Page 10 of Wooded Bliss

“What’s your name?”

His question catches me off guard and my face falls. Of course he doesn’t know who I am. Why would he?

It shouldn’t sting. But it does.

“Birdie,” I whisper and hate myself a little bit because of how small my voice comes out.

The scowl on Thatcher’s face deepens. “You were in the same class with Wylie, weren’t you?”

Fucking hell. Pure joy fills me to the point of being a little embarrassing. While trying to keep my face neutral, I nod slowly.

He grunts, but I can hear a hint of curiosity in his tone, “You work at the flower shop?”

“I own the flower shop,” there’s no way I can keep the pride out of my voice, and I don’t even try.

The surprise on his face makes me chuckle softly. A look crosses his face, and I freeze. Predatory. Needy.

Alarm bells sound in my head. I should be afraid, but I’m not. My first instinct is to run with the knowledge that he will give chase.

But that would be weird.

“Look, Thatcher,” I try and keep my voice even, “it’s clear you weren’t expecting this delivery, but that’s kind of the beauty of sending flowers to someone. They shouldn’t really expect them, or it ruins the surprise,” I offer.

I need to get away from here, away from him. The way my body is thrumming is completely foreign to me.

Sure, I was attracted to Thatcher when I was younger and had a huge crush, but this is different. I’ve never felt this kind of desire toward someone. The crush I had was mostly innocent, but this feeling now is naughty.

Naughty and downright sinful.

Thatcher takes a deep breath, and his eyes darken even further as he snatches the flowers out of my hand. I know I was offering them to him, but for some reason not having a reason to stay here with him anymore has sadness hitting me square in the chest.

“You should go,” he snaps before baring his teeth at me.

After swallowing hard, I nod like a fucking bobble head, turn on my heel and practically run back to my vehicle. This time, I don’t take a moment to appreciate the Blooms Happen logo on the side of my retrofitted minivan like I normally do. Nope, not this time.

It feels like something is nipping at my heels and I can’t seem to move fast enough. I don’t hear Thatcher’s footfalls behind me, but I definitely can feel his eyes watching me closely.

When I finally close the door of my minivan, I’m able to take a deep breath. Being around that man is intense in a way I’m not used to and don’t know what to do with. If he was trying to intimidate me, he succeeded.

I take the risk of glancing at him and he’s staring right at me. As much as it feels like his gaze is trying to hold me in place, I force myself to pull out and head back toward Whispering Pines.

Maybe it’s better that I don’t see Thatcher for another ten years. By then I might really be over my crush on him.

CHAPTER 5

THATCHER

When I storm into the main house, my anger is almost uncontrollable. While I have no fucking idea how Circe managed it, I know she’s behind my mate showing up at my house today. The moment I step inside, I’m sure anyone in the house can feel the anger coming off me.

My bear huffs,“You need to calm down.”

“Calm down,”I roar back at him,“I don’t need to fucking calm down. I told you I didn’t want to meet our mate. I don’t want another person taken from me.”

“Our parents didn’t want to leave us,”my bear’s growling voice is filled with sadness, but it does nothing to quell how pissed off I am.

Before I can respond to my bear, he blocks me out whichpisses me off even more. I hate being at odds with my bear. It doesn’t happen often except when it comes to the mate situation.

When I enter the kitchen, I find Wylie sitting at the island with his laptop open in front of him and Circe is mixing something in a bowl. My eyes narrow as I take her in. She looks comfortable here.

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