Page 11 of Semi-Rejected Life

“Running your own business is huge! That’s like, real fucking work!”

I was blushing again. “Thanks…”

“So about that early dinner,” River said, leaning close to me. “Do you think the boss would be okay with that?”

“As long as you don’t mind chatting with me while I work, I don’t mind at all.” I glanced back at Cory. “But we’ll wait for the nosy one to go out on delivery before we get into anything too important.”

“Hey!”

“See?” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder. “He’s always listening in on everything…”

“How about this then,” River offered, pulling the order pad toward him and grabbing a pen. “I’ll give you my number and you can call me when you’re off work. Then we can have some… private time together and talk about whatever we want.”

My stomach was a knot of nerves. “You sure you want to waste time on me?”

He smiled. “It would be my honor, cutie.”

River quickly wrote down his number. I thought he’d just push it back to me, but instead he tore the sheet of paper from the pad, folded it in half, and walked around the counter. He stepped so close to me that I could feel the heat of his body rolling off him. His earthy scent nearly bowled me over, causing every nerve in my body to tingle. Without missing a beat, he leaned close and tucked the folded sheet of paper into my back pocket, his fingers lingering on my ass for a moment or two before he pulled away.

“Call me, hot stuff,” he whispered in my ear. I could barely hear him over the sound of my heart pounding.

And, without another word, he left, leaving me standing there with a halfie and my brain scrambled.

“Holy shit…” Cory muttered, suddenly right behind me. “That guy is fucking smooth. Jesus.” He patted me on the shoulder. “Good luck resisting that. Woof.”

Cory went back to making orders, but I just stood there, realizing he was right. There was no way I’d be able to resist River. Even if I wanted to, this magnetism between us was already too strong for me to pull away.

I was in trouble.

Chapter Six: River

I was a bit surprised when Vincent called me back that night and let me know he was about a half hour away from closing up the shop. I thought I’d scared him off by being a little too forward, but it seemed my moment of bravery had paid off. I’d felt his entire body shiver when I slipped the paper into his back pocket. However, I wasn’t sure at that moment if it was a good or a bad shiver. And I was relieved to hear it was a good one.

He asked me what kind of pizza I liked and said he’d meet me at the beach after he was done at the shop. The park closed at dusk, but it was open to wolves for shifting at night. He assured me it would be alright to be out there and that my van wouldn’t be towed.

I found it surprising how excited I was at the thought of spending more time with him. Of course, I’d been nearly overwhelmed by his sweet scent at the shop. Even with all the incredible food smells in the place, his scent drowned everything out. All I could focus on was his presence, the heat of his body, and how much I wanted to kiss him. In fact, I nearly did. It took all my self-control to resist the gravity of his lips.

And that was sort of weird for me. Guys were hot, don’t get me wrong, but I could usually control myself around them. I couldn’t remember a time when one of them had such a pull over me. Even the super hot threesome I had earlier in the summer held less sway over me at the moment than Vincent did when I was just talking to him.

There was something about that boy that I just couldn’t put my finger on…

Oh well. It was just a fling, anyway. At least I knew I was going to enjoy it if I managed to get him in the sack.

So, with my backpack packed with the essentials, mainly lube and a couple bottles of water, I headed out of the hotel. I waved to Sam on my way out, but didn’t give him a chance to question me. I was actively trying to avoid giving the man any more information about me after he’d hinted about my father’s credit card. Besides, it was a hotel. I could come and go as I pleased.

The drive out to the beach was nice. It had been dark for nearly an hour and traffic was all but nonexistent. That was one nice thing about small towns, you never had to worry about rush hour. I found the park closed when I arrived, but a quick check of the gate showed it was unlocked. I pushed it aside, drove the van through, and nearly closed it behind me. I had a feeling Vincent wasn’t far behind me. Either way, I shot him a quick text letting him know it was open.

It was kind of eerie driving into a park all by myself in the middle of the night. Of course, thanks to my Alpha heritage and my werewolf healing abilities, I really had almost nothing to worry about. Even if a bear were to come flying out of the woods with a jetpack and samurai swords, I’d probably still win. Thankfully that didn’t happen. In the parking lot I pulled the van to a stop and switched it off.

Silence pressed in all around me as I got out of the vehicle. Well, not silence, but Midwestern silence. Basically the night was filled with the sounds of every insect and frog within a mile screaming at the tops of their lungs. To me it was silence, but to anyone else, it might be a bit intense. Either way, I clambered up onto the hood of the van and leaned back against the cool windshield. Lacing my hands behind my head, I tilted my eyes skyward, taking in the vast display of stars above.

A single shooting star flew by and I made a quick wish.

“I wish… I was brave enough to go for what I wanted in life,” I whispered. Then I sighed.

Fat chance some celestial piece of rock was gonna make that happen.

No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than a pair of headlights swung into the parking lot from the far side. They swept over me and my van before heading my way. The dark SUV pulled up beside me and turned itself off. I didn’t recognize it or course, but my heart skipped a beat as I hoped it was Vincent and not some undercover cop.

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