Page 12 of Rejected By a Wolf
“Nor mine.” Sophia cracked a smile, but she was screaming inside. She didn’t want this man to walk away yet. She wasn’t done looking at him!
“It was, uh, surprisingly nice to meet you.” He raised a calloused hand to hers.
“Surprisingly indeed,” she agreed, giving his hand a shake. But not yet ready for him to leave just yet, she asked, “What sort of immortal are you, anyway?” For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what he was. Other than his massive body, he looked human in every way. As someone who spent the first part of her life living amongonlyfey and the latter part living amongmostlyelves, she didn’t exactly have a keen eye for detecting someone’s species.
He seemed surprised by her question. She expected that. “You don’t know?”
“I’m a fey, remember?”
He nodded to himself, seeming to agree with her statement. “Checks out.” Despite the ease he spoke with, uncertainty warped his features, tension seeming to ripple along every muscle in his body. “Werewolf. I’m a werewolf.” He said it so quickly she almost missed it, as if he was ashamed of what he was.
And then he was observing her, scrutinizing how she’d react to what he said, and she couldn’t understand why.
Why the hell did it look like he cared what she thought of werewolves so much?
Whatever. She shrugged, expressing just how little thought she gave to what he just told her. “Cool. I can add that to the list of immortals I’ve met. It’s a small list, but I can assure you, it’s growing.” She shot him a playful wink. “But I’m going to have to add a name to that list as well. So, if you don’t mind, your name?”
For the second time in a row, her question seemed to throw him off. “My name? Are you sure that’s a good idea? Considering…”
“Nothing about this tournament is going to be easy. We might as well make it harder on ourselves while we’re ahead.”
He almost cracked a smile at that. “You are the most unusual woman I’ve ever met.”
“Thank you. As the presumed last living fey, I have a reputation to uphold, and I’m afraid being normal wouldn’t cut it.”
Again, he almost smiled, but not quite. “Antonio.”
She grinned. “Sophia.”
And that’s when she saw him - the elf she had been trying to forget. Actually, the elf she ended up doing a pretty good job at forgetting. He was far behind Antonio, furiously pushing through the crowd, his blazing eyes locked on her.
Just like that, thoughts of Casper returned to their rightful place in her mind - front and center.
It was in that moment that a ridiculously impulsive and absolutely insane thought crossed her mind, and her inebriated brain believed she couldn’t have thought of something better if it tried.
One more look into Antonio’s hypnotic eyes had her deciding to act on that thought of hers, assuring herself that any sex starved virgin would do exactly the same.
Yes, she’d kiss the wolf.
She didn’t need a reason to kiss this irresistible stranger, but convincing herself she was doing it to forget about Casper for a few moments more gave her the extra push she needed.
Without another thought, she lifted up onto her toes, pressing her palms against the werewolf’s chest for balance, and brought her lips to his.
Considering she hadn’t kissed anyone before, her decision was, without a doubt, rash in every way. She knew this.
Though, impulsivity aside, she had to rip off the proverbial band-aid that was a first kiss eventually, didn’t she? In her mind, this moment was as good a time as any.
But when her lips met with his and his body tensed in a panic, she panicked too.
He wasn’t kissing her back.
The embarrassment that coursed through her, seeping into every last bone in her body, seemed to drain the alcohol from her. Suddenly, she was all too aware of the mistake she made.
A second wave of panic washed over her when she realized Casper most definitely saw everything. She was mortified. What was she thinking?
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
She backed away, pressing her heels back into the ground, the embarrassment overwhelming. She wanted more than anything to take back the last ten seconds, hating that it was an impossibility. “I, uh…” What was she supposed to say in a situation like this? “I wasn’t thinking.” She wanted to shrink into nothing so badly.