Unconditional
Page 12

“I think there are surveillance cameras here.”
“I know just the person to call for that.” He pulled out his phone and dialed Nina Warden, who at one time in her life happened to be a pretty notorious hacker. He explained the situation, and she told him she’d get right on it and call him back when she had news.
“I could have gotten a warrant, you know,” she muttered when they got back in the car and headed north to the next stop.
“Maybe, sure. Though how you’d have known the SUV stopped here would have been fun to explain, no? Well, Your Honor, I got out and I just sensed they’d been here.”
This was a one-way road, and she was far too late in the journey to turn back. He felt for her, knowing it had to be hard. But she couldn’t count on human help for this. She had support in the Others, and the sooner she accepted it, the better off she’d be.
Her mouth snapped shut, and she looked out the window as they headed north. The scent was the same at the second rest stop too, and by then it was already dark. He was hungry, and the breakfast bars he’d had in the car weren’t enough as they got back to Portland.
He pulled into the parking lot outside one of his favorite barbecue places that also happened to be run by wolves from the pack. A safe space with plenty of variety and heaping helpings.
She looked up at him, weariness all over her. “Why are you stopping?”
“I haven’t eaten in hours and neither have you. I need to get a lot more calories than I used to, and you’re so tired you’re weaving in your seat. Anyway, it’s too dark to do anything else right now. This place is really good, and it’s run by my people so we’re safe.”
He got out, and before he could get to her door, she’d managed to grab her bag and join him. “I was on my way to get your door.”
“Huh.”
He hid a smile as they went inside.
The way they all sort of swallowed him up with pats on the back, hugs and casual touches had been surprising. But she noted the same sort of behavior throughout the small restaurant.
She looked back at the big laminated menu, so hungry it was hard to choose.
“Everything is good. For sides I recommend the baked beans and the macaroni salad. Cornbread comes with the meal too. Oh try the lemonade.”
He was really good looking. She stared at the line of his jaw far too long but couldn’t seem to stop herself. She was too tired to use her filters. That must have been it. She wondered what he smelled like just behind his jaw, beneath his ear. She’d been surprised when he’d hugged her earlier so she hadn’t really gotten much of a sense of how he smelled, though in the car she noted his cologne, and whenever his wolf got very close to the surface, she smelled the forest.
She bet he looked way better naked now. The few times they’d actually done anything back in the day had been rushed but for the night of his senior prom when he’d gotten a hotel room.
She bet he filled out his boxers a lot better. All muscled and tawny. His hair was longer than it had been, he had scruff. Man, she was apparently a sucker for scruff. Who knew? She’d tended toward clean-shaven men in the past but Josh had converted her.
When she forced herself to turn her attention back to her menu, she noted he’d been staring. “What?”
“Whatever were you just thinking about?”
“What I’m going to order. Combo three I think, and I’ll take your recommendation for the sides.” She continued to stare at the menu to keep from staring at him.
“Remember I can scent your arousal.”
He spoke low enough that no one else could hear but her. The place was loud as it was, even if they all were shifters and probably had super hearing.
“It’s hunger. I’m hot for ribs.”
He laughed but didn’t push any further. Even as they ate, he kept it light. And he ate like nothing she’d ever seen before.
“Holy cow, I don’t think I’ve witnessed another person eat that much food at once. Where do you put it all? You probably have like what? Two percent body fat or something criminal like that?”
He paused as he forked up yet another bite of the Boston cream pie he’d been eating and sent her a smile so carnal she might have actually pulsed just south of her belly button. She sucked in a breath, trying to get herself back together. He did something to her. Awakened something she hadn’t known had gone dormant until that day.
“You noticed my body-fat content?”
She motioned his way with her fork. “Well for heaven’s sake, look at yourself!”
“I like it better that you look at me.”
“Hmpf.”
He grinned, and God help her, he was so ridiculously beautiful she couldn’t help but suck in a breath.
The grin slid off his features replaced by something else entirely. Hunger. He wiped his mouth and leaned forward. “You feel it too.”
There was no mistaking what he meant. “I need to find my friend.”
“Yes, of course. But you can’t do anything about that right now. Come back to my apartment. You can stay with me while you’re here.”
She shook her head, hard. “Uh-uh. That would be a monumentally bad idea.” She bet shifter males were a big ol’ unruly handful, and she had limited time and energy. Hell, she’d probably end up getting steamrolled into stuff every time he smiled at her.
“Oh, I disagree. I think it’d be a fabulous idea. You want me, Michelle. As much as I want you. I promise to get you nice and tired so you can sleep.”