Page 34 of Midlife Shifter Unexpected

“No,” he said. “I’ve never dated a human woman.”

“You know I’m a werewolf?”

“Yes.” He nodded as if it was a normal conversation. “Who do you normally date?”

“I don’t date much.” I bit my lower lip and sucked it in. He was a satyr. They were renowned for their sexual appetite. “Do you mean to tell me you’re not trying to find a nymph? Isn’t that what satyrs go for?”

He stopped cleaning the dishes and fixed me with a gaze that was unflappable. “I do not spend my time chasing after nymphs. I haven’t done that since I was young.”

“Exactly how old are you?” I asked.

“I’m not that old,” he said with a grin. “I was born right at the end of World War I.”

My jaw dropped open. “World War I,” I said, quickly doing the math and ended up with 1918. “If you were born even in 1920… Oh my God, you’re like a hundred years old?”

“Yup,” he said. “But age is just a number. I try not to think about it. “

“How can you say age is just a number when you are like fifty years older than me. More than fifty years older than me. You’re like, old.”

He looked at me with amusement.

“I didn’t hold your age against you when you thought I was… How old did you think I was? Like thirty?”

“This is going to take me a little bit of time to get used to,” I said, taking a bite of the salad. “And I really do need to get back to my responsibilities. My business doesn’t run itself.”

“Just understand that moving forward, Bianca, I would like you to be my girlfriend?”

“Did you seriously just ask me if I will be your girlfriend?” I asked. “That’s got to be one of the most adorable things I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”

I had been around too long. I knew how these things worked and they don’t always end well. They often ended with a lot of tears and miscommunication. With everything the way, it was, I wasn’t ready for that right now.

He looked at me hopefully, smiling like a sweetheart. How could I say no? I was just not ready right now. I needed some time to think about it. A lot of changes had happened in my life recently and I needed to get a handle on them before I committed to anything else.

“It’s not as simple as being your girlfriend. It’s not that easy for me.”

“What are you afraid of?” he asked. “Or is it that you don’t like me?”

I didn’t like him? This god-like creature had been alive over a hundred years and he was asking such sweet things?

“Of course, I like you. I like you a lot. It’s just so overwhelming and commitment scares me. “I’m going to give you some time to think about it, but don’t think I will be dormant and quiet during that time,” he said. “I am going to win you over so that you won’t be able to think about anything else other than the joy you feel being my girlfriend.” He gave me such a dashing smile; it was impossible not to understand his meaning. I couldn’t quite my finger on what was troubling me. I was going to have to ask Jane about this. Maybe she had some premonition about whether this was going to end in tears or be a good match. I liked to pretend I had a good idea of how to handle any given situation, but I had grown to realize there were a lot of things I knew nothing about. All I wanted to do was run and hide from this gorgeous man who wanted so much to be my boyfriend.

“I’m just going to take a quick shower before I head out,” I said, finishing the food he’d placed in front of me. The last thing I needed to do was show up to see Jane and Mae smelling like a hot afternoon of sex.

I went to the bathroom and stripped down, looking at my body. So much had happened to it in the short time since I had rekindled my friendship with Mae. Apparently now it could transform into a wolf and whatever it did when Matheus was making love to me, well, that was just out of this world. NI looked at myself naked in the mirror, curious at how this middle-age curvy body could transform into a gigantic red wolf.

I stepped into the steaming shower, feeling the water pounding against my body. It felt so good as I’d forgotten to take a shower since I’d first transformed into a wolf. I scrubbed all my bits, enjoying the man scent of Matheus’s body wash and shampoo.

Standing in the shower, I suddenly felt that ache in my bones that I’d had the night before. They whined and groaned as they rubbed against each other as I started to transform.

Oh. Em. Gee.

I was going to transform into a wolf.

Right here in the shower.

In Matheus’s house.

This time it was worse. The pain was greater, the feelings were completely uncontrolled and they surged through my body, blocking me out until there was nothing except for darkness and the searing pain of the transformation.

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