Page 15 of Wild in the Woods
What a satisfying thought to wake up to. Stretching his arms above his head, Fox considered getting up, but this was the only day in weeks he didn’t have anything pressing to do. An early riser by nature, he had to force himself to rest past three a.m. when he had the opportunity. Not that he slept much. He could easily go two, sometimes three, days without needing to sleep. Common for shifters. If he had a reason to go to bed every night and sleep in that would be another thing.
Not that he wanted a reason.
The familiar weight on his legs reminded him that he already had his best girl in bed with him. Osprey was curled over his ankles, her nose buried in the red and black wool blanket. She hadn’t stirred so he took that as a sign to linger in bed.
Closing his eyes, he was immediately struck with a playback of the asshole grabbing Lulu’s skirt in the bar last night, and how close he’d come to ripping the man’s throat out. Thank God he’d gotten ahold of himself before he’d done some real damage. The absolute fury that had pumped through him in that moment was unlike anything he’d experienced before.
It had been a purely primal reaction and it had left him whirling. Everything about the reporter had jumbled him up last night. Her haughty perfume had probably messed with his endorphins and got his wires all mixed up. A surge of protectiveness caused him to watch her every move and assess the room for threats as if they were in the wild where danger lurked around every corner. It’s like he was watching over his—oh hell—his mate.
Fox pushed the thought away, but it came right back. Something was up with this woman.
He couldn’t get close enough to her. Resisting touching her had taken all his willpower. Burying his face in the soft curve of her neck and filling his senses with the notes from her skin would have likely landed him in jail with an assault charge. But, shit, had he been tempted.
With a low growl, he grabbed his laptop off the nightstand, opened it and woke the screen. She’d researched him before coming all the way to Estes Park as part of her job, so maybe he should do the same so he could be better prepared to deal with her.
Who was Lulu Orlando? First impression said she was pampered. Probably came from a wealthy family that had put her through school, bought her a brand-new car, and gave her a credit card with no limit. She was well spoken and carried herself with confidence, but he got the sense it was an artificial confidence. She didn’t particularly enjoy putting herself out there, but she did it because she had to. Her hands were soft, nails the kind you see women with when they leave a fancy spa. From what he could tell, she was the city type he normally shied away from.
Opening a search browser, he typed in her name and scrolled through the list that populated on the search page. A vlog sporting her name and a small, circular photograph of her face appeared at the top of the search.
LISTEN TO LULU was written in flashy pink letters across the page.
All things fashion. Everything beauty. Want to know more? Listen to Lulu, of course!
His upper lip curled. Everything was pink and champagne beige. There were sparkles, and floating bubbles that scattered when he clicked on the first video.
It was the most recent one, though almost a year old. His heart flipped as she appeared on camera wearing a tight black dress that looked like leather but shone like silk. It tied over her left hip, the neck cut low to reveal the soft fullness of the insides of her breasts. Each time she moved, he thought the fabric might move and give some major nip slip, but it didn’t.
Her hair was shorter, lighter, and worked into full movie-star waves instead of the long, full curls from last night.
“Hey, Loves!” She gushed on screen. “Have I got a haul for you. This video is sponsored by La Junee women’s wear, and I’ve got a sample of each of their new summer dresses to give away. Contest rules dropped in the comments. Let’s get started!”
Fox didn’t know much about vlogs and what went into making videos, but Lulu was relaxed and professional behind the camera. Though the girly color scheme of her backdrop made him cringe, it was obvious that she put a lot of time and work into her content. The set behind her was beautifully styled and the lighting was spot-on. With each outfit change, she also sported a new hairstyle and different makeup.
Though it was only a fourteen-minute video, it must have taken hours to film. He watched until the end, then went to the ‘About’ section on the vlog.
Lulu Orlando studied fashion marketing and has a lifetime of love for style, fashion, and all things beauty. She shoots her videos from her Chicago studio overlooking the Hudson River. New content drops every Tuesday and Saturday.
Her channel had nine hundred and four thousand followers.
His eyebrows shot up. Nine hundred and four thousand. Shit.
Returning to the videos, he watched one after the other, not realizing that he was completely enthralled until Osprey whined in her sleep and brought him back to reality. What the hell? He’d watched like two hours of fashion videos.
His cousins could never, ever know about this.
Annoyed at his lack of self-control, he watched one more. Something about her mesmerized him and he now knew more about how to properly highlight round cheekbones, and the best shapewear to purchase for an apple body shape than any man had a business knowing.
Fox went back to the search page to see what else he might find in the results. He found her professional profile on a business networking site. And then her byline for the magazine she worked for listed under Lucinda Orlando. He barely recognized the image of her on the website. She was wearing a suit, her hair pulled back into a severe bun and the smile on her lips didn’t reach her eyes. What a stark difference from the way she looked on her vlog.
Men's Adventure Magazine. He recognized it. An editor from there had reached out to him a few times but he'd always ignored the calls. Had they required Lulu to change her appearance so much? If so, why the hell would she work there, especially when she didn’t appear to be happy about it at all. His middle tightened.
He found a few public photographs of her on various social media pages. One was almost five years old. Her hair was much shorter and colored light blonde. And then other, more recent photographs showed her at various clubs with her girlfriends.
The tension inside him relaxed as he browsed these more carefree photos of her. She looked more like the woman from the vlogs. Carefree, comfortable in her clothes and with herself. Ah, the evolution of Lulu Orlando, he thought as the photos created a timeline. Was it weird that he was sorting through her past like this?
An oily, sick feeling welled inside him. This was why he didn’t have a big social media presence. Look how easily he’d just dug into this woman’s life? People made themselves too easy to find and it was way too simple for someone behind a computer screen to spy on your every move.
Especially people you wanted out of your life for good.
