Wolf at the Door

chapter Ten



Rachael, a creature of instinct and, during certain times of the month, a creature of the moment who did not comprehend the concept of tomorrow or even later, would never be able to remember exactly how they’d ended up kissing.

They had been having a nice let’s-get-acquainted chat. And then she was crying—and shocked! Where did that come from? Has that been in me the whole time? She didn’t know if she should be appalled or sad or pleased or embarrassed.

Scratch that: she should be embarrassed. She was embarrassed.

Then Edward was there, frantically grabbing napkins and handing them to her as fast as he could while making soothing motions with his hands. She got to her feet and sort of stumbled toward the front of the store, and Edward got up and came after her so quickly he smashed his hip against a magazine display hard enough to make it rock.

“Rachael, it’s okay. Don’t leave, okay? Please? Come on, come back and sit down with me some more.”

Anxiety. Concern. Lust.

Not pity, though. No, not that. And he wasn’t embarrassed that a woman he’d just met was sobbing next to a display of Time, Newsweek, and People magazine’s “Most Annoying People.”

That was sort of nice. Sort of wonderful, really.

So she turned back toward him, turned to go back to their little corner table, and he reached for her—probably for her hand, but she would never know for certain—and she reached, too. And for a wonder, her hands were on his face, and his expression mirrored his scent. That was sort of wonderful, too. A lot of non-Pack said one thing while they thought another. Werewolves couldn’t, which is why they tended to keep to themselves.

And then she was pulling him closer, and he was pulling her closer, and their mouths met. Softly at first, almost carefully, and then—

Lust. Concern. Happiness. Lust.

—they were holding each other and his kisses weren’t soft anymore, and she was glad. She was not in a soft mood.

“Aw, jeez.” From very, very far away, Rachael heard one of the clerks calling a manager. It sounded like he was hailing them from the bottom of a well. “Dave, could you get up here? I got another set of geeks making out in the paranormal romance section. And they are not stopping. Repeat, they are not stopping. Code Vlad, repeat, code Vlad!”

Which was how they earned a lifetime ban from Barnes and Noble.