Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(11)
Katherine sighed, forcefully pulling herself out of her daydreams. She couldn’t be certain, of course, but none of the books her parents – mostly her mom – had bought for her and her sister about puberty mentioned the strange ability to smell other people.
Frankly, Katherine thought it bizarre.
Realizing that as she had daydreamed, her MP3 player had played through quite a few songs and was now in the middle of a particularly sappy one about unrequited love – not a good song to run to – she reached down to the device in her pocket so she could change the sound track to something a little more upbeat.
It was because she was looking down that she completely missed the man who had suddenly appeared in front of her. By the time she had looked up, it was already too late and she collided full speed into him, eyes wide as she looked up just in time to crash into his solid mass.
She was shocked that she didn’t plow him down, despite their rather substantial size difference. Instead, she practically ricocheted off him, her body flying backwards. It was a battle to stay upright on her two feet – a battle she was losing – until firm hands grasped her hips and righted her, allowing her equilibrium to return to her.
An embarrassed flush rising up her neck and spreading to her cheeks, she quickly stepped out of the man’s grasp. “I’m so sorry,” she immediately apologized, refusing to look up at his face as she did so – too mortified to, really. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“Are you alright?”
Katherine froze at the question. Not because it was unusual – she would probably ask the same thing if someone had crashed into her running as fast as she had been. No, her body had stiffened so quickly because she immediately recognized that she did not recognize the voice.
No one in Middletown had such a cultured timbre. The question itself was spoken softly, but there was an undeniably hard edge to the voice that had questioned her.
Curiosity overwhelming her, Katherine looked up despite her embarrassment. And what she saw stole her breath away. Those eyes. They were a familiar and intense dark blue – remarkably similar to the pair that had been haunting her dreams for over a week now.
The same, her subconscious screamed at her, they’re the same!
Katherine didn’t even realize she was staring – quite rudely, she imagined – until the man cleared his throat. “Miss? Are you alright?”
Katherine quickly commanded control of herself. “Yes,” she managed to respond, voice not the least bit shaky, she noticed proudly. She pulled the MP3 player’s buds out of her ears, quickly putting the small device in her pocket. “I apologize for nearly running you down. I must have been distracted and didn’t see you.”
The stranger – and he was certainly a stranger, for Katherine had never seen him before – didn’t respond right away and it allowed Katherine the opportunity to really look at him now that her eyes weren’t glued to his in shock.
He looked a lot younger than she had originally thought, his somber voice making him seem so much older than he must have been. In fact, Katherine wouldn’t say he was more than two or three years older than her.
He was also astonishingly handsome – the best looking male Katherine had probably ever seen. He was tall – well over six feet – and though he was somewhat lanky, he had an obviously muscular build. His angular face was perfectly symmetrical and framed by dark, disheveled hair that suited him entirely. He had an attractive nose and strong jaw line, which Katherine had to admit made her heart start beating a little faster than it should have been. And of course, there were his blue eyes, which were currently studying her as indiscreetly as she was observing him.
Both of them dropped their gazes, however, when a rather loud bang sounded to the right of them. Katherine looked over her shoulder at the noise, and saw that the elderly Ester Johnson, one of Middletown’s most notorious gossips, had stepped out of her house and onto her front porch, unashamedly watching them as she settled into a rocking chair.
Shaking her head at the blatant invasion of privacy, Katherine turned back to the man she had run into only to find that he was looking at her once again, his brow furrowed and his mouth pulled down into a slight frown. Katherine tried not to take the stranger’s less than friendly expression personally, but couldn’t help her heart from sinking a little, though she had no idea why.
Finally he spoke, an obvious dismissal, as he turned his back towards her. “Be more careful next time,” he bit out gruffly before walking away.
Katherine watched him as he did so, torn between feeling disappointed that this stranger who shared her dream wolf’s eyes was such a prick and anger that he had so rudely dismissed her – like she was a mere annoyance for him. A bothersome little girl.
Katherine grit her teeth at that thought and even sent a small glare towards Mrs. Johnson, who was still watching her rather interestedly. She was positive the stranger wouldn’t have been so coarse with her if the old coot hadn’t so tastelessly announced her presence.
As Katherine jogged away from the spot of the collision, she berated herself for taking the stranger’s rejection so personally. So what if the man – whatever his name was – had been handsome and made her heart race a little? So what if she felt an odd connection with him? He was obviously a jerk and she wouldn’t waste her breath on someone like that.
It wasn’t until Katherine returned home from her jog and was in the middle of having breakfast – she had made herself a few sausages, as that’s what she was craving – that she realized she had crashed into the man almost directly in front of Miller Road. A chill rushed through her body when she realized it, a too familiar feeling of trepidation flooding her.