Taming the Wolf Read Free

but I just can’t spare the thought as soon as I lose myself in Jared’s presence… All my thoughts belong to him right now. His deep and meaningful eyes, the way his sense of humor draws me in, and of course his absolutely droolworthy body.
    “I eat too,” Jared says playfully. “It’s an amazing coincidence. I wonder how we haven’t met before, what with all this eating that we both do.”
    “I agree. It’s odd,” I say, trying to keep a serious face.
    “We should do something about that,” he says, securing the last bandage around my wrist. “This whole not-meeting during meals.”
    I gulp. He’s so dreamy. Yummy, funny, but also smart if he is in med school… I’m two inches away from discarding my rule of not meeting men in singles’ bars, and absolutely not dating them if I do. Well, if I had such a rule in the first place. That’s the kind of rule I could have. I’m picky. I have standards. Right? Right. Well, if I had that kind of rule I’d be throwing it away. It’s a stupid rule anyway.
    “What do you suggest we do about it?” I ask, feeling suddenly very self-conscious. And gross, with all that cocktail on my clothes and bloody hands and legs.
    Jared gets up and grabs my elbow to help me up as well. All of a sudden, we’re awfully close—well, awfully is not the right word. I have to bend my head backwards to look him in the eyes, and I can feel the heat emanating from his body. We’re that close. If I moved just a little bit forward, our bodies would be touching. That idea makes it impossible for me to think about anything else.
    “We could meet at a designated time at a designated place for dinner tomorrow. You could wear something dressy—“
    “I have lots of clothes,” I say. “Some are even not stained with Love Potions made by short men looking like Peter Dinklage.”
    “That sounds great,” Jared says, his deep voice huskier. “And then you could let me invite you to a restaurant of some kind.”
    “Where there’s food?”
    “My favorite kind of restaurant,” he says.
    “Like… a date?” I feel stupid asking, but I’d feel even stupider if I assumed and it was just a friendly proposition. Maybe he likes my humor, or maybe he wants me to help him get a student loan, or maybe he’s gay—I have absolutely no gaydar whatsoever—
    “You could categorize it as a date-ish type sort of outing,” he nods. “I mean, if we actually wanted to categorize it. I like things categorized, myself. So if you agree, we could call it a date.”
    “These terms are acceptable to me,” I say, feeling silly but also elated. “I motion for a prompt decision as to the when and where part of the contract.”
    Jared steps forward, closing the distance between our bodies just like I dreamed about earlier. I have a hard time breathing, and I feel a little bit dizzy, dazzled as I am by his proximity. My back is touching the desk, so there is nowhere I could retreat to, even if I wanted—and I don’t want to. No. No way. No Siree. I like that not-so-distant distance; I could write songs about that non-distance. An epic poem.
    Jared breathes in, closing his eyes for a second.
    “Is tomorrow evening too soon for you? I actually have something going on with friends, but I’m willing to blow them off… I’m that desperate to see you again.”
    “D— Desperate?” I gulp again.
    “Am I coming on too strongly?” he asks, his gaze fleeting from my eyes to my mouth. “I’m not used to being fascinated. I guess I just want to make sure I don’t blow my chance with you, if I do have one.”
    Fascinated? Fascinated! My mind is spinning uncontrollably. Tomorrow evening. Why can’t I remember if I’m doing something? Dammit!
    “I guess I could make tomorrow work.” I know I should check my schedule, I could very well be blowing off something important for this date, but at the same time I don’t care much about anything else. My heart beats like crazy in my chest.
    Jared lifts his