Erika
The knock on the door came just as she finished tugging her white tank top into place. She quickly flipped her hair back over her shoulders, stood up straight, and double-checked herself in the mirror.
Black jeans with a faint gold stitching to them adorned her legs, made of a blessed denim-Lycra mix that didn’t take two hours to pull them up. Erika had discovered the material perhaps a year earlier, and now it was the only style of pant she would wear when it came to jeans. They were just so comfortable, and easy to get into.
Or out of…
Stop it, she commanded. Her brain had been feeding her images of Harden all morning, in progressively more suggestive and revealing poses. Clearly, part of her wanted something from him. Not that she could blame it. He was hot. She almost wished she’d taken more time in the shower, to help dull her hunger. Maybe it would ease in the afternoon. Or maybe not.
The knock came at the door again, and she headed for the front of her little apartment, untangling some stray hairs from the medium-sized hooped earrings she’d put in. The women didn’t own much jewelry, but she and Kelly had pooled some of their funds together to buy a necklace and two sets of earrings, so that they could dress up a bit if they wanted to. It had made eating for two weeks a little tough, but she was happy for it now. They weren’t overly expensive, but she felt like a million bucks.
With that grin on her face she went and pulled the front door open, hoping Harden would enjoy the way she looked. It wasn’t the stunning purple dress of the night before, but she could hardly be expected to prance around wearing that all the time. It just wasn’t practical. So, now he had to see her in a more dressed-down outfit. She felt confident he would still be happy, but one never knows.
“Hel—”
Her voice died as she realized no one was there. Peering outside, she didn’t see anyone. A smell hit her nostrils and she looked down, to see a bouquet of flowers sitting in front of her door.
“What the…?”
Reaching down, she eyed them over. It was a lovely mix of roses, orchids, daisies, and others that she didn’t know the names of, all arranged into a beautiful pattern. They were clearly expensive, and they smelled it as well she thought, taking a deep whiff of them.
“Mmmm.” She looked around again, but there still wasn’t anyone there. Shrugging her shoulders in confusion, she closed the door and moved to the table to the right of the door, setting the flowers down as she searched through them for the note, to find out who they were from.
There was no note.
Odd. Why wouldn’t Harden include a note of some kind? What an interesting man.
Erika was still admiring the flowers and trying to figure out a way to display them when the door bounced with a firm knock once again. It was so unexpected she yelped and dropped the floors unceremoniously on the floor. Bending down, she picked them up and set them gently on the table.
Peering through the peephole, she grinned at the sight of Harden’s buzz cut on the other side. She didn’t know how the hell he’d found her, or why he’d sent flowers first, but it didn’t matter. He was here now, knocking at her door.
“What’s the magic word?” she called through the thick wooden door.
“That depends,” he replied.
“On what?”
“If you’ve just finished eating or not. If you have, then the word is ‘please.’ If you haven’t, then the magic phrase is ‘Let’s go get food.’”
“Damn you’re good,” she said as she swung the door open to look up at him, admiring his soft green eyes once more, or the way his thin lips turned up in a genuine smile.
He was dressed in a plain red V-necked T-shirt and black pants. Dark brown hiking-style boots adorned his feet. A grin was plastered on his face and one hand was behind his back.
“Harden!” she exclaimed, even though she knew who it was, the sight of seeing him was still enough to get her all riled up. She flung her hands around him without waiting. “Thank you for the flowers! They’re beautiful,” she told him, squeezing extra hard.
“How…” He sounded shocked.
Erika pulled back, and noted the confused look on his face. “What? What is it?”
He pulled his hand from behind his back to reveal a bouquet of flowers. “How did you know?”
“But…” she looked inside at the paper-wrapped bundle, and then back at him. “You already…didn’t you?”
Harden followed her gaze to the simple wooden table just inside the door, often reserved for keys and hats and the like. Then his eyes narrowed as he saw the package there. She saw him shake his head slightly back and forth.
“But you must have,” she protested. “They just got here. I opened the door, the flowers were sitting there. I picked them up, smelled them, closed the door and put them on the table. Then you knocked.”
“They aren’t from me,” he said softly.
“Who the hell are they from then? I certainly wasn’t expecting them.”
His eyes searched hers, trying to determine if she was telling the truth, or if perhaps she’d just been caught in a lie. Erika understood; she knew how it looked from the other side, as if she were perhaps pulling the same moves or tricks with someone else, and not just him. That wasn’t the case, however, and his search of her soul seemed to assure him of it as well.
“There was no note?” he asked cautiously.
“No, which is why I just assumed they were from you.” She frowned. “I don’t know of anyone else who even knows my address. Unless Kelly had them sent for some weird reason.” Erika thought about that for a moment. “No, no that can’t be it. That’s an expensive arrangement,” she said. “It would be dumb of her to spend that much of her money on them, for no real reason.”
Harden started forward into her apartment, eyes set on the flowers, then stopped short just as his foot crossed the threshold. “That is, if you don’t mind,” he said awkwardly.
“No, come in,” she told him, pulling the door open wide and letting the wolf shifter into her house.
He immediately went over to the flowers and began to sniff them and the air around them. Then he went back to the door and tested that as well. For a moment Erika was weirded out, until she remembered that he was likely calling upon his wolf senses, using its ability to detect scents far fainter than the human nose could.
After a minute though he just looked at her, frustration wrought into his features. “Nothing,” he announced angrily. “Just a human scent, likely the delivery person. Nothing identifiable. Most of it’s overshadowed by the flowers anyway.”
“No need to be angry,” she said. “I didn’t ask for them.”
“Oh, I’m not angry about that,” he said, breaking out into a smile, much to her relief. “I’m just frustrated that I can’t solve the mystery of your secret admirer,” he teased.
“You and me both. But, whoever he is, I don’t know he exists. Not only that, but you’re the one here now, not him. And you’re also the one I’m going…well, where are we going?” she asked, suddenly realizing she had no idea what they were going to do.
“That’s for me to know, and you to find out!” he exclaimed. “If you’re ready to go though, we can proceed at any time.”
Erika shook her head. “Today is full of secrets and mysteries,” she laughed.
“Not secrets with me. Just surprises,” he told her. “Hopefully you like surprises.”
“Love them. I’m horrible at keeping them,” she admitted. “Like, absolutely terrible. And I’m honestly pretty good at guessing too. So, don’t feel bad if I figure out where we’re going before we get there. I’m terrible for being that person.”
He laughed with her. “Well, we’ll see. We’re both new to Cloud Lake, so we don’t know it as if it were our hometowns. I’m hoping I can still surprise you.”
“We’ll see. That’s a big first test, mister. I hope you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew.”
“Mother always did say ‘My, what big teeth you have, son.’ So hopefully I’ll be okay.”
Erika groaned audibly.