reaching over to give her hand a light squeeze. “It took me a while to adjust too, but you’re doing fine. This is pack life. Community, gossip, a little light sexual tension…it’s all part of the package.”
“Sexual tension implies two people are involved.”
Daisy raised a brow. “Not necessarily. Males like Dane enjoy the chase. And it seems like you’re enjoying it a bit, too.”
“I’m not enjoying it.”
“Liar,” Cassie said with a cheeky wink.
Lola groaned and hid behind her teacup.
“Anyway,” Bree chimed in, “even if you were interested, and you’re not, obviously…just be careful. Dane’s…well. He’s not exactly known for settling down.”
“Oh, I’m very aware of the type,” Lola said dryly. “I’m not even slightly attracted to it.”
“And yet you’re still blushing,” Cassie said.
“I’m going to throw myself into the fire,” Lola replied.
Daisy gave her a baleful look. “It’s not that bad to have a crush.”
Before Lola could respond, the baby on Helena’s shoulder let out a squeaky cry, prompting a gentle shuffle of women rearranging to help with a bottle, and the moment was, mercifully, broken.
Lola took a steadying breath.
She could handle this. So what if Dane had a smirk that sent strange sensations skittering down her spine? She wasn’t going to fall for some rough-edged bad boy with too many tattoos and zero emotional regulation.
She had a thesis to write.
And a library to digitize.
And no time for heartache.
“Hey, Devereaux.”
Oh no.
She closed her eyes.
Then opened them slowly, plastering on her most neutral expression as she looked up.
Dane was leaning against the edge of the sofa, coffee mug in hand, wearing that infuriating half-smile that made it look like he was always in on a joke you didn’t know the punchline to.
“I didn’t realize you were the muffin fairy now,” he said, gesturing toward the table.
“I didn’t realize you were invited,” she replied.
“Aw,” he drawled, “miss me already?”
“Not in the slightest,” she sniffed, taking a pointed sip of her tea.
He leaned a little closer, lowering his voice so only she could hear, “You keep scowling at me like that, love, and people are going to think we’re flirting.”
Lola sputtered into her cup. “Then you’d better back off before someone gets the wrong idea about you.”
His grin widened. “Worried about my reputation, huh?”
“I’m worried about me, actually. I like to keep my IQ above room temperature.”
Cassie choked on her tea.
Dane chuckled, clearly delighted. “You’ve got claws after all.”
“I’m a wolf,” she muttered, more in an attempt to convince herself than anything else.
His gaze flicked over her, slow and assessing, as if he were seeing her for the first time. “Yeah,” he said finally, “I’m starting to believe that.”
And with that, he winked, turned, and strolled back toward the coffee table, leaving Lola blinking after him, her mouth half-open, like someone had just unplugged her brain.
“So,” Cassie whispered. “That just happened.”
“I hate him,” Lola said.
“Uh-huh.”
“I do.”
“Of course.”
Daisy patted her hand, “Welcome to Silvermist.”
***
Lola decided that silence was going to be her best friend for the remainder of the morning. Hopefully, if she didn’t say anything, she’d just turn invisible, and nobody would have anything else to say about her and Dane.
Not that there was anything else to say. Of course, there wasn’t. The mere suggestion was absurd.
Blessedly, her plan seemed to work, and the conversation gently drifted between various topics.
Before she knew it, the women were standing and hugging each other, making plans for next time.
Lola found herself pulled into several embraces, and she did her best to make her smile warm as she was made to promise that she would come to more pack activities.
And she would. Just not…all of them. She had a job to do, after all.
As she stepped outside into the cold, she immediately regretted not bringing gloves. The chill bit into her fingers, but it was easy enough to ignore through the post-social adrenaline.
She’d survived.
More than that, she’d actually enjoyed herself. At least a bit.
“Well, well,” a voice drawled from behind her. “If it isn’t the muffin fairy herself.”
Lola sighed without turning. “Shouldn’t you be off…I don’t know…growling at squirrels?”
Dane came up beside her, hands in his jacket pockets, relaxed and easy-going. “Nah. Too cold for squirrels. Besides, they don’t scowl at me nearly as prettily.”
She gave him a sidelong look. He was smirking at her, his eyes heated with desire blatant enough that even she recognized it. She turned to him squarely. “I’m not flirting with you.”
“Sure. You just save your best material for me.”
“Only because you bring out the worst in people.”
His grin didn’t falter. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, love.”
Lola huffed and started walking, boots clacking noisily against the cobbles. He didn’t follow, but she could feel his gaze on her back the whole way home.
And despite her best efforts…
She smiled.
Just a little.