Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,56

a red and white stripe and also a stripe at the skirt. It looked like a 1910s bathing suit, which I always thought was cute, but man, did my wardrobe tell the story of how I never went on fancy dates. I jammed my feet into heels and put the lipstick and my credit card and wand in my Chanel purse. The wand just barely fit diagonally in there.

I guess I shouldn’t have worried. The guys were wearing flannel shirts. I mean, clean ones, so there was that.

“So where are we going for dinner? The Lumberjack Bistro?”

“I told you we should have…,” Jasper muttered.

“Should have what, Jasp? You know what clothes we brought as well as I do,” Jake said. “And what clothes we own…”

“You didn’t bring suit jackets?” I asked.

Jake laughed. “Suit jackets! That’s cute.”

“Well, I don’t know any man who doesn’t own a suit jacket!”

“You don’t know any werewolves either,” Jake said. “Until now.”

“And we won’t own suit jackets until next week,” Jasper said. “Anyway, we already have to take our company van on the date, so we might as well continue with the theme.”

We climbed into the van and Jasper opened the front passenger door for me while Jake shoved some ventilator masks, leather gloves and a few packages of sand paper off the seat so he could sit down. Jasper rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Shit. We forgot to clean out the van.”

“Just own it,” Jake said. “She likes us because of our messy van.”

“I won’t admit it,” I said, but I was grinning. It was true. While I was attracted to Graham because he reminded me of my own family except without being so cold, I liked Jake and Jasper for the opposite reason. They were proud of the hard work they did, with all the dust and dirt and sweat. My family would probably come around to Graham but they would have been beyond embarrassed to see me with the Sullivans.

Both paths had their appeal.

“How was your bath?” Jasper asked.

“Amazing. How was yours?”

“Shirtless. Lathered,” Jake said, leaning in between our seats. “That do anything for ya?”

Jasper pushed his face back. “Shut up and stay in your zone.”

“I should hope you do bathe shirtless and pantsless as well,” I said, but as soon as I said it, well, it didn’t quite come across how I hoped, maybe because I was definitely imagining the scene. Why did I say ‘pantsless’? Why bring that up?

“I have never met anyone who blushes as often and as hard as you,” Jake said.

My phone started humming with a ton of alerts. Thank goodness for distractions. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be that witch, but I have to make sure I didn’t get any important calls when I was out of service.”

“Go right ahead,” Jasper said.

All I really wanted was this text from Graham:

I‘m out of the hospital. I feel like shit! But it could be much worse. My career is enveloped in scandal but all I can think about is being enveloped by you. Heading for Louisiana now. Taking my car this time, so might take me longer but I’ll need it. Might not be home for a while.

I bit my lip. Thank god.

“Graham?” Jake said.

“Yeah.”

“So is he coming back here?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to have to work even harder on you,” Jake said.

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“We can’t let seductive magic win the day,” Jasper said. “The incubi have an advantage. This is your classic demons versus werewolves battle now.”

I was clamming up with embarrassment again. I looked out the window. The sun was setting, and there was some sort of small county fair or carnival going on in a field off the main road, the lights of the Ferris wheel and other rides lighting up the twilight.

I shoved my phone in my purse after tapping out a brief “see you soon” to Graham. I should have asked my brother how, exactly, to bring a bond-pairing together if you decided you were up for one. The two groups of guys were still in competition with each other, although it did seem to be friendly. If they really were fighting over me, surely they would actually be fighting. Unless the Sullivans thought Byron was just a ghost and Graham wasn’t here to stay, and the incubi meanwhile thought themselves superior and thought the wolves would leave.

Jasper pulled up to the same restaurant where I had just dined with Graham.

I didn’t say anything. The food was delicious. I didn’t mind eating there