CHAPTER FOUR
Two hours passed quickly as Selena went through page after page of financial data. When she looked up at last, she was surprised to see how quickly the time had passed, and she was suddenly hungry. She realized that the smells of food were wafting up from the floor below her. It must be lunch time. She got up to stretch her legs and back just as Conner came back into the office.
“I came to see if you wanted to take a break. They have lunch set up downstairs.”
“Set up?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s a pot-luck kind of thing here. Everyone brings a dish, and they sit down to lunch together.”
“Wow, that’s…friendly,” she said with a smile.
Conner gave her a narrow-eyed look. “We are a friendly lot of people.”
“I’ve noticed,” she said, sarcastically.
He laughed. “Do you want lunch or not? I’m starving.”
“Sure, thanks.” She followed him downstairs to what must be a break room. It was huge, and contained all the kitchen appliances a person would need at home to prepare a gourmet meal. There was a huge square table in the center of the room that was filled with food, mostly meat. Selena was glad that she wasn’t a vegetarian; she might starve here if she were.
Conner introduced her to the people she hadn’t yet met, and she was met with the same suspicious stares that she had gotten from everyone else. Before they started making their plates, she asked Conner, “Is there a ladies room nearby?”
He pointed her toward the hallway. “Down the hall to the right.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be right back; don’t wait for me to eat.”
He grinned. “Thanks, my manners may have forced me to do that.”
She had to laugh at him poking fun at his own bad manners. She found her way to the restroom, and she found it to be obsessively clean. There were two stalls, and she went into the one closest to the door. There were a pair of feet under the other one, and after a few minutes she heard a flush, and then someone washing their hands. When she came out, the woman was still standing by the sink. She looked like she had been waiting for her.
“Hi,” Selena said.
“Hey,” the woman said. She was an older woman, probably close to fifty, but she was really nice looking for her age. She didn’t look like she should be working in a factory either. Her hair was curled nicely, and she was impeccably dressed.
Selena washed her hands and tried to pretend like she didn’t notice the woman standing there with her arms folded, staring at her. When she finished and stepped toward the door, the woman side-stepped in front of her.
“Can I help you?” Selena asked.
“No, but I can help you,” the woman said.
Selena raised an eyebrow. She was quickly tiring of these people and their backwoods version of social skills. “I don’t believe I asked for any help.”
“That’s okay,” the woman said. “You probably don’t know you need it yet. I want to make sure that you know a lot of women in this town are anxious for Conner to choose a mate. You won’t even be in the running as far as the locals are concerned, so if you had designs on that title, you may as well give them up now.”
Selena couldn’t help it, she laughed, out loud. “First of all, I have no interest in being Conner’s “mate,” although I have to tell someone that I find that a very odd way to put it. I’m here as the chief financial officer of this venture for my company.”
“And what venture is that?” the woman asked.
“Who are you?” Selena said.
“Oh, forgive my bad manners,” the woman said, sarcastically. Holding out her hand she said, “I’m Eliza Lane. I’m Conner’s aunt.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, but I’m not at liberty to discuss my company’s or Conner’s business with you.”
The woman laughed a snarky laugh. “You obviously don’t understand the hierarchy of a pack, do you?”
“You know what?” Selena asked. “I don’t understand much of what anyone around here says. Everyone always seems to be talking in some kind of wolf metaphor or riddle. It’s bizarre. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to lunch.”
The woman stepped aside and let Selena pass. She found her way back to the break room, but realized that she wasn’t as hungry as she had thought she was. She ate a little, tolerating the stares of the others as she did, and then she told Conner, “I need to go see about my house. Would you mind taking me back to the hotel so that I can see if my car is there?”
“Sure,” he said.
“I’ll go up and get my bag and I’ll be ready.” She could feel him watching her as she left the room, but she got that feeling from all of them, like they were all watching her. She got her bag and then went back down to find Conner. He was no longer in the break room so she went out to the front of the plant to look for him. He was talking with his aunt, and the conversation looks heated. She stopped a ways back and ducked into one of the cubicles, eavesdropping, against her better judgment.
“Conner, dear…it’s time. You and I know that it’s way past time. I expect you to give me some news by the time the sun goes down on the Burly Bear Festival this weekend.”
“I won’t pick someone just because “it’s time,” or because you say so, Aunt Eliza. When I mate, it will be for life, and it will be someone who is Alpha female to my male, someone who will be my partner as much as my mate in my life and in my bed.”
“Just remember, Conner, you will need pack approval to choose an outsider.”
“Who says that I’m thinking about choosing an outsider?” he said.
“Please, I was just in the bathroom with her…I can smell that she’s ready for you. I know that you can smell it as well.”
“She’s here for business reasons only, Auntie. She doesn’t need to know any more about our life here than that.”
Eliza started to say something else but she stopped then and sniffed the air.
“Speaking of…” she said. “She’s likely just heard our entire conversation. You may have some hard questions to answer. I say answer them, and make her what she is meant to be, an omega, or perhaps a beta for Slam.”
Conner had turned in the direction where Selena hid. She stepped out from behind the cubicle. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to interrupt.”
Eliza again began to open her mouth, but she was stopped by a look from Conner. He turned to Selena. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she said, avoiding eye contact with the aunt as she did. When they got to Conner’s Jeep, she said, “Will you please tell me what is going on around here?”
Conner looked at her. “I can’t tell you, Selena. I would have to show you. Once I did, once you become a part of this…Well, you could never go back.”
TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK TWO: Conner - Volume 2
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Conner
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Synopsis
Conner is an important man in the little town of Lazy River, Alaska. People seek him out for advice and they offer him respect and, in the cases of the females in town, adoration in return.
Conner is angry that Selena Ortiz has been sent here to take over his company, the company that his father founded and left to him. Conner uses the money he makes from the company to keep the town running and nothing is more important to him than the people around him.
He wants to dislike Selena for what her company is doing to him and his town, but there’s something about her that makes him want to tell her all his secrets. The question is…when he does will she believe him?
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