Matched with the Wolf_A Shifter Dating Agency Romance Read online

  Stetson quickly returned his gaze to her demanding eyes, saying in a low, gravelling voice, “You’re not boring at all, Poppy Wade.”

  “Then why can’t you keep your attention focused on me for five minutes?” She hated the way her voice came out, almost whiny in her effort to find out the truth. She wasn’t insecure, and she didn’t need constant reassurance, but this guy was treating her like he was both incredibly interested and then completely disinterested.

  He seemed to sense that he was behaving rudely and leaned forward over the table to assuage her. “I’m sorry. I know I can appear to be distracted, but it’s not my intention at all.”

  Poppy considered his apology for a long moment, then conceded to it with a slow smile. She took a large sip of her white wine she’d ordered with dinner. “Look, I get it. Maybe the matchmakers just got it wrong this time. I’m sure it happens.”

  His face turned serious. “They didn’t get it wrong.”

  Before she had a change to react, he started speaking again. “And, by the way, if you don’t mind me asking, what has you coming to a dating service? You are a beautiful, successful woman. I’m sure you have no shortage of hopeful guys waiting in the wings for you to give them a shot.”

  Poppy nodded, appreciating the compliment but trying to think of how best to explain it. “Quantity has never been an issue. It’s quality that eludes me.”

  Stetson smirked slightly and raised his brow at her shrewdness. Next, he asked, “What qualities have the other men lacked? Maybe you have too many checkboxes on your checklist.”

  Poppy laughed. “You think I should settle? There’s an original thought.”

  He shook his head slowly. “No, I think that would be a terrible shame if you settled. You should get everything you want in a man. But if you’re picking a guy based on the way his hair compliments yours…maybe you should reconsider it.”

  Poppy thoughtfully considered this for a moment. She found her eyes straying to his dark hair, cut in a very no-nonsense style. She wasn’t sure what hair color would compliment her own, but it probably wasn’t his. After a second, she leaned forward on the table too. With an engaged tone, she began to try to explain it to him. She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted him to hear the answer to this, even if he’s only asked facetiously. “Honestly, there isn’t one particular quality the men that I’ve dated have lacked. I’ve found attractive, successful and charming men. It just never goes to the next level. They’re missing that spark. I just don’t feel the urge to spend any more time with them past the first few dates.”

  She paused for a moment, trying to read his guarded expression – and failing. Then she asked, “Do you ever meet someone who seems great? They match everything on your wish list to a T but somehow you feel that they’re just a wolf in sheep’s clothing?”

  Stetson laughed out loud, but quickly stopped himself, looking almost embarrassed at his reaction. She gave him a confused look, unsure what that had been about. While he got control of his expression, she looked over his face, enjoying the opportunity while his stare wasn’t boring into her. He really was an attractive man, once she got past the burly demeanor and determination to be grumpy and difficult.

  Surprisingly, he gave her a grin, and Poppy was surprised that his smile was actually very sexy. After composing himself, Stetson answered her, “I think I know what you mean.”

  ***

  After dinner was over, Stetson walked Poppy to her car and began his drive home. He tried not to dwell on the fact of their very casual goodbye and exchange of phone numbers. After all, it wasn’t supposed to be a real date and she wasn’t really going to be interested in going out with him again once he told her the truth about why he’d been on the date in the first place. Must less his shifter secret, which he’d sworn never to tell another living soul besides his two brothers. The past had taught him that no one could be trusted, no matter how unassuming and trustworthy they appeared.

  Stetson lived outside of the city, so it was a long drive home, but he didn’t mind. He enjoyed the silence that allowed him to think about Poppy, and the dating agency. Nearly arriving at his house, the music on the stereo was interrupted by a call from his youngest brother, Darian. Stetson gave the voice command to answer the call.

  “How was the stake out, big brother?” The familiar voice of Darian asked.

  Unable to keep the gruffness out of his voice, he answered, “How do you think it was? It was a pain in the ass. Since I found out someone has been looking into her personal information, I had to step things up. I ran a check on that Brady guy, but didn’t get answers in time so I sent him away and stepped in myself.”

  Brady had turned out to be a completely loose end, the jock more interested in his illegal use of steroids than having anything to do with blackmailing the successful dating agency. It also hadn’t hurt that he’d helped Poppy avoid a douchebag like Brady, who admitted to having three dates with three women set up, all from different agencies.

  With a chuckle Darian, quipped, “You’re kidding me! You went on a date? Then why do you sound so grumpy? Was she uh…unfortunate looking?”

  Darian was certainly more sensitive than he was. He would’ve just said ugly if that had been the case. But he couldn’t even attempt to lie about it. Stetson shook his head at his sibling and responded, “No. She was definitely beautiful, but that’s not what I was there for. Besides, she plans parties for a living.”

  Darian acknowledged Stetson’s statement and, in an impish tone, retorted, “Oh heavens no. Anything but a beautiful, fun woman for you, brother.” Darian laughed, probably enjoying how much he was wearing on Stetson’s patience.

  Stetson interjected, “Was there a reason you called, Darian?”

  Resigned from his teasing, Darian admitted, “Brett asked me to check in with you tonight, to make sure that you played nice.”

  Stetson scoffed and reassured him that everything was fine. “Yes. I went along with everything, just like we discussed. She gave me her phone number. She also mentioned a function next Wednesday night. Anyway, I’m pulling up to the house and I need to get to bed so I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”

  Stetson pulled up his drive, hit the end call on his truck dash, and backed into his garage. He walked inside his house and disabled the alarm system. Just before he turned to head upstairs to bed, his head tiled up, his shoulders tightened, and his nostrils flared. He caught a familiar scent. It was the scent of his sister-in-law, Bronte. She was newly married to his middle brother, Brett, and she had the annoying habit of coming to Stetson’s house to make small decorative improvements to his home. He walked through his empty house, turning on all of the lights to find what new addition she had made while he was out this time. He found it in the den, above the fireplace. She had placed a wooden sculpture. It looked Native American and it was a wolf.

  Shaking his head, Stetson took the sculpture in his hands. He looked at the piece and reveled in finding that it looked like his own wolf form. Since Bronte had discovered that Brett shapeshifted into a bear, Stetson had let her see him in his wolf form. As much as he avoided admitting it, Stetson loved Bronte like a sister. He did get irritated at her for coming over and changing things in his home, but somehow, she really could choose things that were exactly his taste. Stetson replaced the wooden wolf and went upstairs.

  He opened both of his bedroom windows, stripped off his clothes, then headed back through the house to the outdoors. Standing at the foot of the woods in the rear of his property, he spread his arms, threw his head back with his eyes closed and began to change. Fur burst out from under his skin, his face grew to a snout and he took his most natural form, the feeling freeing after being cooped up in his human body for the past few days. He loped off into the woods, intending to run the whole ten acres of his property before settling down for the night.

  ***

  Poppy sat in a busy diner, eating a salad with her one headphone in her ear. Lila was on the
line, getting feedback on her date with Stetson. “So, how was he?” Lila quizzed.

  Poppy rolled her eyes and answered, “I really don’t know what to make of him Lila! Are you sure we really…matched?”

  Lila asked what she meant and Poppy continued, “He was very standoffish and to say he wasn’t very engaging is an understatement. Also, what do you know about the work he does? I kind of got the impression he doesn’t do very well for himself.”

  That wasn’t quite true, but she was curious what Lila would say. She doubted that Stetson made more than she did or anything close to it, but his truck was nice, if a little dirty on the outside.

  Lila took a moment to answer and sounded as if she were listening to someone else speak. After a pause, she reassured her, “Mr. Hardy is a little on the quiet side. I thought you would enjoy the change from your usual verbose, pretty boy types. And as far as how well off he is, he can afford my services. That at least means he’s pretty successful in his business.”

  When Poppy didn’t respond right away, Lila continued, “You at least found him attractive, right? I don’t have many clients as good looking as he is.”

  Poppy finished chewing her bite of salad before she admitted, “Well, yes, he is very handsome, and he looks very…fit. I guess you’re right about the other points too. I suppose you know what you’re doing, so I should trust you. I’ll text him right now and see if he wants to go to an event I’m having next week.”

  Lila seemed thrilled at the concept of another date and told Poppy she would touch base after next week. Poppy hung up the call, cleared her table of trash and left the diner. She crossed the street to head to her office and noticed a large van parked in front of her building. A man got out of the van with a large bouquet and walked into the lobby. Poppy looked at all of the brightly colored flowers as the man carried them passed her. Someone’s about to have a very good day, she mused.

  One of her favorite things about event planning was choosing floral arrangements. She often lamented that at her events, she doesn’t get much time to enjoy them. She turned her gaze back to the elevator to get up to her office and make some final arrangements for an upcoming gala at the harbor. Suddenly, from behind her, she heard her name being called. It was Gary, the security guard at the front desk. He was holding the bouquet of flowers toward her. “Ms. Wade, I’m glad I saw you. These came in for you just now.” Gary handed the flowers to her.

  Surprised, Poppy thanked him and took them with her to the elevator. On the ride up to her floor, she smelled the flowers and enjoyed the heady scent. Once in her office, she sat them on her desk and looked for the card. When she found it, it simply read:

  Poppy, I had a great evening with you. I’m looking forward to next Wednesday - Stetson

  Poppy’s surprise grew to a complete shock. She wouldn’t have guessed that Stetson was even the type to send flowers, let alone that he would after being so close-lipped last night. Most of all, she was astonished at how excited this made her feel. She admitted to herself that maybe Mr. Hardy suited her fancy more than she originally thought. Smiling to herself, she took out her phone and wrote a thank you text to him.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Stetson was meeting with Brett and Lila in her office when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out to read the text message. Lila was answering a question that Brett just asked when Stetson cut her off, his tone burlier than usual. “Brett, did you send her flowers from me?”

  Brett visibly cringed at Stetson’s noticeably sharp, agitated tone. Brett answered, “Yes. I thought it would be a good idea to break the ice. I knew you wouldn’t make any efforts in that direction yourself.”

  Stetson bit his lip and nodded his head with frustration telling himself to calm down, while Brett answered Lila. He knew Brett was just trying to help, but he didn’t need his brother’s help setting him on a date. If he was really interested in a girl like Poppy, he would go after her himself. Wouldn’t he?

  Once Brett was quiet again, Stetson scolded, “If I say that I have a handle on something, then I have a handle on it. That means, I don’t need your good ideas. I’m sure you and Bronte had a whole brainstorm about how to help me along with this, but I am strictly concerned with helping these girls stay out of danger. I have no intention of trying to find true love. I’m glad you found that in your life, little brother, but it is not the path for me.”

  Brett looked down at the desk, but Lila spoke before he had a chance to. “Stetson, I think your brother was on to something with the flowers. You can’t protect Poppy if she doesn’t keep seeing you, and you heard her on the phone. She didn’t get the idea that you liked her very much at all.”

  Stetson breathed out an exhale of frustration, but agreed, admitting that was true. Then the three got back to work going through Lila’s computer.

  Lila had a number of high profile clients, and a few weeks ago she discovered someone had hacked on to her office’s server and tried to copy client files. She reached out to Brett for a recommendation on how to secure her server. Brett’s first and only suggestion was his older brother, Stetson.

  After Stetson set her up with data encryption and a fire wall, he had been monitoring the service for the last twenty-four hours. He didn’t have to wait long. Lila was contacted by the hackers this morning. They had apparently been looking to get more but had only been able to get information on three of Lila’s clients, including Poppy Wade. The hackers threatened Lila that she and the three women would be hurt if Lila didn’t give up information on a list of her clients who were all executive business people or politicians. Now Brett and Stetson were trying to help Lila out of this situation. One of the women that were threatened had recently left the country for business, which took her out of the realm of their protection, and was safe. The second woman, a very beautiful ex-model named Briana, Darian agreed, under duress, to watch out for. Darian and Brett were the only two people Stetson would consent to relinquishing his responsibility to.

  The last woman had been Poppy. Just before Poppy was supposed to have met with her intended date, Brady, Stetson discovered that inquiries at the DMV and credit report agencies were used to access Poppy’s personal information from an unknown source. With that discovery, Stetson felt he had no choice but to intervene immediately. Stetson resented being pulled into the whole affair, but Brett was so grateful to Lila for introducing him to his wife Bronte, that his brother would do anything for her. Likewise, Stetson would do anything for his brothers, so he was stuck with this case.

  ***

  It was Tuesday night and Poppy had just gotten to the gym. She didn’t know it, but Stetson was tailing her as she drove from her house to there. He watched her as she went straight to the treadmill and started to warm up with a jog. Stetson could see her through the glass front of the building. Just like his brothers, he had excellent vision. Stetson was always very focused on his work and extremely mission oriented, but even he couldn’t help but notice what a great shape she had. He tried not to get caught up in the skin-tight black cropped workout leggings or the loose tank covering up a sports bra with all sorts of crisscrossed straps. It looked like a devil to get off.

  Why was he thinking about taking it off? He shook his head to clear those thoughts. He needed a clear head right now, and he definitely didn’t need to be thinking about stripping off those clothes, laying her down, and…

  He grunted to himself, irritated that she was drawing his focus from her safety. He made himself focus on the task at hand and pushed it from his mind how hypnotic the bouncing of her cleavage was under her tank top.

  ***

  After she was sufficiently warmed up, Poppy went over to the weights station. She had an upbeat rap playlist playing through her headphones while she set to begin her squats. She watched her form in the mirror and looked out for any of the strain areas that her trainer had pointed out a few weeks ago. With each repetition, she focused on the groups of muscles that bunched with the motion. She mo
ved to the leg curl machine and as she flexed her hamstrings to raise the weights upward, her mind flashed to Stetson. The man clearly knew his way around a gym, and suddenly the idea of working out with him became an erotic thought. Her skin flushed pink, nothing to do with the strain of her muscles and more to do with the thoughts of Stetson, if he were here.

  ***

  Little did she know, Stetson sat in his truck, his body burning with lust for her, watching her move from one station to the next. Peering through the glass across the open bay over to Poppy, Stetson could see every sinew in her legs and the tendons in her back flexing. She was so feminine and smooth, and yet still so fierce.

  He felt stirred, watching her thighs press against the pads of the machine. Even his nose couldn’t smell her from that far away, but he almost felt like he could smell the drops of sweat that ran down her collar bone in between her breasts. The stray hair that fell from her ponytail was stuck to her forehead and her pretty, flushed face made him picture her beneath him. He was in human form, but still felt as if his fur was standing on end all over his body.

  He was relieved when she finally finished and headed home. He was normally a very stoic man, but even he couldn’t take much more temptation from her today.

  He circled her block to check for anything out of place. Finding none, he headed home.

  ***

  Poppy walked into her apartment, peeled off her sweat-soaked clothes and got into the shower. She stood under the hot water, letting the heat loosen her tightened muscles. She started to picture herself luring a man to her with her curves. She held her own body in her arms and thought how she would fit into a pair of big, rough hands. She bit her lip as she imagined those hands tracing her curves and sliding below her waist. With one hand, she began to rub herself and, with her eyes closed, she imagined a lover was exploring between her legs. The hot droplets of water warmed her neck and chest like his kisses would and the caressing motion on her clit excited her. She let herself relax to the sensation as she let her finger slip inside. The intensity grew quickly, as she knew how to get there herself pretty well.