Jane

I had a generic smile on my face when I looked up at the sound of the bell over the door to the specialty tea shop where I worked. It quickly blossomed into a huge grin when I recognized my favorite customer.

“Gerri! How wonderful to see you again so soon,” I greeted her. “You look lovely today, as always.”

“A little bit of flattery to woo me into giving up the goods?” She lifted the brown paper bag she was carrying and waved it back and forth.

“Although I’m not above doing whatever it takes to get those delicious”—I sniffed deeply and caught the scent of sweet blueberries—“muffins, you really do look great. As per usual.”

At only four feet and eleven inches, Gerri should have been hard to spot in a crowd. But the combination of her blue eyes that had the tendancy to turn golden, perfectly bobbed pure-white hair, and spitfire of a personality made her impossible to miss.

“Damn shifter sense of smell. It makes it hard to keep baked goods a secret around any of you.”

My smile only got wider. She talked a big game, but she really was a sweetie. She carried the proof of it in her hand. I made a come hither signal with mine. “C’mon, give it to me. You know you want to.”

I ripped into the bag as soon as she handed it to me. My mouth watered as the scent grew stronger. “Aha! I was right. You brought me my favorite muffins.”

“Of course I did,” she laughed. “I like baking them as much as you like eating them. It’s such a small gesture, but it makes you so happy. I love seeing the smile on your face whenever I bring you a treat.”

“What can I say? I’m easy to please.”

She gave me a doubtful look as I led her into the store and made my way around the counter. I didn’t ask her what she wanted since I had her usual order memorized. When I brewed her tea and turned around, she was still giving me the same look. The glint in her eyes made me uncomfortable. It was as if she was seeing me as prey, and that couldn’t be a good thing.

“Why do I have the feeling that you’re up to no good?” I asked.

“Stop being so suspicious,” she chided. “When you said you’re easy, it hit me. In all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you with a man.”

There was a good reason for that. Gerri had been coming in to the shop for more than two years, and I hadn’t had a man in my life in longer than that. “There isn’t a man in my life.”

“Come sit with me,” she ordered. Since she tended to come in during slower periods of the day, I usually spent at least a little bit of time chatting with her. Normally, I loved our conversations, but I found myself wishing for a rush of customers to keep me busy. My love life was a topic of conversation I didn’t want to touch with a ten foot pole, especially with Gerri since I knew damn well that she was a matchmaker. Not just a person who liked to set people up on dates, but a bonafide, professional matchmaker. She’d never tried to force her services on me before, but I think my luck had run out.

I grabbed my bottle of water from under the counter and reluctantly joined her at her table, bringing the bag of muffins with me too. If I was going to be forced to talk about my love life, then I was damn well going to do it while eating one of my favorite baked goods.

“So—”

I shoved half a muffin into my mouth and she burst into boisterous laughter.

“The muffins are only going to serve as a distraction for so long if you wolf them down like that.”

“What do you expect?” I mumbled after I swallowed the muffin down. “I am a she-wolf, after all.”

“And a lone one.”

My eyes dropped to the table, and I pressed my finger into the empty side of the paper liner from the muffin. Crumbs stuck to my fingertip, and I lifted it up to lick them off. Gerri grabbed my other hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I know you have a good reason for it.” She was one of a few who did. My past was probably the only other topic I hated talking about more than my love life. “But you can’t go on like this forever.”

“There’s nothing I can do to change the fact that I have no family left,” I rasped.

She gave me another hand squeeze. “There’s no changing the past, but the future is a different story.”

“I’m content with the way things are.”

“You want to pull the other leg next?” She quirked a white brow at me imperiously. “Because we both damn well know that a girl has needs, Jane.”

“Well, this girl has a vibrator for that.”

She shook her head at me. “I think we can do better than a battery operated boyfriend for you.”

“Gerri,” I sighed.

“Have faith, Jane. In me, if not anything else. Give me a chance, and it will all work out.”

She was a hard woman to say no to, and there was a part of me that wanted to say yes. A teeny, tiny part that missed sex. So damn much.

“Fine,” I huffed. “But all I’m agreeing to is one date.”

“Then I guess I’d better make it an amazing match the first time around.” She gave me a little smile that I didn’t entirely trust. “Tell me a little bit about the kind of men you’re drawn to.”

“Shifters, mostly wolves.”

“Tall, built, and handsome then?”

I jerked my thumb over my shoulder, pointing at the handwritten menu on the chalkboard on the wall behind the counter. “Do you have a menu I can pick from? Check off all the right boxes, and you’ll find me a guy to replace my vibrator, if only for one night?”

“One night, my ass,” she grumbled.

“Okay, maybe two if you do a good enough job.”

Her spine straightened, but it didn’t give her much more height. It wasn’t because she was sitting. It was because she was so damn short. But she was still an imposing figure as she glared at me from across the table. “Good enough isn’t my forte. Excellent is.”

“I could do with some excellent sex.”

“Couldn’t we all?” Her blue eyes twinkled with humor. “But if you’ve been depending on your vibrator for as long as I suspect, you can use it more than most.”

“Mmmhmm,” I mumbled around another bite of muffin. It wasn’t as if I’d ever had a super active sex life in the past, but it wasn’t even about the orgasm at this point. It was about being close to someone, even if only for one night. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched me at all, other than Gerri’s gentle squeezes. Now that she’d brought up the topic of dating, I felt the loss deeply.

“Enough that you’d consider an alpha?”

I cocked my head to the side, pondering her question. “I don’t see why not. I’m only committing to one date, one night. It’s not like he’s going to be my fated mate or anything like that.”

“Never say never,” she sing-songed.

The bell over the door chimed, signalling the arrival of three women. They were expensive; dressed in designer clothing, faces perfectly made up, carrying bags that cost more than my car, and lugging around so many shopping bags that I wasn’t certain how they managed to stay upright. Women like these expected stellar service, so I hurried out of my chair and around the counter to beat them there. They ended up being difficult customers, with ridiculously specific orders. By the time I’d made their drinks and rung them up, Gerri had finished her tea and was ready to go.

“I’m sorry I can’t stay longer, but I have an appointment in five minutes.” She offered me an apologetic smile.

“It’s a good thing your building is only two blocks down the street. You’ll have just enough time to get there.” I walked with her to the door and held it open for her.

“Thanks, dear.” She stopped and turned when she was a few feet down the sidewalk. “You’ll be hearing from me soon with details for your date!” she called out before hurring away.

With all the craziness from the ladies-who-lunch orders, I didn’t get the chance to ask Gerri about what she was saying when they had walked in. Maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have been quite so surprised later.