It took every scrap of strength that I had to tear my gaze away from hers before I got lost in her eyes. Truth be told, we were probably only looking at one another for a second, but it felt like a lifetime. The effect she had on my body was unreal. It was almost as if all the organs in my body had been dead ever since I left the military, and one glance at her had them all sparking back to life in a very excited way.
“Hey there, Cole,” the bartender, Angela, called out to me. “The usual?”
“Uh, yeah, sure.” I swallowed hard, feeling a bit off, like my feet weren’t quite touching the ground anymore. The foundation that my world had been built upon had been whipped away. How did one second have me knocked off my feet like this? It was wild!
I tried my hardest not to keep looking at her, but it was impossible. She had this magnetic quality about her that continually dragged my eyes her way no matter how much I tried to resist. Thank goodness she was no longer looking at me.
“Been one of those days, huh?” Angela asked me knowingly. “Summer season is when all the tourists come out the woodwork and make it hard on you by getting lost.”
“You could put it that way…” I wasn’t giving her much, but I honestly couldn’t get my head on straight.
Angela tossed her head back and laughed. “Ah, so you’re going to be another one eyeing up the newbie, huh? This has been going on all day long.”
That caught my attention. “What do you mean? You know anything about her?”
“Only that her name is Miranda and she’s new here. She seems quiet. I don’t know how she’s coping with all the attention she’s getting.”
I spun on my chair to check her out again and saw a couple of skeezy local guys trying to flirt with her. It didn’t seem to matter how uninterested she looked, they weren’t giving up. I fucking hated guys like that. Like, just take a God damn hint already. I could feel my protective bear rising to the surface, wanting to save her from whatever those assholes were doing.
“She’s definitely got some drama going on,” Angela whispered dramatically. “She was getting a bunch of phone calls earlier, and they were making her very upset. I bet she’s a damsel in distress type, running away or something.”
God damn it, now my protective side was almost overwhelming me. I could hardly contain myself, the pressure was building up inside me so badly. I was pretty sure Angela could sense that, because she kept on talking, encouraging me.
“I definitely don’t think she’s going to be looking for attention from men if that’s the case. She isn’t going to be wanting a relationship, especially not from that sort of guy…”
I rose to my feet, my heart thundering in my ears as I stormed toward the table where the guys were sniffing around the new woman like dogs.
“Get out of here,” I growled angrily. My tone of voice meant business, and even the dumbest of idiots could get it. Both guys turned slowly to face me like they were going to snap back, until they caught the darkness in my expression. “She doesn’t want you here, and neither do I. Get the hell out of here.”
“Actually, I was just going,” she said as she jumped to her feet. “I don’t want to cause any trouble or anything. I need to get home, so…”
“Then I will walk you to your car,” I insisted, not taking no for an answer. “You don’t want to bump in to any unsavory characters while you’re leaving.”
The guys knew I meant not to follow us or they wouldn’t leave in one piece. I didn’t trust them as far as I could throw them.
It wasn’t until we were outside the bar and on the way to her car that she spoke up again. “Thank you for that. I couldn’t seem to get rid of them with anything I said. I guess some guys don’t know how to take ‘I don’t want a relationship’ as an answer.”
“Yeah, I think you might be right about that one.”
“I’m Miranda, by the way. It’s nice to meet you. Nice to see a friendly face.”
“Cole.” I nodded in her direction. “I could say the same thing about you.”
That much was true. It had been a long time since someone made me smile like this. I wasn’t sure what it was about her. She just had this energy that burned off of her in endless waves, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
We stood by her car for a moment as pinkness stained her cheeks. I so wished I could fish around in her brain and see what was going on inside, but of course all I could really do was offer her a smile and hope she was happy now.
“Thank you again.”
She leaned up to kiss me on the cheek, to thank me once more, but I couldn’t stop myself. I let my playful side get the better of me. Without even thinking about what I was doing, I tilted my head to one side and caught her lips, just the edge of them. But it was enough to have my heart exploding like a freaking firework. Holy shit, she really was something special.
“Can I see you again?” I asked, because I hadn’t wanted something this badly in a very long time. Even the feeling that this wasn’t going to go the way I wanted it to didn’t deter me. “Just for drinks or something?”
“Just for drinks.” She smiled and nodded. “Because this she-wolf doesn’t want to get involved in anything while my life is still very messy.” Miranda might have let out a little laugh, trying to play this off as a joke, but I could see there was a deeper meaning to those words. I learned so much from that one sentence. She was a wolf shifter, which got me tingling more than I thought it would, and she was running away from something. Or someone.
“Just for drinks,” I reassured her. “That sounds good.”
“Okay, great. Let me give you my number and we can arrange something later on.”
I handed her my phone, and as she typed in her digits, I could feel an intense energy burning between us. Something new and very thrilling.
As we parted ways and I watched her drive away, I felt my heart skip a few beats. There was something about Miranda that made me feel special. I couldn’t wait to see where our next date, even if it was only a friend date, led. I had a feeling that wouldn’t be the last time I spent time getting to know the beautiful new blonde in town.