~
Nathan had been right about the water supply. The storms often overwhelmed the old pipes and sewers in the local areas and the silt found a way in.
There wasn’t really an easy fix to the problem, save digging up and replacing everything, but that wouldn’t come cheap in anyone’s book.
The alpha headed down the back staircase of the Inn and ended up inside the vast kitchen. He’d heard the banging of pots and pans and knew that someone was down there.
He was reluctant to follow his nose – especially after what had happened to Lark – and his wolf was a little too eager within him for the man to sniff the air, take her scent, in the hopes that they might find their one true mate, and yet, he wasn’t entirely sure that he was ready to take that step…
What if the witch was his mate…?
He had to wonder if he was ready to deal with that.
He liked the look of her … she was his type … just not the witch part.
“Hey…” He offered the greeting and made her jump in place.
The pan in her hand was tossed in the air and it landed face down on the counter – luckily, from what he could tell there wasn’t anything in it.
“If a heart attack is all part of the friendly service – I’m not paying for that part…” She bit out, berating herself for not having half an ear listening out for things that go bump in the night.
“Sorry – I forget that witches don’t have good hearing…” he offered back with a small grimace, but more of that drop dead gorgeous smile that kept her attention, even when she didn’t want it to.
“Oh, we have good hearing. We just don’t have supernaturally enhanced hearing…” she tossed back.
She somehow managed to drag her eyes away from him once more, and berated herself for many more things than just not anticipating his appearance as she reached out for the pan and righted it with a hearty thud against the counter top.
“Well, I’ll remember that.” Nathan stepped into the kitchen and his beast clawed within him… “I checked the water and it was as I thought – the problems with the supply, not delivery…”
“So…?” She reluctantly turned towards him, getting snagged in those sexy eyes of his again.
“So – there’s not much to do about it, unless you wanna dig up the outside pipes all the way off your property, even then – it could be the supply chain somewhere down the line.” He didn’t even want to figure out a quote for that kind of work…
“Strange it only seems be happening in Dorothy’s room…” she mused…
“Maybe it’s a ghost…” Nathan chuckled to himself and her head came up as she thought about it. That wasn’t the worst idea… “I was kidding…”
“I know…” she offered back without explaining further.
“And yet – you’re still thinking about that…” Nathan could practically see the lightbulb over her head.
“It’s always worth checking all the options, don’t you think?” She offered back…
“I guess…” he shrugged.
“You guess that you think, or you guess it’s worth checking all the options?” She gave him a little quirky smile and he gave her a drop dead gorgeous one back… “Oh, don’t try that smile on me. I’m immune to men that look as good as you do.” She warned him.
“You like the way I look?” His smile grew wider…
“That’s all you got from that speech…?”
“Pretty much…” he nodded.
“Well, go be an alpha male somewhere else. I’m busy…” She tossed back, and yet, he didn’t move one muscle in the direction of the exit. “No, seriously – go away.”
Nathan hooked his thumbs into the tool belt that hung low on his hips, and somehow manged to look even sexier – which was strange, because she’d never had a thing for the workman type before.
She had to wonder if it was just him…
Oh, that would be bad… She warned herself…
Considering Angela… What if…?
It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world…
Wouldn’t be the best either…
Nathan watched the dance of her eyebrows as they rose and fell and tried to come together over her nose … he had to admit – she looked really cute when she did that.
He found himself wondering what she’d look like beneath him on that big bed of hers that Dorothy had gone to great lengths to point out was where she slept. Then he tried to shake that image right out of his mind … that wasn’t something that he wanted to dwell on, not considering his wolf was a little antsy from Lark having found his mate…
“Bill me for your time…” She bit out; dismissing him as nicely as possible when the alpha still hadn’t made a move towards the door.
Nathan seemed to snap out of it…
He was so damn tempted to scent the air…
“I should go…” He said, and she raised her eyebrows towards her hairline…
“So soon…?” she teased.
“Excuse me?” Nathan growled back.
“You have no idea what I’ve been saying, have you?” She shook her head in disbelief, and spotted the quick grimace that flew onto his face before it disappeared just as suddenly…
“Not … entirely…” he reached up and scratched his head. That time he did at least look a little more apologetic.
“How male of you…” she said on another shake of her head, and he went to open his mouth, but she waved it away. “Bye, alpha…”
Nathan was rooted to the spot once more. The sound of his title on her lips was almost as if she’d reached out and ran her hands down his naked flesh … without even thinking; he scented the air …
Holy Hell; she smells damn good…
Nathan’s whole body responded to the scent. Jasmine and cinnamon mixed together to near perfection…
His muscles tightened, something danced within the pit of his stomach, and most of the blood from his brain ended up in his hard length…
Mine… His wolf growled out the claim on their mate…
“Mine…” Nathan growled out without warning. The sound of his beast was in his deep tone as he started towards her on fast feet…
Sarah’s eyes went wide and she whipped her body around to face him head on. Her heart hit her ribs and tried to escape her body out of her mouth, getting lodged in her throat … panic rushed through her, and she lobbed the pan in her hand towards his head …
Luckily there was no magic behind that toss, but it did hit him square on the forehead, and rebounded towards the floor. The alpha ground to a halt in shock, wrenching his head backwards on his neck, and glaring at her in surprise…
Sarah’s hands went up to her mouth and she gasped in a chortle … then she bit down on her bottom lip with her teeth and her eyes went wide…
“Ohhhh!” She breathed out…
“You threw a pan at my head…” Nathan said in pure disbelief and watched her eyes narrow on him as she twisted her head to one side and regarded him for a long moment…
“Should have been a chimney…” she muttered, unsure of what to do next, but damn sure that she wasn’t going to repent for something that had just come naturally to her…
“Excuse me?” Nathan blinked; really hard, twice… he wasn’t sure that he’d heard her right…
“Maybe a whole house…” she twisted her head on her neck and frowned back at him…
“You want to throw a whole house at me…?” Nathan just wanted to clarify…
“I want not to be a mate…” Sarah answered, confused, and a little shell-shocked – everything had happened so fast…
“Ditto…” Nathan growled. “Especially when my mate throws pans at people…”
“I…” her eyes flicked towards the back door and Nathan’s eyes followed to see what she’d found so interesting…
“Do not run from me…” Nathan warned her…
“Why would I run from you…?” Sarah asked, and she sounded innocent enough, but her eyes flicked right back to the door again…
“It would not be a good idea for either of us if you anger the wolf within me…” Nathan informed her.
He edged sideways one step and watched her eyes flick from him to the door and back again – he knew that she was calculating the distance to see if she had a good chance to make it there before he did…
She didn’t…
“I said I wasn’t going to run…” she offered back…
Nathan took another step towards the back door, a little sideways shuffle that drew her full attention…
“Good…”
“Good…” she echoed.
“Fine then…” he said.
“Fine…” she said.
And then she made a mad dash for the back door …