Love at First Mate - Dani Wyatt Page 0,8

crisp and fresh and I take a deep breath until my lungs hurt, trying to center myself and process everything I’ve been told.

Ragnar…my mind churns with all the dish Josephine served me about him.

He’s thirty-five years old and his only family left is his grandmother. Gran, as he calls her, according to Josephine. He works construction and does all sorts of handyman and trades work, but lives in an enormous house he built himself back in the woods on the land his family has had for over a century.

I turn toward the bar, but suddenly my hunger isn’t for a burger. The tension I’ve had down low in my belly since I saw Ragnar that first day tightens into a prussic knot and I’m frozen on the sidewalk, unsure if I should go forward or back.

When I asked Josephine why she thought Ragnar acted the way he did around me, she said she couldn’t be sure, but there’s been tragedy in his past and maybe that has something to do with it. She also said, if I’m his mate, sooner or later he’ll come around. He’ll have no choice. The pull will be too strong.

My heart sings at that thought, then I remember the next thing she said.

If I’m not his mate, I should stay far away, because getting attached to a shifter when you’re not mated has heartbreak carved hard into that stone.

How would I know which is which? Josephine couldn’t say. Which is more than a little frustrating.

Ragnar.

His name makes me wet.

God, I need to get a grip.

The street is quiet, but when I hear the sound of a car door slam shut, a bolt of fear races through me, remembering why I moved so far away in the first place.

Ragnar, opening the shop, this place…they’ve all distracted me and given me a false sense of safety that could be dangerous.

I spin around in the direction of the sound, bracing for the sight of the one person I never want to see again, but instead it’s him.

Ragnar.

Stomping toward me like a…bear to his prey.

His shoulders are wider than most doorways and I’m sure he bumps his head constantly because the world just isn’t built for a man his size. Except, maybe here in the Badlands.

My legs feel like Jello as he comes closer. The darkening sky doesn’t hide the massive hard-on he’s sporting and it takes all of my functioning power to not stare directly at the sex torpedo stretching his jeans to their breaking point.

“What are you doing out here on the street? Alone?” he seethes through clenched teeth. His eyes are angry, darting around like we’re being stalked by some otherworldly, dangerous force.

“Uhhhhh…standing?” I answer, swallowing the drool that’s pooling in my mouth as the biceps on his arms flex under his shirt and his chest seems to grow like the Hulk is about to appear.

He makes this grunting sound as he steps into my space, leaving only a few inches between us. It’s taking tremendous effort to keep from panting like a bitch in heat. His masculine, outdoorsy scent fills my nose, and I swear it has a direct connection to my clit.

“You shouldn’t be standing here alone,” he snorts, and I can almost see the grizzly part of him in his mannerisms.

He’s changed his clothes and the plaid flannel of his shirt he’s wearing now is unbuttoned enough for me to see the dark hair that must cover his massive chest, and I fight the urge to reach out and drag my fingertips across the hard muscle.

I wonder about his grizzly bear. About how it all works outside of the broad strokes Josephine painted for me, but there’s something else I want to know and I’m just buzzed enough to ask.

“So, listen.” I poke a finger into his pectoral muscle and wince a bit when there is no give at all. It’s like concrete, and I decide poking a grizzly bear may not be the best idea. Pulling my hand back with a wary look at his dark eyes, “Why do you act like you want to protect me one second, like you might even like me, then the next second it’s like I’m infected with the plague and you can’t get away fast enough? It’s making me dizzy. And a little pissed off, to be honest.”

A snarl curls his magnificent, sexy lips, and both fear and desire clutch at me as I wait for an answer, sure whatever he says is not going