Chapter 22

Chapter 22

I shivered as darkness closed in around us. Snow fell down softly, making me wish I had worn a heavier coat. I silently cursed my Honda Civic for still not starting.

I watched check the coolant levels by the combined light of his flashlight and the headlights of his Aston Martin. With him bending over the engine to dip the stick, I got a good look at his toned ass, almost making my knees buckle in desire.

“All right, that should be enough coolant,” Andrew said as he finished pouring the liquid into the radiator. “Why don’t you hop in and give it another go?”

I was thankful when my legs didn’t wobble as I rushed inside the car. Shaking from the cold, I put the keys in the ignition and turned them. I let out a sigh of relief as the engine turned over without overheating. “Thank the goddess!” Andrew exclaimed as he slammed the hood down.

He put his tools and coolant back in the trunk of his Aston Martin. I walked up behind him, unsure of how to approach him after our near–k*ss.

“Thank you for your help,” I said, my arms crossed over my chest to shield myself from the cold.

“No problem.” He looked around at the sky, as though just noticing the dark and the snow. “Well, there’s no use going home now, is there?”

“No, I guess not. I guess it’s another night in a hotel for me.”

“Not necessarily. I have an acquaintance in town who might be able to shelter us, at least for the night.”

I shook my head.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that-”

“Consider it done.” Andrew pulled out his phone, “Go wait in your car while I call him.”

It didn’t take long for Andrew to confirm with his acquaintance that we could stay with him and his lady friend for the night. What I didn’t expect when we pulled up to the well–kept purple–and–blue Victorian was that it belonged to Eliza, Mr. Vanderbilt’s lady friend, or that Andrew’s acquaintance was Mr. Vanderbilt

“Andrew, why didn’t you tell me that your acquaintance was Mr. Vanderbilt?” I lightly chastised him as Eliza showed us into her home.

He shrugged.

“It didn’t cross my mind.”

“Enough of this “Mr. Vanderbilt‘ nonsense, Crystal, call me Nikolas,” Mr. Vanderbilt–Nikolas–added. “And let me take your jacket.”

“All right, Nikolas.” I shrugged out of my jacket and handed it to Nikolas. “This is a lovely home you have. Eliza.”

“Thank you. I chose all the furnishings myself.”

Most elderly women have an obsession with angels or cats. Eliza’s obsession was wolves. She had wolf figurines, wolf pillows, a wolf rug, and even a painting of a pack of white–furred wolves howling at the moon hanging over the fireplace.

Susan was most pleased with the décor. She also loved Eliza’s dog, a black–and–white pit bull mix named Donner. Admittedly, I loved him, too.

“They are quite lovely,” Andrew said, admiring a replica of the sculpture The Capitoline Wolf.

“You’re both too kind. Please, come have a seat. We were just about to have dinner, and there’s plenty for everyone,” Eliza said, gesturing towards the dining room.

A miniature feast appeared to have been prepared, with roast beef, baked potatoes, mashed yams, and steamed carrots and broccoli. I could even smell a blueberry pie baking in the oven. I could hardly imagine this elderly couple eating all this on their own, so I wondered if they had thrown it all together at the last

minute when they heard that the Alpha King and his guest would be staying with them.

Andrew pulled out a chair and motioned for me to take the seat. I blushed slightly, bowed my head in gratitude, and sat down. Nikolas did the same for Eliza, and then the men took their places at either end of

the table.

“It all looks divine,” Andrew said as he picked up his glass of red wine. “I assume you cooked it all yourself, Eliza?”

“Oh, I had a little help from Nikolas. He loves to mash the yams.”

She took Nikolas’s hand and k*ssed the knuckles. The gesture, though small, warmed my heart.

“Thank the goddess the two of you found each other,” I said. Embarrassed by my own abruptness, I took a generous sip of wine immediately after.

Nikolas laughed–the first genuine laugh I had heard from him the entire time that I had known him. “Yes, thank the goddess for that.”

He raised his wine glass, as though in a toast, and the other three followed suit, before they all drank long and hard.

“Andrew told Nikolas that your car broke down and that he had to help you with it,” Eliza said as we all dug into our food.

“Yes, he did.”

“Well, then I suppose we should thank the goddess that the two of you found each other as well.” She winked

at me.

My cheeks flushed furiously.

“Not in the same way that you and Nikolas have, though,” I countered.

“Even though he does have a 99.999% liking of you,” Susan reminded me.

“Oh, you never know where such things can lead,” Eliza said with a giggle.

Nikolas snorted and patted Eliza’s hand.

“Don’t listen to her, now. She’s been watching one too many movies on Lifetime.”

“Pardon me! I would never watch that trash,” Eliza said with a grin. “It’s one too many romance novels that I’ve been reading.”

We all shared in a hardy laugh.

“That is true, and these two do look like they walked off the cover of one,” Nikolas‘ remarked.

I squirmed uncomfortably, and Andrew cleared his throat.

Eliza lightly smacked Nikolas on the arm.

“Oh, sweetheart. Now you’ve gone and made them uncomfortable. How am I ever going to get them together if they’re too busy squirming from your racy comments?”

We laughed again, but this time Andrew and I exchanged uneasy looks.

“Of course, I’m just joking around,” Eliza said, “but you two would make the cutest couple.”

“Second to you and Nikolas, of course,” I quickly replied.

Nikolas leaned over and gave Eliza a peck on the l*ps.

Dinner continued like this for an hour, with Eliza trying to play matchmaker and Andrew and me trying our hardest to amuse her without getting too uncomfortable. It was an overall fun and pleasant meal, though, and one of the best I had had in a long time. Nikolas and Eliza’s open displays of affection warmed my soul and made me long for deeper companionship.

Something must have stirred within Andrew, too, because after dinner he asked me to join him for a stroll in the snow.

We walked close, so close that our hands almost touched. Even though we hardly talked, there seemed to be so much weight within that silence that we could nearly feel it. Every time I started to speak, something would stop me, and the same seemed to happen to Andrew.

I couldn’t stand being so close to him after what had almost happened while repairing my Civic. His b*dy heat radiated onto me, melting away the cold of the snowy night air. I could practically feel his skin beneath my tingling fingers, and his smell…that rustic, masculine, yet uniquely him smell….

I stopped dead in my tracks and grabbed Andrew’s wrist. He stopped walking and turned around to face me.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, stepping closer.

“No. Yes, I’m not sure…I think I need to…”

“You need to…what?”

I closed the half–step between us and pressed my l*ps to his. I lingered for a moment, allowing myself to taste him, before I pulled away.

Then I ran.