Page 10 of Hers to Call
She spotted him easily, tucked into one of the turquoise high–backed booths towards the far end of the diner. It was early into the dinner rush, so the place was nearly packed. Even the stools along the counter were filled. Calita had only eyes for Simon, taking the time to study him. His shoulders were wide, the muscles beneath the polo shirt he wore, easy to discern. His chiseled features were serious; a small frown tilted his sensual mouth down. Lines of exhaustion were evident and the hardening around her heart loosened. He’d pulled his long hair back from his face, into a bun towards the middle of his head, and good Lord, the man was fine. As though he could sense her gaze, his head raised and his dark eyes speared her. The exhaustion she saw moments ago was washed away as desire lit his eyes. Her heart fluttered. What woman wouldn’t want all that attention focused on her?
He stood as she neared his table and grabbed the plates from her hands. He set them down on the table and turned to her. She let out a surprise squeak as he pulled her in for a hug. She kept her body from tensing, having learned from Selena’s many hugs.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he rushed out.
She paused to examine how she felt, and found that she wasn’t uncomfortable, which, quite frankly surprised her. She wasn’t afraid for her safety with him and that said a lot. It was one of the reasons she found herself seriously considering his offer.
“It’s fine, really.” She put a hand on his arm.
His eyes heated at her touch and silence stretched between them. That same silence was shared by the rest of the diner. Calita looked around at the sudden stillness and caught several patrons’ rapt attention on them.
Simon cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming to see me.” He waited on her to sit.
Chatter resumed around them, as Calita slid onto the cushioned bench across from where his drink sat. “I only have a few minutes.”
“You brought my favorite,” he said smiling.
“I heard you had a bad day.” She returned his smile.
His eyes heated, their color changing, darkening even more. Did that mean his bear was close? She was curious. She’d researched the hell out of shifters before she agreed to move to the town, but had never seen a shifter up close until she came to this town. They were across the country and in Chicago she was sure, but she hadn’t known any. Shifters had been segregated and forced onto Sanctuaries towards this part of the country, so shifter populations were more concentrated in Southern cities. Towns like Bear Ridge were spread across the south.
Calita’s gaze skimmed Simon’s face in frank interest. What in the world could he want from her? From the tales about them, they could sense fear and according to Selena’s husband, the sheriff, her aura fairly reeked of it. What could the alpha of the local shifters want with her?
“It’s better now, how was your day?”
“It was good, tell me about your bad day.” She did better letting people talk about themselves. Especially in this town when her every emotion was easily picked up by their other senses.
“Well, my ex-wife came by today.” He dug into his dessert
“Ex-wife, I thought shifters only mated once?” Confusion bunched her brows.
“I made a lot of stupid mistakes in my youth. I married a woman my bear knew could not be my mate. I didn’t quite believe in mates at the time.” His eyes speared her.
A shiver of awareness worked down her spine and tightened her womb. God, but this man was direct. How a woman would be stupid enough to let him go, she’d never know.
“Does she do that often?” Calita asked, steering back to the subject to break the spell his eyes were putting her under.
“Come by? No, I haven’t seen her in five years.” Simon answered.
“What did she do that made your day bad?” she wondered what the ex-wife wanted, but would bite her tongue before asking.
She didn’t know Simon well, but what she had heard about him told her he wouldn’t proposition her if he and his ex-wife still had something going on. She would stay out of his business. Besides, he’d said no strings attached. Getting all personal would certainly add strings to their relationship…well, almost relationship. She wasn’t sure if she would take him up on his offer.
“The fact that Miranda is in town does that. She says one thing, but likely wants something different.” Simon sighed.
“What could she want from you?”How’s that for staying out of his business?She silently berated herself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“We used to be a part of the shifter rebellion. The peace we have with the humans is new and not something most of our group necessarily agreed with. More than likely she wants money to fund them. I can’t imagine her asking me to join the fight again.” Simon pushed his empty dessert plate from him.
“Are you curious at all about it?”
She couldn’t believe she was asking such personal questions. They were crowding out of her mouth before she could filter. She wanted to ask so many more. She’d seen news reports of the shifter rebellion and their skirmishes with supremacists. Had he fought alongside them? Those weren’t questions one asked when having a no-strings relationship, so instead, she squelched her curiosity.
Simon reached over and cut a piece of her cake with his fork. “I thought about it for about twenty minutes. It took that long for me to reign in my temper. But then I decided I didn’t want to know.” He held the fork in front of her lips.
She dropped her mouth open without thought, sighing as the lemon exploded on her tongue. She lifted her lids and caught him watching her mouth. His eyes had gone golden, a feral hunger filling them. His need was there for anyone to read.
She swallowed. “I’m sorry she ruined your day.” Calita pushed her plate to him in offering.
