Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
It felt like she was about to face some kind of demon monster, and yet, it was just Mateo—the mate who rejected her. Good times.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Mateo spun around, and it took her a moment to take him all in. This was strange. Whenever she thought about him, normally she’d feel a sense of betrayal and pain, but right now, she was feeling something different.
She stared at him, and she was pretty sure there was a small smidge of desire. Holy crap, this didn’t work for her. She held onto her keys and continued to glare at him. She couldn’t help but wonder if Franny might be right. They were approaching a full moon. This was the first time she’d ever been in her mate’s company.
“I, uh, I figured you might need a hand.”
“For what?” she asked.
“You know, helping around your shop. I’m not here to pressure you or anything, but I’m strong, I can help you move boxes, and do whatever you need.”
“You want to help me?”
“Yeah, I’m kind of useless in this pack. I’m still an alpha, just not to this pack.”
“Why don’t you go back to your own pack?” Harper asked.
“You’re not there,” he said, after several seconds of silence.
The wolf in her liked that.
No! Damn it. She was not going to fall for any of his tricks, and she refused to believe a word that came out of his mouth. It was all a trick. Still, she wasn’t going to be cruel to him. That would make her no better than him.
“Fine.” She brushed past him, and how did he suddenly smell so good?
Harper put her key into the lock, gave it a twist, and stepped inside her shop. This had been the one place to give her solace over the lonely years, and now, the man who’d caused that loneliness was stepping into her sanctuary, and what was worse, she was letting him. This was insane.
Instead of dwelling on the mistake she’d just made, she got straight to work. Last night she’d not had time to stock the shelves, so she walked straight through to the back. She tried to reach a box on the top shelf in her stockroom, only to find Mateo there.
Did he have to stand so close to her? She ignored those feelings, and focused on the now.
“Uh, so, if you take that into the main shop and place it near the foundations section, that would be great.”
Harper watched him go, and it took her just a second to realize she was checking out his ass. What was the matter with her? “Get a grip,” she said, whispering the words to herself.
Seven years of betrayal. She needed to remember that. Seven long and lonely years. Whenever Mateo looked too appealing, all she had to do was remember the word “seven,” to jog her memory.
With that in mind, she went back into the main shop and started to give him instructions of what to fill, the boxes she’d need, and where to put them.
They didn’t have any customers as she never opened the shop before nine in the morning, and she always liked to arrive at work a little earlier, around seven-thirty.
This also meant if anyone in the pack needed her first thing, she was already there. As it happened, one of the pack males did surprise her before she opened. He knocked on her glass door.
She recognized Mitch, and went straight to the door. “Anniversary present, right?”
“Yeah, and I need it pronto. Dawn has been dropping little hints here and there. Something about a beauty collection she would really love to have.” Mitch and Dawn were a newly mated couple, and had only been together a year. Harper had loved their ceremony, as they insisted on mating and getting married.
“Come in,” she said. “I’ll assemble one right now.”
She was always happy to help, and this beauty selection was a gift of small luxury items. The gift wasn’t cheap, but it was more affordable than trying to buy them at full price. Also, it meant they could try them out before they invested their money in the full-size product.
Mateo came out of the shop, took one look at Mitch, and Harper sensed his annoyance.
“Mitch, I’d like you to meet Mateo. Mateo, this is Mitch. He’s here for a gift for his mate.” That was all she was going to say.
“Mateo?” Mitch asked, holding out his hand. “Why do I know that name?”
“He’s the man that rejected me and banished me from his own pack. He’s Mateo Fox, the alpha of the Fox pack.”
“Oh, right,” Mitch said.
Harper left him alone, made her way through her collections, and grabbed a small travel bag.
In the last few years, her shop had become a bit of a sanctuary to the men who didn’t have a clue what to buy for Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, or any other special occasion. It was kind of funny and she didn’t mind at all.