Page 15 of Wolf's Midlife Baby

“Now, hold on a second.” Dahlia had been reaching for a plate of fruit but paused and gave Holly a stern look. “By my calculations, you still have one more night left in Eugene. Granted, we have a bit more of this bullshit to get through, but you’ve got enough free time to squeeze in another dinner or movie or whatever it is the two of you might’ve been doing.” Dahlia waggled her eyebrows at Holly.

“Technically, sure, but it’s not like it can go anywhere.” She reminded herself of this constantly, knowing how easy it would be to fool herself into believing that fate and love would be enough to make things work. If that were true, she would’ve already found someone long before now.

“Ugh.” Dahlia made a deep noise of annoyance in her throat. “I keep telling you, it doesn’t have to go anywhere. It could just be a really nice time, a chance to relax and enjoy yourself before you head home.”

“Who says I don’t enjoy myself at home?” Holly contended.

“Okay, fine, but I think you and I have different definitions of enjoyment.” Dahlia loaded her plate with fruit and a few more pastries before the two of them headed off to a table in the cafeteria at Newman Media Group’s headquarters. “And anyway, neither of you must be looking for this to go anywhere if you didn’t even stay the whole night at his place.”

Holly stirred a generous amount of oat creamer into her coffee. “You want to know all the details?”

“Every. Grisly. One.”

“Fine. He literally ate right out of my hand.”

“What?” That made even Dahlia sit back in her chair and pay attention.

Holly shrugged. “He wanted to try my burrito.”

Dahlia narrowed her eyes. “You’re impossible.”

“Yes, but it actually was really nice.” She detailed their impromptu meal from the food carts, the walk around town, and their time at Selene’s. It’d been so perfect. She’d had guys take her out for fancy meals at snooty restaurants where the menu was all in French, but her time with Pierce had been so much more enjoyable. The rock club was unlike anything she’d ever been to. Not even when she’d been in college had she ventured into a place like that, but she felt so safe and happy with Pierce. “You’d be very proud of me if you’d seen me out there on that dance floor. Not for my dancing skills, necessarily, but for the fact that I actually danced at all.”

“And then?” There went Dahlia’s eyebrows again.

“We went back to his place.” She had nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

“Don’t leave me hanging,” her friend warned. “Knowing you, going back to his place could mean doing the nasty or it could mean organizing his bookshelves.”

“No bookshelves were involved unless we happened to knock something off one accidentally, and I was too busy to notice,” Holly replied, her body feeling warm all over again. Pierce knew just how to touch her. He made her feel so desirable, so sexy. She’d be basking in that afterglow for a very long time.

“Okay, now we’re talking!” Dahlia realized she was starting to get loud and giggled.

Holly bit into her Danish and chewed thoughtfully. “Then there was the part about his father’s house burning to the ground.”

“What?” Dahlia clapped her hand over her mouth as several coworkers turned their way.

“Yep. He got a call while we were lying in bed, and we rushed off to the scene. It was horrible.” Holly had relived every moment she and Pierce had shared together in bed, but she wished she could erase the rest of the night from her mind. “It was the house he and his brother grew up in, and everything they had was completely gone. I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like that firsthand.”

Dahlia leaned across the table. “Wait. He took you with him?”

“Don’t start reading into that,” Holly warned. “It was just the most convenient thing to do since I didn’t have a vehicle. It was a matter of timing, that’s all.”

Wasn’t it? Because even though Pierce needed to rush off to be with his family, Holly could’ve figured out a way home. She could’ve called a cab—an option that was actually feasible since she had her purse with her, unlike when Pierce had pulled her from the river—or she even could’ve called Dahlia. It would’ve worked out. But looking into it too much would lead her down a path of disappointment all over again. She and Pierce liked each other. That much was evident. Fate certainly had big ideas about them, considering the telepathic link between them when they’d had a few moments to be in their animal forms together. There was no getting around the physical distance between their homes or even the fact that they were different species. How would that work? Every time she rolled it all around in her head, the situation became more jumbled and complicated.

“If you say so.” Dahlia polished off her pastry and washed it down with some coffee. “I’m just saying I don’t think any guy I’ve dated has ever invited me to a family emergency.”

“All right, folks!” Marshall Newman clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “I hope you’ve all enjoyed your break. Even though we’re here to have fun, we still need to sit down and recover from it every now and then.”

A few people laughed politely.

“Erica is passing out index cards, each with a symbol on it,” Marshall continued. “We’re going to use these to split everyone up into smaller, random groups. If you’re a triangle, you’re going to be staying right here in the cafeteria with me. Stars will be heading down the hall to the conference room. Squares will go outside into the courtyard, and circles will go upstairs.”

Holly took the little slip of paper from Erica and flipped it over to show Dahlia. “I’m a square.”

“You sure are,” Dahlia agreed with a smile. “Looks like I’m a star, baby.”

Once they’d cleaned up their table, Holly made her way toward the doors. They were inset into a large glass wall that showed off the beauty of the courtyard, a lush space full of flowers and other indigenous plants. There was no telling what kind of team-building torture awaited her out there, but for once, she wasn’t too concerned. She’d get through the day, and then she’d be heading back home. Going back to everyday life was exactly what she needed right now.

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