I’d noticed she preferred to sit on everything but a damn chair. Bar tops, counters, floors. Anything but actual furniture meant for putting your ass on.

Mmm. Her ass.

Moving on. I didn’t want her sitting on my hard, garage floor for hours while she waited on me. Even now, she didn’t actually sit in the chair like a normal person. She was sideways with both legs dangling over an arm, her tablet leaning against her bent thighs. She never did anything I expected, which I found strangely intriguing. And my little intriguing friend deserved a reward for helping me finish this commission.

After putting all my tools away, I glanced at my watch. Our time wasn’t up yet. Strolling over, she immediately closed her tablet cover and sat up.

“All done?” she asked in her perky voice.

I really liked her perky voice. Not the skittish one she had used when she got here today. I told her I didn’t care that she was late. She’d waved me off, but somehow she was acting different. Now she seemed almost back to normal. Just…quiet.

“I want to take you somewhere to celebrate.”

She glanced up. “What are we celebrating?” Then she stuffed her tablet in her backpack.

“I finished the commission, and I owe a lot of that to you.”

She stood up and tucked a hand in the back pocket of her jeans, which only accentuated her slim-fitting T-shirt. Today was a graphic of Deadpool riding a bike with a basket full of flowers, holding an umbrella like Mary Poppins with the scripted words What would Deadpool do? underneath.

“Oh, come on, you don’t owe me anything,” she said with an easy smile. Whatever was bothering her earlier seemed to be gone now.

“Evie. When I tell you there’s no damn way I’d have finished on time without you, I mean it.”

She shuffled a step back with a one-shoulder shrug, a pretty blush pinking her cheeks. “Well, I’m glad I could help.”

“Come on. I want to take you somewhere.”

“Where?” Her green eyes opened wide. “No! Don’t tell me. I love surprises.”

“It’s not that exciting,” I assured her, though something told me she’d think it was.

I grabbed my keys off the key peg on the wall and led her out the open garage door.

“Geez, Mateo. Now you’re dumping on the surprise. Don’t do that. Let me think it’s going to be spectacular.”

I smiled and frowned at the same time, pulling the garage door closed behind us. “Then you’d have it built up to be some big thing. I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

She shoved me on the shoulder and stopped when she caught sight of my truck. “Wow! Vintage?”

Grinning at her appreciation, I replied, “1954 Chevy classic. Restored her myself.”

She rounded to the passenger side, her fingers sliding along the glossy, blue paint as she admired my pride and joy. “Very impressive.”

“Thank you.”

I climbed into the driver’s seat as she hopped in on the other side.

She admired the well-kept leather upholstery, sliding her fingers over the seat. I had to look away, the vision of her roaming hands dragging my mind into the gutter.

“I can promise you this,” she said. “Any man capable of restoring an old beauty like this couldn’t possibly disappoint me with his surprise.” She grinned giddily. “I’m just so shocked, because I didn’t think you were capable of surprises.”

“Wow. Ouch,” I said as I started up the engine.

She tossed her head back with a throaty laugh. The arch of her slender neck sent my pulse racing. The pleasant peal of her laughter kicked it up even faster. I forced myself to look away and texted my buddy, Scott.

She half-faced me in her seat. “Okay. Give me a hint.”

“Nope.” I focused on backing out of the drive. “Seatbelt,” I reminded her, then headed toward Metairie.

She buckled herself in. “Oh, come on, just a little one.”

“No.”

She put her thumb and index finger about a millimeter apart and squinted her eyes together. “Just an itty-bitty, teensy-weensy one.”

My, God, she was so cute. “Not even a teensy one.”

She laughed again and took note that we were getting on the interstate. “So, tell me something about yourself, Mr. Cruz.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Your family.” Her voice softened. “You said you didn’t have anyone here in New Orleans when we first met, but do you have some elsewhere? Or is that a sore subject? I don’t want to pry.”

I slid my gaze to her. “Yes, you do want to pry.”

She rewarded me with a pretty smile for teasing her.

“But it’s okay,” I continued. “I’m originally from San Antonio, Texas. I have a fairly proud father, an ornery grandfather, and an asshat of a cousin who I grew up with.”

She smiled brighter. “I love them already. Tell me more. Why don’t you live and work there?”

Focusing on dodging traffic and the upcoming exit, I realized that I shockingly wanted to tell her the truth rather than the lie I told most people, which was my artwork sold better in a cultural center like New Orleans. While true, it wasn’t the reason I’d moved away from home. After a pause, when I could feel her watching me, waiting patiently, I told her.

“It’s the wolf inside me. I can’t be around another dominant werewolf for long without…without wanting to fight him.”

I gripped the steering wheel tight, scared of what she’d think of me after this conversation. It was hard to admit something so shameful, that I lacked control. It was also what drove me to seek Evie’s help, so that I could regain the control slipping away from me. I never wanted the wolf to take hold of me like it had that first time.

“You mean your father? Or your cousin?”

“My father.” A stiff jerk of my chin. “That’s the thing about werewolves. Especially those with alpha tendencies.” And I certainly was an alpha among my kind.

Fuckin’ right.

“You mean…you and your father didn’t get along?”

I merged right to get off on Clearview Parkway. “No. We actually get along fine. I mean, he loves me as his son. And I love him. But our wolves? They’re both alphas. And when the need to shift came, we both became aggressive toward each other.”

I gulped hard at the memory, the incident that happened right before I decided I best move away.

As if she could see what I was thinking, she asked, “Did something happen?”

“Yeah. You could say that.” I veered toward Scott’s restaurant. “The first full moon after my eighteenth birthday, I uh…” I combed a hand through my hair. “I attacked my dad right after I shifted. He was still in human form.”

“Oh no, Mateo. Did you hurt him?”

The pain pricked my chest. “Not badly. Physically, anyway. I clawed his chest and…he didn’t even shift to beat me back. Just stared at me like he couldn’t believe it. Hell, I couldn’t believe it.”

I remember it so clear, that expression of disappointment burned in my brain. I’d run away that night after he gave me that look. My shame chased me away.

“I took off. My shift lasted for days where I remembered close to nothing. I woke up almost a week later on the bank of the Rio Grande River.” I was naked and bloody from killing rabbits and deer, having found two stag carcasses nearby, even a mountain lion. I’d become completely wild for almost a week. “After that, I went home, I apologized to him and my mother, packed my bags, and left.”

I turned down the street toward a strip of trendy new restaurants, a sushi and seafood place on either side of Scott’s restaurant.

Wanting to lighten the mood, I admitted, “You’d love my Grandpa.”

“Oh, yeah?”

She watched me, but I kept my eyes on the road. “When I hit puberty, which is also unfortunately when a werewolf first starts to feel his wolf coming on, I used to growl all the damn time. For no reason. And Grandpa, who lived with us and cooks most the meals, he found me prowling the kitchen while he was prepping dinner. He popped me on the nose with a spatula like I was a dog and said, ‘Mateo Francisco Cruz. If you growl one more time, there will be no empanadas for you for a solid month.’”

Evie laughed. “And I guess you behaved after that, eh, Mateo Francisco?”

I didn’t mind her teasing. “Yep. Grandpa could always put me in line.”

“What about your cousin?”

“I left the house before he hit puberty and his shift came on. We get along, even though he can be an arrogant dick sometimes. Nico thinks a lot of himself.” I chuckled, thinking of the smartass boy who became a cocky man. “I haven’t seen him in a while. He’s been traveling out west for a few years.”

I swallowed the pang of regret of not being able to live closer to my father. Even now, my hackles rose when we spent too long together.

“So puberty is rough for a werewolf?” she asked teasingly.

“Puberty is a fucking nightmare.”

She laughed as I finally found a spot on the street.

I was glad to move away from my sad little past. But then she said, “I’m sorry, Mateo. I can’t imagine what it’s like not to be near your family.”

I gave her a smile. “Don’t be sorry. This is just the way it is for us. Part of the curse. I like being alone. It isn’t a burden or anything. And now, when I visit on holidays and weddings and stuff, everything is fine. Though we all still miss Mama. She was human, you see, and has been gone for a while.”

Evie’s gaze saddened. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. She lived a full life. I just always feel bad because she worried about me, you know?” I shrugged.

“Why did she worry?”

I stretched my arm across the headrest of her seat and looked over my shoulder as I backed into the parking spot.