Page 6 of Seduced By the Werewolves

“Ew,” Hannah says with a grimace. “They were working on a fancy house and howled at you? What the fuck does that mean?”

Aisling rolls her eyes. “Men are so gross. It doesn’t matter where, they’re still gonna be gross.”

“Then one of them asked me out,” I say. “And I knew what they wanted.”

My friends cringe at the same time.

“Disgusting,” Hannah says. “Can’t even leave a girl alone to exercise.”

Then we spend the rest of the night talking about all the nasty things men have done to us over the years. We’ve all given up on online dating. The last time I went out with someone, it was with Chris. He’d acted so sweet on our first date and was fabulous at pretending to care about my life. At the end of the night, we hooked up, and he didn’t even attempt to make me orgasm. Once he was finished, he put all his clothes back on and left my apartment before I could even get his number.

“They just want the T-and-A,” says Hannah, scowling. “One and done. Assholes.”

When it starts to get late, Aisling and Hannah say goodnight, but I decide to stick around for another drink and take an Uber home. I’ll just jog back this way in the morning to get my car, and then I can avoid the landscapers. Maybe I should start running in the evening, or pick another place farther from my apartment.

I’m plotting an alternative route while I toss back my drink, when I hear a familiar voice from down the bar.

“Tiff?”

Chapter Three

I look up to find one of the landscapers sitting at a bar stool, a foaming beer in his hand. It’s Jace, the short one with the baseball cap. Well, shorter than the others, who were all fucking giants. He’s got a shirt on this time, thankfully, not that it’s doing anything to disguise how his bulky chest stretches the fabric to its limits.

“Damn it,” I mutter. I just spent my day trying to forget about these dudes, and now there’s one sitting here next to me. “Seriously? I can’t get rid of you.”

I get up out of my seat, ready to go find a new table elsewhere. I don’t need one of these creeps making a move on me right now. Maybe this is my sign I should’ve gone home already.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Jace says, standing up and grabbing his beer. He looks deeply apologetic as he backs away. “My bad. I didn’t even see you there until I sat down.” He gestures to the big restaurant behind him. “I’ll go find another place to sit.”

Jace adjusts his baseball cap to hide his eyes and walks away.

Great. Now I feel like a dickhead. This is a neighborhood bar, and he has every right to be here, too.

“Wait,” I call out. Jace pauses, then glances back at me, a tiny spark of hope on his face. “We can both sit at the bar. It’s not like I own it.”

He hovers uncertainly, like he’s trying to be polite by leaving but actually wants to sit.

“It’s fine,” I reiterate. If I’m uncomfortable, I can always go myself.

Finally, he acquiesces and returns to the bar top. As I take a sip of beer, Jace obediently keeps his own eyes straight ahead and doesn’t try to talk to me. He flips over the menu in his hands like he’s not really reading it.

The guy seems nice, if a little awkward. It’s endearing, actually, how much he’s trying to give me space.

Maybe I was too hard on them today.

“Hey,” I say eventually. Startled, Jace turns to me. “You seem, um, normal. Normal-ish. So maybe you can explain to me what happened this morning?”

His dark eyes are wide and bright, like I’ve made his day just by talking to him.

“Oh, yeah! I can try to explain, anyway.” He runs a hand through his hair. “We didn’t realize we were being creeps until you called us out. And Quinn’s the youngest, so he’s impulsive. He didn’t mean anything bad by it.”

“The youngest?” I ask. “Like the youngest guy at your company?”

Jace blinks. “Company? No. The youngest of the brothers.” He taps his chest. “I’m the second oldest. Leon’s the oldest. Eli is right below me, and Quinn is the baby.” With a snort, he adds, “And he acts like it.”

Suddenly, so much more makes sense. They look alike because all four of them are brothers. “So it’s a family business?” I ask, sipping the last of my drink.

“Yeah. We inherited it from our dad when he retired. I’m almost positive my parents had four sons on purpose so he wouldn’t have to keep hiring out for more guys.”

---