Page 42 of Wolf's Forbidden Curse

“So, how did you spend the rest of your afternoon?” I asked.

“Nothing exciting. I cleaned up a little,” she said. “Laid around. Oh, and then I had a very strange conversation with Al’s new girlfriend a bit ago. I’m not sure what to make of it.”

I frowned and brought the glasses with me as I came to sit on the couch. “Strange how?”

She took her glass and sipped. “It’s kind of hard to explain. On the surface, if I just told you what she said, you would probably think she was just being protective. But it was her tone that really freaked me out. She always talks in this really friendly way, all smiles and stuff. Today though, she was shooting daggers at me with her eyes as she told me not to mess with Al. She thinks I’m taking advantage of him or something.”

“She said that?”

Katrina nodded. “Yeah. Then she let slip the fact that Al had a daughter who passed away a while back, which I didn’t know about by the way. He never told me.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that,” I said. “It happened a few years after I came to Solara Bay. She had been sick for a while and Al was the only parent in her life, so he took care of her. I think whatever she had was terminal though, so there was nothing that could’ve been done. He kept the bar closed for at least a year after she passed away. Maybe longer.”

She sighed and looked straight ahead. “That’s so sad. Poor guy.” She took another big sip from her glass. “But I swear to god, I had no idea. Missy thinks the only reason Al is being so nice to me is because I’m, like, filling some gap in his life or whatever, but I think Al’s just a good guy.” She glanced my way with a pained expression. “I would feel awful if I thought I had accidentally taken advantage of a grieving father.”

“You didn’t,” I assured her. “Al’s always been generous, and even if he does have a soft spot for people who remind him of his daughter, that’s not your fault. You didn’t know the situation you were walking into.”

“I guess…”

“I’m serious. Don’t let that woman get to you. She doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about. I mean, for fuck’s sake, she’s only been around town for a week or so! Who the fuck does she think she is?”

“Yeah, but… so have I.”

I drew back. “Huh?”

“I’ve only been in town for a week or so. Give or take a few days.”

I didn’t respond right away. For a moment, Katrina’s words made no sense to me. Even though I knew they were true, they felt so wrong. How was it possible that this person had only been in my life for a few days, and yet…

And yet, now, I couldn’t imagine my life without her?

“What?” she said, laughing softly. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Wh—oh.” I shook my head. “Nothing. Sorry. I just forgot that you only just arrived in town as well. Feels longer.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel like I’ve been here longer, too.” She curled her legs up underneath her and took hold of her wine glass with both hands. “I just hope I can show Missy she has nothing to worry about. I would hate for her suspicion of me to rub off on Al or something.”

“Nah, he’s too smart for that. Just don’t tell him I said so.”

She laughed. “I won’t.”

Much to my delight, the conversation flowed quite nicely after that. We continued to drink wine, and she asked me more questions about Solara Bay. Her desire to know more about the area made me think she was planning on sticking around for a while, which put me in a good mood. I kept the wine coming as well, noticing that she was loosening up a bit with each sip. She felt so comfortable, in fact, that about an hour and a half after I arrived, she laid back against the couch armrest and put her legs over my lap.

It was the kind of gesture one only did with a person they really trusted, and I was going to do anything I could moving forward to hang onto that trust.

CHAPTER 18

KATRINA

There was a moment, sometime between my second and third glass of wine, when I realized just how intently Rory had been listening to me that whole time. I told him stories about my time in Guatemala, being careful to leave out any tidbits that might give away too much personal information, and he looked at me like I was the most fascinating person in the world. Nobody—not even Santos, the boy whose crush on me made him do wildly stupid things—had ever given me that kind of attention.

I was a middle child, born to two people who I swear didn’t even want to be parents. This meant I had grown very accustomed to being ignored, slipping under the radar, and finding ways to use such anonymity to my advantage over the years.

But still, it wasn’t until just then that I understood what I’d truly been missing all this time.

It felt so unbelievably good to be truly seen. I didn’t want Rory to ever stop looking at me. In fact, when he tore his gaze away to check the time, I nearly reached out and grabbed hold of his chin.

“It’s getting late,” he said. “If you really don’t want me to spend the night, that’s fine. But that means I need to switch to water so that I can drive home safely.”

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