"Hey there. You okay?"
She blinked several times and regained her footing. His hands held onto her shoulders and the warmth from his touch jolted through her. Looking up she met green eyes that flashed gold.
A shifter.
A slow tendril of anger slowly snaked through her. She had no love for shifters.
"Thanks. I'm fine. Maybe next time you guys could stay out of the aisle."
He released her and she instantly missed the roughness of his hands, which she kept telling herself was not something she had time for.
Her reality said differently. All she had was time.
"I'm sorry. No harm meant miss...?"
Blowing out a breath she attempted to reign in the anger. Running her tongue over her top teeth she debated whether she talked to him or not.
"Raine Collins." There. She was polite. Raine shuffled her feet, trying to get around him. This was her only day off for another three days and the state of her fridge said she needed to get to the store. Or so she told herself. Maybe she was using the gym's added kids’ martial arts class as one more reason to avoid living her life.
Truthfully, after her last relationship, there wasn't much to entice her to leave her apartment. No matter how much she did to ensure her own safety, the reality was she didn't think she would ever feel safe again.
"Alright Ms. Collins, or can I call you Raine? That's an interesting name."
She flicked her eyes to the ceiling and then back at the hulking man in front of her. "Yeah. My mom said the earth was so sad when I was born it rained, hence the name.” Raine tried to bite back the sarcasm and failed as she studied each pair of eyes on her. They saw too much; he saw too much. “Yeah, wonderful mom. She was a super loving person. Who the heck knows where she is now, probably Europe or something. Anyway, can I get by now?"
Raine felt a little bad about being negative. It wasn't like her Gran hadn't more than made up for her mother's lack of interest.
A flicker of what she guessed might have been concern ghosted across the man's face. Maybe she should just stop telling the truth. Figure out a much better story, like her mom loved the rain or maybe that her dad was obsessed with water magic or something.
"That's a pretty crappy reason for the name, especially looking at how beautiful you turned out."
An embarrassing heat touched her cheeks and had the walls she'd built around her flexing a little.
"Uhm. Thanks? Can I get by now?"
"Why have I not seen you here before? I'm Kian and this is Ethan and Tristan."
Crossing her arms over her chest, she glanced towards the other men near the wall. They were all good looking and articulate. Okay, so maybe not meatheads. Living alone had her growing more and more cynical. It was that, or her ex and his meat-head pack.
Raine took in the size of the guy talking to her. What had he said his name was? It has sounded sort of a like a shoe brand. Well whatever it was, she didn't care. Although, that smile had her heart doing a flipflop. His biceps stretching the arms of his t-shirt had her pressing her thighs together at the sensations surging through her.
Okay, fine. Maybe she'd take it easy on this mountain of a man. Her body seemed to warm by just looking at him, a few long neglected parts of her aching to be played with. Staring up into his face, the softness sparkling behind his eyes had her choking back her next sarcastic remark. The way he looked at her made Raine feel like he saw more than she wanted, but she still didn't turn away. Raine cleared her throat but found herself lacking the right words.
Adjusting her stance, she put one hand on her other arm, then she tried switching them, and finally she just crossed her arms over her chest. He had her all confused. The weight of his gaze had her heart beating faster. Yup, maybe she should cross her legs instead of her arms.
It wasn't a surprise to see abnormally large men in the gym. It was a martial arts fitness center, after all, and that usually attracted a lot of alpha men - more shifters than humans for that matter. Their aggression ran deeper than that of their human counterparts, so it made sense. Then why was this guy getting her all hot and bothered?
"Did we lose you?" Kian asked.
"Oh. I." Raine paused and words formed on her lips, but nothing good came out. Instead, she flashed something like a smile. You couldn't give any man too much, regardless of whether he sparked your libido.
"No. Sorry. I was already onto my next class in my head. Lots to do and so little time. It was great meeting you Tristan, Ethan, and what was it? Keen?"
The biggest of the three, the one that had her panties damp, furrowed his brow and his jaw dropped. "Ouch. No. Keen, that's a shoe. Ki-an is my name. And although I'm sure I'd love to massage those tiny feet of yours, believe you me when I say I'm much more than something that makes your feet feel good."
Rolling her eyes and choking down a laugh she didn't bother hiding her sarcasm. "Excuse me? I am not sure who that line actually works on - okay, actually I seriously hope you've never tried that line before." She bit her lip trying to hide the smile. He looked the tough guy, but she wasn't sure he was. "Right. So I am the woman that teaches other women how to get away from men like you. You’re going to have to try a lot harder. Or maybe just stop trying altogether."
Maybe she shouldn't have baited him. His name wasn't that hard to remember, but something about him made her want to push his buttons. Or maybe, she wanted
