Chapter Fourteen
Wendy’s heart thumped. Maybe she was a mess. Maybe she wasn’t hot. She wasn’t quite sure.
She’d made sure to wear the tight black dress that showed just a little too much cleavage for a woman who prided herself on her military professionalism, not to mention the matching black bra and panties. But she wanted Cato to see her in more than yoga pants, jeans, or a uniform.
Wendy smoothed over her dress one more time as she stared in the mirror. Her hair was down, and instead of the crimped look she usually got from having her hair in a braid all day, soft blond locks flowed down over her shoulders. Everything looked good to her, but the question was what Cato would think.
A knock came at the door, and she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. It was go time.
When she opened the door, Wendy was surprised to find Cato in something other than a t-shirt. Tonight he wore an untucked casual light blue shirt along with a pair of dark blue jeans. The shirt fit tightly across his chest, and she couldn’t help but fixate on the wide expanse.
“You look amazing,” he said quietly.
Wendy sought out his eyes and blushed when they brightened a tad. Something about his glowing eyes enticed her. Or maybe it was just his body in that shirt and jeans.
“You too,” she said, her voice coming out with a breathy quality.
Tonight was different. This wasn’t getting caught up in a moment of passion, but a genuine, honest-to-goodness date. That meant this was turning from a one-night stand into the beginning of a relationship.
They stepped outside together, and he led her to the car. She gave a small smile as he opened the door for her and then made his way to the other side.
Great in bed and a gentleman. She couldn’t remember the last time someone held the door open for her.
In silence, they made their way to the enlisted bar. It wasn’t far away, so it wasn’t an awkward silence but instead a sort of shared silence where neither of them felt strange about not talking.
Comforting, really. She’d not known him all that long, but it felt like she’d known him all her life, like he understood her on a level that no man had ever understood her.
Wendy almost shook her head. She was already so wrapped up in Cato. Maybe she was pulling a Jamie and letting her heart get carried away. Still, she couldn’t deny what she felt.
When they arrived, she took the hand he offered to help her out of the car, but stopped them from walking any farther.
“We don’t have to stay long,” she said. “I love them, but I also know my friends can be a little much.”
Cato leaned in and placed his mouth next to her ear. “If we leave early it’s not going to be because of your friends,” he said quietly. “It’s going to be because looking at you in that dress is pure torture, and I need to be inside you.”
A hot blush swept across her face and down her neck. Her center warmed more than a little. Wendy didn’t think she’d ever been talked to like that, and she found it turned her on like she’d never been before.
His thick hand slipped into hers as they made their way into the bar.
* * *
The music thumped, shaking the floor and the walls. This was one of the few times Cato wished he didn’t have enhanced hearing.
He didn’t really care much for the sound, but did accept it was part of the bar atmosphere. Besides, he’d put up with just about anything right now after seeing Wendy in a dress like that. Plus, if he wanted to be with her, he’d need to earn the respect of her friends. At least he knew they already liked hybrids.
Cato wrapped his arm protectively around her waist as they made their way inside. More than a few men looked their way.
Good. He wanted them to see her with him. He wanted them to understand that she was his.
They found her friends sitting with Alair and Nikon at the back of the room. He could already tell that things were going all right for Alair. The quiet one was sitting next to his brother while Nikon was sitting beside the more enthusiastic date. He might still have a chance to salvage the night and end with the woman he actually wanted.
“I see you let the big dogs out to breathe,” Jamie said.
Wendy glared at the woman next to Alair. “Jamie, you have no fucking tact.” She blushed.
Cato nodded to Alair and Nikon. The other two hybrids shared a glance then looked at him, surprise clearly written on their faces.
“Thought you weren’t the bar type,” Nikon said, and winked at him.
Cato grunted. The brothers shared a knowing grin. They knew the deal, and they knew why he was fucking there.
“This is Alair and his brother Nikon,” Cato said to Wendy.
She smiled at them both. “I’d heard there were a couple hybrids that were related. Isn’t that unusual?”
Nikon nodded.
None of them talked about their past much or the women they came from. It wasn’t exactly the best thought to think that the woman who gave birth to you cared so little that she would allow such terrible things to be done and then abandon her child like they were nothing for a little money.
Not only that, they’d left them alone in the clutches of terrible people who could and did whatever they wanted without the slightest restraints of ethics or morality.
Cato shook himself of the dark thoughts. The past was the past. It didn’t have to determine the future, and right now he wanted to enjoy his time with Wendy.
The waitress brought over two mugs and another pitcher.
He half-filled his glass, and when Wendy shot him a quizzical stare, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“I want to have a clear head for all the things I’m going to do to you.”
Nikon choked on his beer and looked away, which did little to hide his stupid grin.
Damn super hearing.
Cato draped his arm over the back of her chair and enjoyed the feel of her small warm body pressed into his and the soft skin at her shoulder.
Jamie placed her beer on the table and smiled. “I’ll be right back,” she said to Alair. “I just need to powder my nose.”
The men watched as she walked away. Cato looked directly at Alair. If he was going to make his move, now was the time.
“Would you like to dance?” Alair said to Leah.
The quiet woman stared at him in shock. “But you asked Jamie out.”
Alair shook his head and sighed. “I was actually asking you out. It just… things got confused.”
Movement caught Cato’s attention out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over and saw Jamie standing and staring wide-eyed at Alair.
“I, um, just came back to get my purse,” she said. She snatched her purse from the table and ran toward the bathroom.
“Jamie, wait!” Leah shouted over the music.
Cato wasn’t surprised at all when Wendy turned to him.
“I’ve got to go,” she said softly.
He nodded.
Wendy raced after her friends to the bathroom. Inside Leah stood beside Jamie.
“I’m so sorry,” Leah said.
Jamie shook her head. Her face was red, but she wasn’t crying despite how watery her eyes were. “It’s my fault,” she said. “I was so excited I didn’t even think that he might not be talking to me.”
“Maybe we should just go home,” Leah said.
Jamie shook her head. “No, you can’t. I heard a few of the hybrid wives talking about how all this stuff works for them. I don’t think I was supposed to overhear because they shut up when they realized I could hear them.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s not the same as it is for us.”
Wendy frowned. “Are you talking about arranged marriages? Cato was saying something, and I think he was talking about that.”
Jamie looked at her reflection in the mirror and shook her head. “Arranged marriages? If anything, it’s the opposite. Once a hybrid falls for a girl, that’s it. It’s like fate or something.”
Fate. It wasn’t a word she associated with love.
The more she thought on it though, the more she wondered. Cato had been so cryptic yesterday during the arranged marriage conversation. Maybe he was trying to break his fate by being with her. Maybe she was the other woman.
Her heart was troubled by it all. She had been thinking it was rushed, and maybe in the end it had been. Maybe he was trying to make something happen that couldn’t ever happen no matter how hard he tried. Although from her end, it had been totally real.
She thought about it. The hybrids had been exposed to the world for a while now. A lot of people didn’t like them, but it was a big country, and if they could have any wife, it’d make sense that a lot more of them would have been married by now. The fact that there were so few women at Luna Lodge supported what Jamie was saying.
“Go,” Jamie said. “Talk with him if anything.” She shrugged. “Can’t fight fate, right?”
Leah and Wendy stared at the woman in front of them. She wasn’t her normal perky self, but she still was the best friend a woman could ask for.
Wendy half expected Leah to refuse, but maybe she felt the pull to the hybrid as well.
“Well,” Jamie said and stretched a little. “Can’t let all this work go to waste. I’m hitting the floor.”
She winked at the two of them. “Wonder if I can get a sandwich dance. Plenty of normal non-fate bound guys around.”
Wendy smiled. It didn’t take much for Jamie to bounce back, and she was glad. Right now, she had her own troubles brewing.
They left the bathroom and headed back to the table. There was only one thing on her mind at the moment.
“I’d like to go,” she said to Cato. “We need to talk.”