Page 6 of Link with Me

“Hi, Mom. What’s going on?”

“One of my book club ladies has a child looking for a rare fantasy first copy and I’ve sent them your way. The book is ‘The Eyes of the Dragon.’ Do you have it?”

He watched Wes flirt with a customer and shook his head when the female typed her number into his friend’s cell phone. “I know the book and I do.”

“Great! Okay, honey, will you be over for dinner tomorrow?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why?”

“Why?” his mother asked with confusion. “Because it’s our monthly elder dinner and you’re reporting on the Hillside Pack problems.”

Fuck. He’d forgotten all about the monthly elder dinner. The whole thing had been his idea so his father and other elders didn’t feel like their input was not wanted. He’d ensured the aging members of the pack felt needed and useful in their later years.

“I’ll be there.”

“I’ll make your favorite caramel apple pie,” his mom said sweetly. “Talk later, honey, I have some shopping to do.”

“Bye, Mom.”

The customer walked out of the store and Wes grinned at him. “How’s Gilly?”

“Great,” he replied with a raised brow. “You know my store isn’t a bar.”

“I’m aware,” Wes laughed. “But I have such a hard time turning away beautiful women who want to make me dinner.”

Alex snorted and shook his head. “One day you’ll find your mate and your whorish ways will come to an end.”

“Until then, I suggest you embrace the ho life, brother.”

Alex chuckled. “I don’t think the ho life is for me. I don’t have the clothes for it.”

“Who said you need clothes,” Wes gave a sheepish shrug. “I find nudity gets me the best results.”

Alex gave a booming laugh. There was something to be said for good results.

THREE

The bell above the door announced Lena’s entry with a cheerful jingle, a stark contrast to the flutter of nerves she felt stepping into the old bookshop her mother had recommended. “You’ll love it,” her mother had said, a knowing twinkle in her eye that Lena had learned to mistrust.

If she didn’t know better, she’d swear she was going on another of those terrible blind dates, but her mother had never set her up at a bookstore. That would be a new one.

The shop was a reader’s haven, the air thick with the scent of leather and paper, whispers of countless stories waiting to be told. The scent alone calmed some of her anxiety. Lena’s gaze swept over the space, and that’s when she saw him. Holy crap.

Behind the counter stood a man with an aura of quiet strength, his eyes as sharp as the edge of a page. He was the kind of handsome that writers described in romance novels, which immediately sent Lena’s hormones into a tizzy. Tall, check. Broody, check. Hot as hell, double check.

“Hi,” she said, her voice a mere whisper.

“Hey, I’m Alex. Can I help you find something?” His voice was a rough warm timbre that seemed to resonate somewhere deep inside her, and she felt a pull. She’d have to control herself or she might say something stupid, like…out loud.

Lena cleared her throat, willing her cheeks not to betray the heat she felt. “Alex. Um, hi. I’m Lena. And yes, I’m looking for The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. I heard through the grapevine—well, my mother—that this is the place for hard-to-find books.”

“The grapevine is correct,” he said with a smile that hinted at hidden depths. “Follow me.”

Oh, boy. She wanted to fan herself but stopped short. The guy was a rugged kind of hot she hadn’t seen in her life. She’d tried to stop herself from checking his hand for a wedding ring, but who was she kidding, she’d looked. There was none.

As he led her through the labyrinth of shelves, Lena’s heart thumped a rhythm that echoed the steady tap of her boots on the wooden floor. She tried to focus on the spines of books they passed, anything to distract herself from the magnetic energy of the man in front of her.

Was he real? How could a man this tall, good-looking, and sexy not have a few wives? He probably had a girlfriend. Yeah. He was probably a player. A woman in every corner. A few baby moms. She’d be his baby mom. No. Wait. That’s not at all what she meant to think.

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