Love at First Scent
Chapter 2

Craig couldn’t have stopped himself even if he wanted to. There was something about this woman’s scent that drew him like no other ever had. He inhaled again to take more in, and he felt her entire body go rigid against him.

“Um, excuse me!” She pushed him away, confusion on her face. “A little personal space, buddy. You can’t just go around smelling strangers, you know.”

“I believe I just did.” He had to stifle a smile as her gaze narrowed, her irritation ramping up. Craig had to admit he was being a bit of a bastard, teasing her like this, but for some reason, he just couldn’t help himself.

Her green eyes flashed with anger, and he noticed the liberal spattering of freckles along her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. With her anger came a fresh flush of b***d under her skin, which only caused another wave of her delicious scent to waft in his direction.

Peaches and ginger. His wolf wanted to bury himself in it. Whoever this woman was, he was now fully invested in getting to know her better. After over three months of living in Hillard, this feisty blonde was the first female his beast had even remotely reacted to, so he’d better turn on the charm to try to fix what his instincts had already damaged. He could scent that she was mostly human? Wasn’t that interesting.

“My apologies, darlin’.” He smiled, and her blush grew even deeper, “I’m not sure what came over me. Your perfume is incredible.”

“I’m—I’m not wearing perfume.” Her answer was quiet, and she appeared uncomfortable with his flirting. “And I’m a married woman.”

That news stunned him just enough to allow her to dart around him and make her way over to the booth Bennett and his new little gal were sitting at. Married? He saw the ring on the hand she’d held up, but there was absolutely no male’s scent anywhere on her. So, she was either lying, or she hadn’t seen her husband in some time.

Don’t care. Mate.

His wolf’s thoughts on the subject were quite cut-and-dried, and Craig had to agree with him on this. The curvy little blonde would be seeing him again.

****

“Well, that was interesting. Caro was still a little confused and a whole lot irritated as she sat down next to her sister.

“What was?” Ellie asked as she absently admired the as*s of her boyfriend who was now talking to a couple of men over at the bar.

“When I came out of the bathroom, I accidentally bumped into some guy—and he smelled me.” She realized as the words came out of her mouth that it sounded much more benign than it had felt at the time, and her sister’s smirk would indicate she agreed.

“He smelled you, huh?” Ellie gasped in mock outrage. “The audacity!”

Caro couldn’t help but laugh, and she grabbed the stir stick discarded on the table and chucked it at her sister. “You as*sh0le. It was creepy—I think, definitely weird anyway. If you’d have been there, you’d agree.”

“I swear, you’ve been married too long, Caro.” Ellie sighed. “It’s a bar, you’re an attractive woman, and you’re going to get hit on sometimes.”

Caro felt a pang of hurt go through her. If only she’d had the guts to tell Ellie over the phone that her marriage to her high school sweetheart was just a few signatures away from being over. She knew her sister would understand, but more than once Ellie had questioned whether or not Caro and Peter were truly happy, and Caro had always taken offense. They had been comfortable. Peter had been her best friend and partner for her entire adult life.

It was only the last five years when she’d begun to hint about starting their family that Peter had pulled away, and it eventually started to open her eyes to the fact that perhaps their partnership wasn’t what either of them had dreamed of when they’d met as starry-eyed teenagers.

“Yeah.” Caro sighed. “That’s something I have to talk to you about.”

This brought her sister up straight. “What? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to get into it here, we’ll talk about it tomorrow,” she answered just as the waitress arrived with several plates of appetizers and drinks. “Right now, all I want to do is stuff my face full of wings.”

“Okay.” Ellie gave her a look. “But as soon as you have a coffee in your hand tomorrow morning, I expect a thorough update, sis.”

“Deal.”

“Oh, and who was the guy?”

“What guy?”

Ellie rolled her eyes, “The aggressive sniffer?”

“Oh!” She had to laugh. “Let me see…” Carol scanned the bar as Bennett returned and slipped into the booth next to Ellie.

“Oooh, wings,” he said as he noticed Caro’s gaze searching the crowd, “What are we looking for? Did Sally forget the dip?”

“No, Caro was going to point out the guy who was sniffing her as she left the bathroom,” Ellie answered.

“Sniffing?” Bennett’s interest seemed piqued at that information.

“See, he thinks it’s weird too,” Caro mumbled just before she found the blue and gray of his flannel shirt over by the pool table. “There! He’s over by the pool table, in the blue flannel.”

Both Ellie and Bennett turned to look and had completely different reactions. Ellie issued an appreciative low whistle, and Bennett choked on his hot wing.