Page 48

When the waiter came in with the first round of drinks, I slipped him the company card for our tab and told everyone to order anything they liked.

Maia sang first. I got the impression everyone else was too on edge, maybe needed a couple of drinks in their system first.

Her voice was lovely and light, slipping over my nerves like warm honey. This was all going to be fine. One night out, show Igarashi a good time, don’t act like a jackass.

I could handle it.

While she moved through the song, Seth watched intently, leaning over his knees. I knew that look too damn well.

Another sip of my IPA settled in my stomach.

“Care to order something to eat, or are you full?” I asked Dakota, holding out my phone. The menu was already pulled up, and something in me wanted Dakota to order frommyphone. More alpha-impulse driven provider nonsense, sure, but he took the phone, and I felt a thrill at it, even imagined the way his fingers would warm the cool glass and leave an imprint there.

I stared, thinking about impossible things that weren’t helped one bit by the way he bit his lip as he looked over the menu.

Dakota pressed against my side when he handed back my phone. He nudged my knee with his. “Do you want to sing something?”

I stared at him, and while I didn’t shrink, I could still feel heat flood my face. “I’m not half as drunk as I’d need to be for that.”

He caught his tongue between his teeth, smiling.

“What?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I thought wolves liked to howl.”

I blew out a breath while my heart did a little skip in my chest. Igarashi Minori stepped to the front of the room, picked something on a tablet and music began to play, the screen behind her flickering through an absurd video of a woman in a flowing dress, clutching her hands melodramatically.

Igarashi, for her part, was the perfect amount of dramatic.

I watched, stunned, as she belted her way throughTotal Eclipse of the Heart.

How the fuck was this the same woman who’d tersely taken over our office for the day?

She finished, and we all clapped, Dakota even letting out a whoop.

When Igarashi Minori sat down beside us, the bench bounced and she grinned. “You’re not...” She narrowed her eyes at me as she searched for the word she wanted. “Uncouth.”

I snorted. “And you’re not uptight, so let’s just leave it at we’ve both surprised each other?”

She took another second to size me up. Igarashi wasn’t a woman to make decisions on a whim, but when her expression softened, I almost let out a sigh of relief.

“To more opportunities to impress each other, then.” She lifted her glass, and I did the same. We clinked them together and took a sip, and when she lowered hers, she narrowed her eyes at Dakota steadily.

Was she going to ask him to come and work for them?

He... could. He might’ve signed a contract with us, but I wasn’t in the habit of forcing anyone to work for me who didn’t want to. Still, it took everything I had not to put a possessive hand on Dakota’s knee to keep him there.

Instead of a job offering issuing forth, a tiny frown puckered Igarashi’s lips for a moment, before she sighed. “Your smile... it reminds me so much of my uncle’s.”

I scowled, confused, and Dakota laughed nervously. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No,” Igarashi shook her head fast, taking a surprisingly large gulp of her drink. “No, not at all. I just haven’t thought about him inyears. I forgot what he looked like until you smiled and it... hit me.”

“Oh,” Dakota whispered. He ducked his head, and my wolf reared up when he shrank into the bench.

Maybe I couldn’t protect him—maybe there was no reason to—but I could still jump in and give him a moment to process that. “Is he no longer with you?”

Igarashi shook her head again. “He died. In a car accident, when I was in college. It was terrible. His wife and baby—one day, they were all there and—and so lovely. And in one night, they were?—”