Page 4 of His White Moonlight (Dominant CEO Shifter Romance #1)

“I was. I was also unable to leave. Am I not allowed to take a car?”

They shared another look. This time, Mom’s expression conveyed a hint of annoyance. Good. I hoped she gave Dad an earful for being too controlling.

“Of course you can take a car,” she said. “Just let us know where you’re going before you leave, okay? You know we worry.”

“Okay. Tomorrow I want to take a car to go shopping.”

“Tomorrow?” Dad said. “We were hoping you could start that job your mom mentioned tomorrow.”

“Where am I working?”

Dad grinned. “Wulf Enterprises.”

“Give it a try before you say no,” Mom said quickly.

“Fine.” I needed summer work for college expenses anyway.

“Perfect,” Mom said, giving me another hug, then standing. “Bennett will drive you in at seven. Make sure to set your alarm.”

“I can drive myself,” I said.

“He’s going to the office too. Why waste the gas?”

“Why can’t I go with you then?”

“We worked late so that we can take tomorrow off.” Mom smiled and waved goodnight before closing my door.

I stared after them in disbelief. They wanted tomorrow off? What about today, the day I came home for the first time in forever?

Closing the laptop with a snap, I set it aside and turned off the light.

It doesn’t matter, Wrenly. Earn the money and reclaim your life. You’ve got this.

* * *

Mom and Dad were already gone when I came downstairs for breakfast. Bennett sat at the table, reading a tablet and eating his omelette. He looked up when I entered.

His sweeping gaze was so neutral as it traveled down the length of me that I wasn’t sure how to interpret it.

Then, he spoke.

“Don’t you have something more…business casual?”

I looked down at my jeans and T-shirt, which were similar to what I’d worn the day before.

“I lived at a boarding school with a uniform for four years, Bennett, and I wasn’t expecting to be pushed into working at Wulf Enterprises on my second day home. How would I have business casual clothes?”

“Mom sent you clothes. Purses. Shoes.”

“Those weren’t business casual, and I sold them for drugs and alcohol.”

His gaze narrowed on me. “You’re lying.”

“And you’re annoying. I guess we can’t help ourselves.” I pulled out a chair and reached over to steal a piece of toast off his plate. “How soon are we leaving? Do I have time to ask for an omelette too?”

He watched me take a bite of his toast and glanced at the door a second before a woman entered with another plate.

“Sandy?” I asked as she set it down in front of me.

She nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Belak.”

“Please call me Wrenly.”

“I’ve made ham and cheese omelettes this morning. If you have any preferences in the future, let me know.”

“I’m not a picky eater, so I’m happy with whatever you make me.”

When she left, I dug in, eating quickly since it was close to seven. Once I finished, I stood with my plate in hand.

“Leave it. Sandy will get it. Are you ready?”

“Give me two more minutes.”

I set the plate down and ran upstairs to gather my things and brush my teeth.

Bennett was still in the same spot, minus the dishes, when I came back downstairs.

I followed him through the kitchen, saying a quick word of thanks to Sandy, and out into the garage.

He pulled a familiar key fob from his pocket and unlocked the car I’d taken the day before.

“Am I driving?” I asked.

“Not today. We need to make a stop on the way to work.”

I didn’t argue about the driving since I knew Wulf Enterprises was in the city and didn’t care about the stop.

Bennett walked around the car and opened the door for me. It felt weird, but only because courtesy wasn’t something I’d had much of over the last few years.

My phone buzzed as he shut the door.

Mom: Have a great first day, Wrenly. We’ll see you after work.

Instead of responding, I set my phone on my lap and stared out the window as Bennett drove out of the garage. I loved Mom and Dad, but they made it so damn hard to like them at times. How could they not see that they’d abandoned me? Again.

Bennett didn’t talk on the way into the city, which was fine since I was paying attention to the route until he reached a bustling area and turned into a parking garage. I didn’t question it and got out.

He gave me a strange look as he joined me.

“Next time, wait for me to open your door.”

I glanced around the parking garage. It was well-lit, clean, and in a business area. Did he think something would happen to me with him standing on the other side of the car?

“Wrenly.”

He said my name with enough irritation and warning that I knew not to start anything with him.

“Yeah, sure. Next time, I’ll wait.”

Like a bodyguard, he walked beside me out to the sidewalk.

The cool breeze swept my hair to the side.

It felt nice. Actually, it felt nice just to walk around in public.

I looked up at the tall buildings, trying to figure out which one was Wulf Enterprises.

I didn’t know much about the family business, except that it and its subsidiaries employed thousands of people. That seemed pretty big to me.

Bennett walked so close to me that his hand brushed mine twice. Did he really think this area was dangerous, or did he think I was that clueless? When he caught my arm, I jumped and looked around, thinking there was something wrong, as he steered me toward a glass door.

Too late, I saw the mannequin in the window next to it. Resistance was futile against Bennett’s determination to guide me into the upscale boutique store.

“Good morning, Mr. Wulf,” a woman said. “We have a selection ready in the fitting room.”

“Thank you.”

My steps slowed as I navigated through the sparsely stocked store and around a wall that separated the storefront from the fitting rooms. Another woman waited for us there and indicated the rack of clothes outside an open door.

“The grey one first,” Bennett said, sitting on the sofa there.

The woman took the suit jacket and matching skirt off the rack, along with a pair of matching heels.

I stared at the heels.

“Wrenly?” Bennett said, his tone laced with impatience.

I struggled to suppress the anger simmering beneath the surface.

“No.”

“What?”

I met his gaze. “No, I’m not changing into that.”

“Put it in the changing room," he said without looking away from me.

The woman did and then quickly excused herself, leaving me alone with Bennett, which was just fine by me.

Locked in a silent battle of wills, neither of us looked away from the other. Then he slowly stood. His movement had an animalistic, barely restrained edge that set off all my warning bells…as I knew he intended.

He crowded into my space.

Rather than back down, I crossed my arms and tipped my head back to look up at him.

“I will become your worst nightmare if you push this,” I said, meaning every word.

He took a slow, deep breath. “Will you tell me why you don’t want to change?”

“Tell me why I need to.”

His jaw ticced. “Why are you nice to everyone else, but defiant or rude to me?”

“You reap what you sow, Bennett. When have you ever been nice to me?”

He frowned slightly, studying me, then backed up a step.

“Mom and Dad asked me to take you somewhere right after work. It’s supposed to be a surprise. You’ll feel out of place if you go in jeans.”

I uncrossed my arms, hating that Mom’s manipulations were already starting.

“Thank you for telling me. How dressy do I need to be?”

“Business casual is fine.”

“What will the other women there be wearing? Business casual or something dressier?”

“Dressier.”

“Okay.” I turned to look at the rack, and the saleswoman magically reappeared, proving she’d probably been listening from the other side of the wall.

“Do you have any cocktail dresses and flats?”

She hurried to bring me two options—a dusky blue and a mauve.

I tried them on and decided to go with the blue one, along with a nude flat, strappy sandal that didn’t hurt my feet.

When I left the dressing room in jeans, Bennett didn’t comment.

He just paid the bill and carried the bag back to the car with me.

The drive to the office only took another ten minutes. We were late when we pulled into the underground parking garage, but I didn’t think it would matter much.

To show that I could be cooperative, I waited in my seat until Bennett opened the door for me. I even threw in a thank you to prove I was the bigger person. He still had the nerve to be annoyed, though. I saw his pupils dilate slightly before he looked away.

Whatever.

I followed him to the elevator, which required a badge to operate. The doors opened to a lobby teeming with people and a bank of main elevators.

People said good morning to Bennett but gave me curious side glances—whether it was because I was with him or because I was wearing jeans while everyone else was in skirts or slacks was up for debate.

We rode the elevators up to the twelfth floor. A reception desk sat just inside a set of glass doors.

The woman smiled at Bennett and said, “Good morning.”

Her sweeping glance at me bordered on rude, and I internally sighed. It was going to be a long summer.

Did I need the money that badly if I had already saved the first year’s tuition?

Unfortunately, I did. I wasn’t sure what Mom and Dad’s reactions would be when I revealed my plans, and I wanted to be financially prepared for complete independence if necessary.

That meant tuition and living expenses. Possibly a car payment too.

And experience working at Wulf Enterprises would look good on my resume if I had to work somewhere else next summer.

Bennett didn’t even acknowledge the woman as he opened the door to the right of the reception desk. It led to a larger area filled with desks. He continued along the wall, reaching a hallway that had a few conference rooms and connected to another area filled with cubicles and desks.

He stopped by the first one, where an impeccably dressed brunette woman sat in a pantsuit that hugged her curves so tightly that it probably gave her back support. Her caramel gaze lifted to Bennett’s without even a flicker in my direction.

“Milena, this is Wrenly.” He looked at me. “Milena will show you around and get you set up with an access badge. Let me know if you run into any trouble.”

“Yep.”

I heard a disbelieving snort from the nearby sea of desks. Bennett looked away to stare at the offender. Some poor idiot would be lucky not to be fired by the end of the day.

“Seriously, I got it. You can go,” I said, hoping to spare whoever it was.

He glanced at me then left with his jaw ticcing.

Milena waited until he was out of hearing distance to say, “Let’s save ourselves time and skip the tour since we both know you’re not here to actually work.”

I turned to her. “Oh? Then what am I doing here?”

Someone laughed quietly.

“Making the Wulfs feel good about their philanthropy. Why else would they employ the normie they adopted?”

Mom’s voice rang in my head. Don't say no until you give it a try.

I knew the Wulf’s loved me, but couldn’t they see how much I didn’t fit into their world?

“Does this mean you’re refusing to give me the tour then?” I asked. “It’s going to be hard to explain why I don’t know my way around or have an access badge when my benefactors ask me.”

Her pupils pulsed larger with irritation as I held her gaze.

“Useless,” she said under her breath as she stood.

If she meant the tour, she was right. She showed me where the break room and bathrooms were, got my badge from Human Resources, and then led me to my desk, which was located in the exterior part of Bennett’s split office suite.

I knew it was his suite because of the big nameplate screwed to the wall beside the door.

“Just do whatever you’re told to do,” she said before leaving me there.

The desk, which was fully stocked with writing implements, paper, and fancy leather-bound notebooks, in addition to a laptop and a large monitor, was positioned adjacent to the glass wall that separated my area from Bennett’s main office area.

The blinds were currently closed, along with the door, so I didn’t know if he was in there or not.

I sat at the desk and called Mom.

“Hi, Sweetheart. Are you settled in at work?”

“I guess. What exactly is my job?”

“Didn't Bennett tell you? You’re his assistant.”

“Excuse me?”

I couldn’t have heard that right…