How to Flirt With a Naked Werewolf - Molly Harper [57]
Apparently, we were back to not being civil. Great.
“Good morning, Cooper,” I said in a deliberately cheerful tone.
“Morning,” he mumbled. He looked tired again and sort of pouty, which was a strange expression on him.
“I was just telling Alan here about the bear we saw out near my place,” I told him, sending a significant look toward Alan. “It’s a good thing you got me and Oscar into the house before it got too close.”
“Why’d you tell him about that?” Cooper grunted.
“He was just telling me how many wolf tracks he’d seen near my house, and I told him that was nothing, he should have seen the bear.”
Cooper’s eyes locked with mine, sweeping my face in search of . . . what? Suspicion? Anger? Alan started asking Cooper questions I wasn’t prepared to answer about the bear. I’d been too terrified to notice how tall the bear was, any significant markings, whether the bear was tagged. Cooper’s face tensed as he rattled off plausible details, but he kept his eyes trained on mine.
“What exactly were you doing out at Mo’s place?” Alan asked.
Cooper’s eyes narrowed, his lips curling back ever so slightly, showing his even, white teeth. “Just being neighborly.”
Great, that was just vague enough to let Alan assume that we were having torrid monkey sex on my front porch when we were rudely interrupted by the bear.
Alan’s own teeth showed. “Well, it’s nice to hear that people are keeping a close eye on Mo for me.” He slid his hand across the counter and laced his fingers through mine.
I was not an expert in animal behavior, but even I recognized when territory was being marked. Alan might as well have been peeing a circle around my feet. He grinned up at me. Cooper scowled. I arched my eyebrows and pried my fingers gently out of Alan’s.
“I am choking on all the testosterone, so I’ll back away into the kitchen,” I muttered.
When I was at a safe distance, the tension seemed to ebb out of Alan’s face, while Cooper seemed to grow more agitated. He slid off his stool and slapped his baseball cap back onto his head.
“I’ve got to go,” he grumbled.
“What about your order?” Evie called as the front door jangled closed.
“Feed it to Alan,” he huffed.
“What was that about?” Evie asked me, putting aside the list of supplies we would need for our party menu of crab cakes, fancy ham biscuits, and “cheese pies.” (We couldn’t call them mini-quiches, or the male guests wouldn’t eat them.)
“I don’t pretend to understand the male mind, Evie, that one in particular.”
Evie shook her head. “The Amazons had the right idea. Keep men around for procreation only.”
I nodded. “And don’t let them speak.”
IN THE END, I wore the red dress to the Big Freeze party, just to get Evie off my back. And because I’d decided that I wanted to take Alan home with me that night. If anything would get that message across, it was the red dress.
Alan was the right choice, I told my reflection as I painted my mouth a bold poppy color. He was the only choice that made sense. And he couldn’t have communicated his interest any more clearly if he’d used a billboard. Why am I nervous? I wondered, smoothing my hair one last time before I slipped into my parka. Alan was a slow mover, but he was clearly interested. I wasn’t going to be rejected. I’d never been nervous about first-time sexual encounters. I didn’t get nervous about sex, period. I tried to shake off the weird aura of apprehension on the drive over, concentrating on the fun of the party, of flirting, of ending a particularly long sexual dry spell.
When I walked into the Glacier, I was apprehensive for a whole new reason. I felt both over- and underdressed. The men were in ties (with jeans) and the ladies in dresses that had probably been mail-ordered from the JCPenney Sunday Best collection. And then there was Abner, who was wearing an old suit made entirely of forest-green corduroy.
I shrugged out of my coat at the door of the saloon, and people stopped talking.
Awkward.
I gave a nervous little smile and ducked into the kitchen, where I found Evie warming the batches of appetizers