I grinned. “Only half a day and you’re done?”
She rolled her head toward me. “An army of Mandys could conquer the world. I don’t know whether to scream or wulf out.”
“Who needs enforcers when you have vet techs?” I headed out of the parking lot and turned away from Beausejour. “Please don’t eat her, though. Good techs are hard to find.”
She snorted. “Where are we going?”
“Lazy Tuesdays at Seddon’s corner. They have great food if they’re open.”
“It’s Wednesday.”
“Sometimes they’re lazy on Wednesdays too.”
She fell silent, watching the farms slide by.
“You okay?” I asked.
She straightened in her seat. “Yeah, fine. Just didn’t sleep much last night.”
I started to laugh, but it came out as more of a choking sound. “Helps if you don’t suck on my finger.”
“I licked your finger. And you were the one that walked into the kitchen half naked, all damp and bruised.”
The memory sent tingles down my spine to pool somewhere best not dwelled upon. I opened my mouth to reply but closed it. She was right. I might have forgotten to bring a shirt into the bathroom, but I should have put one on before going to the kitchen. Subconscious flirtation?
“Sorry. Next time I’ll wear flannel.”
“Oh, no. Half naked was fine by me. Just not conducive to sleep.”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah.” I remembered her eyes turning silver, as though the wulf had taken control. I didn’t think loss of control was a wulfan characteristic. Especially an enforcer wulfan. Glancing at the lines of exhaustion on her face, I decided it wasn’t the time to ask questions.
We pulled into the restaurant at Seddon’s corner. It was open, although the sign indicated that some Wednesdays, they were indeed lazy. When you’re this good, you can afford to be eccentric, I thought as I rolled the windows down for Keen. The day was not that warm, but I worried about how fast heat built up in a vehicle. For our many farm visits, I’d trained her to stay in the SUV with the windows opened all the way. In parking lots, I left her fastened in her safety harness, and parked where I could keep an eye on her. She gave me her best don’t-forget-the-doggy-bag look as we departed.
The food was casual but delicious. Whatever had started between Sam and me continued to sizzle with zaps of electricity throughout the entire meal. Awareness reached a new plane of existence, ensnaring and holding me captive. Watching Sam’s white teeth nip and nibble at the food became an exercise in seduction. Long fingers stroked each fry as she made her selection before raising it to her mouth. Her lips opened to extend a pink tongue, wrapping around the thick home-cut piece of potato and pulling it in with a move that left me breathless. Her scent drifted to me, making my nostrils flare.
I thought at first the seduction was unconscious, or even my overactive imagination, but when she glanced at me through her lowered eyelashes, her eyes had turned silver.
My big brain kicked into gear. Her wulf was at the surface. In a public restaurant. What the hell?
“Sam, your eyes have changed.”
They widened, and she dropped the fry. Her gaze locked with mine. “Christ”—she hissed—“yours have too.”
I blinked. Borne on the wings of emotion—one I was afraid to examine too closely—the change had sneaked up on me. I smelled the wulf erupting from every pore. I closed my eyes and breathed, but that only pulled more of her scent in, making my wulf leap.
Sam’s hand was halfway to my arm, but she stopped. “Go,” she said. “I’ll wrap things up here. Meet you at the truck.”
I glanced at her, but her eyes had returned to a normal, human, pale gray. I wasn’t so lucky; the wulf surged in me, fighting for control. I pushed my chair back, stood up quickly, and left the restaurant. Breathing deeply, I paced beside the vehicle. Without Sam’s scent and presence, the wulf snarled but slowly gave in, and the surrounding world took on a distinct human blandness.
Keen whined, either because she was concerned by my odd behavior or because I hadn’t brought the promised doggy bag. Fortunately, when Sam emerged with tension written all over her, she had the bag in her hand.
“Sorry,” I said. “Didn’t mean to leave you with the bill.”
“Better that than wulfing out in a family restaurant. As it was, the owner mentioned us steaming up the windows.” She exhaled through gritted teeth. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, moving around to the driver’s side. When she slid in beside me, I said, “That’s the closest I’ve come to losing it in public. I know I’m still new at this, so correct me if I’m wrong—you were losing it too.”
She fastened her seat belt with unusual aggression. “This is my fault. My job is watching over you, not—I can’t seem to stop it.” Her voice hitched with apparent self-recrimination. “Maybe I should switch with Garrett. Me being here is causing the thing we are supposed to be avoiding. I’ve never . . . this is new.”
This? I jammed the key in the ignition but didn’t turn it. “What if I don’t want to avoid—whatever this is?” I kept my gaze fastened ahead, through the windscreen. The wulf still lingered near the surface, and I couldn’t even breathe, waiting for her response. Because maybe this was all just in my head, or some kind of wulf lust thing that meant nothing to her.
She remained silent, and I turned the ignition, thinking I had my answer. Her hand wrapped around my arm. I looked at her and was instantly lost in that pale gaze. Gray—but the silver shone through it—like the moon. Beautiful.
“That’s the problem. I don’t want to avoid this, either,” she said, and my heart leaped.
I reached across the console to run fingers along her face. They shook and my entire body trembled with suppressed—what? Lust? Desire? The colors surrounding us changed, sharpened. Every detail of her hair and skin achieved
