The Wolf Who Played With Fire: New Adult Paranormal Romance (Cry Wolf) (18 page)

Jessa nodded, a frown tugging at her lips. “We can help. Have you taken him to the hospital?”

Mr. Sexy narrowed his eyes first at her, then he slid his gaze to me. “He’s more into the holistic, alternative approach to medicine. He’s assured me that if this doesn’t work, he’ll go to the doctor.” With another caress of his gaze over my body, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Think you can handle it, princess?”

My jaw dropped. For a moment, I couldn’t believe he was both checking me out and kind of insulting me. “Yeah, I know a recipe. I’ll just get the ingredients and head home. When do you need it by?” That was stupid question. He’d just told me his friend was injured. There wasn’t time for me to mess around. “Sorry, I can drop it back by a little later.”

“Why can’t you do it here and now?” Irritation hardened the set of his jaw.

Jessa jumped in before I could say anything. “While we have the ingredients to make the salve, she would need her supplies.” She waved her hand around the store. “I don’t have everything here. Usually—”

“That’s fine. I’ll be back before the store closes. That’s a couple hours from now, correct?” At Jessa’s nod, Mr. Sexy turned on his heel and was gone before she could say anything, the bells chiming in his wake.

I ran a hand through my hair, staring at the door. Shock radiated through my chest. A man I didn’t know, with an injured friend who he wasn’t forcing to go to the hospital, wanted a potion from me. Too much about this situation was weird. And one person had set this all up.

Jessa widened her eyes. “Don’t look at me. I had
no
idea it would turn out as it had. Besides, you never really do anything with your magic. I figured you would be happy to explore more of your power. That’s what you want, or else you never would’ve sought me out.” She tapped her chin, mischief sparkling in her eyes. “I’ll share the profits with you, fifty-fifty.”

Sighing, I shook my head. “I want your help with my power, but you threw me under the bus. You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to do this or not! You decided for me.” This day could end whenever it felt like it. My bullshit limit was rapidly approaching.

If things weren’t bad enough, I had a date with Greg tonight, on top of needing to make a healing salve. It would take time to get right. If this guy’s friend really was in bad shape, then I needed the proper blend of herbs and supplies. If I rushed this, I could end up doing more harm than good.

“What? Oh, come on, honey. Don’t be that way. You know I have the best of intentions.” Jessa sounded hurt, and I couldn’t stay mad at my best friend. That would just make the whole situation worse.

“Fine. Your intentions were good, regardless of how it came across. Now help me get the ingredients. Ugh! I’ll have to put this together quick. I’m so glad my date isn’t until late. If Greg had scheduled to pick me up when he gets off work, I’d be majorly screwed.” I opened a jar of lavender, sniffing the relaxing scent, and felt a hundred times better.

Jessa placed a few jars in a tan tote bag with her store’s logo on it. “I can’t believe you’re still seeing him. Doesn’t your brother hate his guts?” She glanced at me, a look of disapproval in her eyes.

“Geez...you as well? Can’t a girl have relationship bliss without even her best friend disapproving? Why does everyone have to second-guess me and my decisions?”

“Honey, it’s not you we’re second-guessing.” She wrapped her arms around me, stroking my back gently. I rested my head on her shoulder. “It’s your choice in men.”

I jerked away, not happy with the direction this was going. “That’s not fair! Everyone has their moments of.... Fine. I’m not thrilled with dating Greg, but I won’t break his heart before Christmas. Besides, I don’t want to be alone for the holidays. Sue me if I’d rather be in a lame relationship with a pushy guy, than with no one at all!” I tugged a jar of wolf’s bane off the shelf and dropped it in the tote bag. “If you all have such a problem with me dating him, then why can’t I do the deed after the New Year? It could be a resolution.”

Jessa opened her mouth to give me a piece of her mind, but my cell phone chimed a melodic dubstep tune. “I’ll ring this up.”

Nodding, I mouthed a thank you. “Hey, Greg.”

“Sis, if you ever call me that again, we’re going to throw down, and you know I’d never hit a girl.” Nolan’s tone was playful, but his voice resonated with a clear underlying anger at the mention of my boyfriend.

“Sorry, Nolan.” Hearing my brother’s name, Jessa glanced in my direction, and I walked a little farther away from the counter. “What do you want?”

“Huh, why do you ask like that?” Mischief saturated his words, and I wished I hadn’t answered the phone. Nolan was a great brother. However, behavior-wise, most people usually thought I was the older sibling instead of visa versa. Wonder why.

“Now isn’t—”

“Ethan is arriving home tomorrow. I have to work late, so you don’t mind picking him up from the airport, do you?”

I sucked in a breath, surprised he was even asking me this. Should I turn him down? Make him find someone else to handle this?

“Great. I’ll text you the flight info. Thanks, sis.”

“Nolan!” His words punched me in the gut. “Nolan?” Looking at the cell phone, I gritted my teeth, seeing he’d taken the coward’s way by hanging up once he had what he wanted. When was I ever going to learn?

“Honey? What’s wrong?” Concern softened Jessa’s voice.

I shrugged, not wanting to get into this.

“No, you can talk to me. What did your brother do this time?”

I headed to the register, closing the space between us. “It’s just that I have so much going on, but Nolan has delegated to me the responsibility of picking Ethan up from the airport tomorrow. If I were him, I would have at least tried to get off work, especially since he’s known about Ethan coming back home for the holidays.” Letting out a sigh, I grabbed the tote bag’s handle, but Jessa held onto it.

“Call him back. Tell him you can’t.” She smiled at me. “Besides, Ethan is his best friend, so he should grow some balls and deal with it himself.”

“I’ll do that.” Jessa’s smile turned into a glare, and I threw up my hands. “I’ll do that right now then.” Digging into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and rang Nolan. The chime of a text came through in my ear. Ethan’s flight details. But I only managed to get through to Nolan’s voicemail. “He’s not answering. Grrr....”

Jessa shrugged. “If that’s the case, you’ll have to let it go. It’s Nolan’s problem. While you love your brother, you can’t let yourself get caught up in his faults. Learn to say no.”

Easy for her to say now, when she’d basically done the exact same thing to me by telling me to come visit her shop and then nearly forcing me into Mr. Way-Too-Sexy’s arms.

“Great advice. I’ll have to remember that next time something gets shoved down my throat.” Pushing the tote’s strap onto my shoulder, I squeezed my hands into fists. “Sorry. I know you meant well. You’re my friend and mentor. You want me to use my magic. Nolan, on the other hand, is just being lazy.”

While she looked a little hurt, she grimaced. Shame slumped forward her shoulders. “Chin up. It’s going to be okay. Especially if you were to dump—”

“Jessa!” Weren’t people supposed to chill once I got out of college instead of being so...pushy? Argh! They didn’t have any right to push their agendas into my decision making.

Copyright © 2013 Sarah Mäkelä. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2014 Sarah Mäkelä

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments, or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without expressed written permission from the author.

Editor: Tessa Shapcott

Cover Artist: The Killion Group

ISBN-10: 0991046951

ISBN-13: 978-0-9910469-5-9