Page 21 of Loup Garou
“I do not mesmerize anyone. Ipushwith my voice, Lindsay. And I would never do it to you or your mother.”
“There’s a difference?” I put my hand up again. “Don’t answer that. Just please get me out of this, Dad. Do the daddy-mind-trick. Andyou’re wrong. I remember you using it on Mom when you broke her favorite, one-of-a-kind, little angel statue thingie. You so made her think the wind knocked it off the table. So don’t tell me you don’t use it on Mom. Please help me get out of this.”
“Non. Not this time, Lindsay. I think you will be most pleased when you arrive.”
“Most pleased? Ugg. Get a cape. Run around town telling people you want to suck their blood. Do it, Dad. Skip to the chase. Bela Lugosi them. Do it.”
The sound of him laughing made me laugh too. “À demain—see you tomorrow. And, Lindsay, it is a formal dinner.”
“Ooo, formal? Am I dining with the president? Does this mean I have to shower? I bet I can’t wear shorts. Damn.”
“Lindsay.”
“Allez, salut!” Hanging up, I found Exavier giving me a lopsided grin that he somehow managed to make look sexy. “What?” I popped a fry into my mouth.
“Nothing. I just forgot how funny the two of you are together.”
“Huh?”
“So, you do know that you’re hired? Can you leave with me tomorrow night? After you’re finished having dinner with your parents, of course. I can make sure you have the manpower at the center to keep it running smoothly if I can have your undivided attention. I want you all to myself. I’ll even see to it that every birthday for the little ones at the center is covered, Lindsay.”
Choking on the fry, I just stared at him.
He took a bite of his burger and waggled his brows. The tiniest bit of ketchup oozed out and onto the corner of his mouth. My first instinct was to lick it off. It would assure my tongue was close to his mouth. I held back and motioned to it with my hand.
Exavier’s tongue darted out and over his bottom lip. He slid it over and cleaned the ketchup away with such erotic ease that I whimpered. He looked as though he were trying not to laugh. “Are you going to yell at me for not using a napkin?”
“No, I’m going to fantasize about what else you can do with that…oh…yeah, you should use a napkin.” I dropped my gaze, mortified by what had come out of my mouth. The fact I was embarrassed spoke volumes. I normally didn’t care what I said around anyone.
Harly came back with a refill for Exavier and nodded towards the parking lot. “Let the drama begin.”
I glanced out the window and instantly felt as though I’d been kicked in the gut. The first thing I spotted was the black motorcycle pulling in. The second was the man riding it—Detective Jay Gonzalez. His jean shirt was unbuttoned a bit, leaving his caramel-colored chest showing. The way he’d rolled his sleeves to just under his elbow left his muscular arms in plain view. His stubble-covered jawline never ceased to make me want to kiss it. The color matched his close cut hair. I already knew how brown his eyes were even though they were obstructed by sunglasses.
Harly began fanning himself with his hand. “Oh, honey, he doesn’t look too happy. What did you do this time?”
“Me? Why do you assume I did something to piss him off?”
Charles laughed so loud from behind the counter that I wanted to crawl under the table and hide. Harly shrugged. “Gee, Lindsay, let me think. You’re the one who got mad at him for insisting you lock your doors at night so you locked him out while he was in nothing but a pair of,” he winked, “banana huggers. Whew, that was quite a banana they were hugging too. The ordeal started becauseyoudid something stupid and upset Jay.”
Charles leaned over the counter. “Then there was the time Lindsay brought home that homeless guy and he turned out to be some vagrant wanted on attempted murder charges. Jay was so mad he actually spent the night teaching her to cross the street at the corner, stop, drop and roll and anything else he could think of. I thought it was cute since he was trying to prove a point—if she hadn’t figured out that bringing home strangers wasn’t a good idea, she might not have gotten other fundamentals that children in kindergarten do.”
Harly laughed. “If memory serves, didn’t Jay end up spending weeks begging for her forgiveness? He finally showed up on her front lawn with the children from the center and flowers. He knew she’d open the door for them. Well, that or he planned on using them as a buffer. With Jay, one never really knows.” He nudged me. “So, what did you do this time, Lindsay?”
Staring at Jay as he pulled his bike to a stop in the center of the parking lot and dismounted, I shook my head. “Honestly, it wasn’t my fault this time. I don’t remember anything past one of them leaping at me and me letting my power out. I can’t stop them from coming after me.”
“Can’t stop who from what?” Harly asked. “What power, honey?”
Realizing my slip, I forced a smile to my face and glanced at Exavier. “Excuse me for a minute.”
He looked less than pleased. I touched Harly’s shoulder on my way out of the booth. “If I’m not back in here in, like, five minutes, call Gina to come calm Jay down.”
“You mean kick his ass back around the corner to the center?”
“That too.”
Harly nodded and I headed towards the exit. The minute I walked out, the afternoon began to burn my sensitive eyes. Jay stared down at me from his six-foot-three-inch height and chewed his gum. It was something he did when he was annoyed. Since he’d given up smoking, it seemed to be a constant. Come to think of it, once he and I began dating, it was even worse. Thankfully, we weren’t an item anymore and hadn’t been for a while.
Hmm, me cause someone stress? No.
