Page 7 of The Way We Were(wolf)

“Really?” a voice growled, and Eric didn’t have to look back to know Nate’s nostrils flared wide enough that bats could have flown up his nose. He always looked like that when he was mad. Plus, the bark in his voice was enough sign. Maybe it was Eric’s turn to lecturehim. Let little brother get a word or two in for a change. But on second thought, barking was a sure-fire way to blow their covers. Well, so was agreeing to spend so much time with a human. Sure, he spent day after day chatting with clients at the salon, but that was only for about fifteen minutes at a time—enough to satisfy Eric’s thirst for human interaction but not so much that he might slip and blurt out that he was a werewolf. The guys mostly just stuck to sports chatter and how their wives made out at the latest Bunko tournament.

“Great,” Stella practically squealed, clasping her hands together. Eric hoped she wasn’t about to do some cheerleader-y jump. With the slope and muddiness of the ground, it was a sure bet she’d share the same fate as the rolling pumpkin. “You two are both off tomorrow. Here.” She pulled her wallet out of her coat pocket and handed him a red piece of card stock. “I have a coupon!”

Lucy chuckled. “You’re probably the last person who still uses physical coupons.”

“They work just the same.”

“Cafty Crathy…Carthy Craft…”Eric turned the paper back and forth in his hand, wondering what had gotten him so tongue-tied. The bright-red color of the coupon bore a striking resemblance to the color of Lucy’s cheeks, which had toned down considerably in the last couple minutes.

“Crafty Cathy’s?” Lucy asked, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

“That’s what I said—Cafty Crathy’s.”Geez.

“Let’s hope you can decorate better than you can speak,” Stella said with a chuckle.

“Hey, cut me some slack here. What do you say?” He turned to his new partner, holding his breath as his eyes rounded to a much larger size than the eyes of his brother—two narrow slits of darkness that said without words that they’d have a chat about this later. And for the first time, Eric didn’t care. How was helping someone a bad thing?

“You free tomorrow night?”

“Sure am.” He tucked the coupon in the back pocket of his jeans for safekeeping.

“Then it’s a date,” Stella chirped, making Lucy’s eyes grow as large as the pumpkin at her feet.

“Not adate-date, of course,” she stammered. Her head wasn’t so much shaking but vibrating. “Just a date in time that we’ll meet and buy…things.”

“Perfect,” Eric replied with a nod of his head as he offered what he hoped was a friendly smile. But then he stilled, the realization of what just happened plonking him right on the head.Wasthis a date? He’d never been on one before—something no one would believe since he was in his twenties. Well, his two-hundred-twenties.

He watched Lucy drag a copper-colored leaf back and forth with her toe along the dirt, her eyes not meeting his. Was she…nervous? Maybe she’d never been on a date before either. That was ridiculous. She was as beautiful as she was kind, so of course she’d been on a date before. Probably lots of them. But when she still didn’t look up, he wondered if he’d made a mistake. But then she peered at him with a smile that made his stomach swirl like the leaves in the breeze.

“I can’t wait.”

ChapterFour

If you asked Lucy, coffee could solve any problem in the world. That was why she was at Mountain Brew. She took a long sip of her light-roast blend when Eric’s face popped into her head. Well, not his face exactly. More like his wide shoulders, his espresso eyes, and his enormous arms.

Well, there went that theory. Because if coffee could solve everything, it would have stopped the tingle that spread from the center of her chest each time she thought of him at the pumpkin patch last night. Combined with the warm beverage that swirled in her belly, it was a sensation as soothing as it was exciting. And it needed to chill the heck out. Literally.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Stella asked as she pulled out a metal chair, eliciting a high-pitch squeak that would have made Casper yelp if he was here.

Nothing I want to talk to you about right now, Lucy thought.

“Eric, perhaps?”

Did Lucy have a sign on her head that said she was daydreaming about the handsome man who rushed to her aid, not only to save a pumpkin but to also save her from having to decorate the salon window herself? Which also saved her cousin. And her aunt.

“Psh,” Lucy blew out, waving her hand in front of her face, like what her cousin suggested was the most ridiculous notion. In hindsight, the exaggerated gesture, her arm flung like she’d just thrown out the first pitch at a major league baseball game, may have blown her cover. “Why would you think that?”she asked as she tucked her hand safely under her butt.

“Because I know you. And he literally took your breath away at the pumpkin patch last night.”

“What took my breath away was lack of aerobic activity in the last several months,” Lucy grumbled.

“Well, then, how do you explain your look?”

Lucy shook her head. “What look?”

“This one,” Stella said, then tilted her head to the side, letting her tongue fall out of her mouth as she batted her eyes.

“That look? What is… I don’t even know whatthatis.”

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