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Malia’s gaze followed him as he stopped at another table, and began chatting with the people sitting there.
“Oh my God, Malia, he couldn’t keep his eyes off you,” Ellie said, looking regretful.
Maggie took a deep pull from her ginger ale and nodded. “He’s pretty hot. If I wasn’t already mated, I would’ve asked for his phone number.”
“He’s okay,” muttered Malia. She shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden chair and forced herself to stop looking over to where Lucas now stood.
“He’s super-hot and you know it,” Ellie said indignantly. “You should have gone for it. He was throwing out all kinds of hints!”
Malia hadn’t been aware of any hints.Oops. This wouldn’t be the first time she’d missed signals when it came to attractive men. She was usually so occupied in trying not to appear desperate that she missed subtle cues.
She told herself that she didn’t have the slightest interest in dating Lucas Winter.
“He’s not my type,” she protested.
Ellie pursed her lips skeptically. She leaned over, her nose nearly touching Malia’s cheek, and inhaled deeply.
“Ha!” she exclaimed. “I knew it. Youareinterested in him! You should totally snag him before he leaves. Ask if he wants to have coffee with you or something.”
Malia sighed. Lucas was extremely attractive, but sexy older men were definitely out of her league. Plus, he wasn’t even from around here. Boise was not only a big city by Idaho standards, it was also on the other side of the state.
Not to mention, if she did ask him out for coffee and by some miracle he said yes, it would take approximately fourteen milliseconds after they showed up at Cinnamon + Sugar for everyone in her pack to hear about her date with an out-of-towner.
“Come on, Malia,” urged Maggie, smiling fondly at her. “What do you have to lose? He didn’t smell mated, and he seemed nice.”
“I don’t know,” Malia hedged. “I mean, he has to be at least ten years older than me. Why isn’t he already mated?”
“What could it hurt to just have coffee?” Ellie encouraged. “I mean, if he’d showed the slightest bit of interest inme, I would’ve been all over it!”
Malia felt a sudden burst of shyness. She reflexively wanted to dig in her heels and refuse.
But truth was, Lucas intrigued her. And she’d never felt the same kind of pull towards any other shifter.
Her wolf was all for the idea.
“Okay,” she said, with unaccustomed recklessness. “I’ll do it. But I think I need another beer first.”
* * *
Okay, enough fun, Lucas told himself sternly as he walked away from the table with the three pretty shifter girls.
Flirting with them had been a pleasant diversion, designed to help establish his credibility as just one of the guys.
But that was as far as it could go.
You’re here to see which of the hunters in this joint ping your poacher radar, not look for a date.
When it came to an investigation, he was normally ultra-focused on his mission.
But it was so rare for him to encounter a fellow shifter, much less three extremely attractive shifter women.
As Lucas continued working the bar, buying drinks and trying to get a feel for the crowd of hunters in this place, he found his gaze continually returning to Malia, the wolf shifter girl with the freckles and sun-streaked light brown hair.
She’d been the quietest of the three, but the most intriguing. At first, he’d thought she didn’t like him. But as the conversation developed, he became convinced that she was just shy. Several times, he’d caught her looking him over, which pleased his cat.
She’s interested, his cougar remarked, surprising Lucas. His cat had remained indifferent to all of Lucas’s previous girlfriends and his ex-wife.
And God, Malia was gorgeous, with a soft, sweet mouth that looked like it was made for kissing.
