SEAL Wolf In Too Deep(28)
Paul grunted and began to coat his roll with gobs of butter. “She made them for me.”
She was watching Paul, then pointed her knife at his roll. “Do you have enough butter on your roll?”
When Allan had shared meals with Paul, they always had to get an extra tub of butter—the large variety.
“He’d have us under surveillance during the full moon especially.” Lori peered into the empty butter container.
Before she got up from the table, Allan said, “Do you have another tub of butter?”
“In the fridge, thanks.”
He went to get it. “Wouldn’t Rowdy be surprised to learn we don’t have to shift during the full moon but can do it at any time.”
Lori shook her head. “He may be rethinking the lore, if he truly does believe we’re wolves.”
“So if he truly believes, what then?” Allan set the new tub of butter on the table in front of Lori.
She opened the lid, giving Paul a look that said this tub was hers, and he smiled back. “We’ll take care of Rowdy if it becomes a problem.”
“Turn him, right? We could use someone like him on the force and on our side.” Allan thought it could work, particularly since Rowdy had no family to speak of.
“Yes. I agree.” Paul winked at Lori, and she relented, giving him the new tub of butter. At least it was for his second roll.
Chapter 9
For three weeks, nothing happened. It was as if nothing had ever happened. No black sedan had been spotted. No more wolf killings. Maybe the killer had been disconcerted when he killed the wolves and they hadn’t turned into humans. Maybe he hadn’t realized the Cunningham wolf pack was located here and had just followed the dead woman.
As to the business with the man driving the red Camaro, no sign of it either, though everyone had been diligent about watching for it.
Allan was trying to be careful around Debbie, and he didn’t like it. He couldn’t tell her why he was backing away. Despite his behavior, Debbie was being really upbeat and good-natured about it, and trying to show it was no big deal. And that made the situation all the harder to deal with.
He could tell it did bother her, as evidenced by the way she averted her gaze at times when he caught her watching him, or when their hands touched or their bodies brushed against each other, and she’d pull away as if he’d burned her. It was killing him to treat her like she wasn’t important to him, except as a partner. He knew kissing her had been a mistake, because that little kiss and everything that had led up to it had made him fantasize more than once about what becoming intimately involved would be like.
She’d invited him over a few times and he’d skillfully declined, sometimes because he had other commitments and sometimes because he was trying to put some distance between them. The problem was that he couldn’t see her as just his partner or a human that he had no business getting involved with. He’d been short-tempered with Paul and his family too. They had tried to reassure him it was for the best, but he didn’t need them telling him anything where Debbie was concerned.
It was time to meet her and Rowdy at the pizzeria for another Friday night “date.” For three weeks, they’d done this, and he’d hoped to dispel any notion that he and Debbie were an item.
He tried to think about the case, but the way this was going, he was afraid it would end up in the cold-case files before long. Unless the killer struck again. Although they certainly didn’t want that either.
When Allan arrived at the pizzeria, he saw both Debbie’s and Rowdy’s vehicles. He had to remind himself they’d had fun every time they had met for dinner, though after the first time, Debbie had water to drink. Rowdy had asked her to go out with him a couple more times, but she still said no, to Allan’s relief. The more he saw her and got to know her, the more he wanted to know her even better. He genuinely loved her company, her smiles, and her teasing nature, and he loved to tease her right back. He’d grown more lax around her, allowing more of his wolfish nature to show—the possessiveness, the playfulness, and the sexual overtures—although he shouldn’t have. But she brought it out in him, and he had a hard time keeping his wolfishness under wraps around her.
That was the trouble when a wolf began to really get interested in a good prospect for a mate and the female wasn’t a lupus garou. He’d even allowed himself to envision her being turned, of him doing the deed. That was a dark road he had to turn back from now.
Then right in the middle of refilling Allan’s mug with beer, Rowdy asked Debbie out to dinner for Saturday night. And, hell, she looked at Allan, as if waiting for him to approve or get her out of it this time!
“We have a date tomorrow night at Captain O’Keefe’s Seafood Restaurant,” Allan said, smiling a little at Rowdy and hoping Debbie wouldn’t be annoyed with him for saying so. Of course he’d take her out, but that would just stir up things between the two of them again. Allan told himself he was just doing it to rescue her from Rowdy since he was trying to wear her down and she looked ready to fold. Or maybe she was playing her woman’s intuition—women could be tricky like that—and forcing Allan to take a stand.
Rowdy lifted his mug of beer in a salute to Allan.
Allan raised his to Rowdy. He ventured a look in Debbie’s direction. She’d folded her arms and was frowning at him.