Page 16 of A Surprise Baby for the Wolf Shifter

His eyes widened and he smiled, instantly recognizing me.

I waved and headed toward him as he started walking in my direction. He seemed to smile even wider as I approached him. It was almost to the point of making me extremely uncomfortable. Like I was the butt of a joke.

“What are you doing here, lady?” he asked. There was a hint of curiosity and humor in his voice.

“Hey, Guy,” I said, shrugging off his weird tone.

“You remembered my name,” he said, pretending to be faint of heart.

I chuckled. “It’s a hard one to forget.”

“You flatter me,” he said and then winked a brown eye. He leaned against his truck and crossed his arms over his chest. “So, what brings you to town?”

“I was actually looking for Weylan,” I said. “Do you think you could point me in the right direction?”

“Well, I could give you directions, but I ought to warn you,” he started, “Weylan is a man who likes his privacy. You’ll also want to watch out for wild animals.”

He winked and then smiled.

I sucked in a breath, confused by the punchline of a joke that clearly went way over my head. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

“I could take you if you ask nicely. Bring you right up to the driveway,” he said. “Can’t get you lost now.”

“How about directions first,” I said. “If I end up lost, I’ll come find you again and then you can take me from there.”

“I’m starting to see what he saw,” he said.

I cocked my head to the side.

“Independent women,” he said under his breath, softly chuckling through each word.

Once he gave me the directions, I went on my merry little way. All the while, I couldn’t help but suspect that there was more to his words than I could understand at the moment. I shrugged off the concern in favor of focusing on the directions.

It took me longer than I expected to make it back to my car. I was second-guessing the drive. Nausea was working its way through my system again. But I managed to keep myself pulled together long enough to follow the directions Guy had given me. I arrived at a long, gravel-covered dirt road.

I stared down the length for quite some time as I parked on the side of the road. A quiet rumble of an old truck engine bled through the air. And then my eyes found him as he was driving toward me.

The second our eyes met, all logic flew out the window and my body ignited with desire.

6

WEYLAN

The days passed slowly. And I was burning with need. Tabitha must have smelled the desire in my scent and came knocking again.

I was also still resolved in my decision against letting Tabitha back in. The woman had tenacity for sure. What she had in looks, she lacked in tact. And once I settled on my decision to find Gemma, I was turned off by the very thought of her.

She had someone out there for sure. Someone who she would make incredibly happy. But that person was not me.

I didn’t answer the door.

It took quite some time, but Tabitha eventually gave up. The last thing I needed was to be faced with her. Not that I would relent and give in, but because I didn’t want her getting the wrong impression. I had said I was done, and I meant that.

Besides, after Gemma, things with Tabitha weren’t the same. I had resorted to pretending she was Gemma, but that was nowhere close to the real thing. Whoever said imitation was the best form of flattery clearly didn’t know what they weretalking about.

There was only one thing that would soothe this ache inside me. One thing that could fill the emptiness that filled me. One thing that could settle my thoughts and bring peace to my life.

And that was Gemma. Only Gemma.

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