Page 40 of Shifters in the Night

“Lia, do you want cream or sugar?” Alex called from inside.

“Both please!” she called back.

A moment later, Alex brought out a tray with two slices of pie and coffee and set it on the little side table between her deck chairs. “So, I was thinking that if you were longing for the perks of big city living, we could go to a great little restaurant I know. Not one of the tourist places, but proper French food. Maybe next week?

“As in a date?” she asked, pressing her lips together.

“I would like to try that calm, orderly and considerate love affair thing you mentioned,” he said. “I could use some calm and orderly in my life.”

She laughed softly and stared at him for a long moment. Alex was sweet and she was ninety percent sure she knew exactly how their relationship would play out, step by step. It would be cordial and civil, and so very boring. And she didn’t think she wanted that anymore. It was unfulfilling and left her heart unmarked.

Besides, things with Jon were complicated enough without adding more elements. But before she would find words kind enough for her answer, she blinked at a strange gray shape slicing through the surface of the water.

Was that a fin?

She yanked her feet away from the edge of the dock. Well, that settled it. She was going to die in some sort of sci-fi monster movie scenario. She really should have known this was how it would end.

Alex turned at her gasp, attempting to move between her and the unknown threat. Her heart pinched just a bit. He really was a good man, just not the man for her.

Jon’s head broke the surface of the water, his features sharpened in “selkie” mode. The cheekbones and dark eyes that might have scared her if she didn’t know him. Suddenly, his face changed and it was just Jon again.

“Jon?” Lia called.

Lia saw Jon’s eyes go wide at the sight of her sitting there with Alex. Again. This was becoming a distressing habit between the two of them. Hurt, a radioactive green, spread through the water around him like a cloud of poison. He ducked under the water again and disappeared, the toxic green moving with him until he was out of sight.

“Dammit,” Lia sighed.

“Not so calm or orderly with him, huh?” Alex asked, his lips quirked.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’d like to be friends, Alex. But I think that’s going to be all between us.”

“Story of my life since I moved here,” Alex sighed, though his expression was kind. “These magique guys and their mysterious broody ways. How’s a human supposed to compete?”

“You could always ask Dani to open the rift again,” she said. “Maybe you could become a minotaur or a sphinx or something.”

Alex snickered. “Seems like a bit of an overreaction.”

11

JON

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

What had he been thinking, swimming up to her house like that? His only explanation was that he’d been crawling out of his own skin, he was so restless. It was too much – not speaking to Lia since Sonja’s dinner, knowing that she was going to be living such a short distance away, wanting to see the joy on her face when she was settled into the house. And so he’d dashed off like an idiot, after foolishly thinking she would find it funny for him to swim up to her house like she’d swum up to his. He’d deserved the eyeful of that domestic scene, Alex bringing Lia dessert and coffee, like a married couple taking comfort in each other at the end of a long day.

Jon launched himself out of the water and landed on his own dock on two feet. He walked into the house buck naked – eager to get inside before Eva spotted him. He didn’t want to wreck his otherwise very healthy working friendship with her by bringing unexpected nudity into it.

He didn’t want to be this guy, the insecure guy who was paranoid about his special lady friend spending time with other men. Handsome, successful men with a much steadier income and a closet full of designer suits. If Lia wanted Alex, Jon would step aside and wish her the best.

He really hoped she didn’t want Alex.

But even if Lia did want Jon, what would their future hold? Could she see herself staying in the Bayou? It had worked for Sonja and Jillian and Dani, but would she be happy here? He didn’t want her to make herself miserable to be with him. At the same time, he didn’t think he had it in him to love her and let her walk away. Could he move away from the only home he’d ever known? Follow her around the country as she worked for that asshole Victor? He wasn’t sure.

He’d like to say that he would do anything to be with her, but he knew that didn’t guarantee happiness. He’d seen enough of his parents’ marriage to know that love wasn’t always enough to make a relationship work. Sometimes, hurt and resentment soured the sweet feelings so badly that you couldn’t even remember why you wanted to be together in the first place. He didn’t want to lose Lia that way. Maybe it was better to enjoy his time with her now and make a clean break, to let the good memories carry him for a long time.

He groaned, pressing the heels of his hands in his eyes. “I sound like such an asshole.”

There was a knock at the door, just as he entered the kitchen. Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn’t locked his front door. Or any of his doors, in a long, long time.

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