Page 5 of Claimed By the Grumpy Shifter

My face is definitely on fire now. "He was just being friendly."

"Friendly?" Elisa laughs so hard that Emma starts giggling too. "Honey, that man looked at you like you were the last piece of chocolate cake at a weight loss meeting. There was nothing friendly about it."

I busy myself rearranging flowers that don't need rearranging, trying to ignore the way my heart is still racing. "You're imagining things."

"I'm really not. And the way you looked at him back? Girl, you were practically purring."

"I don't purr," I protest, but even I can hear how weak it sounds.

"You should ask him out."

The suggestion hits me like cold water. "What? No. Absolutely not."

"Why not? He's gorgeous, he's obviously interested, and you've been single for way too long."

"He's my neighbor. What if it goes badly? I'd have to see him every day." I shake my head, panic rising in my chest. "Besides, men like that don't date women like me."

"Women like what?" Elisa's voice goes sharp with protectiveness. "Smart, beautiful, successful women who smell like flowers and make babies stop crying with one smile?"

"You know what I mean." I gesture vaguely at myself, at my soft curves hidden under my oversized sweater, at my complete lack of dating experience with men who look like fallen angels.

"I know you're an idiot if you think you're not good enough for him." Elisa's expression softens. "Chris, you're amazing. Any man would be lucky to have you. And from what I just witnessed, Marc Steel knows it."

I want to believe her. God, I want to believe that a man like Marc could be interested in someone like me. But hope is dangerous territory, and I've been burned before by my own romantic delusions.

"Even if he was interested," I say, "which I'm not saying he is, I wouldn't know what to do about it. I'm not like you, Elisa. I don't know how to flirt or be sexy or... any of that stuff."

"I don’t either. Besides, you don't have to be like me. You just have to be yourself." She reaches over and squeezes my hand. "Trust me on this one. That man is smitten, and if you don't do something about it, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life."

Before I can argue further, Emma starts fussing again, and Elisa has to leave to meet Josh for lunch. I spend the rest of the afternoon trying to focus on work, but my mind keeps drifting across the street to the small house where Marc Steel is probably unpacking his mysterious past.

Every time I glance out the window, I catch myself looking for him. And twice, I could swear I see movement behind his curtains, like he's looking back.

By closing time, I've convinced myself that Elisa was wrong, that I imagined the whole electric connection, that Marc was just being polite to his new neighbor. But as I lock up the shop and head upstairs to my apartment, I can feel eyes on me.

I turn around, and there he is. Silhouetted in his window, watching me with that same intense stare that makes me feel like prey and predator all at once.

Our eyes meet across the street, and even from this distance, I can feel the heat of his gaze. He doesn't look away, doesn't even pretend he wasn't watching me. He just stands there, bold as brass, claiming the right to stare.

I should be offended. I should march over there and tell him that watching me is creepy and inappropriate.

Instead, I lift my hand in a small wave, my heart hammering against my ribs.

He raises his hand in return, a gesture that somehow feels like a promise.

Then I escape upstairs before I can do something truly stupid, like go over there and demand to know what kind of game he's playing.

But as I make dinner in my empty kitchen, I can't shake the feeling that Marc Steel isn't playing any games at all.

He's hunting.

And somehow, I think I want to be caught.

Chapter 3 - Marcus

She waved at me.

I've been standing at this window for twenty minutes, replaying that simple gesture like it's the key to unlocking the universe. The way her hand lifted hesitantly, the small smile that curved her lips before she disappeared into her building… Everything it's burned into my retinas, a moment of connection that my bear has seized on like proof of mutual interest.

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