Arctic Winds

Chapter 6

Flowers arrived the next day at the store. Samantha watched from behind the counter as the delivery boy carried in a bouquet of white roses sitting in an elegant glass vase with a white ribbon tied in a bow around the neck. The boy spoke briefly to Laurie as she took the roses from him.

Samantha sighed wistfully as she watched Laurie sign the papers on the boy’s clipboard and take the small note out. Laurie tapped the card thoughtfully against her lips without opening it. Her assessing stare shot over to where she stood watching. Samantha couldn’t read the expression in their depths from this far away, but she could feel the intensity of her gaze. As if reading her thoughts, Laurie carried the roses over to where she stood.

Laurie held the card out. “Here, they’re for you.”

Samantha stared at the card, certain she’d heard Laurie wrong. Who would send her flowers?

Laurie placed the roses on the counter, took Samantha’s hand in hers and shoved the card into it. “Go on, open it! I’m anxious to see what my boneheaded brother wrote.”

“How do you know they’re from your brother?” Samantha asked, still staring at the card. No one had ever given her flowers before. No one had given her much of anything before. Even her clothes growing up had been hand-me-downs.

“Who else would send you flowers?” Laurie laughed. “Besides, his name was on the slip I signed.”

“Yeah right, who else would send me flowers? But why would your brother send me flowers either?”

“Oh stop. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sure lots of guys would be thrilled to be the ones sending you flowers. And I’d wager my brother is sending you flowers because he likes you. But you’re never gonna know if you don’t open the card.” Laurie winked at her as she grabbed a bag of M&M’s from the shelves beneath the counter and started eating them.

Samantha looked down at the card again and popped open the seal. Taking the small piece of paper out of the envelope, she silently read it, then read it again. Samantha, I wish I could be with every moment of the day, but in my stead I send these. They reminded me of your soft elegance and beauty. I can’t wait to see you again.

“What’d he say?” Laurie asked, snatching the card from Samantha’s hand before she had a chance to answer. “Hmmm, not too bad, big brother,” Laurie murmured before focusing on Samantha. “So spill, what’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing. We had dinner last night. I mean, maybe something is going on, but I’m sure it’s nothing serious. It’s not like we’re going out or anything. Well, we are going out, but we’re not going out out…” Samantha stammered, suddenly nervous to be talking about Jason with his sister.

Laurie laughed and held out a cluster of M&M’s to Samantha. She took one, grateful to have something to distract her. “You ramble when you’re nervous. It’s kind of cute. Hey listen, the bookstore’s closed tomorrow. What say we go back to my place, whip up a pitcher of margaritas and have a girls’ night.”

“Girls’ night?” Samantha didn’t exactly know what went on during a girls’ night, but she was intrigued. She’d never been invited to, well, anything before. She’d never had giggling slumber parties growing up or any other girl-bonding events in her life.

“Come on. It’ll be fun.”

“Okay, yeah. Yeah, I think I’d like that.”

Jason walked into the bookstore ten minutes before closing. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of one of the local wolves leaning against Samantha’s counter flirting with her. He didn’t like the predatory gleam Jason saw in the wolf’s gaze. The wolf touched Samantha’s arm and leaned forward slightly with a smile. It wasn’t until Jason noticed the green sweater Samantha was wearing had turned gray that he realized how close his own wolf was to the surface. His eyes must have changed over to his wolf’s.

Closing his eyes and breathing deeply, Jason managed to get control of himself. He stalked over to the counter in time to hear Jack, the wolf, ask Samantha what she was doing that night.

“She has plans,” Jason stated with finality, dropping a hand on Jack’s shoulder.

“She can speak for herself.” Samantha declared. Jason glanced over at her, noticing the frustrated expression on her face. She’d better not have been thinking she was going to go out with this guy. “But Jason is right. I have plans tonight. Sorry, Jack. It was nice to make your acquaintance though.”

“No worries, sweetheart.” Jason growled again as Jack winked at her before quickly exiting the store.

Samantha looked up at him and laughed. “Relax, Jason. I wouldn’t have accepted his offer. I don’t believe in starting one thing until I finish with another.”

“You’re mine,” Jason growled, surprising himself with his forcefulness. He watched her eyes widen before narrowing on him warily. “For right now,” he quickly added, not wanting to rock the boat, yet needing to make it clear she was not to see other people. “You’re mine for now.” Her eyes remained narrowed on him, but she eventually nodded.

“As I said, as long as we keep dating, I’m not dating anyone else. One overbearing man at a time is plenty for me, thank you very much.”

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Jason managed to pull his wolf back from the ledge it had almost jumped over. “Okay. What are you in the mood to eat for dinner?”

“Jason, I have plans.”

He opened his eyes and stared at her. She had only claimed to have plans to get rid of Jack, right? He continued to stare at her until she fidgeted.

“What?” she asked indignantly.

“You have plans with me.”

“I do? I don’t remember making plans with you.” She scrunched up her nose and tilted her head to the side, her unfocused gaze going over his shoulder as if puzzling something out. “I think I would’ve remembered that.”

“I sent you flowers,” Jason reminded her, pointing to the roses sitting on the counter behind her. “Didn’t you read the card?”

“Yes.” She still looked confused. “It didn’t say anything about tonight, though. Unless I missed something on the back...”

“It didn’t have anything on the back!” Jason growled. “I thought it would’ve been clear I wanted to see you tonight.” Truth be told, he hadn’t considered she’d have plans. He just assumed they would have dinner. He hadn’t considered his pack would’ve already honed in on her or that she would actually accept any advances.

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t understand. Can we reschedule?”

Reschedule?

“Who the hell are you going out with tonight?” Jason demanded, his voice rumbling around the words. He silently made a mental list of all the eligible bachelors in town and wondered whom he was going to have to kill.

“Laurie.”

“What about Laurie?”

“I have plans with Laurie. She invited me over to her place for a girl’s night.”

Jason stared as her words slowly penetrated the red haze of anger he’d built at the thought of Samantha with another man.

“Laurie doesn’t have girl’s nights. Laurie doesn’t like girls,” Jason said as Laurie ambled over to them. He always did have rotten timing.

“I do, too, like girls! I just didn’t care for any of the bimbos my brothers called girlfriends, present company excluded, so they never thought I liked girls. Jason, picking up some coffee after work?”

“No,” Jason gritted out between his clenched jaw. “I came to pick Samantha up for dinner.”

“Oh. But Samantha has plans with me tonight,” Laurie said. Jason growled again. “I guess you’ll be heading out.” Laurie sent Jason a huge mocking smile, aggravating him as only a sister could. “Have a nice night, Jason.” And like that, he was dismissed. Jason turned to Samantha, who was glancing between Laurie and him warily.

“Tomorrow night. Dinner.” It wasn’t a question. He didn’t have the patience for questions now. As happy as he was Samantha was going out with Laurie and not somebody he’d have to kill if they touched her, he wanted Samantha to himself.

“Since you asked nicely, tomorrow would be fine.” Samantha smiled sweetly at him, draining away his anger, if not his frustration.

He leaned in and kissed her hard on the mouth before glaring at Laurie. “Take care of her.”

“We’re just going back to my house for pizza and margaritas. How much trouble can we possibly get into there?”

Famous last words coming from his sister.