Susie gulped her glass of wine. She wasn’t driving – she could have as much as she wanted, and she wanted a lot.
Why was she even surprised? Of course, he was a member of the pack, and he would have to be a member of her friend’s family!
Maybe she shouldn’t drink. The last time she did, she managed to seduce a sexy, giant wolf. She still wasn’t entirely sure how she managed it, but she did. Getting drunk again may result in another seduction, and she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted that. After all, she was supposed to be staying away from male wolves.
“Hey, there, Susie.”
Susie smiled. “Hello, Eric.”
She turned to find the young wolf leaning against the counter and giving her a smoldering look – it was too cute! As adorable as she found his attention, she knew that soon he would be breaking female hearts left, right and center – if he wasn’t already.
“Couldn’t stay away, huh?”
Eric flexed one of his biceps, which while it was impressive for a boy his age, it wasn’t anything compared to Barlow’s. One of Barlow’s biceps was almost as thick as her waist – and she was hardly slender.
“Take it down a notch, sweetie.”
Eric smirked. “You know it’s only fifteen months until I turn eighteen… so, you know.” He winked, and Susie giggled.
“And then you’ll still be too young for me.”
“Hey, the males in my family are good with older women – it’s genetic.”
They both turned as they heard a growl and Britt Lucas stormed through the kitchen, closely followed by Eric’s younger brother, Craig. It was a well-known fact that Craig panted after Britt, despite the fact that he was only fourteen and she was seventeen.
“For heaven’s sake, Craig, you are driving me insane!”
“I don’t like you talking to other males!” growled the older than his year's wolf.
“Craig, that was your father!” howled Britt.
As the warring teenagers argued all the way to the dining room, the kitchen was once again under attack from Mal and Terri. Not that it made any difference to their relationship, but Terri was older than Mal by nearly a decade.
“Mal,” snapped Terri, “I thought we agreed to wait.”
Mal huffed. “Why shouldn’t I tell everyone about my cub?”
“Our cub! Fine!” Terri rounded on Susie and Eric. “I’m pregnant! Again! We were planning on telling everyone after my first scan, but big mouth here couldn’t keep his trap shut!”
“Baby…”
They drifted out the room.
“Congratulations,” called Susie after them.
They already had two boys, most likely soon to be three – Tanner babies were rarely females.
Susie coughed to get Eric’s attention. “What was that about you Tanner men being good with older women?”
Eric was going to argue, but Susie felt a change in the air, a frisson of electricity that made her shiver. Sure enough, Barlow made his way into the kitchen, swaggering more than a cowboy who just rounded up a thousand cattle.
Barlow grunted at Eric. “Beat it.”
Eric scowled, but he did, after throwing a lovesick look in Susie’s direction.
Slowly, Susie scooted around to the other side of the counter – she felt certain that if there were a great hulking slab of marble between the two of them, she wouldn’t be likely to throw herself at him. Though, it wasn’t impossible to climb over…
“So, Susie,” he drawled in that damnable sexy voice of his.
“Are you following me?” she blurted.
Barlow chuckled. “This is my family’s barbeque.”
“Oh, right.” Technically, she was the interloper.
She watched as he grabbed more beers out of the refrigerator, trying not to look at his butt as he leaned over. Nope, his hotness had not abated in the cold light of day. She wasn’t sure anything could tone down his sex appeal. If his sexiness were a color, it would be a freaking glitter rainbow.
“So ah how are you?” she asked him.
His lips quirked. “Peachy.”
“Look I ah, about what happened…”
She started, but she wasn’t sure where she would go with that. What should she say?
I don’t usually have sex with strangers?
Sorry, I ditched you after our meaningless sex?
She waited for him to say something but he just smiled at her.
“I’m sorry I ran out without saying anything,” she finished. She was sorry, too – that was just bad manners. Her grandmother always told her she should say thank you in person when someone entertained her. Course, her grandmother was talking about a dinner party.
His smile widened slightly.
“Say something,” she grumbled.
“Thank you.”
“Ah…”
“For a wonderful night. I had a great time. You should be really proud of your skills. I know I will never forget them. All the best, Susie.”
Heat rose to her cheeks as she realized it was the thank you note she left him. Again, the thank you note thing had been her grandmother’s teaching, though she doubted her grandmother ever had to write a note to say ‘thank you, stranger, for all the sex.’
“Oh, you memorized it,” she muttered.
“First time I’ve ever been given a thank you note for that.”
Susie pressed her fingers to her cheeks, fully expecting them to light on fire given that her face was flaming in mortification.
“I don’t usually write them.” She didn’t usually have to. Barlow was her one and only fling.
Barlow stepped around the counter. “Glad to hear it,” he crooned.
“What are you doing?” she murmured as he slowly approached her.
“Just wondering.”
“Wondering what?” she whispered as he stood in front of her. She dropped her hands and gaped at him. Faced with this much hard chest, it was difficult to think of anything.
Barlow leaned down; his breath tickled her skin. He smelled mildly of beer, but it wasn’t unpleasant, it mixed with his own delicious taste.
“Night we met you tasted of that fruity cocktail, just wondering how you really taste.”
“Oh, well, I…”
Her words were lost as his lips captured hers. Dear lord, it was so glorious to be kissed. His lips were so soft and perfect, insistent, yet not rough. She liked kissing, but it wasn’t just kissing – she liked kissing Barlow. He was so much better than Allen. That thought shocked her enough to pull away from him. She’d always thought that kissing Allen couldn’t compare to anyone else – not that she had anyone to compare him to – but it surprised her to realize how terrible Allen had been. At least in comparison to the fiery wolf in front of her.
Barlow slowly licked his lips. His eyes blazed to amber. “Delicious,” he rumbled.
Susie fought through the dense fog of lust threatening to derail every logical instinct she had.
“I ah, I have to go.”
Barlow’s upper lip curled. “You sure about that, little darling?”
“Aha, yep, see you around!”
Susie got out of there before she did something crazy like beg Barlow to take her as his mate. Son of a gun! She barely even knew the guy, and she was perilously close to falling head over heels for him. No, no, no, no – no more wolves!
*
Barlow huffed as he walked in to find his dad with his hands up his mate’s sweater.
“You could knock!” snarled Greyson.
The two of them were watching the news, but clearly, it hadn’t been keeping their attention. Violet slapped at Greyson’s hands until reluctantly he removed them.
“It’s his house,” hissed Violet before looking up at Barlow. “Ignore him. You know you don’t have to knock, we just weren’t expecting you. Is everything okay?”
She gave him a nervous smile. Things with his dad were the same as they had been twelve years ago – Greyson tried to tell him what to do, and Barlow resented everything he was told to do. They were gruff and growly and the same as always. The difference was that Violet was trying her hardest to improve things and to make Barlow like her. He didn’t dislike her – just having her around brought up old thoughts about his mom.
“Just came by to get a few things from my old room.”
Barlow took a beer from the refrigerator.
“And a few of my beers,” groused Greyson.
Barlow eyed his father with a sour look.
“The barbeque was nice,” gushed Violet, changing the subject. “I’m sorry it ended with the boys punching each other and being sent to their rooms.”
It usually did end that way. During every barbeque, someone always suggested a friendly football game. Naturally, there was lots of cheating between the boys; then they would start arguing over who was cheating more and then that would devolve to punching.
Barlow wasn’t sorry the barbeque ended early. After Susie left, he and his wolf had been in a funk.
“You know you don’t have to live in Mr. Maguire’s house while you’re working on it,” said Violet, her forehead wrinkling in worry.
She had told him over and over, that, of course, he was welcome back home. But the last thing he wanted was spending his nights listening to his dad getting lucky in the next room. Blurgh.
“Nah, I’d hate to miss the opportunity to piss off Mrs. Martin.”
She almost exploded when he started hammering things at seven-thirty that morning. He wasn’t even working – he was just hammering a piece of wood while he ate his breakfast.
“You take care,” growled Greyson. “She’s an elderly lady.”
Barlow and his wolf snorted. “She’s no lady, and she’ll go on long after we’re gone.”
“Have you thought about what you’re going to do after you finish the house?” asked Violet.
“Nope.”
“Have you thought about where you’re going to live since you don’t want to stay here?” asked Greyson.
“Nope.”
Greyson grumbled, and Violet elbowed him.
“What? He needs a plan.”
“Give him some breathing space,” whispered Violet. “He’s barely been in town a few days.”
“I’ll just grab my stuff and go,” said Barlow. He really didn’t want to get caught up in any kind of ‘parental’ talk, it would just end in him and Greyson yelling and Violet wringing her hands.
Violet jumped to her feet. “You don’t have to rush away.”
“I got stuff I want to do tonight.” Then he tempered it with a smile to show he wasn’t annoyed or running off because of her. He wasn’t trying to punish Violet for the crime of mating his dad.
Barlow paused at the bottom of the stairs.
“The woman at the barbeque…” he started, considering how to phrase it.
Violet scrunched her nose. “Susie?”
“Yeah, she mating one of the pack or something?” He and his wolf held his breath.
“No, I don’t believe so. She works with some of the pack, and she’s a close friend of Terri’s, but as far as I know, she’s single. Why?”
He shrugged. “Nothing, just wondered why she was there today.”
Violet nodded. “Terri invited her. Apparently, she had a bad time with her ex-boyfriend, and she needs cheering up.”
Barlow wasn’t sure how one of his family’s barbeques was supposed to remedy that, but his wolf was pretty damn smug about the fact that she was single. No reason they couldn’t have a little more fun together, and if that kiss in the kitchen was anything to go by, he would say she was as keen as him.
Yeah. Maybe she was a little embarrassed about coming to face with her one night stand, but once she got over that, perhaps they could make whatever spark they had last a little longer.