Page 13 of What a Wolf Wants

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” Then Ethan got up and went to the buffet table.

She was surprised he was so nice to her after she had bitten him. She probably wouldn’t have been if the roles had been reversed, and that had her thinking abouthimcoming out of the shower naked and her having a gun aimed at him. The unbidden thought of him dripping wet made her bodyheat and she felt like she was having a sudden hot flash.

Then everyone returned to the table with plates of food and took their seats. They all began to have conversations around the tables and Charlene said to Ethan, “I hear you’re moving to Oyster Bay.”

“Yeah, I hear you’re going that way too.”

“Yeah, we might even be neighbors. But you’ll no longer be on the force so you won’t be breaking into any more houses. Though if you were, I would let you know my address so you wouldn’t give me any more trouble.” She took a bite of a juicy, green grape.

He laughed. “No more warrants, no more break-ins. But I’ll gladly take your address and your phone number.”

She smiled, fished out one of her business cards, and handed it to him.

He looked at the card. “So you rent out properties.”

“I do. Do you want to rent one until you find a place of your own?”

He chuckled. “I’ve got a place.”

She sighed dramatically. “I’ll have to scratch you off my list of prospective renters then.”

He laughed and gave her his phone number and the address to his new place.

Tori finished the food on her plate and said, “Hey, I’ve got to head in to work, but this was grand. We’ll have to do it again when you come back to the city, Charlene.”

“Yeah, Sierra and I have to go in to work too,” Adam said, standing and helping Sierra from her chair.

Leidolf said, “I’ve got some things to take care of at theranch.”

“And I need to get some materials ready for a speech I’m making to a group at a college,” Cassie said.

That she probably knew by heart, Charlene was thinking.

“We paid for your bill too, Ethan,” Leidolf said. “We’ll all see you at your retirement ceremony this afternoon.”

“Thanks!” Ethan said. “I appreciate it. I’ll see you there.”

Then everyone except the two of them left the restaurant while Charlene asked for a refill on her maple espresso black tea. She hadn’t expected everyone to leave so all at once, but she suspected it was in part for her to visit privately with Ethan a little longer.

“I’m going back for seconds. Do you want anything?” Ethan asked.

“Sure, I’ll get some more fruit.” She rose from her chair and joined him. “So I take it that you took the bad guys down and just didn’t get shot and lose them.”

“They’re in jail, but trying to get bonded out, of course.”

“Great. Hopefully they won’t be.” She’d considered telling Ethan she had been a homicide detective, but she’d given up her job and didn’t really want to have to explain why. For now, she was the owner and manager of rental properties. It was amazing how someone’s view of her could change when they learned what she used to do. Sometimes not in a good way. She always suspected that the ones who were shocked and didn’t have anything more to do with her had dirty little secrets they didn’t want her to know.

“After they shot at us, I believe they’ll remain incarcerated.But you never know.”

She got a new plate and added some cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and more grapes. They were so sweet. “So what are you going to do for a job when you move to Oyster Bay?”

“I have a retirement check so I’m going to chill for a little while and figure things out.”

“Oh, sure. And recuperate from your injuries.” She noticed he was favoring his injured arm and had winced a few times. “I still can’t figure out why you would leave your friends behind.”

“I’m not. I’ll be seeing them. But I might have a new friend there to enjoy some wolf runs with.”

“Me?”