Page 7 of Knotting Hill (How I Met My Monster)

Will

I hardly know what I say to Prana Solis to extract myself from the situation. She certainly gives me a strange look, but that’s OK. In ten minutes she will have forgotten I exist.

What’s astounding is Bella Owens still hasn’t forgotten I exist. In fact, even after I somehow made a hash of her invitation and this date—at least I hope it’s a date—she’s apparently waiting to see me.

Perhaps she just wants to berate me for interrupting this important event and getting in the way. That seems likely.

I look around once I leave the interview, but can’t spot her. My nose tells me she’s close, but I could be wrong. This suite is full of her scent. It’s contributing to my inability to get out the right words about a hundredfold.

As I step out of the hotel suite and into the corridor, a hand closes around my wrist. “Quick!”

I don’t have time to question it. Bella drags me around a corner and down a flight of stairs. I follow breathlessly, head spinning with her scent and trying to work out what she wants.

She stops and despite my wolfish reflexes, I almost bowl right into her. Without thinking, I take hold of her upper arms to steady us both.

She’s laughing. Her eyes dance with it, showing off their startling blue color. Her wide smile is begging for me to lean in closer and—

“Do you think we lost them?”

I drag my eyes away and straighten. “Lost who?”

She stretches up to whisper in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “Everyone!”

I’m laughing, too, when she scans the corridor and hurries to a closed door marked ‘Ballroom’. When she turns the handle, it opens and she steps confidently inside.

I hesitate in the doorway. “Are you sure we’re allowed to be in here?”

Bella snorts. “Haven’t you read all those stories about how much of a diva I am? I get whatever I want.”

Before I can argue, she disappears into the large open room. I’m forced to follow or stand in the corridor like a chump.

I shut the door as softly as I can behind me. “Bella?”

I can’t see her straight away. I scan the shadows. Chairs are stacked next to bare round tables in the center of the room and large heavy curtains cover floor to ceiling windows all along the far wall. Following the bright, sunshine scent of her instead, I turn toward the far corner where a banner on a stand advertises a charity event from last weekend. “What are we doing here?” I half whisper.

There’s a giggle from behind the banner. “Stealing time.”

When I get close, I spot her there in the dark, her generous mouth spread into another wide grin. She beckons me closer and I take another step toward her. It’s a long way from full moon, but the wolf in me rises at the sense of the hunt and the idea she’s within my grasp. I can feel my teeth elongating into fangs and my ears stretching into pointed tips.

I hope against hope she doesn’t notice the extra fur on my arms and chest I can’t seem to control.

“Do you ever wish you could be someone else for a day?” she says wistfully.

I can’t help laughing. “Sure. Someone successful.” I wish I could call the words back, worried they reveal too much about my shortcomings.

Bella’s smile grows sad. Like the pleasure seeped out, leaving only the image of the expression. “What is success, anyway? Where does it end? Is there a finish line you can step over when you’ve finally made it?”

Oh, wow. I know we’re not talking about me anymore. I hate to think of her constantly under pressure. I’ve never thought about celebrity like that before. “I suppose not. Sorry. Shortsighted of me.”

“No. Not shortsighted. How could you be expected to know? Maybe it’s me being selfish and ungrateful.”

Hesitantly, I reach out and stroke a gentle touch along her cheek. The contact makes my heart pound in my chest and I can hardly believe it when she doesn’t pull away. “You don’t strike me as selfish or ungrateful.”

“What do I strike you as?” Her face tilts up toward mine. She holds my gaze with an intensity that unnerves me.

I wonder if there’s a wrong answer here.

Or a right one.

I can’t offer her anything other than honesty, though, so I open my mouth and let the words sort of pour out at her feet. “Beautiful. So astonishingly beautiful that I could forget my own name when I’m near you. But you’re so much more than that. Warm. Charming. You have that thing that makes every person in the room want to look at you. To be near you. God knows I want to.”

We’re standing so close and my senses are so heightened by almost shifting I can spot her pupils dilate. Her indrawn breath is unsteady. Her eyes are bright with tears. “Oh, fuck. Don’t cry. You’re clever, too, and um—”

She breaks into a smile again and throws her arms around my neck. “You had me at beautiful.”

This time, I’m almost ready for her kiss. Ready enough I can do more than simply stand there and try to remember to breathe like last time. This time, I actually participate, sliding my lips against hers and daringly placing my hand at her waist to hold her close.

She’s sweet yet spicy, soft yet firm. All the perfect contradictions wrapped up into one and I’m utterly, completely bewitched.

I hardly know how long we kiss.

When she moans against my mouth, a little more of my wolf escapes. Claws replace nails. I’m fairly certain my tail starts to sprout from my backside, because all of a sudden I feel a powerful urge to wag it.

I pull away before a claw can spike her and shut my eyes, forcing the wolf down again.

When I open them again, she’s looking concerned. “Sorry.”

“No. Please don’t apologize. I’m sorry. I just... have a habit of getting carried away, and I didn’t want to scare you—” I break off before I can stuff my foot all the way into my mouth.

“I didn’t want you to think I was taking advantage of you again, that’s all,” she says.

“Ha! You could never. I’m rather ashamed to admit you could probably do anything to me, and I’d thank you for it.”

Her brows lift. “Anything?”

I swallow thickly. Then I nod.

“Be careful. I might just take you up on that.”

I have to refrain from the urge to pinch myself to check if I’m dreaming. Bella Owens just stole me away and kissed me, and now she’s propositioning me?

I can’t, though, can I? Not unless she knows what I am. I shouldn’t have kissed her again.

There’s no chance of getting through a whole intimate encounter without a partial shift. I’ve never felt this excited by anyone else.

“I should go,” I murmur.

I can see straightaway that’s the wrong thing to say. Only, I need to regain control of myself.

Flustered, I blurt out the first thing that comes into my head. “Come to dinner with me tomorrow. I mean, please. Would you?”

Her bright smile breaks over her face and I’m struck once again at its childlike eagerness. “I would. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing fancy, I’m afraid. I’m cooking, so I apologize in advance, but it’s my little sister’s birthday, and I’m having some friends around, and I’d like you to be there. I’d like to see you again.”

“I’d like that.”

For another moment we just look at each other, and I wonder if I have the willpower to actually carry through with leaving.

Then she takes my hand and leads me out of the ballroom. She doesn’t let it go until we’re standing at the door to her suite. “Are you sure you’d like me at your family dinner?”

Is there even a question? My wolf is howling she is family—pack. “Of course,” I tell her emphatically.

She stretches up to give me one last kiss on my cheek, soft and chaste, and sweet as a gentle spring breeze. Then she opens the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah. Tomorrow.”

She steps into her suite and closes the door behind her.

I stand there and try to collect my wits.

God, what have I done? My sister, Candy, has about as much cool as the Sahara and the rest of my pack are nearly as bad. Nothing for it now, I suppose.

There’s no denying the thought of seeing her again, of having her in my home, feels more right than I have words to express.