Page 3 of Hers to Call
“Yes.”
“You’ve gotten, what, three hours of sleep, tops.” Selena brushed a hand over her hair.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll go upstairs and take a nap before I start the desserts for dinner. Besides, you’re lucky I came down. The pastries for breakfast are low anyway.”
“Well, you know bears.”
Calita nodded. Another thing she was learning since being here, the appetite of bears. Wasn’t life funny? Shifters had come out to the public decades ago, and she didn’t think she’d met a single one until she’d come to Georgia.
“Don’t you want to know who it is?” Selena asked, changing the subject.
Calita sighed, wishing her friend had changed it to something else. “I do not.”
Though, she was a little curious. The men around this town were hunky to say the least. She didn’t know how she felt about dating a shifter. She’d arrived at the town wary, thinking they would be dangerous animals, but the human she was running from had scared her way more than that possibility. From day one though, the gentle bears had made her feel safer than she had in a long time. Even through their curiosity, they’d given her space. They passed along compliments on her cooking, or gossip about town and its people, all the while never intruding into her personal space. It had made her feel welcome.
Selena leaned over the counter and opened the pickup window, jarring Cali from her thoughts. Her best friend pointed to a man sitting alone at the booth directly across from them. Calita’s nape tingled, her body tightened and her breath stalled. Her eyes collided with a set of onyx ones. Heat flooded her cheeks, her stomach did a lazy flip and her body awakened.Who was he?She blinked to break contact. A mocking smile tilted his full lips and he raised his glass of juice in a toast. How had she missed a man that fine?
My God.
He couldn’t be real. His Native American heritage was stamped on his face. High cheekbones, hollowed cheeks and a squared jaw gave him a rugged look that pulled at her feminine core. Curly hair flowed to his shoulder in wild disarray, along with rich dark skin that told her he was Black as well. Thick eyebrows lowered over those dark eyes as his heated gaze roved her face. Feminine awareness and a healthy dose of self-preservation had her moving out of view of the window. All that restrained power crackling around him,Lord…just a look at him had Calita’s hormones bouncing around her body. Her hands shook as she went back to kneading.
Who was he?
Not her business. She couldn’t afford the promise of heat in his eyes.
Selena laughed outright. “So, you want to know his name?”
Yes.
She shook her head no, still unable to speak. She was shaken, but not in a bad way.
“Simon’s a great guy,” Selena sang.
Feminine sighs met that statement. Cali narrowed her eyes at the staff. The town’s alpha. She’d heard a fair amount of stories about him and they did nothing to prepare her for the dominance that radiated from the man.
Intense.
That was a better word for it. She turned to the sink and washed her hands to give herself a moment.
“That man is a God,” someone said.
“You ain’t never lied.” This from one of the prep chefs.
“Thank you for disrupting the kitchen,” Cali accused.
Selena shrugged her rounded shoulders. “If you don’t want him, I can think of at least a dozen women who’ll take him off your hands.”
Bawdy laughter had her rolling her eyes. “Whatever. You can leave now.” She turned back to the table.
“Make him work for it, Cali.” Another waitress said floating past her, tying on an apron.
Cali swept everyone in the kitchen with a stern gaze. Chuckles met her look. “Disrespectful, the whole lot of you,” she teased. “Back to work. I’m not talking about this.”
She shook her head and promptly ignored them. She couldn’t shake those dark eyes though. Upturned at the ends, mysterious, and heated, his gaze would haunt her. Selena left the kitchen laughing. Calita puffed out a breath, her hands shaking until finally, the others lapsed into busy silence.
Simon…yeah, she wasn’t ready for that.
