Page 36 of Same Difference
“I saw you there, talking to Brody, and I liked your smile. I liked your laugh. When you looked at me, I felt this…this…electricity. And then you went to that dinner with our Pack, and I kept finding these excuses to be closer to you. Not to talk to you, because of the stupid shyness, but just to be around you. My wolf was quiet when I was close to you. Just watching you. I felt…” Delta inhaled deep and shrugged again. “I felt like myself.”
Nathan pursed his lips. “And then I went and made you feel like anything other than yourself.”
“I remember being really happy when you asked my dad if you could take me out. You were giving up one of your nightswith Brody to spend with me. My Pack is good, but I’ve been there my whole life. When you talked about Coeur d’Alene, it sounded like this fantasy. Like a dream. I wanted to go there. With you. When you brought up an Arrangement, I felt lucky. I was going to be paired with the Second of the Coeur d’Alene Lake Pack, and the seventh son of a Donn, and my dad was content with that. I was just happy because it was you.”
“But you didn’t know me.”
“You didn’t know me either and you said yes to the Arrangement.” She offered a sad smile. “We were both good at mistakes back then.”
He stole his gaze away from her again and looked back out the window. “It feels like a long time ago.”
“I don’t think it’s supposed to feel like that,” she said low.
“Maybe not.”
It was quiet for too long, so she inhaled sharply and pushed his jacket off her legs, set it into the back seat of the truck, and then grabbed her purse from the floorboard. She pushed open her door and slid out of his tall pickup. Her heeled boots sank deep into the snow, and some of the cold stuff fell into the gap at her ankles. “I’ll see you when I see you, friend.”
“Hey Delta?”
“Yep?” she asked, turning back for him.
He looked so handsome, sitting there with his arm draped over the wheel, eyes boring into her, face illuminated by the soft glow of his headlights. “I had fun today.”
“We will have more fun days with the Pack.”
“No, I mean I had fun with you.”
“Nathan,” she whispered, hanging her head. “You can’t play with me like this.”
“I like getting to know you. As friends.” There was an odd note to his tone on that last part though.
“Goodnight, Nathan.”
“Can I come in?”
“What? Absolutely not. I don’t do booty calls.”
He belted out a laugh, and his eyes were glowing again now. “Booty calls? Look, I can sleep easier if I see you have everything you need to stay out here alone.”
Delta narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “No coming onto me.”
“You didn’t fight that kiss earlier.”
“That won’t happen again. I was lost in the high of a better day. I have my senses about me now.”
“Your senses about you? You sound like a grandma.”
“Bye,” she drawled as she shut the door.
He rolled his window down. “One minute. Just a glance at your den. I won’t even come all the way inside.”
She stood in front of his headlights with her arms crossed over her chest.
If she let him in, would it hurt anything? He would be in the same room as her eventually. They were still in the same Pack.
“One minute,” she said sternly.
He turned off his truck and pushed open his door immediately and shut it behind him. He shoved his hand deep into his pockets and led her around the side of the house like he knew exactly where he was going, and she guessed that made sense. He’d been working on this place while she’d been away today.
