Page 301 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Ava, not picking up on it, pointed to the table. “Okay. Well, make yourself useful and set the table.”

I laughed. “Do you always put your dinner guests to work like this?”

She shook her head and hit me with a deadpan stare. “Only the ones who invite themselves over.”

Another chuckle escaped me. “Okay, okay. Fair enough. Where are the plates and silverware?”

“Plates are in that cabinet, silverware in that drawer,” she said, pointing at each.

I grabbed the silverware and placed them on the table. When I turned back to grab the plates, Ava had moved to right below the cabinet. She was shredding cheese into the bowl with the salad. Rather than ask her to move, I reached around to pull the plates out of the cabinet. My chest brushed, then pressed against her back and shoulder. My shifter hearing picked up on the catch of her breath, her heart rate speeding up.

I grabbed two dinner plates and two salad bowls. When I pulled away, I let myself inhale the scent of her hair. I stepped back as if I’d been electrocuted.

At the store, I’d thought something was there. Was Ava attracted to me? I’d shoved that thought aside as asinine and childish. She’d probably been afraid of me, and that had presented as desire. But right then? When I sniffed her hair?

Pheromones didn’t lie. She was attracted to me.

What did I do with that information? In my mind, she was still Liam’s girl. The woman he’d loved and wanted to spend his life with. Those arguments and refusals swirled in my head as I set the plates down. A glance at Ava sent a new pulse of desire through me. My panther fueled it, but now that I could look at things with a clear head, I thought that maybe I felt it as well.

As for Liam? He was gone. Had been for a long time.

I shook those thoughts away as Ava started bringing food to the table—a serving platter with stuffed bell peppers, a big plate of roasted potatoes, and a bowl of salad. Lastly, she set down a dish of softened butter and a loaf of French bread. “Well? What do you think?”

My mouth was watering. “I think you’re gonna have to roll me outta here in a little while.”

She chuckled and went to grab a bottle of wine from the fridge. “Wine?”

“Abso-freaking-lutely,” I said, taking my seat.

“Go ahead and dig in,” she said as she twisted the corkscrew into the top of the bottle.

She popped the cork and filled my glass with a healthy glug of wine. Once she sat, I filled my plate and started on the salad. It had some kind of smoky vinaigrette I’d never tasted before. It was fantastic. As good as the food was, it was quiet as we both began to eat. Uncomfortably silent. I should have offered to play some music or something before dinner.

Finally, I broke the silence. “So, uh, what have you been doing with yourself? After you left Lilly Valley, I mean. You’ve been gone for a while.”

Ava dabbed her mouth with a napkin. “Well.” She looked up at the light above the table, thinking. “I moved to New York first. I found a roommate on one of those roommate apps. Never met the girl before. Thankfully, she was cool. She did special-effects make up. She did a lot of stuff on Broadway and worked on the cast ofCatsbefore they closed the show. I was basically exploring the city and trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I thought what she did was really cool, especially after she told me she got to fly out to LA a few times a year to work on movies because she was quite the in-demand artist.”

“Wow,” I said. “Cool job.”

Ava nodded. “Yeah. She did regular make-up sessions between the special-effects stuff. After about two months, I asked if she could teach me what she did. Originally it was for fun.” She stopped and sighed. “Ugh. I hate saying this, but…I was sort of living off Dad’s money at the time. He’d told me to go live my life and he’d pay for everything. The first few weeks were nice. You have no idea how expensive New York City is, and it was liberating toexperiencethe city without worrying about money. But I really wanted to do it on my own and not be tied to Dad’s money. I thought I could maybe do what she did.

“Well, after showing me a few simple things, she told me I was a natural and got me signed up for some classes at a cosmetology school in Manhattan. From there, things really took off. Iwasa natural. It all came easy to me, and my instructors saw it, too. I preferred traditional makeup to sci-fi and monster stuff. Not because it wasn’t fun, but because it can get a little tedious spending eight hours applying makeup and prosthetics to one person. Still, with the help of my instructors and roommate, I started to book clients.”

“Holy shit,” I said after swallowing. “That’s amazing. Have you had any famous clients or movies or anything you’ve worked on?” I really was impressed. I’d have never believed it in a million years unless she’d told me.

Ava chewed a bite of salad and nodded. “One of the makeup artists on that big movie eight years ago fell ill. I don’t know if you saw it.Jaded Hearts?It was that one about the lady who pretends to be a man during the Revolutionary War so she can be a doctor on the front lines?”

My eyes bugged out of my head. “The one that won Best Picture?”

She nodded. “That’s the one. My roommate was on the crew and got me a spot to fill in. So, I worked on that. It actually wonBest Makeup Design, too. That’s kinda my claim to fame. If you watch the credits, you’ll see my namewaydown at the bottom.”

I put my fork down and held my hands up. “Wait! You have a freaking Oscar?”

Ava shrugged. “I mean, I worked on an Oscar-winning film. I received a certificate that’s pretty neat, but the little gold statue only goes to the head artist. She was super cool to work with. But yeah, I guess you could say I have an Oscar.”

A laugh barked out of my mouth. “Oh, no big deal. I’m a bad-ass Oscar winning makeup artist. Whatever.”

Ava made a faux-irritated face. “Quit it. It was makeup, not brain surgery. Besides, like I said, the regular stuff is more my speed. Anyway, after a couple of years, I decided New York was too much. I actually knew your friend Steff’s girl April in school. When I moved to Virginia, I contacted her and she sent a few clients my way. I opened my own shop, and that’s what I’ve done ever since. I still keep in touch with my old roommate, and every now and then she’ll have me come help on something big. Mostly I do rich wives and models.” She shrugged, and nodded toward me. “What about you? How did you become Mr. Super-Secret Security Guy?”

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