Page 9 of Claiming Her Cougar (Shifting Pines #2)

LIAM

I wish I had more time this morning for my meeting with Teagan and Jake, but I don’t want to be late for lunch with Mallory.

When I texted to see if she’d agree to meet me before I had to travel down to Maryland and Virginia to check our centers there, I didn’t think she’d suggest today.

That was a wonderfully pleasant surprise.

If lunch goes well, maybe we can meet for dinner one night before I go.

I need to get to know her better. She’s gorgeous, and she seems funny and down-to-earth.

Daphne and my family all have positive things to say about her, so that’s a plus.

Not that they knew many of the women I’ve hooked up with in the past, but that’s because I knew they wouldn’t like them.

Hell, I didn’t necessarily like them all that much either.

They were hookups, not relationships. My last attempt at a relationship was in college, and that was enough to make me shy away from anything more than mutually satisfying hookups.

Mallory doesn’t seem like a hookup girl though. She’s so connected to the company and Daphne that we couldn’t just hook up—it would be too messy.

Vegas was a fantasy. This is real life.

So, I’ll get to know her and see what could work.

Keep it casual, get together when we can, but nothing serious.

No expectations, no demands. She’ll have to understand I have other things in my life that take priority over a serious relationship.

Not that I can tell her about those other things until the Paranormal Hockey League is announced and it’s confirmed we’ve been awarded a franchise.

I’m still a hockey player at heart, and we’re a superstitious lot.

I’m not going to risk anything by talking about it too soon.

If it can work at that level, that’s good.

If not, well, I guess I’ll travel a lot more and stay out of the office for the next year to avoid any awkwardness before I leave the company.

I don’t see Mallory’s MINI Cooper when I pull into the parking lot. I made better time than I expected, so I’m a couple minutes early. Should I go in and wait for her? Get a table? Wait here in the parking lot so we can go in together? Drive around the block until she arrives?

I don’t know why this is so difficult. It’s not like this is the first time I’ve gone on a date with a girl.

Not that this is a date-date. It’s just a friendly lunch.

Maybe that’s why it’s trickier. I know how to act on a date, but how do I act with a friend that’s a girl?

Daphne is my friend, but I’m not trying to date her.

Okay, if she would’ve given me the time of day and taken my flirting seriously, I would’ve tried dating her, but she was always so hung up on my cousin, I knew there was no chance, so no pressure.

I’ve second-guessed myself so long that Mallory pulls in, takes the spot next to my truck, and solves my dilemma. I get out and approach her driver’s side door as she exits her car.

“Hi. Been here long?” she asks, leading me toward the restaurant.

“No, just got here. I was trying to decide whether to wait in my truck or go inside and wait.” I hold open the door for her.

“I’m so glad you were here first because I was stressing over the same thing,” she confesses with a laugh as she walks inside.

I chuckle as we approach the counter. I’m relieved she’s struggling with the awkwardness too.

“Next awkward moment. I’m paying this time. You can get next time. Deal?” I hope there will be a next time.

“Okay, but I’ll cover the tip.” She freezes and flushes.

“Just the tip,” I tease with a smirk. We both burst out laughing. I like that her humor matches my inner twelve-year-old boy.

“What do you want?” I ask as we look up at the menu board posted on the wall. The air is redolent with the scent of garlic as a fresh order of garlic knots is removed from the oven. Mallory’s stomach rumbles, and I wipe my chin to make sure I don’t have drool in my beard.

We look at each other. “Garlic knots,” we agree in unison.

“After all the holiday food, I should eat something healthy like salad,” she says, “but that’s no fun. Any interest in splitting an appetizer sampler and an order of garlic knots?”

Her green eyes are so pretty.

Oh, wait…she asked a question and is waiting for me to answer.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” I hope that was an appropriate response.

She smiles, so I guess it was. She turns her smile to the guy working the counter today. He gives her a big grin back, and I have the irrational urge to punch him.

“Hi, we’d like to split an appetizer sampler, an order of those delicious garlic knots and…two sodas?” She glances at me for confirmation on what I’d like to drink.

I nod in agreement and add, “A basket of fries too, please.”

I take out my wallet and hand over some cash while Mallory takes some bills from her purse to put in the tip jar on the counter. She’s a generous tipper. I like that. She grabs our cups and approaches the soda machine while the cashier counts out my change.

“What do you want to drink?” she asks, glancing over her shoulder.

“Coke is fine,” I reply, thanking the cashier when he hands me my change and says our order will be out in a few minutes.

We choose a booth by the window and settle in on either side and look at each other awkwardly. I decide to break the silence.

“So you had a nice Thanksgiving?” Wow, way to go with the scintillating conversation, Liam.

“I did. My family all won their divisions in the Shifter Sprint, so they were happy. They’re very competitive, so if one of them hadn’t won, they would’ve been grumpy.”

“You said you enjoy running. Do you race too?” It’s obvious she works out.

Her figure is deliciously curvy, and she’s fit.

She’s wearing black trousers with a subtle pinstripe and a dark green V-neck sweater that looks great with her dark red locks.

Makes her eyes appear a deeper green too, and the entire outfit showcases her curves.

I can see a hint of cleavage even though she’s wearing a white open-collared shirt under her sweater.

Nothing inappropriate for the office. She looks professional yet approachable.

I don’t know when I started paying attention to women’s fashion other than how easy it would be to get off and if it’ll wrinkle when I toss it to the floor, but I’m noticing details with Mallory.

“I ran cross-country in high school and college, but I prefer to run for my mental and physical health, not for medals. I just go out my back door and run the trails through the forest. I don’t need to beat anyone.

I’m the odd one in my family. I’m not competitive, and I don’t shift.

Whole family of wolf shifters. I mean the whole family.

Parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins—they all shift.

They have to go back a couple of generations to find another non-shifter, my grandmother’s cousin Marilyn. ”

I almost spit out my soda. “Cousin Marilyn? Like from that old TV show with the monsters?”

She grins. “Yes! A great uncle was a writer on the show and based that character on his cousin Marilyn. Obviously, a lot of the characters were exaggerated for TV, but Marilyn was based on family. I’m betting Thanksgiving was awkward for years after that.”

“Yeah, probably. How does your family handle you not shifting? We’re cougar shifters, but my mom is human.”

Mallory sighs. “I always felt like a burden when I was younger. Everyone would shift, but someone would have to stay behind with me. They’d try to make it seem like it was a special time we got to share, but I know they drew the short straw and missed out because they were stuck with me.”

Our food is brought to our table along with plates so we can share, and we take a selection of everything.

“Oh, my goodness. These garlic knots are incredible.” Mallory moans in delight as she takes a bite. My cock stirs slightly at the sound.

“The mozzarella sticks are good too,” I say after swallowing my first taste. “I’m sure you weren’t a burden.” She probably wants to focus on eating, but I can’t let our conversation go. Her nonchalant tone hides something else, some other feeling, I want to figure out.

“Oh, I was. My parents never said so, but my older siblings and cousins made sure I knew having to babysit me was a dreaded chore for the whole family. They weren’t trying to be cruel.

They can just be very…forthright. I’m the runt of the litter, shorter than everyone except for my nephews.

Everyone’s been trying to fix me up with a nice shifter man for years.

Marilyn married a human, and her branch of the family tree drifted away.

None of them shift. I think they want to hope I’m a fluke, and I can give birth to shifter kids and raise them in the pack.

” A rosy pink stains her cheeks. “Sorry to be talking about kids. We’ve only just met.

Well, met again after Vegas. It’s weird to talk about kids on a first date.

” The rose shade turns to scarlet. “Not that this is a date.” She’s stammering now. “It’s just lunch. That’s it.”

I reach out and touch her hand. “It’s not weird. We’re getting to know each other. Cougars aren’t pack animals, but I have a close human family. We don’t have a pack dynamic to complicate things. We do that well enough just being ourselves.”

That brings a smile to her lips, and my heart gives a funny little thump.

Do I ask? What the hell. “So your family tries to fix you up with shifter men. Is that what you want? To date a shifter?”

“Um, it depends on the man. Not that I want to date anyone. I’m focusing on my career from now on.” She grimaces. “I’ve dated shifters and humans, and both have cheated on me, so I want someone loyal. I’ll probably end up with a Bernese mountain dog.” She laughs. “As a pet!”