Angela

Wiping sweat from her face, she stood up straight and gave her class a solid round of applause.

“Well done, ladies, well done!” she cheered, watching as her words buoyed spirits all around.

The class had grown by one again, as yet another new mother decided to join them. She had to admit, it had started off as a way to improve her life and set a good example for her child, but Angela was starting to enjoy the little community that was being formed during the classes. She ran them three times a week, but with the weekend looming, she couldn’t help but feel like two whole days without her little “gang” would be just too long.

“I’m thinking of running a weekend class,” she said, wandering over to where Elle and Laura stood with their strollers. Rachel was absent today; she’d come down with a bit of a cold unfortunately.

“Oh yeah, what kind?” Elle asked.

“I’m not sure yet, truthfully. I’ll probably have to go to the library, see what other styles there are. Maybe something a little more difficult for those of us who have been doing this one for several months now? Just once a week to up the ante.”

Laura looked unsure. “I don’t know. I enjoy this, but truthfully, I’m not sure I want to keep heading down the path of becoming one of those super-fit moms, you know?”

“I hear you,” Angela said. “But come on, Laur, seriously, look at us. We are not those types of mothers, and I for one am perfectly okay with it. They can do their thing, I’m going to do mine. I just want to be able to keep up with this little guy once he graduates to the terror level of moving about on his own.”

The girls all grinned.

“Maybe it could be more of a stretching, yoga-style class instead of a workout?” she suggested, suddenly struck by the idea.”

“Oh, now that sounds fantastic,” Laura said, beaming. “I would probably be down for that for sure.”

“Yay! Maybe we can have a group study session to do some research, learn how to make this whole thing work?”

“Baby date!” Elle said excitedly, and they all laughed. Baby dates still consisted of lining up their carriers next to each other and trying to ignore the little ones for as long as possible until they started crying.

It was a great time, perfect for plenty of gossiping and the like. Angela looked forward to them immensely, and was positive the others did too.

“Done and done. I’ll call you later today about setting up a time,” she said.

Elle and Laura nodded, picking up their things and heading for the door. As instructor, Angela was always last out. She went over to her stroller, bending in and picking up Cooper, holding him to her.

“Hey there little guy,” she said softly, bouncing very gently to keep him entertained and quiet. “How are you doing today? Did you get your heartrate up there? Burning those calories?”

Cooper responded by burping up a mouthful of drool onto her shoulder.

“I thought so,” she said dryly, snatching a towel, wiping him clean and depositing him back into the stroller before cleaning herself. “Sometimes a mother just knows I guess.”

She bent over to tuck the dirty towel into a bag, and as she did a shadow loomed over her, blocking the studio light.

“Can I help you?” she asked, standing up and turning around.

It was Noah.

“Maybe,” he said with a smile.

“Noah. What are you doing here?” she asked, stunned at his presence.

“Walking you home, by the looks of it,” he said.

Angela gave him a long look. “I’ll be fine, you know. Cloud Lake isn’t dangerous, and I’m not made of glass.”

“True,” he replied. “I never suggested you were. But you are the last one here, and you’re all alone, and I happen to be here at the precise right moment with free time enough to walk casually beside you in the same direction.”

She grinned. “In other words, you’re coming along no matter what.”

“Just so,” he said.

“Well, tall, blond, and muscles, make yourself useful then.”

He arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Like you said. You’re here at the precise right moment. The floor needs to be cleaned.”

Noah’s shoulders drooped slightly, and Angela had to fight hard to keep her mouth from ticking upward in a grin. “Over there in the corner is the dry mop. Take it back and forth over the floor in a grid pattern. Don’t miss anywhere; the janitor is a stickler and they let us use this place for free as long as we keep it clean.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said after a moment’s hesitation, marching over to the corner, his head shaking the entire way.

“Hey, you chose to come find me, not the other way around,” she called teasingly. “Not my fault you have good timing.”

“Something tells me our definitions of good might vary just a little bit,” he retorted, swinging the blue mop head around and beginning to push it back and forth across the floor.

“Nah, it’s good exercise. You need it. None of you shifters ever do a lick of work to keep your physique, while us normal humans have to work our asses off to even stay skinny, let alone look like that,” she said, gesturing at his impressive body.

Her eyes lingered on his arms for several moments longer than intended, and by the time she looked up Noah had clued in to it, and was looking back at her even as he continued to clean.

Gosh he was gorgeous she thought. Just delicious. All slightly tanned perfect skin, sandy blond hair, and strong jawline covered by a short layer of dark brown hair. His eyes flashed with the light of the sky on a perfect summer day, locked directly onto her. Even his nose was somehow sexy, a strong, straight thing between those big oval eyes and under a pair of light-brown eyebrows that were very animated, giving his face a lot of personality.

Then of course there were the muscles and the butt.

Stop staring!

Cooper saved her by crying out happily from her right, and Angela turned so hastily she thought her neck was going to snap. “What’s all the noise about, little guy?” she said, tickling his tummy while she watched Noah carefully out of the corner of her eye.

What was she thinking! What was he doing?! They were here, together. Alone. That was a recipe for…for…Oh dear. Her brain began to work overtime as various scenarios flashed through her head, some of them good. Okay, most of them good.

“How did you know I would be here?” she asked, trying to keep conversation flowing at a rate slightly closer to that of the blood racing through her system.

“Hector told me that Rachel had come down sick today and wasn’t going to the class. Oddly enough he gave up the exact time the class ended too, without being prompted,” Noah added, making a valiant but in the end unsuccessful effort to sound confused.

“So you still haven’t figured out the phone yet?” she asked.

A growl filled the studio, emanating from deep within Noah’s chest. “No,” he said. “No I have not.”

Angela swallowed at the reaction the animalistic noise awoke within her. It had been so crude, so feral, and yet so hot. It just reminded her that there was another side to him, another aspect of Noah that was all basic desire and instinct. Something about that was undeniably sexy to the point she’d almost taken a step toward him, as the precursor to throwing herself at him and begging him to take her right then and there.

The fantasy scenario played out in her head and she felt her body begin to react. It had been a long, long time since she’d felt that side of her awaken. Her libido had faded into obscurity during pregnancy and hadn’t reappeared afterward either.

Until Noah growled at her. Now she felt her nipples harden and other parts of her body come to life with the sudden understanding that she was about to be with a man. The temperature in the room seemed to elevate immediately, and her heart skipped a beat as she looked up at Noah. His eyes seemed to be a reflection of what she was feeling, and even as she watched he took a slight step toward her.

She felt her tongue flick out and lick her lips, dampening them in the event that they would find themselves pressed against his…or in use for something else. Her mouth dropped open slightly as she forced herself to breathe, caught entirely in his trance.

Her eyes traveled downward, time seeming to slow as she ran them over his chest, back and forth between his abs as she kept moving them lower, to the black metallic belt buckle and then finally to the—

Cooper started to cry.

Angela’s head whipped around at the sound and she immediately devoted all her attention to him, even though she didn’t normally respond immediately to crying, not wanting him to get it in his head that any time he cried he could get what he wanted.

“I know,” she said, picking him up again. “Mommy’s here.”

The mood immediately returned back to normal, and much to her relief Noah picked up on that and returned to sweeping the floor, finishing in short order. She directed him to the garbage can and he took it from there.

“Anything else to do?” he asked as he finished returning everything to where it had been.

“Nope, we’re good to go,” she said, putting the now-calmed Cooper back into the stroller and tucking him in for the walk home. It had been a relatively warm day out for winter when she’d left, but the sun would be low in the sky now and it was still a fifteen-minute walk or so.

“Excellent.” Noah headed toward the door and held it open for her while she killed the lights and followed him out into the hallway and then outside.

“Don’t you people ever need anything more than a T-shirt?” she complained as the chill worked its way over her body before she could adjust to the change in temperature. The sweat in her workout clothing on the lowest layer began to feel nasty, and she suddenly wished Noah wasn’t there to see her in such a state.

“Um, if we go somewhere real cold, yeah. But this isn’t enough to really bother us,” he said. “Head real far north or south and I’ve been told we need jackets and the like there, just as you do, but I don’t really know myself.” He smiled. “Don’t get me wrong, I can tell it’s cold out, but it just doesn’t bother us.”

“Must be nice to have super genetics,” she grumbled.

Noah smiled. “At least you know your son has them. That’s gotta count for something?”

She grimaced, and the expression wiped itself from his face immediately.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to touch on a sore spot.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said with a wave. “It’s something I need to deal with anyway.”

“I see.”

He clearly didn’t, but she nodded in appreciation anyway. The effort was what truly counted. Besides, how could he be expected to know her feelings toward everything.

“It’s not as though I harbor anything against him for having shifter genes,” she said, surprising herself at her willingness to talk. “I mean, I wasn’t raped. I went into this willingly.”

“But under false pretenses,” he supplied, sounding now as if he had a stronger idea of what was going on.

“Yes,” she said, looking away in what felt like shame. “I love my son,” she said fiercely. “More than anything in the world.”

“I believe it,” Noah said.

“But I was tricked into having him,” she said, admitting the truth at last. “I was lied to. And that’s…left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, to put it mildly.” She laughed sarcastically. “I’ve honestly ignored the fact that he’s a shifter up until now, if I’m going to tell the truth, which I am for some reason, though I don’t really know why, since I barely know you and you’re a shifter and—”

She clamped her lips shut abruptly as her brain clued her in to the fact that she was rambling semi-incoherently.

“Sorry. Obviously some emotions to deal with,” she said, making fun of herself a little to try and lighten the mood.

“No, I understand,” Noah said, his voice deep and thoughtful, speaking slowly as if he were considering his words before he said them. “And you needn’t worry about dealing with the shifter part for another twelve to fifteen or so years. By then, I’m sure you’ll have solved everything. You seem like the resourceful type.”

She blinked at the sudden compliment, looking up and over at him as they crossed a side street devoid of traffic.

“Thank you,” she said.

“I mean it,” he pressed. “You’ve gone and created this whole workout program simply because you wanted to. Most of the other women here, from what I understand, are just going with the flow. You on the other hand, you’re out here creating, doing things the way you want to do them as best you can given the circumstances. That’s something admirable in my eyes.”

Noah sounded so proud that she almost thought he was referring to himself, but he looked at her with a shine to his eyes that made her blush. He was proud of her, for what she’d done. That was…an interesting concept. Angela had allowed herself a little pat on the back at the success of her course, and each time someone new came out or even asked about it she tried not to talk their ear off about how much she enjoyed it.

But to hear it come from a third party, someone who didn’t have a stake in the matter was another thing entirely. She felt like beaming, smiling from ear-to-ear. It felt good to receive a compliment as genuine as that, something she’d realized she hadn’t had much of lately. Oh sure, the others all told her she was being a great mom, but they said that to everyone, not just her.

“Thank you,” she repeated in a quieter tone. “I’m not happy that circumstances have led to this, but they have, and moping around isn’t going to solve anything. We need to get out there and do something. Some have been lucky enough to find men, or mates, but most of us, we just have to keep on hacking it on our own. We can’t give up.”

Noah was silent for a minute, the only sound the clack of her stroller’s wheels as they moved over sections of concrete sidewalk.

“I mostly agree,” he said at last, his voice trepid, tentative even.

“Mostly?” she asked, trying to keep any emotion from her voice.

“Yes. I agree that moping doesn’t help, and that the circumstances may not be perfect, but you need to make the best of them, and that you need to keep on striving. But I don’t agree that you have to do it on your own.” He held up a hand to forestall any immediate counterargument. “That’s not to say you can’t do it on your own. But if someone is willing to help, to be there with you, to travel the same path as you, where is the harm in accepting that?”

Angela’s eyebrows had lowered as he spoke, but the more he continued to talk the more she understood what he was getting at. He wasn’t saying that she needed someone there. Nor was he even suggesting she go looking. Noah was actually probing, to see if she was open to the idea of not going it alone. Of having someone there with her.

Someone like him, perhaps? Is that what he was doing, seeing if she was open to the idea of having him around on a regular basis? It seemed likely. Rachel had confided in her about some things Hector had mentioned after they’d gotten together. About how he’d had to move slowly, and cautiously with her, not wanting to scare her away, things like that. Was this Noah’s way of doing the same?

And if it was, there was still one question that remained. How did she feel about that? He was hot, of course, she knew that, and there was obviously some sort of sexual tension between them. She wasn’t going to deny that, though neither was she going to automatically act on it either. The question was whether she could see herself being open to the idea of something more with someone, someone like Noah.

“Harm is a strong word,” she said cautiously, still not sure how she felt about the situation, but feeling it out as she went. “There may not be harm from accepting that, from opening yourself up to doing it as a team. But that doesn’t mean it won’t lead to harm either.”

Noah gave her a sad smile. “There’s never any guarantee of that. The only thing that’s guaranteed is by refusing any help is that you’ll never expose yourself to hurt. You simply won’t be exposed, or vulnerable. That also means you’ll also never expose yourself to happiness.”

His words sank deep, and she knew immediately that he had a point. Angela could do her best to remain strong, to do the single-mother thing all on her own, without the help of anyone, be it Noah or another man who might come along. She knew she could handle it. It wouldn’t be easy of course, but she knew her strengths, and that she would be willing and able to tackle this alone, with just friends around her.

If she did that though, then she’d never give herself the chance to experience something like what Rachel had found in Hector.

Do I want that though? Angela thought back to how exposed and vulnerable Rachel had looked and felt as she fumbled through things with Hector. It must have been terrifying to open yourself up to that, to allow someone into your life who could potentially hurt you so badly if things didn’t work out. 

She wasn’t talking physically of course. Most shifters she knew were good people. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t work out. Maybe all that was between them was physical desire. That wasn’t going to help beyond giving her a night of fun. That emotional harm could be devastating. How would she cope?

But what if he’s your Hector?

It was a big “if” of course, and one that she would never know until she actually started going down that path and exploring just where it led. Angela would have to expose herself well before then, opening herself up to hurt, just to see if there was happiness there. The idea was terrifying. But the payoff could be immeasurable.

“Perhaps there’s a point to be made there,” she said cautiously at last. “Happiness is certainly something that I think everyone wants. I know I do.” She looked away. “But the potential for hurt…”

“Is always there. In everything you do,” Noah said as they turned into the maze of buildings that formed the complex where she and the other women were all housed. “No matter what, anything you can do in life opens you up to hurt. There’s no getting around that, Angela. You can’t avoid hurt. It’s part of what helps us remember that we’re alive. Pain, agony, heartbreak, loss, sadness. Those are all things that help us define what happiness is.”

“You’ve a way with words,” she observed.

“Not really,” he admitted. “I’m just having a lucky moment here where I can sound like I’m all wise and philosophical.”

She laughed, thankful for the reprieve from the seriousness of their conversation, though she wasn’t quite ready to leave the topic behind.

“I think you’re right,” she said, as her brain started to pull together some tangled thoughts, laying them out in a straight line. “Part of experiencing fear is learning to recognize it, and harness it as well. To use it, so that it doesn’t use you.”

He smiled. “Precisely. Just because you feel fear doesn’t mean it needs to control everything you do. Only the insane don’t feel fear. Bravery isn’t the absence of fear, as many assume, it is simply the ability to not be held hostage by it, and to act anyway.”

She fell silent for a few moments as they walked along, eventually reaching the little walkway that led up to her unit.

“What if you don’t know how to act?” she asked thoughtfully, getting out her keys and moving up to her door.

Noah looked thoughtful for a moment, and Angela blinked as she thought she saw something akin to fear, or nervousness run through his features. It was gone in a heartbeat though, too soon for her to recognize whether it had actually existed or not.

“In that case,” he said, stepping closer, “sometimes you have to rely on someone else to act.”

Then he wrapped his arms around her, leaned in, and kissed her softly on the cheek.

“I hope to see you again, Angela. Thank you for the interesting conversation, and I hope you come to a conclusion.”

She stood there, unable to react as he flashed her another one of those heart-fluttering smiles of his, full of brilliant white teeth. Then he was gone, long legs powering him down the walkway and out of her sight.

“I think I have,” she said long after he’d gone, her eyes still riveted to where he’d disappeared, her cheek tingling with electricity from where his lips had touched hers.

Imagine if he’d kissed me…

The thought made her swallow. Hard.