Page 20 of Same Thing
“Oh. Right. Talking is against the rules?”
His nostrils flared with his big inhalation, but he didn’t respond. Okay. Silence it was between them. She reached for the volume control and found a radio station she liked.
He was one of those smooth boys who maneuvered big pickup trucks easily, and drove with one hand, and one out the open window, even though it was early in the morning, and freezing cold.
Thankfully, his truck had booty warmer seats, so she hit the button for hers and zipped up her jacket.
“Cold?” he asked.
“I’m good now!”
He took a right and then rolled his window up three fourths of the way. “I feel trapped in small spaces,” he admitted.
“That must be awful.”
He chewed the corner of his lip and looked at her like he wanted to say something, but changed his mind and focused on the short drive. There were a few cars in line for the drive through at the coffee shop, so she got a few extra minutes with him. Silent or not, she still liked being around him.
He ordered them both coffees, and she tugged at his arm and asked if she could also get a breakfast sandwich, and that she wanted to pay. And that man ordered eight breakfast sandwiches—eight—and then refused to let her help pay.
On the way back, she absently hummed along to the song on the radio as she unwrapped one of the breakfast sandwiches. She held it out for him to take a bite, and he gave her the strangest look. She held it closer to his lips, and he leaned forward just enough to take a bite. While he chewed, she spread a napkin over his thigh just in case he needed it.
“Those are really good.”
“Yeah, I bet most people don’t order eight of them at once,” she said with a giggle as she offered another bite.
He took the bite less awkwardly this time and then took the sandwich from her hand. “You eat yours,” he rumbled around the bite. “I heard your stomach growl.”
The wrapper crumpled loudly as she unsheathed her breakfast sandwich and took a bite. The cheddar cheese was melted onto the sausage patty just right. “Oh my gosh,” she groaned.
“Fuck, human. Stop,” he gritted out, adjusting himself.
Her eyes flew open wide, and she nearly choked. “I’m sorry. It’s just good. I love having these…in…my…mouth—”
“Nory,” he growled, sitting up straighter like he was uncomfortable.
“Accident,” she assured him. It really was. She’d never successfully seduced a man outside of Stalker Jackson in her entire life.
But secretly, deep inside of her in a place that would never see the light…she loved that she had any effect on this man’s body. She’d given him a boner with just a groan. He liked her. He liked her at least a little bit. Or maybe male werewolves were just rutting animals that got turned on by everything. That was also a distinct possibility. Actually, now that she thought about it, that was probably it. He probably had overactive werewolf wiener syndrome or something. She wasn’t sexy. Nory was awkward, and weird, and smelled slightly of dog shampoo, and never said the right thing. Boys didn’t get turned on by girls like her. She’d learned that over the years.
He pulled in front of her apartment building but didn’t park.
“Off to work?” she asked, hugging her half-eaten breakfast sandwich to her chest.
“Why did you keep that coaster?” he asked.
The coaster? He must’ve gone through the memory box on her coffee table earlier. Her heart went to hammering against her chest. “I don’t know. I guess because it was a good memory.”
He studied her face. “It didn’t even have my full phone number on it.”
“That’s okay. That wasn’t why I kept it.”
“You have a whole box of trinkets. Are they from guys?”
“What? No!” Nory shook her head. “That’s a memory box.” She got quiet and didn’t want to leave him like this where she was upset, but she was also having a lot of emotions right now.
“You’re mad.”
“I’m not.”