Page 1 of Wolf Reborn

1

Half Light

Miles Parker had lived in Kismet all his life, but he didn’t start believing in destiny until he met Gavin Lloyd.

The man had moved into town not quite a year earlier with his army buddies, and together they’d opened a thriving coffee shop.

For Miles, it had been love at first sight.

For Gavin, it seemed to be more of a dance, but not in a good way. In a two steps forward, three steps back kind of way.

Miles had gone in with the best of professional intentions, to introduce himself to the people who would be opening the new shop. Kismet was small, and Miles liked to know the downtown business owners.

What he’d found was a stunningly beautiful man with leaf-green eyes and a shy smile that would have made Michaelangelo weep. A man with the towering presence of the Rockies, and that same silent grace.

As a sheriff’s deputy, Miles often got shoved into the “must be a top” box when he tried to date, but he’d known as he’d asked for Gavin’s number that he’d have no such difficulty with this man.

Eight months later, he was still assuming it, but he couldn’t prove anything.

They would go to dinner, have an amazing time, and then Gavin wouldn’t call for three weeks. He was always sweet and apologetic when he did call, and his explanations were reasonable. The man was a business owner, after all. Emergencies happened.

More often than not, Miles had to be the one to bridge the gap after one of their long silences. Gavin always seemed surprised—but pleased—to see him, so Miles kept coming back, hoping something would change.

Miles pulled his car into the lot at the Second Chance Cafe and wished for a two steps forward day. He didn’t have anything interesting to invite Gavin to, just a movie he was sure Gavin would like, but it had been two weeks since they’d had dinner last, and he was tired of waiting.

Gavin was behind the counter, cleaning the espresso machine. It seemed to be a fussy thing, and Miles was glad he didn’t have to deal with it. Or coffee in general, but that was a different matter altogether.

There was a moment there, when Gavin turned toward him, recognition registered on his face, and... yeah, that look. That look was why Miles hadn’t given up yet.

No matter how much he liked Gavin, if he didn’t think the man was interested, he’d have walked away months ago. But the look on Gavin’s face every time he saw Miles coming was everything he’d always wanted. Those green eyes softened, the corners of his lips turned up, and whatever he’d been doing before was left abandoned, unfinished and unimportant.

“Hey,” Gavin greeted him, voice soft and low. It reverberated through Miles, and he wanted nothing more than to leap across the counter and climb the man like the mountain he was.

Sure, fine, Gavin wasn’t as tall as either of his partners, but at the same time, he towered over them. Over everyone. They knew it. He was the only one who didn’t seem to realize how everyone in a room leaned toward him like flowers to the sun.

Miles’s mouth was dry, and when he licked his lips, it did nothing to help. He had to clear his throat to make it work. “My usual?” he finally asked.

Gavin leaned on the counter in front of him, full lips still quirked up. “Glass of warm milk and a cookie?”

“A London fog is not a glass of warm milk,” he corrected with faux affront. Then he smiled. “And peanut butter, if you have it.”

“For you, Deputy Parker? We always have a peanut-butter cookie.” And quite literally, Gavin reached under the counter and pulled out the cookie in question. Had he been keeping one there for someone? For Miles?

Without waiting for Gavin to ring him up, Miles snatched the cookie and started munching on it. The shop’s new baker was something special, and those peanut-butter cookies were addictive. Sometimes Miles even came in for one when he wasn’t expecting Gavin to be there.

Gavin made the best tea, though. He knew just how Miles liked it, understeeped and with extra vanilla. That might have something to do with why he called it warm milk, but it was good-natured ribbing, so he didn’t really mind.

“So what are you up to this fine afternoon?” Gavin asked, and they both turned to look out the front window at the gray winter sky at the same time. “Okay, this mediocre afternoon.”

“Just finished my shift.” They had arrived at the moment of truth, and sooner than Miles had hoped in the encounter. Still, he had to step up sooner or later, or he’d just end up walking out with his tea and no date. “Thought maybe you’d like to see that new movie at the theater tonight.”

When Gavin froze in the middle of pumping the vanilla syrup, Miles knew his answer already. It was a three steps back day.

Gavin recovered himself quickly, but when he turned back with the finished drink, it was with an apologetic smile. “I wish I could, but we’ve got a... a sort of family thing tonight.”

Family, of course, meant Gavin’s business partners—his fellow former Green Berets, and their boyfriends. And a woman who lived with them.

But not Miles.

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