CHAPTER THREE

SADIE

With the weather turning cooler, I really don’t have much choice with my clothes. Outfitted in snug jeans, a cranberry red turtleneck with a brown vest tossed over it, I take particular care with my makeup and hair. My blue eyes are my best feature, so I play those up as much as I can.

I have a problem with being late. Time has a habit of getting away from me despite my best intentions. And so it’s no surprise to me that it’s ten after five when I pull into the sanctuary’s parking lot. In my defense, I’ve never been here before and needed to rely solely on my GPS. The fact that I left my apartment later than I should have also didn’t help.

But I’m here now and rush out of my car toward the front entrance, almost flying right past a familiar figure dressed similarly to me in jeans, long sleeves, and a black vest.

Coming to a stumbling halt, I give Mack a wide smile. “Hey!”

Despite being here to meet up with my potential soul mate, Mack’s smile makes my temperature shoot up a few degrees. The breeze has ruffled his dark hair the way a lover’s amorous fingers would, and it strikes me that I’ve never seen him outside of the tattoo shop before. He seems broader and, if possible, even more handsome away from the artificial lights.

“Sadie.” His smile grows as he walks toward me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask as my gaze flickers around searching for my date. Mack and I are the only people around. Before he can answer, I rush on. “I’m here to meet someone, but I don’t see my date.”

Full, brown brows lower over puzzled dark hazel eyes as he regards me. “Your date?”

“Yes. I’m meeting my date, Malcolm, here.”

“That’s me, Sadie.”

Now I’m the one confused. “But your name is Mack.”

Those broad shoulders I was just admiring lift in a slow shrug. “It’s a family nickname. My full name is Malcolm Jones.”

It’s a really nice name, just flows off the tongue, but he’ll always be Mack to me. Yet he’s somehow also my date. This doesn’t make any sense! Why would Yvonne’s Nana and her friends set me up with a man that doesn’t have any interest in me?

Obviously, a big mistake has been made. Somewhere and by someone.

“Do you know Yvonne’s grandmother?” I ask suspiciously, wondering if maybe this isn’t a mistake at all and instead it’s a mean joke being pulled on me. Maybe I bugged Yvonne a bit too much the other day about her Nana getting me a man and this is her having some fun with me. Why or how she roped Mack into it, I’ll never know because I’m sure I never told her how much I liked him.

I whip out my phone, my fingers flying as I type out an angry message to my cruel bestie.

Mack regards me quietly before shaking his head. “No, I don’t know her. Yvonne called me the other day and asked if I would be interested in a date with you.”

Jerking my head up, I stare at him, my text forgotten. “Wait. You knew the date was with me and you still came?”

His long eyelashes flutter as he cocks his head. “Why wouldn’t I?”

I shove my phone in my back pocket. “I didn’t think you saw me that way,” I say softly, feeling strangely overheated even with the cool breeze whistling through the towering pine trees protecting the animal sanctuary.

Mack’s grin which had faded comes back in full force, showing off his white teeth and lush tempting lips. At times when he was bent in concentration working on a tattoo for me, I would just stare at his face and lips. Several times he looked up catching me staring. Instead of being embarrassed, I would teasingly run my tongue over my lips or nibble on my lower lip to show him I was anything but embarrassed. I was interested. Those deep eyes of his would lock with mine and dip down to my lips, only to then lower back to his work. His dismissal was painfully obvious, which leaves me even more confused about why he’s here.

“Why else would I have given you all those discounts on tattoos if I weren’t interested?”

“To be nice,” I stutter as my mind implodes. I thought maybe it was just something he did for repeat clients!

The look he gives me clearly tells me that I’ve been way wrong about a lot of things. “Oh.”

“Well, now that you know your date is with me, what do you want to do, Sadie?”

Would jumping him be the wrong answer?

It would definitely be an honest one.

When someone has something they’ve long thought out of reach just casually drop into their lap how do you not want to seize it and hold on tight?

It takes willpower that I normally woefully lack, but I rein in my lustful thoughts and concentrate instead on the idea of long- term, not instant gratification. “We’re here, so why not check out the animal sanctuary?”

Mack’s eyes sparkle as he grins and holds out his hand. I swallow hard when those firm fingers lace with mine and give a friendly squeeze.

Together we walk to the entrance and being here beside him I’m aware of how much bigger he is than me. His warm hand encompasses mine completely and instead of feeling trapped, I feel protected and cherished. My head comes up to his shoulder and I’m in my brown boots with the low one inch heels. Even when I wear my kickass four-inch heels, I’d only come up to his chin.

I’m kinda surprised by not only his size but how he manages to come off like a cuddly teddy bear instead of some badass tattoo artist. I’ve seen him in just a tight T-shirt before and his arms are heavily tatted up and majorly corded with muscle. I might have been seriously turned on for most of that session and may or may not have gone home and played with my little battery operated friend. I’ll never admit to that. Unless the idea of it turns Mack on.

His being interested still stuns me. How did I miss that?

My musings are cut short when we get to the entrance and the guy manning it hands out pamphlets containing information about each animal inside, along with a map of their habitat. We’re also cautioned that the sanctuary closes at seven. The place is run solely on donations and my eyes widen when Mack drops a fifty into the donation jar.

I smile at him and squeeze his hand as we begin to walk around. Nothing wrong with a generous man.

Over the two years I’ve been going to him for tattoos, he’s given me some great discounts. Even with the discounts, tattoos have put a serious dent in my budget. The ones I have aren’t that large or elaborate, but I’ve seen pictures of some of his work and most of them probably run a few thousand dollars. I don’t know his financial status or how big of a cut the shop takes, still I’m sure he’s making out better than I am at my job as a server.

Internally, I cringe. Especially with me blowing off my shifts.

“Are you okay?” Mack frowns down at me and I make an effort to get out of my head and be more in the moment.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I smile up at him and let out a gasp as I spot the first animal over his shoulder. It’s a gray blur of fur that the pamphlet identifies as a timber wolf named Rex that was hit by a logging truck and lost a front leg. Going by the speed Rex raced by at I don’t think the loss has slowed him down at all.

Mack and I stand in silence at the side of his enclosure and wait to see if he’ll come into view again. Being so near to him, I’m aware of the warmth of his big body and the clean and fresh scent of cologne coming off Mack in waves that makes my body tight with need.

I’m twenty-eight and haven’t slept with a guy on the first date in a long time. With Mack I’m going to make an exception. Besides, it’s not as if we’re strangers, we’ve known each other for two years.

Two wasted years that we could have been dating.

And fucking like bunnies.

My nipples tighten up from more than the chill in the air.

“There,” Mack says loudly in my ear as he points.

I pull back at the unexpected volume of his voice and follow his pointing finger. Rex, the wolf, has emerged and is walking around. Walking on three legs he is less graceful than when he was running, but I’m spellbound by the majestic beauty of the large wolf.

Glancing over at the man by my side, I’m just as awe-struck by him and the fact that we’re here together.