“So…” started Sadie, though that was as far as she got.
The young man sitting in front of her seemed perfectly fine, if somewhat large and grumpy. But before they could really get a conversation started the male to his left started growling at her.
“Some people have no manners,” she sniffed.
She refocused on her current partner. “So, what do you…”
The other male growled a little louder – irritating his partner as well who rolled her eyes and started playing on her phone.
The male in front of her scowled and huffed at the growling male, though that didn’t stop him. Irritated beyond belief, she whipped her head to look at the growler, fully intent on telling him to go boil his head. But she didn’t. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart did a strange little bada-boom.
Something inside her clicked. The whole world seemed to stop for a moment – noise, movement, it was all gone as she saw him for the first time. Sadie stared at him. He was… He was… What was he? What was going on?
She jolted as the bell sounded, and the world started turning again. Sadie shook her head as the thrum of noise blasted through her ears.
The male in front of her – the one she had completely ignored gratefully moved onto the next woman, and the growler slumped into the seat opposite, gracing her with a cagey, hard look.
“Hello,” she whispered.
“Hey,” he drawled, and a shiver trickled through her body.
“I’m Sadie.”
“Lorenzo.”
His eyes flashed with gold, and she let out a small gasp as she realized he was a shifter. Well, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nothing wrong with shifters. In fact, friends of hers had said that being with a shifter was spectacular. She’d often wondered about that. Given that all her experience was limited to two awful husbands, yeah, she let her mind wander on it.
He jutted his jaw at her, and she struggled to find something to say. She was never the type to be lost for words. Especially not with men. She could flatter and cajole to her heart's content. Over the years she had flirted her way out of twenty-two parking tickets. She really needed to learn to park better. But there was something about him that made her a little nervous. What was it about him?
Was he intense? Yes, definitely. That square jaw and those infinitely dark brown eyes weren’t made for a kindergarten teacher.
Handsome? Yes, he was definitely handsome. She definitely thought so, and even the glower on his face couldn’t hide that fact. He had scars, but they neither detracted nor added to his attractiveness. They were just there – much like a nose or a freckle.
So what on earth was it about him?
*
Lorenzo stared at her. He had inner voices aplenty telling him to do something, to say something – not to mention an inner grumbling jaguar – and yet, what did he do?
He stared at her, saying nothing. Nada. Bupkis.
Jeez. But at least he had stopped growling. That was a step up.
He just had to stop Tomas from saying anything to her. Yeah, Tomas was a good friend, and a good guy and jaguar shifter. It was just that Lorenzo frankly wanted to tear him to shreds if he even dared look at her.
The evening hadn’t been going well. The women who weren’t lunatics – who like him were just looking for someone to settle down with, quickly made it clear that he was not the ‘someone’ they were looking for. No, he didn’t suppose the impression he gave was that of suitable future husband material. With his face and unfortunate glower, perhaps he was closer to suitable future kidnapper material. Which was kind of funny given the reason he was there in the first place.
But with Sadie, her beauty, her scent, they all called to him. More like hit him over the head and smacked him in the face. She was perfect. She didn’t stare at his scars. Didn’t wonder how he got them. Didn’t pretend she wasn’t looking at them and then sneak a peek when she thought his attention was distracted. Didn’t stare at them with sympathy. She just looked at him. Well, at that moment, she was scowling, but that wasn’t the point.
“Shouldn’t we talk about something?” she asked finally.
Lorenzo shrugged. “Like what?”
“I don’t know… do you like kids?”
“Sure.” He’d like some, one day.
Her nostrils flared slightly, and she was about to say something else when the bell sounded.
Sadie gave him a helpless look as all the men in the room started to shuffle along to the next table.
Say something clever urged his beast.
“Uh, see ya,” said Lorenzo.
Well, he’d never said anything clever up until that point in his life, so why start now?
“Yeah, see ya,” muttered Sadie with the slightest hint of frustration.
They hadn’t exchanged many words, but Lorenzo had heard all he needed. He bypassed the next female and went straight to the bar for a fortifying shot of liquor. Yep, he’d found his mate all right. Now came the hard part.