Jason shakes my hand and then Anson’s. “I appreciate your hard work, guys.”
I slap his shoulder. “You’re welcome.”
He sighs and focuses back on the house. Anna is still in the nursery talking to Faith. “I haven’t seen my wife this excited about anything in a long time.”
Anson chuckles. “Then you must be doing something wrong.”
We all laugh, and Kami shakes her head. “I don’t want to hear about that.”
Jason pats me on the arm. “All right, let me go in and get Anna before she talks Faith’s ears off.” He disappears inside.
“You ready to go?” I ask Kami.
“Actually,” she says, turning to Anson. “I was hoping you could give me a ride home?”
Anson shrugs. “Sure. I’m ready when you are.”
She grins wide. “Give me just one sec. I need to talk to Tate for a minute.”
Anson pats my back and nods toward his truck. “I’ll be in the truck.” Then to me, he lifts his brows. “We working tomorrow?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m taking a break.”
He smiles. “Sounds good to me.”
Faith watches him walk away and waves her hand impatiently for him to hurry, even though he can’t see what she’s doing. “Are you okay?”
She moves closer. “Yeah, I want to talk to you before Faith gets out here.”
“What’s going on?”
Her voice lowers. “Do you have feelings for her?”
Taken aback, I stare at her, wondering why she’d even ask. Did Faith say something? “Why do you want to know?”
“Because,” she says quickly. “Faith has feelings for you; she told me she did. You know my views on this. I think it’s screwed up how we have to wait for our mate to come along. Why can’t we love who we want to love?”
“What do you suggest we do? Act on it?”
Her eyes glow, and she stands firm. “Yes. You and Faith are perfect for each other. I think you’d be stupid to let her go.” Jason and Anna walk out of the house, and so does Faith. Kami grabs my arm, drawing my attention back to her. “Talk to her, Tate. I don’t want to see you give up on this. To hell with the rules. If she cares for you and you care for her, nothing should stand in your way.”
Could it really be that simple? The only problem is that it goes against everything we’ve known. Yes, some complete the bond when they’re not true mates, and they’ll never be fully happy. I don’t want that, but I also don’t want to let Faith go.
“Okay,” I say, lowering my voice. “I’ll talk to her.”
Kami beams. “Great. I’ll let you two enjoy your ride home.” She turns around and says goodbye to Faith before hurrying over to Anson’s truck.
Faith chuckles. “She’s mighty happy right now. Is there something going on between her and Anson?”
Laughing, I open up her door. “Definitely, not. He’s like the annoying brother to her.”
“And you’re not?” she teases.
“Nah. I’m the cool one.”
She hops in, and I shut the door. It feels good to banter back and forth with her. There’s still a lot of tension between us, so much uncertainty and confusion. I want her, and there’s no denying it. But if I tell her, what will it do to us? She’s a friend, and I don’t want to jeopardize that.
We start on our way to the house, and Faith’s stomach growls. She covers her stomach and giggles. “I must be hungry.”
It just so happens that we drive past one of my favorite restaurants on the way to my house. “I know a good place we can get takeout. Their special tonight is buttermilk fried chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, and green beans.”
Her eyes light up. “Oh yeah? I’m good with that. If I had more of your banana pancakes, I’d be stuffing them in my mouth right now.”
That makes me feel good. “Did you like them?”
She nods. “They were heaven. You’ll have to make them again.”
“I can do that.”
I pull into the parking lot of the small mom-and-pop restaurant my parents used to take me to ever since I was a little boy. The older couple who owns it are both in their eighties and still going strong. With my parents still looking young, they often confuse my father for me. That’s one of the things we have to be careful about. We live in a small town, and most of the humans my parents knew when they were younger are dead now.
Faith and I walk inside and order our food. We wait for only a few minutes, and then we’re back on the road, food in hand. When we get to the house, I set the food on the table, and Faith grabs two beers out of the refrigerator.
I lift my brows at her. “No wine tonight?”
She shrugs. “I’m in a beer mood.”
So am I. I need it if I’m going to do what I’m about to do. Hell, I need a whole case. We sit down at the table and eat. I have no doubt she can hear my heart thumping wildly. Hers is doing the same, which doesn’t help matters. Every time I try to speak, I can’t form the words. What I really want to do is pull her into my arms and say that I want her so fucking bad that I’d give up everything just to have her. Even my wolf wants to claim her, and I’ve never had him be so restless before. That last thing I want is to scare her away, or worse, cause a rift between my pack and hers.
“I can’t believe you never told me you painted,” I say, trying to get my thoughts back to reality. “What you did at Jason and Anna’s was pretty epic.”
She looks away and smiles. “Thanks. I actually sell some of my work in one of the local galleries at home.”
I’m impressed but definitely not surprised; she’s very talented. “I’m happy for you, Faith. You’re a woman of many talents. What else is going on in your life you haven’t told me about?”
“Well,” she replies, drawing out the word, “not only do I paint and do landscaping, but I also just got hired to be the art teacher at our elementary school.”
I can see her working with kids. She has that sweetness about her that I know children will be drawn to. “I’m happy for you, Faith.”
“Thanks.” We stare at each other for a few seconds, but then she jerks her gaze away and gets up to throw her to-go box away. She goes over to my kitchen cabinets and pulls out my peanut butter and powdered sugar. “I was thinking of making chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. Is that okay?” Her heart races even more, and I can tell she’s intentionally keeping her back to me.
I toss my box into the trash and slowly close the distance between us. I can’t wait any longer. “Faith, look at me.” A sigh escapes her lips, and she slowly turns around. I step closer, and she lifts her gaze to mine. “What are we doing?”
“I don’t know,” she whispers. “All I know is that I feel things for you. I want things I can’t have.”
My hands ache to touch her, but I keep them to myself. “Who says you can’t?”
She laughs, but there’s no humor to it. “Life. But then, someone brought up a valid point to me today. She said we should be able to choose our path, make our own choices.”
Kami.
“And do you think she’s right?”
Her eyes drop down to my lips. “I want her to be.”
“So do I,” I agree.
Her breath hitches and she meets my gaze. “What are we going to do?”
Taking her hands, I pull her closer, but I don’t kiss her even though it’s what I really want to do. “You’re here for three more days. I say we go out and enjoy life, just you and me. My family has a cabin near Yellowstone. We can stay there, and I can take you to see Old Faithful, the waterfalls, and whatever else you want.”
She squeezes my hands. “I’d like that.”
As much as it kills me, I slowly let her go and step back. “We’ll leave out first thing in the morning.” The need in her rises, and it takes all I have not to take her on the kitchen table. I nod toward the stairs. “I think I’m going to turn in for the night.” What I need is a fucking cold shower. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”
She nods. “See you in the morning.”
Turning on my heel, I walk away from her. It gets harder and harder each time.