Read Online Longing for Wolves (Shifter Country Wolves Book 5) by Roxie Noir - Free Book Online Page B

Calder said.
    “Where’d you get the suit? It looks familiar.”
    “Come on, Ingrid.”
    Annika drained her champagne glass and stood.
    “I should go,” she told Jessica. “Nice meeting you.”

    The wedding went by in a flash, the way weddings do: everyone smiled and laughed and cried. Then they took pictures and got drunk and danced.
    In the kitchen, plating a million cookies, Annika and Scarlet could hear the beat coming through the walls.
    “What happened with Calder last night?” Scarlet asked. She placed two shortbread surprises just so, overlapping on the plate.
    “Nothing,” Annika said.
    “Nothing?”
    Annika shook her head.
    “He was super drunk,” she said. “It was tempting.”
    “But?”
    “But no more sleeping with guys who need to be fixed,” Annika said. “I don’t need another project .”
    “I was a project,” Scarlet said.
    “That’s different,” Annika said. Scarlet just shrugged.
    “He found someone else, anyway,” Annika said. “There’s a giant hickey on his neck, so he got some from somewhere.”
    Scarlet didn’t say anything, just looked very, very thoughtful.
    “You said someone picked him up from a cabin in the woods?” she said.
    “I think so,” Annika said.
    “Sam lives in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.”
    “Oh,” said Annika. She stared at the cookies, blinking. “I guess that’s better than some random girl.”
    “You told him to get his shit together,” Scarlet said.
    “So he goes and fucks his ex? That’s not what I meant.”
    Scarlet just laughed, and Annika looked at her, confused.
    “You’re thinking in twos,” Scarlet said, her eyes dancing. “This is shifter country.”
    She grinned. Annika turned deep red, and Scarlet grabbed two plates full of cookies.
    “I cannot date two men at once,” Annika whispered.
    “Never say never,” said Scarlet.  
    She stepped closer to Annika and whispered into her ear.  
    “And if you really feel that way, try not to imagine Calder and my hot boss Sam naked together,” she said.
    Then she was through the kitchen doors, carrying cookies into the reception.

    She could barely look at Calder for the rest of the night without thinking of Scarlet’s suggestion, which inevitably made her forget what she was saying and nearly drop plates.
    I don’t even know Sam , she thought. I talked to him once and thought he was hot.  
    For that matter, I don’t know Calder either, other than they’re both projects .
    It was late when she was finally finished carrying all her equipment to her van, and the wedding was mostly over. Annika took one last, long look in the back of her bakery van, then slammed the doors shut.
    “Annie,” said a voice behind her, and she whirled around.
    “That’s not my name,” she said.
    “Sorry,” Calder said. He walked out of the brightly lit house and into the dim parking lot. His tie was undone and he was holding an almost-empty whiskey glass in one hand, his shirt untucked.
    Cliché , Annika reminded herself.
    It didn’t matter. He was still fucking hot .
    “I heard they’re opening up the Tooth and Claw for an after party,” he said.
    “Are you propositioning me again?” she asked.
    “What would you say if I were?”
    “I’d say you’re drunk again, and you’re leaving Rustvale tomorrow, and I stopped involving myself with men who disappear a long time ago,” she said.
    Not that I don’t want to see you naked , she thought.
    “What if I don’t leave?” he asked.
    “I’ve heard that one before,” Annika said.
    He drained his whiskey, then put the empty glass on top of an AC unit. Annika frowned at it, but didn’t say anything.
    “You saw Sam last night,” she said.
    Calder frowned, then laughed, then shook his head.
    “Does everyone know?” he asked. “Is it the giant hickey?”
    “I don’t think everyone knows,” Annika said. “But people can put two and two together. Scarlet figured it out and told me.”
    “Right,” said Calder. “Yeah, I