“Please don’t finish that sentence,” I said with a sigh.
“OK, yep, I know. Sensitive subject.” She held out her hands in surrender. “So, you’re going out for drinks or…?”
“I’ve gotta go back to Aunty Beth’s for a bit and then…” I shrugged.
“Well,” she said, looking out through the big front window as he ambled up, cool as a cucumber and conscious of our gaze, if the small smile on his face was anything to go by. “He’s only got eyes for you, Shan.”
“Eyes? Maybe,” I said, swinging my bag over my shoulder. “It’s everything else I worry about.”
She grinned and wrapped an arm around me, bringing me in for a quick hug.
“It’ll be OK. You’re amazing, and any bloke who doesn’t see that needs his arse kicked. I’ll be first in line to administer it.”
“Is this about sticking up for me, or checking out his arse?” I asked, pulling free with a wry smile.
“Both, girlfriend,” she said with a bright grin. “I’m all about the multi-tasking.”
Damn, Jai was a good-looking guy. His jeans clung to his thighs, showcasing the powerful muscles there, and his worn looking work shirt hugged those broad shoulders. He held himself with that same loose grace pack men always had. For centuries, men like him wrangled horses and cattle, hunted down prey, held children in their capable hands. Now? Those big hands held a bunch of cellophane wrapped flowers.
“This isn’t a date,” I said.
“Hey, Shan,” he said, his voice low and so bloody warm, I felt like I could slide down into it like a hot bath. He placed the bouquet in my limp fingers, closing them when I was slow to respond. “I thought we’d go to—”
“I need to go see Beth and Rob,” I said, cutting through the big speech I could see he had prepared. “I told you that.”
“That you did.” He dropped his eyes and nodded. “Let's go then.”
I jerked when he took up a position by my side, placing a hand on my shoulder, sliding his hand down to the small of my back. I shot him a dark look, and he met it head on with a cheeky smirk. Typical Jai, do what you want and then smile your way through it, daring people to tell you not to.
And I didn’t, did I? Because a part of me liked that warm weight, familiar and close, leaving me to wonder what it would feel like if it dropped lower. His eyes jerked over at that thought, his nostrils flaring.
Shit, the pack could smell intense reactions to things—anger, fear and… I swallowed hard, moving to open the door of his ute when we reached it, but his hand was on the handle before I could. He paused and bent over me, drowning me in that scent of his, making me take a step backwards.
“So, we’re doing…this?” I said, gesturing limply. “When Rob or Beth used to take me and the girls somewhere, you boys used to shove us out the way to get in the front. I’m fairly sure I ate dirt at least once.”
He straightened up, looking down at me, cocking an eyebrow.
“You gonna hold every stupid thing I did as a kid against me? Didn’t I try to force you girls to eat mud pies when we were little?”
“Shit, you did! Beth was wild and—”
“Told my mum, who belted me so hard, I couldn’t sit down for days. I know.” He opened the door, then leaned over the frame, crowding me in against the car. “I’m not a kid anymore, Shannon.” His eyes slid down my body with studied slowness. “And neither are you. If you still want me to pull your pigtails…” I froze when one long finger curled a strand of my hair around it, then pulled it slowly tighter. “I don’t mind.”
I jammed the flowers into his chest, pushing them and him away to the sound of his chuckles. He clutched them dramatically, feigning a wounded stagger away, and then walked around to his side of the car.
Fuck, I thought. Shoulda got Janey to get a lift home with Nick and taken my own car.
“Get in the car, Shannon.”
“Fucking bossy shifters…” I muttered, getting in the car.
“I heard that,” he said, shooting me a grin as he reached over me, grabbing my seat belt and clipping me in like you would a child.