Tate was waiting for Lainey in the living room. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and it looked as if he’d taken a quick shower, because his hair was still wet and combed into place with a side part. He’d shaved, too. With his sparkling blue eyes and sensual lips, he looked good enough to eat. Lainey planned to test that theory later that night, if everything went as planned.
“Well, don’t you look tasty,” Tate said to her with a grin. Apparently, great minds thought alike.
“They’re in the kitchen gossiping about our date. Everybody in town knows about it already.”
“Of course they do. Welcome to Blue Moon Junction. Ready for dinner?”
“I should shower, and change…” she protested.
“We’re just going to the Wolf Whistle Diner. Unfortunately, Blue Moon Junction doesn’t have any fancy restaurants. It’s all pretty casual around here. No need to get all gussied up.”
As they walked to his pickup truck, Lainey didn’t need to glance back at the house to see if everyone was staring at her through the kitchen window; she could feel their eyes boring into her back.
She settled into her seat, breathing in Tate’s warm, musky smell. As they pulled out, he held his hand out of the pickup truck window and waved in the direction of the boarding house. Shamelessly, everyone in the window waved back. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact that they were spying on Lainey and Tate.
The Wolf Whistle Diner was only ten minutes from the boarding house, but when they pulled up in front of the restaurant, there was a long line of people standing outside. Tate frowned. “Well, that never happens. I didn’t account for all the people who are in town for the wedding.”
He turned to Lainey. “I’m dying to show you off to everybody, but there’s plenty of time for that. I have another suggestion for tonight. You know Henry, Marigold’s fiancé? He owns a house that he inherited from his family, but ever since he moved in with Marigold, the house has been sitting empty. He gave me the keys to the house tonight. I thought you might enjoy a rare moment of privacy.”
“Sounds like a winner,” Lainey said. She and Tate, just the two of them together in a cozy little house? Forget dinner, she’d go straight for dessert.
Her stomach growled in rebellion at that, and she winced. Okay, first dinner, then some dessert, then some man-candy wolf shifter for an aperitif.
As they drove, Tate called to order pizza for delivery to Henry’s house.
I am going on a date with the handsomest man in the world, Lainey marveled as they headed to the north side of town. And he likes me. He really likes me. And the way he’s looking at me, he means to strip off my clothes and do terrible, indecent things to me…I hope.
She felt her cheeks heating, and the warm rush of arousal pulsing through her veins.
Nervous, she cleared her throat. Make conversation. Don’t just sit here like a rock. “How’s everything going with the family?”
He sighed. “Great, except for Megan. She’s been sneaking around, disappearing and not saying where she’s been, like the day that you rescued Felix from that tree. I’m pretty sure that she’s sneaking off to meet this little punk she went out with a couple times before I put a stop to it. Frank Sinclair, from the notorious Sinclair family.”
Lainey frowned. This was sensitive territory, she knew.
“Is Frank dangerous?”
“It’s pretty obvious he’s been involved in the vandalism that took place out at the Beaudreau mansion. His reputation in high school wasn’t great, dating a new girl every week. Most of his pack live in Morgan County, which borders my county and Blue Moon county. The Sinclair family are notorious bullies and braggarts, and Frank is apparently such a grade-A jerk that even his own father won’t talk to him these days, which takes quite a lot. Frank quit working for his father, moved out of the county, and his family barely speaks to him these days.”
“Why is he here in Blue Moon Junction, then?”
Tate shook his head. “Good question. Supposedly, because everyone in the pack is expected to attend the Alpha wedding as a show of solidarity. Really, though, I think he’s here because he’s sniffing around my sister’s tail.” His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he said it, knuckles going white.
“So what does Megan say about all of this?”
“She stuck up for him at first, tried to say he was a good guy, he’s just misunderstood, I won’t give him a fair shot because he’s a Sinclair. She claims they only hung out as friends, and she says she’s broken it off with him after I ordered her to, but I don’t believe it. What?” he demanded, when Lainey winced.
“Well, she’s eighteen. There’s just a point, unfortunately, when you have to let people make their own mistakes. The more you try to control someone, the more you risk pushing them to rebel. God knows that’s what happened with my parents.”