Craved By The Alpha Wolf (Firefighter Wolves Shifters Book 2) Read online

  “Josh, what can we do for you?” Lana straightened up and smiled at him.

  “You can excuse Harper for the day so I can take her to dinner?” He stepped forward and handed the flowers to Harper. Surprise went through her when she took the bouquet. “Will you go out to dinner with me?”

  Harper’s heart leaped with excitement at the prospect of having dinner with him. She quickly squashed it. It was one thing to have a meal with him at the shop. It hadn't seemed serious, but a date with him was something altogether different. Was she ready to take that step with him?

  “I was helping Lana put out the new stock. I don’t know if I should leave her to do it on her own.” She glanced over at Lana and judging by the look on her face, she knew that her friend was not going to insist that she stay.

  “Nonsense, I can handle putting the stock away by myself.” She came forward and took the flowers from her. “I’ll put these in water for you.”

  “Just give me a minute.” Harper looked at Josh before she turned to follow Lana as she walked to the back of the shop. Once they were out of his earshot, she put her hand on her friend’s arm. “What are you doing? I never said I wanted to go out to dinner with him.”

  Lana sighed and smiled as she turned to Harper.

  “You didn’t have to. It’s written on your face.” A look of understanding came over Lana’s face. “Go out with him and see what happens. You’ve been alone for a long time. Don’t you think that you should do something about that. Go to dinner with him, get to know him. Have some fun for a change.”

  Lana would hear no more about it, and Harper had to admit that she’d had a good time with him before. And perhaps it was time that she wanted to spend some time with him. She straightened her spine and got her coat from the office.

  She pulled it on, hitched her purse up on her shoulder and walked back toward the front of the bookstore. Nervous butterflies set up camp in her stomach as he smiled at her.

  “It looks like I’m all yours.” Harper smiled tentatively at him, and he held his arm out to her. She slipped her arm through his and the nervousness in her stomach went away. Something about being with him calmed her and when she was with him her doubts about continuing to see him melted away.

  With her arm comfortably tucked in his, Harper walked down the street with Josh and he took her to a lovely Italian restaurant just down the street from the bookstore. The host smiled at Josh when they came in and led them to a table in a quiet corner. Once they were seated, Harper smiled at Josh.

  “I’ve been curious about this place since I was in town the last time.” She pursued the menu and decided on what she wanted. She closed it and set it aside. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “It’s my pleasure. Thank you for agreeing to come.” He set his menu aside and looked at her. His eyes were warm in the light of the candle in the center of their table. “How are you settling in? Do you miss Boston?”

  “I’ve slipped into my routine here quite easily. And I find that I don’t really miss Boston at all.” To her surprise it was true. Perhaps it helped that Lana was here and she had missed not seeing her friend every day when she’d been in Boston and Lana had been in Lenox. And there was a much slower pace in the town compared to her life at home. She felt that she could catch her breath a little when she was here. Even the work that she did for her employer in Boston didn’t seem quite so frantic when she was doing it from Lenox.

  “You seem surprised.” He was interrupted by the waiter, who quickly and efficiently took their order before leaving them alone again.

  “I am a little surprised to tell you the truth. I’ve spent my entire life in Boston, and I always thought that I loved the fast pace of it all.” She reached for her glass of water and took a sip. “But I will admit that it’s nice to slow down.”

  “That is one thing in Lenox’s favor. It definitely has a much slower pace than a big city.”

  They continued to talk about the differences between life in Boston and life in Lenox. When their food arrived, it was delicious and lived up to all Harper’s expectations. And by the time they were finished, she felt that she knew Josh much better than she had when they had first arrived.

  After turning down dessert, Josh settled the bill and they slowly left the restaurant. Harper was torn. A part of her didn’t want the evening to be over, but another part didn’t want to move faster than she was ready. Although she felt like she knew Josh better than she had, it was still too soon to take things further. To his credit, Josh didn’t appear to want to push her.

  He grasped her hand and together they walked back down the street toward the apartment. Would he kiss her when the evening was over? The thought of it had nervous butterflies springing up in her stomach again.

  A prickling feeling rose on the back of her neck and she reached her empty hand up to rub the back.

  “What’s wrong?” Josh paused his forward momentum to look down at her. Harper glanced around for the source of the feeling that eyes other than Josh’s were on her, and her gaze latched onto a tall blond man standing across the street, glaring at her and Josh. There was venom in his eyes when he looked at her and she instinctively drew closer to Josh.

  “That man, across the street. Do you know him?” She tried to subtly inclined her head towards where the man was standing. She didn't want to make it obvious that he alarmed her.

  Josh turned his head to look in the direction she indicated and his shoulders stiffened slightly. “Yeah, I know him.”

  His mouth tightened and he drew her closer to him as they continued walking down the street.

  “Who is he?”

  “My best friend, Tyler.”

  Best friend? With the way the man had been glaring daggers at them, he didn’t appear to be too friendly to Harper.

  “He doesn’t seem to be too happy with you.”

  “He isn’t at the moment but he’ll get over it. He’s just being a pain in the ass at the moment.” A smile pushed Josh’s lips wide as he looked down at her. It looked a little forced to her but she refrained from saying so. “Let’s not worry about him. Come on, I’ll walk you to your door.”

  10

  Harper

  Harper unlocked the door and led Josh inside and up the stairs to the door to the apartment. She prepared in her head what she would say to him to make it clear that she would not be inviting him in. Although she was tempted to ask him in for a coffee, she didn't want to send the wrong message. She was not ready to take things any further with him, and she hoped that he was understanding about that.

  Once she got to the door, she turned to him and smiled.

  “Thank you for dinner. I really enjoyed it.” And she drew in a deep breath to say what else she needed to say. Before she could get any more words out, he stepped toward her and cupped her cheek. She held her breath for a second as he leaned close to her, and his soft breath fanned against her skin.

  “I enjoyed it too. We’ll have to do it again, but for now I’ll just say goodnight.” He smoothed his hand toward her hair, sliding his fingers through the thick blond strands. She held her breath for a second as he leaned close to her.

  Only a fraction of an inch separated them, and she looked up into his warm, gray eyes before she slid her own eyes shut and tipped her head back a little, offering her lips up to him for a kiss.

  It seemed to be all he was waiting for as she sensed him moving closer to her and then his mouth claimed hers.

  It was everything she expected it would be and more. His lips were soft at first, tentative, as if he expected her to bolt at any moment. But she had no intention of bolting, at least not yet. She was willing to admit to herself that this kiss was something she wanted, something she had longed for from the moment she’s seen him when she’d come back to Lenox.

  His aftershave, subtle and masculine, invaded her senses and for a moment she wished that they were not wearing heavy coats. She longed to press her body tighter to his as he put his arms around he
r and held her close. She wanted to know what his strong body would feel like against hers as he deepened his kiss.

  She put her arms around his neck and tunneled her fingers through the thick short hair at the base of his neck. A soft sigh escaped her as his tongue slid smoothly between her lips and she wished for a second that this moment would not end. She could go on kissing him for hours, and it struck her just how lonely she had been and how much she missed this kind of contact.

  The sound of ringing shattered the silence in the hall and she pulled back from him, startled. He smiled at her as he cupped her cheeks.

  “For a second there I thought kissing you was making the sounds of bells go off in my head, but I see that it isn’t.”

  It was her cell phone that was ringing and she pulled it out and looked at it. When she saw the name displayed on the screen it was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her. The languid, arouse feeling inside her that had sprung up during his kiss was shattered.

  “What is it?” She looked up to see concern on Josh’s face and she made an effort to smooth her features. She hit the ignore button and the phone fell silent as she slipped it into her pocket.

  “It’s nothing to be concerned about but I will need to call them back.” She stepped away from him and he sighed as his arms fell back down to his sides. Now that reality had returned with a vengeance, she could see that if the kiss had continued any longer, she would have invited him in. Perhaps the phone call was a blessing, even if it didn’t feel like that at the moment.

  “I’ll leave you to it then. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Josh.” They stood there staring at each other for several long seconds. Her eyes darted down to his mouth and he moved forward, as if he wasn’t ready to leave. As if he wanted one more kiss.

  The phone started ringing again and she smiled at him.

  “Apparently they won’t wait for me to call them back. I’ll see you soon.” She turned away from him and unlocked the apartment door.

  Once she was inside, she shut the door and leaned against it. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and stared at the number as if it would bite her. She slid her thumb across the screen and put the phone to her ear.

  “Hello, Anna.” Harper kept her voice soft and kind as she spoke to Jack’s mother for the first time in several months. “How are you?”

  “Today is always the hardest day of the year, but I’ll get through it.”

  Harper wondered why today would be so hard for her, and then she remembered. Today was the anniversary of Jack’s death. And for the first time since he had died she’d forgotten about it. Every year since he’d passed away, this day had weighed heavily upon her and she was usually plagued by missing him. She usually went with Anna to the gravesite and placed flowers.

  She’d missed it this since Jack had been laid to rest in Boston and she’d been here in Lenox.

  “I just came back from seeing him. I missed you not being there.”

  Guilt pierced Harper and she closed her eyes for a second. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t make it. I’m not in Boston at the moment. Lana had asked me to come to Lenox to help her with her bookstore.”

  “I see. Well, perhaps you can go see him when you get back.”

  “Yes, I’ll be sure to do that.” She talked with Anna for a few more moments, and did her best to listen to the older woman as she talked about Jack. At least until she couldn’t stand the heaviness of her guilt anymore and ended the conversation.

  Once she got off the phone, she moved slowly to take her coat off. She couldn't believe that she'd forgotten what today was. She’d been so busy thinking about Josh that she’d forgotten all about Jack. While Anna had been making her annual pilgrimage she’d been having dinner with another man. Had been kissing him.

  She sank on the sofa. How could she have forgotten him? How could she have gone out and had fun today of all days. She slowly leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. How could she have forgotten about Jack?

  11

  Harper

  The next day, Harper was at the shop and the guilt over her date with Josh still weighed heavily on her. Lana had asked her how it went, and Harper had refrained from telling her about Anna’s call. All she said was that she had a nice time and when Lana had asked her if she would go out with Josh again, all she’d done was made a noncommittal noise. If Lana thought her behavior was odd, at least she kept it to herself.

  She was putting out the rest of the stock when a woman on the other side of the bookshelves spoke.

  “Those...people out at Shadowbrook are going to be the death of this town, make my words.”

  Harper paused as she slid a book onto the bookshelf. She stood still as she waited to hear more. The woman was talking about Josh and the others who lived on the big estate on the outskirts of town. Why would she say something like that? As far as Harper knew, Shadowbrook housed the fire station and surely the firefighters were good for the town and not a detriment to it.

  “I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that.” Another woman spoke, and if she was alarmed by what her friend had said her voice didn’t show it.

  “Mark my words. History is going to repeat itself. I wouldn't be surprised if the blood feud started up all over again. It’s the town that’s going to get caught in the middle.

  Blood feud? Harper was arrested by the conversation happening on the other side of the bookshelf and abandoned any pretense that she was not eavesdropping.

  “It’s been over a hundred years since there was trouble out at Shadowbrook. Surely the Canergies wouldn't hold a grudge for that long.”

  “How else do you explain Josh Stokes getting shot in the middle of town? Things like that don’t happen here, at least not for the past hundred years. I have a bad feeling about that. I just hope an innocent person from town doesn’t get hurt. The woman who was with him that night was lucky to escape with her life.”

  “Stop talking about it. She’s here in the shop and it wouldn't do for you to be overheard.” The woman moved away and Harper made sure that she stayed out of sight until the women had left the shop. She longed to stop them as they made their way out the door, to demand that they tell her what they were talking about. But it was clear with the way that the one woman had told her friend to be quiet that any information from either of them would not be forthcoming.

  Harper finished putting the rest of the books on the shelf as her mind turned over what she had heard. As far as she knew an innocent person had been hurt on the night of the shooting, and that person was Josh. It was weird the woman who’d been speaking hadn’t thought so. Did she think that Josh deserved it somehow? Was there more going on in Josh’s life that had courted the kind of situation that ended with a bullet inside his body.

  Harper turned away from the bookshelf and her eyes went to Lana, who had just finished ringing up another customer. Lana now made her home out in Shadowbrook. Maybe she knew something about the history of the place. Maybe she knew more about the shooting that night than she was letting on.

  She walked over to the counter and Lana looked up at her and smiled. Harper didn’t smile back.

  “What’s wrong?” A concerned look crossed Lana’s face, and Harper’s curiosity was too much for her to ignore. Lana had to know something.

  “I overheard the weirdest conversation. The woman that was in here said something about a blood feud between a group of people called the Canergies and the residents out in Shadowbrook. Apparently it happened a hundred years ago. Do you know anything about it?”

  Lana’s face went pale and she looked away. “Why would I know something about the town that happened such a long time ago. You know I’m not much of a history buff.”

  Something about her words didn’t ring true. Harper had a feeling that Lana knew more about this than what she was telling her.

  “Surely you know something about that house? Didn’t Ben tell you a little bit about the place where you now live?”

  A smil
e crossed Lana’s face and she turned to look at her. “Ben and I have other things to talk about besides ancient history.”

  That might be true, but Harper found it odd that a group of people chose to live out of town as if they were in some sort of commune. They lived separately from the town and there was something about the way the woman she’d overheard talking about them that made Harper think that there was something about them that members of the town were suspicious over. Why else would the woman refer to them as those people?

  “The woman I overheard seemed to think that whatever this blood feud is, that it’s starting up again. Do you think Josh could still be in danger?” That was what really troubled her. The thought that something might happen to Josh sent a shaft of fear through her. What if whoever had shot him the first time came back to finish the job?

  Lana looked at her, and her eyes narrowed for a second. “I think I know what this is about. You’re looking for an excuse not to see him anymore, aren’t you?”

  Harper straightened up and she blinked at her friend for a moment.

  “What are you talking about? All I’m doing is asking for a little history about the town and if you think that Josh might be in further danger. I would think if anyone would know it would be in you. Surely Ben had discussed with you what happened to his brother.”

  “And I told you that I don’t know anything about the history of the house. Why can’t you let it go?”

  “Because I need to know if something could happen to him.” Harper watched as Lana crossed her arms over her chest and she got a stern look on her face.

  “Why? So that the next time he calls you can tell him that you aren’t interested in seeing him?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Harper bit her lip and turned her face away. Despite her claims, deep down there was a part of her that was afraid to continue to see Josh because something might happen to him. She’d barely survived when violence had taken Jack from her. She didn’t want to put herself through that again and considering that on the night she and Josh had started getting to know each other he’d been shot, she thought perhaps she was right to worry.