“I guess so.”
“You guess so? What sort of guy are you interested in? There’s no one in this town full of hotties that’s piqued your interest? You need a fling, Emma.”
Emma glanced around her own living room like it was the first time she’d seen it.
“Oh my goodness. You had one. You did, don’t try to deny it. Who? Was he one of the hunky shifters here in town? He must be. You never go anywhere.”
Emma shrugged and took a big bite of Della’s pizza, the best in the tri-state area. “Shh, the movie’s starting,” she said with her mouth full.
Halfway through the movie, they stopped for a break and shuffled out into the kitchen.
“It’s snowing.” Mia bounced beside the slider in her kitchen. She’d found the half-drunk bottle of wine and two glasses. “Want some wine?”
“Sure. Why not?” Emma watched the snow come down. If she were a wolf shifter, living out in the middle of nowhere made sense. Goddess, she needed to push him out of her brain. Perhaps if Shiori was out at the building this week, she could have her do a wiping spell on her to forget Flint.
She scrunched up her nose, remembering the way she’d shattered.
Or not.
14
His phone rang, and he contemplated not answering it. But it wouldn’t work with who was on the other end. She’d call back. His younger sister had a thing about not giving up. There hadn’t been an emergency when they left the restaurant or when Viv called Eloise in the first place. Just his sisters playing matchmaker. He’d bet his life on it.
“Reagan.”
“Dumbass.”
“What did I do now?”
“The twins set you up on a perfectly good date and you blew it. Do you know how hard it is to find a decent prospect for you? Someone you haven’t already slept with and not a relative? Do you?”
Flint held the phone away from his ear. How had his little sister found out about his transgression?
“Don’t even talk about it like you didn’t mess it up. I was in the Pick-n-Pay when Mrs. Anselm came in and she told me how you and the cute redhead left the Riverside Cafe before eating, and she was all for it because she was worried you were going to be getting it on in the middle of her dining room and she didn’t know how she was going to keep Nate the cook from flipping his lid and walking out in the middle of his shift. Cooks are so temperamental. And then Mrs. Anslem goes off about how she saw the very same redhead storming over the bridge three hours later looking like she was going to cut someone’s head off.” Reagan took a breath. “And the three of us assumed the person’s head she wanted to cut off was yours. So tell me, big brother, what did you do?”
Flint glared at his phone.
“I’m switching to video chat. I want to see your face,” Reagan announced.
Flint took a deep breath. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. The phone chirped, and why he pushed the accept button was beyond him. “What do you want me to say, Reagan?”
His sister’s face appeared. “You fucked up. Again.”
“I guess that depends on your interpretation.” He’d messed up, but it wasn’t something he was going to admit to her.
“You have to come to the pack run tonight.”
Flint tried to not let his irritation show.
“You don’t get into fur enough, and it makes you all cranky.”
“I get into fur enough. If you talked to the twins, then you know I left Eloise’s place last night in fur.”
“Right, but one night in the last six months isn’t enough to appease your wolf, and you understand that, right? The pack is having a run tonight.”
“I’m not coming.” He put his phone on the counter and opened a bottle of beer. “And I’m not Tad. I shift plenty.” He thought about how he’d slept on the ground on Saturday. He doubted that all of his siblings combined had had as much time in fur for the month as he’d had this week.
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter why.” The fact that he’d sprayed his mother’s bushes and his alpha, his cousin, was going to want to know the answer to the same question wasn’t the only reason. Moreover, his wolf had been itching for him to get into fur since he’d come back to the house, and if he did, he had a good idea of where he was going to end up. And he already had a crick in his neck from sleeping on the ground outside of the little apple’s townhouse.
Reagan huffed. “All right. I need you to come.” Flint picked the phone back up. His sister’s eyes flitted to the side. “Ross is going to be there. At least, that’s what Tonya said, and you know I can’t––”
Fur prickled the skin on his forearms. “Who said that ass could run with us?”
“He’s related to Bonnie’s mate. He’s visiting, and . . .”
“Third cousin or some shit. Might as well be a stranger.” Hell, now he had to go. Ross, his sister’s ex, was the son of the asshole alpha of the Philly Grand pack from out east. Spencer, the Hundsburg alpha, couldn’t not let him run with them while he was in town. There was too much tension between the two packs already. But the hell would he let his sister be out there with no protection.
“Never mind. Cousin Duncan and Gunnar will make sure he doesn’t get near me––”
“Reagan. What time?”
“Really? I owe you.”
“Do you owe me enough to stay out of my love life?”
“No.”
