He shrugged and forced himself to sit on the couch.
Now that he saw how wary she was, he couldn’t tell her about their relationship's wolf mate aspect.
Not yet.
“I’m not here because of the sex. Though like I said, it was definitely the best sex of my life. One day, if you’re up for a repeat, I would be more than happy to oblige. I’m here because I want to get to know you, and I want you to get to know me.”
He leaned back into the sofa, making himself comfortable by extending his long legs. “Let’s see. I have a younger brother who is as flighty and idiotic as he is sweet. I run a family business, but it’s not going great. It was failing when I inherited it from my father. I really thought I could turn it around, but it’s not an easy thing to do.
“You know, when I went to business school, I had a big chip on my shoulder. I believed I would learn all of this stuff and do what my dad was never be able to do and reset the business in a big way. It’s not quite the way the world works. It was a rude awakening.”
“What kind of business is it?” Chantal asked.
Rush smiled at her. At least she was interested enough to ask him a question. That was a fairly good sign. “We have a few hotels throughout the country. Nothing like the Winslows. We’re more in the family and affordable side of things.”
“Is that how you know Jeremy?”
He shrugged. He wasn’t quite ready to divulge that just yet. Besides, if Chantal had known Jeremy her whole life, she would know he was a shifter. Rush didn’t want her to make the mental leap to his own shifter status. He wasn’t quite ready to tell her she was his mate yet. Or rather, he didn’t feel like she was ready to hear it. She was obviously still gun-shy about him.
Even though he had made her come with his tongue.
Even though he had licked every inch of her delicious body.
He had to focus on the more clothed part of Chantal now.
“I’ve known him for a long time,” he finally said. “But we don’t run in the same circles.”
She nodded. “I get that. We were close as kids because my mother was his mother’s seamstress. Whenever she went to the Winslow house, she took me along to play with Jeremy. It was the only way to keep him busy during day-long fittings. We were always close, even though he went to fancy schools and had a very different life.” Slowly, Chantal walked around the sewing machine and came to sit beside him. “You didn’t go to fancy schools?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “No. Public schools for us. I did go away for college, though. The student loans are still a killer ten years later. The interest alone is enough to make me want to commit robbery sometimes.”
Chantal made a sound of agreement. “Art school for design is so expensive. When I told my parents that was what I wanted to do, I think they were a little bit sad. They understood, of course. My dad’s parents had a suit shop for the longest time, and my mother’s family is a long line of seamstresses. It’s in my blood.
“They always figured I would follow down that path, no matter how uncertain a life it is. But I love it, you know? Just seems to me that you don’t love running the family business.”
He inhaled deeply. “Perceptive, Chantal. I don’t love it. I enjoy it enough to want to make a go of it. To be honest, if it wasn’t for all of the family drama, I would love it that much more.”
“Oh, well, I hope that everything works out in the end. I’d offer to help, but I’m not really business savvy. If it wasn’t for Margie and Jeremy, I wouldn’t really be going anywhere with this designer stuff.”
“That would be a real shame. The dress you made for Gwen was wonderful. Did you always want to create clothing?”
Chantal’s entire face lit up. “Definitely. I had a tiny little sewing machine when I was a kid. For me, playing with my dolls meant I was making clothes for them. Then I was making clothes for myself. I started making my own prom dress during my freshman year. By the time I was done, it was a mess of styles, but I loved