Page 14 of Pack Favero

“Don’t stress about it. It was an accident. It could have happened to anyone,” I assure, before chuckling under mybreath. “It’s my rotten luck that it happened to me, but that’s no fault of your own.”

“Still, I should have been paying more attention,” he tries, and I shrug, muttering, “The same could be said for me. I would have seen you coming if I was looking ahead and not down. Hindsight, right?”

Crawford laughs, but nods, rolling his sleeves up further on his tanned arms, revealing more sinewy muscles and veins that pop against his skin, the silence between us stretching before he asks, “So, where are we taking you?”

I give him the address, and he taps it away into his perfectly working phone just before he stops as a fancy car that I don’t know the name of, only that it’s silver and slick looking, and probably costs more than what my kidneys are worth on the black market.

Oh, great. More wealthy men to add to the list of men currently occupying my thoughts. Just what I need.

Chapter 5

Crawford

Still feeling guilty for trashing the beautiful woman’s phone, I hold the passenger door open for her, offering her the best seat in my silver Audi. She flashes a brief smile, and I catch a hint of her scent as she passes, a familiarity to the creamy banana aroma that I’m convinced I’ve been smelling for months now.

As soon as she’s inside, I shut the door and fish out my phone, my mind running a mile a minute trying to place the scent. There’s no doubt that I recognize it, because it’s been haunting my pack and me for weeks on end.

Dialing my brother’s phone, even though he’s only down the road, I wait for him to pick up. When he does, he answers with, “You didn’t chase her off before we could get her a new phone, did you?”

“Har har. No, dummy,” I retort, rolling my eyes as I round the car. Then, lowering my voice, I ask, “What’s that smell that’s been faintly lingering around the house for the past few weeks? The one Barnes always smells like?”

Mac pauses for a moment before he answers, “The banana-split scent? The one that belongs to Barnes’s mysterious friend he won’t talk about?”

“Oh, shit. That’s the one,” I breathe, peering into the car and finding the beautiful woman with flames for hair and pools of mint for eyes already watching me with a blank expression. She’s stunning, truly breathtaking, and my mind works overtime to coincide the fact that this woman and the one Barnes has been hiding for fucking weeks is one and the same. What are the damned chances I hit her with a door and break her phone?

Flashing her a brief smile, stunned for a moment while I absorb the realization that I have Barnes’s mystery woman in my fucking car, I turn and mutter, “Banana split, right? Like, creamy and sweet and sugary? Very distinctively omega?”

“Uh, yeah. Why? What’s gotten into you?” my brother asks, sounding concerned. Not that it’s a surprise, because I’m sure my twin’s default setting is stuck on ‘worried.’

Smiling again to try and hide my moving lips, I mutter, “She’s in my car.”

“Zira? I should think so, if we’re giving her a ride to see her mom. Are you okay?” he pushes, the concern doubling.

“No. I mean, she’s in my car,” I try again, my words coming out a little strained in my effort not to reveal what I’m saying to the woman sitting patiently in the passenger side of my vehicle.

“Ford, what is your deal right now?” my brother pushes, just as I see him down the road, striding toward me with two bouquets of flowers clutched in his hand.

Hanging up, I wait for him to come closer before whispering, “The girl in the car is the one that smells like banana split. It’s Barnes’s mystery woman, Mac.”

Sure enough, his face morphs into one of pure shock, and I nod rapidly in solidarity. Keeping his voice just as low, he says, “You’re sure it’s the same one?”

“Brother, I have been haunted by that smell since the first day Barnes came home smelling like a dessert I forgot I loved. Trust me, that’s her in there. What the hell do we do? Should we call Barnes? Should we tell her we know him? What’s the protocol here?” I rush to say, feeling weird having a conversation out here with my brother while the object of too many fantasies sits in the car waiting. Of course, I didn’t know what she looked like, only that she smelled fucking delectable and obsessively sweet. It was enough to get my alpha sideperking up every single time Barnes came home with her scent clinging to his clothes, though. And now that I’ve seen the breathtaking beauty with freckles for days, pale skin that looks soft to the touch, and a sparkle in those pale-green eyes? Hell, I’m pretty sure she’s a dream come true. Every fantasy and vision I’ve had of this stranger pales in comparison to the real thing. My imagination could never have conjured something so gorgeous.

And I slammed a fucking door into her.

And broke her phone.

And now I’m being weird and talking about her while she patiently waits for the ride we offered.

Fucking A.

Mac shakes his head, wide-eyed and panicked, echoing the same sentiments I’m currently feeling, before he says, “I don’t know. This is a first for me, too, dumbass.”

“Okay. Okay, fine,” I nod, acknowledging that we’re in uncharted territory and deciding to make the executive decision for us both. “This is how we’re going to handle it. We’ll make small talk, get to know her on the drive, and drop some hints about Barnes. Maybe she’ll realize we’re all related in some way, and we don’t have to have the awkward conversation about how we know who she is based on her scent alone.”

Mac nods, peers into the car, winces, and tries to smile. “Fine. But we better get moving, or else we’ll be having a different awkward conversation about why we’re yapping out here while she watches with that adorable frown that has me worried.”

I pull a face and nod, clapping my brother on the shoulder before turning and opening the door to the driver’s side the same time Mac opens his. As soon as I’m seated, I flash Zira a smile I hope soothes the worry etched between her brows, and ask, “All buckled in?”

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