“As much as I’m enjoying your company and your help with making sure my car is still safe to drive, I know you’re not here to stay forever,” Nina said, folding her legs under her on the couch.

Both of them had just satisfied their hunger on homemade lasagna, fresh bread, and key lime pie. The extra lasagna trays were on the kitchen counter cooling, waiting for her to stick them in the deep freezer later on.

Raoulf placed his half empty lemonade glass down on the coaster on the end table and then settled back on the couch. “I haven’t got anywhere pressing to be. I’m what you might call a free agent.”

“A free agent?”

“Yes. Freelance. I do jobs here and there. I ride from state to state.”

“And you make a living doing odd jobs?” she asked.

“I’ve been making a living doing odd jobs all of my life,” he replied.

“If I ask you something, would you tell me the absolute truth?”

He turned slightly in the chair to face her. His lips were set in a grim line and his eyebrows were drawn together.

“I wouldn’t lie to you,” he stated.

“That day when you fixed my drive belt…you said you were just riding through. Where were you coming from exactly?”

“A little town called Aspen Valley.”

“Aspen Valley…Tennessee, right?” She’d heard the name before. “Is that your home?”

He sighed, his chest visibly filling and then collapsing. “It’s my birth home.”

“You don’t sound so happy about it.”

“I’m on the road a lot. I’m leaving the family behind a lot. It’s just me and my brothers, ya know, but we inherited a Pa—we inherited some business things and it’s more important now than ever before for us to be together.”

“Business things?”

“We’re all about community where I’m from. We help each other out. It’s how we’ve survived this long.”

“Sure.” She ran her gaze across his face, wishing she had more time with him. “What happened to you?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Your…the scar on your face.”

He grinned. “Ugly, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not ugly. It’s just a scar. I see you perfectly fine despite that.”

“I’m not exactly a saint, Nina. I got the scar because I deserved it.”

She shook her head. “No one deserves to be scarred, neither physically nor mentally.”

“Like I mentioned, I’m a free agent. I do very dangerous jobs for serious cash. This type of work requires me to risk my life. Sometimes I complete jobs without so much as lifting a finger or by making a few phone calls and there are times I end up doing more physical work than I vouched for.”

“I can see how doing handyman and mechanic work could be physically demanding, but there must have been a terrible accident to lead to a scar like that.”

After she said it, she realized how it might have sounded to him. From the look on his face, he seemed hurt by her assessment of him.

Nina scooted closer on the couch next to him. “I’m sorry.”

“No need for apologies.”

“But, I—” She placed her palm on his forearm.

The moment she touched him, her train of thought lingered and disappeared until the only thing present was the wave of passion fluttering through her. Her heart pounded. In that moment, she paused, observing his profile. The prominent vein on his throat pulsed furiously. Despite his sun-bronzed skin, she detected a blush flushing upward on his neck. He’d felt it too…the brief current that passed between them.

“Nina…” He turned completely to face her and slid his palm under her elbow. “I should tell you something…”

“It’s okay. If talking about your scar is uncomfortable for you right now, we can talk about it some other time.”

“It’s not that. I got the scar in a really bad fight when I was ten years old. It’s been a part of me for the better part of my life. I’m comfortable with it, but not many people are.”

“You’ve been doing dangerous jobs since you’ve been ten years old?”

“No…”

“But you said that your jobs are dangerous and physically demanding. If this scar was from your days as a youth…”

“These aren’t my only scars,” he said, quietly.

Without warning, he lifted his hand and wrapped one of her curls around his finger. The back of his hand brushed gently against her cheek as her strands molded around his fingers. His lips were slightly parted. He was so close that she could smell his cologne. She wasn’t even sure if the scent was cologne or just an aura that was uniquely him.

“Raoulf…I…” Nina diverted her gaze downward as a rush of arousal warmed her insides. She felt her nipples beading against her blouse. She didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or to play it off.

She did the only thing she could think of at the moment. She rested her forehead onto his chest, hiding her coy expression. If there was one thing that Nina wasn’t, it was shy. But she didn’t know what had come over her.

Taking her by surprise, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer into her. He pressed his lips against the top of her head and inhaled deeply. They held each other in a warm embrace for what seemed like forever, but then he pulled back and peered at her.

Had she remained coy with her eyes trained elsewhere, she might have missed it. If his green eyes were mesmerizing before, they were more enchanting now. But normal human eyes couldn’t have changed the way his did. His pupils widened and then narrowed in real time.

Suddenly, it dawned on her. He was like Warren! Her Ex. A shifter.

She gasped and pushed back from him. “Oh my God!”

“What?” He seemed just as startled as she was. After blinking a few times, his eyes had turned back to normal again, but it was too late. She’d already seen it. She knew what he was.

She pointed at him. “I know. I know who and what you are.”

He frowned. “I can explain.”

“Shifter,” she whispered. “You’re a shifter.”

She rose from the couch and took a few steps back. “Aren’t you?”

Her throat pained her as she swallowed down her shock.

He nodded. “I should go now.” He got up and grabbed his keys from the coffee table. “I’m sorry for bothering you.”

“I…”

Raoulf didn’t wait for her to finish because he was already halfway across her home. He reached the door and pulled it open.

“I didn’t mean to bring you any harm. I wouldn’t hurt you,” he said, before letting himself out and closing the door behind him.

“Wait,” she said, a moment too late.

Raoulf had already cranked up his motorcycle.

She wanted to tell him that he didn’t care that he was a shifter. Discovering that he was more than just a man had just shocked her. The thing that puzzled her more was that as soon as he was no longer in her home and keeping her company, she felt a void.

With the way she questioned him about his scars and acted when she finally realized that her intuitions were correct, he’d probably never return. No matter how well she fed him.

She glanced over at the foyer table where he’d set down two carryout trays earlier to take home with him and sighed.