Billionaire Wolf's MateDate - Serena Meadows Page 0,2

replaced with the usual mild annoyance she felt when she saw him. For nearly two years, she’d been fighting a rollercoaster of feelings for Reggie, and no matter how attractive he looked in his shorts and tee-shirt that day, she wasn’t going to give in.

Heather laughed. “I’d better go break them up before they get themselves in trouble.”

“And I need to go check on the pig; shouldn’t be long now before it’s done,” Melanie said. “Janice, you should come with me; there’s someone I want to introduce you to.”

“Melanie, I’m not in the meeting someone mood,” she said, noticing Samantha walking up the drive. “There’s Samantha. I think I’ll just go say hello.”

“Have it your way,” Melanie said, shrugging her shoulders. “I was just trying to help get your mind off Reggie.”

“My mind was not on Reggie,” Janice said, glaring at her friend for seeing right through her.

“That’s not what your eyes said,” Melanie said. “I still don’t understand what happened on that date that was so bad.”

“Besides the fact that he’s your husband’s best friend,” she said, trying to remember her reasons, “he’s a jerk. You should have seen him at dinner trying to act all sophisticated. He actually questioned the waiter about the wine, then did that swirly thing with his glass. He acts like he’s some rich guy, but he’s just an accountant.”

“Would it be better if he was rich?” Melanie asked, a mischievous grin on her face.

“No, he’s still a jerk,” Janice said, getting to her feet, forcing herself not to look over at Reggie again. “And you can just forget about us getting together; it’s not going to happen. I’m perfectly happy being single right now, and if I do want some companionship, I can just start going to the singles club at the dating agency again.”

“I just have one question,” Melanie said. “How long are you going to fight fate?”

Janice rolled her eyes. “For as long as I have to,” she said, smiling at her friend. “Now go check on that pig like you said you were going to. I’m starving.”

Melanie grinned at her. “Looks like you’ll have to wait to talk to Samantha; someone got to her first.”

She turned to find Reggie grinning and hugging the owner of the dating agency, and suddenly, an overwhelming feeling of jealousy took her breath away. “Maybe I will go with you to check on the pig after all,” she said, turning and stomping off in the other direction, Melanie’s laughter following her across the yard.

Chapter Two

***Reggie***

His pizza and wings in one hand, briefcase and keys in the other, Reggie climbed the front steps, relieved to finally be home. It had been a long day, and he was only too happy to see it over. He’d woken that morning with a sense of foreboding that had only gotten worse as the day had progressed, leaving him distracted and slightly out of sorts. Slamming the door closed with his foot, he dropped his keys on the table by the front door, set his briefcase on the floor, and took the food to the kitchen.

He was supposed to be at one of Samantha’s singles events that night, but the last thing he felt like doing was socializing; pizza and television were about all he could handle. After changing his clothes, he took the food into the living room and plopped down on the couch, remote in his hand, prepared to finally drive the sense of doom that had been following him all day away by binge-watching his favorite show and gorging on carbs.

A dripping slice of pizza in his hand, he glanced over and noticed the red-light blinking on his answering machine in the corner. Setting the pizza back down without taking a bite, the sense of dread returning in a wave so strong it made his stomach clench, he got up, walked over to the answering machine, and stared down at it for a long time. Only one person had that phone number, and only one person could make him feel the way he was right at that moment.

Even after all the years he’d been away from him, a call from his father still made him feel like the eighteen-year-old kid who’d walked away. Unable to reach out and punch the button, he stood staring at the phone, wondering how long he could ignore it, but finally reached out and stabbed it before he changed his mind, his heart sinking when he heard his father’s voice.

“I need you