“Do you need anything? Something to drink?” Roark rose to his feet and waited for my answer. “Chardonnay or Merlot, perhaps?”
“Merlot with a glass of water as well, please?” I looked up as I slid another bite of the amazing salmon over my lips.
I moaned at how good it was and I watched Roark adjust himself as he walked to the other side of the island and reached down. It sounded like a door opened as he bent down. When he returned to my sight, he held a bottle of wine and a corkscrew.
Watching intently, I couldn’t lie to myself that I was concerned about drinking anything. It would be way too easy to slip something into a drink. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked for the wine.
However, Roark simply retrieved two glasses and brought them over to the table. Once he uncorked the bottle, he poured some first in one glass and then in the other. Setting the bottle down, Roark went back to the cabinets. I picked up my glass of wine and took a sip. It was the perfect balance of dry and fruity which went down smooth.
“Good?” Roark asked and I jerked as my eyes opened and I looked up at his smiling face.
“Yes, very,” I replied.
Roark turned the bottle and looked at the label. “Yes, 1903 was a good year.”
“Really?” I asked as I set the glass down and went back to eating.
“Oh, yes. This particular wine was bottle by a distant relative. And, 1903 was one of his best crops of grapes.” Roark smirked at me.
“You’re lying,” I laughed. He simply shrugged in reply.
“Now, about the shipments...” Roark’s face turned serious. “Have you been approached by a Richard Billingsworth?”
“Yeah. I think the whole town has, why?” My gut tightened at the thought of Dick.
“I’m guessing you turned him down the same as we did.” I nodded at his remark and he continued. “Well, I don’t think Billingsworth is taking no for an answer. I think the shipping issues are because of him.”
“Makes sense,” I replied as I slid the last bite of salmon into my mouth with a sound of contentment.
Roark looked at me with a mix of surprise and desire which I guess was because of the sounds I was making due to the delicious food he’d prepared.
“Look, most of the people in town turned his ass down. No one wants the town to change. Doesn’t matter how much Mayor Michaels tries to push the idea. He might be in bed with Dick but I’ve learned my lesson a long time ago…”
“And, what lesson is that?” Roark asked with a smirk.
“Guys like him are compensating for something. I only go for those who have what it takes,” I rasped as I slid my foot up Roark’s leg.
“Roark!” A shrill shriek exploded as a pale woman burst into the kitchen.
“Banshee, what have I said about that mouth of yours?” Roark sighed.
“Look, we don’t have time for that,” she sassed as she stopped beside the table and placed her hands on her hips. She was dressed in heavy boots, leather pants, and wore a tank top under her leather cut. Her purple eyes appeared to glow as she glared at Roark.
“Fine. Wha–”
“Billingsworth is at the gate with some of his thugs,” the woman who I was guessing was an albino. Her hair was practically white as was her skin.
“Fuck,” Roark cursed and rose to his feet faster than I could track. “Take Kendra into the bar. I’ll want to speak with that asshole.”
Roark’s eyes grew brighter and as he turned, I thought I saw them change color. I shook my head. It had to be the wine and a trick of the lights. People's eyes don’t just change color. Right?
308
Roark
Banshee and Richard ‘Dick’ Billingsworth’s timing had me hot under the collar. They had interrupted my time with Kendra. A nice dinner had been tossed down the drain when Dick decided to show up.
It had taken every ounce of my soul to keep myself from shifting in front of Kendra. I wanted to shift, make my way to the gate, pulverize Dick and his men, and return to my date with Kendra. However, Kendra wasn’t a shifter so I had to settle for the human way of exiting a room pissed.
“Move,” I growled at Ry, one of the club’s enforcers, as I barged my way out the front door. Half of the brothers were already outside the clubhouse waiting on me.
“He brought about a dozen men, Prez,” Ry mused behind me.
“No fighting,” I seethed and made my way up the drive toward the gate. It was a bit of a distance, but I needed the walk to cool me off before I faced Billingsworth.
“Plan, Prez?” Stoic, another club enforcer, asked walking up next to me.
“Have our guys flank them just in case. I don’t trust this fucker.”
“You got it, Prez,” Stoic said before shifting into his cheetah form and sprinting off through the woods. Several of those behind me shifted and followed him through the trees.
By the time, I reached the front gate, my eyes no longer burned. My hands were no longer balled at my sides and I was breathing normally.
Outside the gate was a group of blacked-out SUVs. Men in suits stood outside them. It reminded me of a scene out of Men in Black. Even a blind man could tell that these fuckers were up to no good.
“Prez, I told them to leave. But they vant to see your beautiful face,” Boris laughed and opened the gates for me. The Russian’s sense of humor never failed. If I had been pissed at the moment, it would have left because of him.
“Well, can you blame them, Boris?” I asked, raising an
