Page 43 of Pack Choice
“You will?” I say, aware that I’m actually pleased, a smile playing out on my lips that I struggle to suppress.
He peers at me. “You could do better than him, Molly.”
I flick my gaze away from him, that lightness vanishing and my shoulders dropping. I stare out of the window, watching raindrops slide down the glass.
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me. That there’s this perfect pack out there for me.” I think of Pack Sensible and Ava’s notes. “But I don’t see any packs exactly breaking down my door.”
“And it has to be a pack?” he says, his voice unusually strained.
I sigh. I promised myself I’d call Ava tonight to ask her to set up a date with Pack Sensible, but now I’m not so sure. I don’t want to settle, not really. I don’t want to make do. I want to have what my brothers have. People that love me with all their hearts. With a love that’s passionate and all-encompassing. If I can’t have that, I’d rather have nothing at all. I’d rather stick to the cats and the books and a career of my own.
“All or nothing,” I mutter.
“You deserve everything,” he says quietly, in a way that has my heart crackling and my gaze darting towards him. But his eyes are fixed on the wet road ahead and I wonder if I heard him right.
“What time will you need me to pick you up?” he asks after a moment of silence.
“Oh, Colten’s picking me up at 7pm.”
“Picking you up …”
“Yes, he’s driving me there.”
“I can drive you.”
“Yes, but it was part of the deal,” I say, realizing how stupid the words sound as they leave my mouth.
“Deal?”
I groan. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Is this something I need to report to Silver?”
“No,” I say quickly.
“Then explain what you mean.”
I groan a second time but his eyes are boring into me now, and, damn, when the man looks at me like that, it’s nearly impossible not to do as he says. It’s freaking dangerous. Especially when I’m starting to form a long list of things I’d like him to ask me to do.
“He wasn’t going to go to this charity event unless I agreed to go with him. And it’s for charity so–”
“He blackmailed you.” Ford looks like he’s considering turning the car around and hunting down Mr. Red Flag.
“You just threatened to spill my secrets to my brothers’ packmate.”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?”
“I’m not a giant asshole.”
“I’m not sure Colten is either.”
“I think he’s the very definition of an asshole – blackmailing his assistant to get her to go on a date with him.”
“It’s not like that.”
Okay, maybe it is. And, okay, maybe he is an asshole, maybe he is well and truly out of order, but I like the way he makes me feel. Naughty, tempted, corruptible. I like sparring with him and I like when he flirts with me.
