Cold Foot Komodo (Wreck’s Mountains Book 2)

“You’re going to ruin your whole life.”

Sasha bit her bottom lip to keep from popping back at her mother over speakerphone. Instead, she took a steadying breath and squinted at the road sign ahead. There weren’t a whole lot of road signs in the small town of Darby, Montana, and they were pretty small compared to the bigger city signs Sasha was used to. GPS was telling her to turn right on one of these streets, but even the GPS voice seemed kind of lost—she kept changing her mind on directions and rerouting Sasha.

“Mom, I’m just pulling through town. Can I call you back?” Never. The unspoken last word sat in her mind. Never. She wished she never had to call her back again. Her mother was a splinter on a good day, and a pain in Sasha’s ass on her bad days.

Today, it seemed, was a bad day.

“You’re already there? Seriously? Sasha! Why didn’t you tell me this was a for-sure thing? You just told me and your father you were moving last night! And over the phone!”

“Well, I was driving last night.” She took a right and hoped for the best. “Look, Mom, everything is okay—”

“The hell it is! I can tell she’s rubbing off on you.”

“Timber should be rubbing off on me,” she snapped. “She’s good, Mom. She’s happy with her husband, work is going well for her, she’s stepped into a good leadership role—”

“With a bunch of criminals! Oh, don’t think I don’t know where Wreck got his shifters. I did my research, and I know Timber was in Alaska when Cold Foot Prison was broken into. I have been tracking her phone.”

“You’re stalking Timber?”

“She’s my daughter. It isn’t stalking.”

“It doesn’t matter if you are related to her. That is stalking, Mom. You don’t like her. You pray for her downfall. You aren’t monitoring her because you care. You’re scrutinizing her life hoping to find flaws. Grow up. I’ll call you when I call you.”

“Sasha!”

She hung up fast before that battle-axe could get another word out. Mom called back three times in a row, but Sasha knew her mom’s temper. She would be screaming now. The text messages coming through one after the other would be in all-capital letters, too.

Sasha heaved another sigh just to release the tension in her chest. Bright side to moving all the way to small-town Darby, Montana—her mother couldn’t just show up, or manipulate Sasha’s life anymore.

And that had been the point, right? One of the big points? To start over?

She’d grown stagnant in her job, and bored in her life. Her little old dog had passed away and she was alone in her apartment now. Her family life felt like quicksand, so yeah, she’d wanted to start over. With Timber and her husband. And also their brand-new Crew of criminals?

Gah, maybe Mom was right. Maybe she was ruining her life, but it was her life to ruin.

She was running half an hour late, on account of one of her tires had been losing air the entire drive here, and she kept having to stop and refill it. Her nerves were making her jittery. If Mr. Henderson, her new landlord, left without giving her the keys, she would have to figure out how to track him down in an unfamiliar town. A quick glance at the GPS said she was just a couple minutes away from the house she was renting by the month. She’d left herself room to back out of a lease in case this really didn’t work out. She’d also kept her options open on going back to her old job at the only hospital she’d ever worked for.

If Bitterroot Health – Daly Hospital didn’t work for her, she could always go back to her old life.

Sasha had an out. She had made certain she wouldn’t be trapped in this decision.

“Turn right on Sylvie Way,” the GPS instructed her.

She steered the new truck she’d bought for her new life down Sylvie Way and to the correct house number.

The small rental home looked very different from the pictures online. The grass didn’t seem to have been cut all summer or fall and was terribly overgrown, and was covered with a thin layer of winter snow. One of the shutters was hanging on by one loose nail, almost touching the scraggly landscaping. The roof had seen better days, and was a mossy-green color around the edges.

There was a man standing in front of the house, but he was unexpected too. She’d talked to Mr. Henderson several times, but he’d sounded like an older gentleman. This man was tall and built, and had short, brown hair, with no gray that she could see. He was staring right at her, his head cocked, his hands shoved into his jeans pockets. He pulled a set of keys out and held them up.

Right. She huffed a relieved sound. He had the keys, she wasn’t too late.

She pushed open the door and waved. “Hello!” she called as she tramped through the front yard. And tramp she must, because the sidewalk was nowhere to be found under the overgrowth. “I’m Sasha.”

The man wore a rather dour expression. He nodded once and handed her the keys instead of shaking her offered hand.

Right.

He made his way past her and straight to her Toyota Tacoma with the camper shell. He opened the back, and she called, “What are you doing?”

He pulled a box out of the back, and then strode past her. “What does it look like?” His voice was deep and gravelly, and didn’t sound at all like Mr. Henderson.

“I’m sorry, are you Mr. Henderson’s son? Or coworker?”

“No,” he said gruffly without turning around. He made his way inside, leaving Sasha staring after him with her hands out.

“Okaaay,” she drawled out. There was a strange man in her new house, carrying a box of her bathroom supplies.

She double-timed it toward her truck, pulled her phone out of the cupholder, and connected a call to her sister, Timber. She was alone in a new town and needed some backup.

Timber didn’t answer. Shoot.

The tall bodybuilder guy was back. He pulled a beanie out of his back pocket and slid it over his head, then grabbed another box.

“You really don’t have to do that!” she said, trying to take it from him.

“Yes I do,” he muttered.

“No, you really don’t,” she exclaimed, putting all her strength into trying to wrestle it from his grasp.

He released it, and she yelped and fell over backward. The heavy box landed on top of her.

“Oh…my…hell! That’s heavy!”

He glared at her, one eyebrow arched with his lack of amusement, then turned, grabbed another box easily, and strode past her and into the house. “One of your tires is leaking air.”

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“From the hissing sound it’s making.”

Oh. Sasha shoved the box off herself and lay in the snow, staring up at the gray sky, her arms and legs spread out like a starfish. This was about right.

“You can carry the light ones,” he gritted out as he returned empty-handed. “Clearly you’re one of those independent, can-do-everything-herself kind of women. Good for you. I still have to help.”

“You don’t!”

“I was ordered to,” he said in an overly-patient tone as he grabbed a pair of boxes this time.

“Ordered by whom?” she asked.

“Wreck.”

Sasha jolted upright, mind racing. “Wreck?”

“Yeah. You know, your sister’s mate?”

“You know me?”

“I don’t know you from Adam, ma’am. I’m just here helping you haul in your boxes of…” He frowned at the list she’d made on top of one of the boxes in his arms. “Pads.”

Well, that shot heat directly into her cheeks. “Um, I probably meant heating pads.”

“Pads, tampons, toilet paper holder, towels, and other girl stuff,” he recited.

If she could’ve rolled over and cooled her cheeks while lying face-down on the snowy, overgrown front yard, she would’ve. But as it stood, she was frozen in place, watching him disappear into the house again.

Being a thorough list-maker had never bitten her in the butt cheek until this very moment.

Mortified, she forced herself to stand and drag the heavy box from the snow to her chest. Legs bent and unsteady, she made her way clumsily into the house. Clearly this was the box with her cast-iron skillets, pots, and glass pans in it. She’d gotten it to the truck with the use of a dolly.

Her grip was slipping badly by the time she made it past the doorway. The giant stooped and caught the box before it hit the ground.

“I had it,” she mumbled.

“Okay,” he said in a dead voice as he toted it to the kitchen.

She cleared her throat and looked around the small, connected living and kitchen space. It was really dated, right down to the rusted light fixture, the stained laminate flooring, and the neon-blue carpet. The brick fireplace had soot stains on it all the way up to the leaky ceiling. It smelled weird in here—soggy, almost, with a hint of smoke.

The guy came to stand beside her, his focus on the fireplace. He made the entire room feel heavy. Was he a shifter? He must be, if he was in Wreck’s Crew. “Looks like the last tenant didn’t know much about the flue. That, or it’s clogged.” He knelt and looked up into the chimney.

“Do you know much about…flues?” she asked. She sure didn’t.

He pulled on a chain in the fireplace and backed up quick, before a cloud of soot fell into the fireplace.

He muttered a soft curse, then stood back and took a picture of the fireplace with his phone.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Negotiating,” he said simply, and then disappeared out the front door again.

Happy to avoid another weird crossing-of-paths with that one, she meandered into the hallway to check out the rest of the house. The sub-flooring under the laminate was soft in some places, probably rotted, and the bathroom looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a decade. First errand would be a trip to the store to pick up cleaning supplies.

“Is that all you got?” the man asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway of the bathroom.

She startled hard. “Oh, um…” She swallowed hard and really looked into his eyes for the first time. His eyes were different colors. One was brown, and one was blue, but that wasn’t the strangest part. His pupils were an elongated shape, not perfectly circular. She stood there frozen.

He had his hands resting on either side of the doorframe, but pushed off of it and dropped his gaze, breaking the spell. “You’ll get used to them.”

“Your eyes?” she murmured.

It was his turn to clear his throat. “Sure. Is that all you have, or is there a moving truck heading here?”

“Oh. No, that’s all I brought. The rest is in a storage unit outside of Laramie. I don’t know if I’m staying yet.”

“Timber thinks you’re staying.”

She huffed a small laugh and hung her head. “I don’t really know what I’m doing, tacking myself onto Timber’s life. She’s doing good.”

He was watching her, she could tell. She could feel his gaze like a blanket. “Being new ain’t easy. You’ll find your way just fine. Timber’s got a good squad, and she’s been talking them up about you.”

“Shifters?” she asked, daring to lift her gaze to his.

The man nodded once. “There are no humans in the Crew. You have to get used to us.”

She pursed her lips against a smile. “I haven’t spent a lot of time around you people yet.”

His face was handsome, with chiseled features. His hair was dark under that beanie, and his eyebrows animated over his bi-colored eyes. He had two-day scruff on his jaw, and a muscular neck that said he probably had a great physique under his jacket. Intoxicating man…if he wasn’t a shifter. “Well, us people are trying to pick our way through this life just like you are. If it makes you feel better, we’re all new around here. What do you want me to start unpacking?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. Really.” She let off a nervous laugh and shook her head. “Don’t need you unpacking my pads. Ha.”

His lips stayed thin and void of a smile. He told her, “I’ll start in the kitchen.”

She followed him into the hallway. “Um, I don’t know you. No offense, but I don’t want you unpacking my personal things.”

He turned, canted his head, and nodded. “Can you pull the order off of me then?”

“How…how do I do that?”

“Call Wreck? Tell him you told me no.”

“I don’t have his number. I tried to call Timber, but she didn’t pick up.”

The man handed her a phone with a simple black phone case. When she looked at the screen, she noticed Wreck’s name across it. The phone was ringing. She pulled it up to her ear just in time for Wreck to ask, “Is it done?”

“Hi, Wreck.”

“Sasha?”

“Yep, it’s me. I’m in town and your…friend…is off the hook. He helped me haul the boxes in, but I really would like some time to myself to get used to this place. If that’s okay. I appreciate the help, but it’s been a long trip and I’m good.”

“Sure thing. I’ll have him wait out front.”

“Wait out front for what?”

“He’s bringing you up the mountain to see the Cold Foot territory. It’s tricky getting up here. GPS is still pretty confused on where we are. I don’t want you getting lost up here.”

“Oh, okay. Tonight?”

“Your sister is planning something for you up here. Act surprised.”

Sasha laughed. “Really?”

“Yeah, she’s outside building a whole-ass canopy, and has a hot chocolate bar being set up. She’s been counting down the minutes until you got here.”

Touched to her soul, Sasha leaned on the wall…and yelped as it dented in.

The man’s steel grip was on her arm in an instant, and she huffed a shocked yell.

“What was that?” Wreck asked as the man righted her and released her quick.

“Oh, the house has some extra…character,” she said, glaring at the hole in the old, paper-thin drywall. Thank you, she mouthed to the man.

“Well, the welcome party will be ready in a couple hours,” Wreck told her. “Use Reed however you want.”

Reed. Cool name.

“Okay, thank you. Hey Wreck?” she asked before he could hang up.

“Yeah?”

“I…” She didn’t know what it was that her heart was wanting to say, and the words got all clogged up in her throat.

“We’re really happy you’re here, Sasha.”

The line went dead. Sasha lowered the phone and looked at the screen as it dimmed to black. A text popped up, and she felt like she’d been busted doing something bad as she read the message.

Fine, motherfurcker. $1400 a month and you do the repairs. That’s the lowest I’ll go. She can paint the house whatever color she wants. Just send me pictures.

“Oh my gosh, there’s a text,” she said on a breath, shoving the phone toward him. “Mister Henderson misspelled motherfucker.”

Reed tossed two fingers up, turned, and left. Just…left her there with his phone. “What did it say?” he called.

“It says ‘what are you wearing, I hope it’s nothing’.”

Reed stuck his head around the corner of the hallway. “What?”

“Just kidding.”

He rolled his head backward, and for the first time, she could see a glimpse of his smile. She also had a clear view of his muscular neck and his Adam’s apple, and she happened to think those were both very sexy.

He pointed at her and cocked his eyebrow, then disappeared back around the corner. She couldn’t help her giggle.

“Read the text,” he called from the other room.

She poked the text and read up a bit.

Reed had texted, Henderson, this place is a shithole, just like I told you when you were here. The foundation is bad and putting cracks all through the drywall, the roof is leaking, it smells like mold, and you didn’t even bother to stick around to meet her. She wasn’t that late. This house needs way too much work for what you’re charging her, and you know it. Drop that rent or we’re walking away.

Sasha arched her eyebrows. Oh, Reed was a man who demanded what he wanted, and apparently he wanted her to get a good deal.

He’d cut the price in half. In half! “He’s dropping the rent to seven hundred dollars,” she said to Reed as he came back into the kitchen.

“It’s still too high. You’re going to have to put money into this place just to get it liveable. The hot water heater isn’t working,” he gritted out from where he was testing the running water in the kitchen sink. “Plus, I looked it up. The pictures made this place look like a palace. That’s false advertising. It has to be forty degrees in here. Does the heat even work?”

Feeling overwhelmed and a little defeated, she shrugged. “You know more than me.”

“Hand it to me,” he uttered in that gritty voice of his.

She handed him the phone. He connected a call, put it on speakerphone, and set the phone on the counter next to the sink.

“What?” Mr. Henderson answered.

“The hot water heater doesn’t work, does it?”

“If you’re gonna bust my balls over every little thing—”

“Every little thing? Are you taking freezing-cold showers when it’s twenty degrees outside, Henderson? Are you? The heat isn’t kicking on either. There’re burn marks on the fireplace, is it clogged? I sent you a picture of it. She’s a nice lady, and you aren’t going to take advantage of her.”

“I’m not budging any more on the rent!”

There was grit to Reed’s voice as he locked his arms on either side of the counter and told him, “You will, and here’s why. There is some little part of you that is a decent man. In addition, we will be making the repairs to make this place livable and comfortable, and guess who that benefits?”

After a few seconds of pause, Mr. Henderson said, “Me?”

“You. She’s month-to-month, right?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s all you could get, right? I looked, and this place has been up for rent for a year with no tenants. It’s a small town and there are better homes to rent, and you didn’t put any effort into making this place livable, am I freaking close?”

Mr. Henderson cleared his throat, and after a pause, he begrudgingly said, “You’re correct.”

“Great, so you need someone working on this house, but you don’t want to pay them. Well, you’re going to pay your tenant by deeply discounting the rent. Five hundred dollars for rent, and she will be covering repair expenses up to five thousand dollars—”

“Now wait a minute—”

“I’m not finished! She will have a professional contractor for the house, and the work will be top-notch. When she is done living in this home, it will be rentable for your full fee to the next tenant. Five hundred, and we will do the repairs. Put it in a contract and email it to Sasha.”

The line had gone silent. “Who is the contractor?”

“Me.”

“I don’t know you—”

“Go google Reed Trainor, of Trainor Construction, Jacksonville, Florida. Look at the job list. This job is a slow Tuesday for me. Five hundred dollars, and I’ll send you a spreadsheet of the cost you would’ve accrued if you hired out for the work. You’re getting the better deal.”

“I’m going to look at your work. I’ll text you my next offer.”

“I’m this-fucking-close to walking away and putting her up in my place, don’t play with me,” Reed gritted out.

Sasha just stood there, staring at his hot face as he badgered this man and negotiated for her. She was used to doing everything on her own, but in this situation, when she didn’t know what was going on, she liked that someone was stepping up and stepping in.

“You have five minutes to figure this out,” he barked, and then hung up.

“Aaah, do I need to start looking for some other place to stay?” she asked.

“No, you can keep unpacking.” He left the water running as he made his way to a door and disappeared into what was apparently the garage.

“Do you want me to turn the water off?”

“Let it run,” he called.

Okie dokie. She ignored her pet peeve about running water and ripped the tape off of one of the kitchen boxes. A huge bonus to this house had been that it was furnished, so she could just move here with a few boxes and not make a huge deal of it, but now she was looking at the furniture with a scrunched-up face. The couch had holes that had apparently been doctored by the listing agent online, and probably smelled, and the coffee table and dining table were barely standing.

Sasha didn’t really know if she even wanted to unpack.

On the counter, Reed’s phone vibrated.

“You have a text,” she announced.

“What does it say?”

“Look, I’m really uncomfortable with this. You have a right to your privacy. I’m a stranger, and you don’t need me looking at your phone. What if it was a girl messaging? A lady-friend? Someone you’re dating? She has a right to privacy. Her messages should be seen by just you.”

“I’ve been in prison for ten years,” Reed announced, poking his head into the garage entrance doorway. “I talk to four females. Timber, my Alpha’s mate. Katrina, the Second’s mate. Raynah, a croc shifter who is heavily pregnant and fucking hates me, and you. Sasha. Sister of the mate of my Alpha. If anyone messages me something inappropriate, it’ll be a surprise to us both. I’m not there yet.”

“Not there…to dating?”

He pursed his lips. “I’ve been in Wreck’s Crew for a few weeks. That time was spent trying to get my bearings and find a job, and figuring out who the fuck I am outside of the prison dynamics. I’m not focused on women right now. I’m focused on survival.”

And there was something so beautiful in that admission. He was a stranger. He didn’t owe her explanations.

She chewed the side of her lip, and then dove in. “I’m a thirty-eight-year-old woman who has never been married. I have no kids. I am just focused on my job, and making my parents happy, but I’ve recently figured out that was all for nothing. My baby sister stood up and showed me how unimportant all of that was, and that happiness actually exists. And now I’m in a new place with zero friends, trying to absorb some of that good energy my sister found.” She inhaled deeply. “I guess we both don’t know what we’re doing.”

“You didn’t ask me the question.”

Oh, she knew what he was talking about. He was wondering why she hadn’t asked what he did that was so bad to get ten years in that shifter prison in Alaska. Sasha crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s none of my business.”

He nodded, and an empty smile graced his lips before he hung his head. “Yeah. I get that. I just keep expecting someone to ask.” He pointed to the front door. “I’m going to go get some necessities from the store.” He paused at the door though, and inhaled deeply before he turned toward her. “Do you need anything?”

She was still rocked from his admission that he’d been waiting for someone to ask what he’d done to get incarcerated. “Would you…” She swallowed hard. “I know you’re probably leaving for some space, and I respect that. You didn’t ask to come here and unpack my life, and I didn’t ask you to help. But would you mind terribly if I came with you? I don’t even know the closest store. I’m guessing you’ve been to it? Or if you want to give me the name of it, I can find it on my own. I’ve got a new truck outside just waiting for me to put more miles on it.”

He dipped his chin once.

“Great.” She offered her hand for a shake and said, “Can we start over? Since you are in my sister’s Crew, or Tribe, or Posse, or whatever it is. I’m Sasha.”

His strange eyes dipped down to her hand, then back to her face, and then he closed the space between them and slipped his huge hand against hers. It was warm, and strong. “I’m Reed.”

She gripped it gently and shook. “It’s nice to meet you, Reed.”

He held her hand for a couple seconds more, and parted his lips to say something, but there was a knock at her door. Reed released her hand and stepped back, ran his hand through his hair, and looked at the ground with a frown.

The moment between them broken, Sasha made her way to the front door and opened it. A giant of a man took up the entire front porch.

“Hi,” she greeted him, confused. This was definitely not Mr. Henderson either.

“Hey, I’m…” He laughed and shook his head. “I’m your neighbor. I saw your truck, and I figured I would come over and introduce myself.”

“Oh! Hello.”

“You’re just moving in here?” he asked.

“Yes. Yep, today is moving day. Officially.”

He nodded, his dark eyes on her. “I’m Garret.” He removed his winter gloves to shake her hand.

“Sasha,” she said, introducing herself. Good Lord, was Darby just full of large, handsome men?

“Uhh, I saw a guy helping you unload boxes. Is that your husband?”

“No, no. That’s my…well…”

“I’m an acquaintance,” Reed said from behind her. He reached forward and shook Garret’s hand. “Reed.”

“Oh, man, I didn’t mean to pry. I really wasn’t asking if she’s single or anything. I was just trying to work my way into introducing myself to you, too. Didn’t want it to be awkward.”

“No worries,” Reed said.

He turned to leave, but Garret stopped him. “Hey, is that your truck out front?”

“That’s my truck,” Sasha said.

“With the snowplow on it?” he asked, pointing. Sure enough, there was a white work truck with a huge, raised snowplow on the front of it parked across the street.

“It is,” Reed said.

“You work for MDT?”

Reed nodded.

“My brother is on a crew for the city too. Dylan? Do you know him?”

Reed’s face softened. “I sure do. I am new, but I met a Dylan the other day.”

Garret beamed. “That’s my brother, man. Small world. I saw your truck and I thought he’d come to visit me for a minute. It’s good to meet you guys. Look, I’ll let you get back to it. Just wanted to say hi. If you need anything, Sasha, let me know.”

“Restaurant recommendations?” she called after him as he made his way through the yard toward the house on the right.

“Abby’s Café has the best breakfast in town. For burgers, try The Shack. Beer and wings are at the 406 Saloon. Anything nicer, you’ll have to travel for. Darby is pretty small. You have a good night.”

“You too,” she called after him. Sasha wrapped her arms around her middle to ward off the chill in the air. “Nice guy,” she murmured to herself.

“There’re about four single women in this town. A woman like you is going to meet a lot of nice guys around here.” Reed cocked an eyebrow, gave her a knowing look, and made his way out the back door through the kitchen.

She followed him, mostly because she hadn’t seen the backyard yet. “So you are a snow plower?” she asked.

“Yep. My official job title is highway maintenance tech.” He jogged down some slick, creaking stairs off the sagging back porch and lifted a tarp to study the woodpile underneath.

“Isn’t that a government job?” she asked curiously.

“Sure is.”

“But aren’t you a felon?”

“Not according to my records. That stuff was wiped clean.”

“By who?”

He pulled an armload of wood from the pile and bustled past her and back into the house, refusing to answer her question.

“I work too,” she said, in a very un-smooth fashion.

“Oh yeah?” Reed started stacking the wood in the fireplace. “Where at?”

“I’m a nurse. I start work at the Bitterroot Hospital soon. It’s half an hour’s drive from here. My first shift is in two days. I’m kind of nervous. I’ve worked at the same hospital my entire career, and now I need to learn an entirely new system. Plus it’s a small hospital, and I’m sure I’ll be the new kid on the block, and…I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“Yep.”

“Right. I’ll let you do your thing. I’m going to head to the store. Don’t rob me, or I’ll tell Wreck on you. He he,” she laughed awkwardly. He’d gone very quiet.

“I’ll keep your stuff safe. Grocery store is just down the road. Take a right on the main road you came off of. You can’t miss it.”

“Okay.” She stood there for a few seconds, unsure if he was still wanting to go to the store too, but he seemed very busy messing with the fireplace. “Have a great night. I mean, until I get back. Have a great hour. Ha.” Her weird jokes were met with silence. “Great, I’m going to go hang myself now.”

“That’s not a funny joke,” he said, turning from where he knelt. “My dad hanged himself.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, horrified.

A smile stretched Reed’s lips. “Just kidding.”

The thought did cross her mind to slip out of her snow boot and chuck it at his head, but his chuckle was actually nice. “You’re a monster,” she accused him as she headed for the door.

“You have no idea. Hey Sasha?” he called after her.

“Yep?” she asked, peeking her head back past the door.

“Garret is a monster too. A bear, probably. Be careful of that one, will you?”

Her face fell. “A bear? Bear shifter? Like he turns into a bear?”

Reed nodded. “Places like these are hot spots for us. There is lots of wilderness to Change in.”

“Right.” Stunned, and trying to imagine Garret morphing into a bear, she shook her head and made her way to her truck. Her purse was still inside, along with her jacket that laid across the passenger’s seat. Her breath froze as she turned on her truck and pulled the door closed beside herself. She looked to Reed’s truck, and then to the frosty road ahead of her, and then to the house, where she could see Reed lighting a fire through the front window. He looked like a normal, super-hot human man from here. And Garret had looked super-normal too. What were the odds that the first two people she met in this town were shifters?

Today was strange.

A sudden urge took her to go and tell Reed “thank you” for the work he was doing, but she had a feeling a man like him didn’t want the small talk, and would rather be alone to do whatever work he was wanting to do.

His bone structure was really appealing. In her mind, she would call him Hot Reed.

He looked out the window, directly at her. She yelped and looked away, feeling busted. Was her window tint dark enough to hide her? She hoped so.

She pulled a U-turn, barely missing his truck across the street, and zoomed off for the store to buy a plethora of cleaning supplies and some groceries to stock the pantry with.

She was going to ignore the nagging feeling that she wished Reed would’ve gone with her.

That man was too interesting for his own good.