RICHIE: New Orleans Wolf Shifters with plus sized BBW for mates (Le Beau Series Book 6) Read Free Page B

over what little of her body he could see. Even with the table blocking much of her figure he could tell she possessed a womanly body. Softly rounded, lush, full curves. The kind that would fit perfectly cupped in his hands.
    “Richie?  Hey. Earth to Richie.” He heard Karen’s voice calling from his left.
    He broke his scrutiny of the beauty across the table and looked at his friend. “Pardon me. I didn’t hear what you said.”
    Karen grinned and glanced back and forth between him and the woman. “You were a million miles away. I asked if you had met Bob’s cousin, Piper.”
    Shit. Karen must have caught him staring. He forced a pleasant, friendly, but not overly interested expression. He didn’t want to scare his mate away before he had a chance to get to know her.
    Smiling warmly at Karen, he shook his head. “No. I haven’t had the pleasure.” Then he turned his attention back to his mate. Piper. What an interesting name.
    Karen took it upon herself to make the introductions. “Richie, this is Piper Sinclair. Piper, this is our friend from New Orleans, Richie Majors.”
    The ladies beamed at him as he reached to shake her hand.
    Electricity zapped him the instant their palms touched. His wolf yelped and eyed her warily. Disregarding the strange electrical charge, he held her hand reverently, dying to place a kiss to each of her knuckles. Instant peace. It felt like he’d come home and the missing piece to his heart and soul clicked into place.
    He saw her eyes widen and she sucked in a breath. She’d felt that odd zap as much as he had.
    “I’m very pleased to meet you, Piper.” Richie’s voice was suddenly husky and an octave deeper.
    “Likewise.”
    He wondered if she’d met anyone at the table before tonight when Helen solved the mystery of her lack of conversation. “Piper lives in Portland. We all just met her before you walked in.”
    “I’ve never been to Portland. Did you grow up there?” The question was asked casually while allowing him to learn something about his mate.
    “No. I moved there a few years ago.”
    Short and sweet. This lady held her cards close to her chest. She was proving to be a challenge and he only had two days to win her over. Richie could see he was going to have to work hard to get her to open up. His experience chatting up the customers at the bar was about to get a workout.
    Piper stared into Richie’s eyes. Absently rubbing at her chest with her free hand. An inexplicable surge of happiness had overtaken her. The sensation was disturbing. There was no reason to suddenly feel like the nerdy girl who’d just been asked to the prom by the football quarterback.
    Unable to stop herself, she stared into his smiling, twinkling brown eyes. Deep laugh lines fanned from their corners, which spoke volumes. Richie was a genuinely friendly person. She rarely felt comfortable around strangers, but his impish grin and amused expression set her at ease.
    Damn.
    This guy was trouble with a capital T. The last thing she needed right now was a hot guy distracting her. Distractions were deadly in her profession.
    When against her better judgment she’d finally agreed to come to the wedding, she fully intended to do her part as the personal attendant and keep a low profile until she could politely leave. She loved her cousin, and nothing or no one was going to endanger him.
    She hung her head in defeat. Oh, who was she kidding, Aunt Margery and Uncle Harry would be crushed if she left early. Especially, with Roger deployed oversea’s and unable to attend. Heck, they’d even tried to get her to sit at the head table. She nixed that faster than… well, really fast. To them she was their daughter even if she didn’t call them Mom and Dad. Absently she rubbed her chest again. No one, not even them, would ever take her mother and father’s place in her heart. There just wasn’t enough room for that.
    Now what the hell should she do? She couldn’t leave. Stay and avoid him? No,