“Ryder had an ex-girlfriend who’s giving you trouble?” That really surprised Kate.

  “No, Derek—Brenda. Even if you’re not concerned about it, I just wanted to make you aware of it.”

  “Sure, thanks.” Kate read through the comments and smiled.

  Brenda said: That little nobody, Kate Hanover, has been trying to steal my boyfriend away from me for months behind my back. She has the nerve. Well, I’m not done with her.

  Wouldn’t Brenda be surprised when she learned Kate was dating Derek! Though after throwing caution to the wind last night, Kate felt that she would go with him to the dinner tonight and have a cooling-off period so she could be more levelheaded about this whole situation.

  One of Brenda’s friends responded: She needs to be dealt with.

  Kate raised a brow to hear the way Brenda was stirring up her friends with the lies she was telling.

  Brenda said: Can you believe she tried to get Derek to hire her as a bodyguard?

  Okay, well, that part was true.

  Another friend of Brenda’s said: No way.

  And the list of comments went on. Kate had read enough. Though just in case Brenda decided to really do something nefarious where Kate was concerned, she took some screenshots and sent them to her email. Brenda was a bitter woman, and she needed to move on with her life.

  “I’m glad you told me about Brenda. I figured she was just bugging Derek to try to get back in his good graces. I had a human stalker boyfriend once and a human ex-girlfriend of another former boyfriend—a wolf—who gave me grief. I had only dated the male wolf twice and the human guy three times. The ex-girlfriend of the wolf guy gave up on me when he started seeing a human woman, so I figured the stalker ex-girlfriend turned her wrath on his new girlfriend instead. The human guy who had stalked me started seeing someone else, and I have no idea how that all turned out. I really didn’t want to know either, as long as they left me alone. So I think it’s always important to be aware of a situation where a perfectly normal person otherwise can create real issues in your life.”

  “I don’t blame you. How are things going between you and Derek?” Lexi asked.

  Kate was sure Lexi was dying to know. She felt Lexi was a like a sister to her, so she didn’t mind telling her. “We’ve had a great time so far. He spent the night last evening. I need to leave later this afternoon to get ready for a charity dinner tonight. You weren’t going to that, were you?” Kate hadn’t remembered Lexi mentioning it to her before. She didn’t tell Lexi that she was dating Derek yet. She really thought if she took a break from him the rest of the week and then went camping with him, she’d know if dating him officially was really the right move for them.

  “No. Ryder and I had other plans. I’m glad you’re going with Derek. Rafe said he hasn’t seen Derek this excited about anything in a long time. He was surprised Derek went to the zoo with you.”

  “Oh, we’re going to the botanical gardens one of these weekends.”

  Lexi laughed.

  “And pedal boating.”

  “I’m seriously going to have to talk Ryder into doing some of those things.”

  “Where is Ryder?” For that matter, where was Spirit? She usually greeted Kate as soon as she arrived at Lexi’s home.

  “We found a veterinarian, Rebecca Ann Young, who is a wolf, and she’s going to be giving all the wolf dogs their vaccinations. Regular vets won’t do it. But she totally understands where we’re coming from. Ryder took Spirit to get her shots.”

  “Oh, fantastic. Is the veterinarian new to the area?”

  “Yeah, she was with a pack up in Seattle, and she got fed up with the leadership there, so she figured she would settle down here.”

  “Does Derek take his Irish setters to her?”

  “I don’t know for sure. We shared the word about her with him though.”

  “She’s single?” If she was, would Derek be interested in the vet? Kate hated how her mind would sometimes go on wild tangents.

  Lexi added some prices to the web page. “Uh, yes. But she has been really busy, and she’s trying to just get her practice set up first before she starts to date, she said.”

  “Oh, okay.” But it made Kate realize she might not be the only she-wolf in the area who was available to see Derek and she might need to make her mind up sooner rather than later.

  Chapter 14

  Hoping Derek wouldn’t be upset with her now that she wanted to hold off on telling anyone she was dating him, Kate was ready for him when he came to pick her up at her home for the charity dinner. He hurried to the door to get it for her, but she left the house before he reached her. He smiled and gave her a kiss and a hug. “You look ravishing as usual.”

  “Thanks. You look like a handsome devil of a wolf.” She kissed and hugged him back, wanting to show she really did care about him.

  He held the car door for her, and when they were on the way, she casually said, “Lexi was telling me that we have a wolf veterinarian to take care of the wolf dogs now. Have you touched base with her about your Irish setters?” She’d been thinking about it ever since Lexi told her this morning.

  “I have. They have their annuals coming up in about a month.”

  “Oh, that’s great. I haven’t met her yet. Is she nice?” Kate asked.

  “She seems to be. I’m sure she will fit right in with the pack.”

  “I didn’t know anything about her. You could have asked her to the gala instead of me.” Yeah, Kate figured he would know she was fishing to learn if he was at all interested in the vet.

  “Your name was the one that kept coming up and—”

  “You already had me checked out—I mean as far as the job interview went—so I was a little more of a known quantity.”

  “Truthfully, since the time of the interview, I’ve watched you interacting with my friends, and you always appeared to be enjoying yourself. I wanted that with you.”

  Kate smiled. “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But you didn’t ask me to go with you to the gala. You went through Lexi instead.”

  Derek nodded. “That had all to do with me turning you down for the bodyguard job. I was hoping Lexi could convince you to go with me if you were a bit reluctant.”

  “Well, it worked.”

  “It sure did.”

  “So is Brenda going to be at this function?”

  “I wish I could say that she won’t be, but I suspect she will be since she knows where I’m going to be and I suspect she’s going to keep trying to meet up with me,” Derek said, turning onto another road.

  “Has she texted you anymore?”

  “She has. But I’m not bothering to answer her texts.”

  “Good. Maybe she’ll finally find someone else to hassle. By the way, I don’t get any tabloids. Since Maddie reads them, are there any news stories about us lately?”

  “Uh, yeah, about you.”

  “Me? Just me?” Kate asked, wondering if that one reporter had made more stories up about her and Randall.

  “Yeah, apparently you’re a heartbreaker.”

  “I am. But I think you are too.”

  He chuckled.

  “So what did they really say? The tabloids?”

  “That you broke up several relationships.”

  “Ha! You know who started that rumor?”

  “I suspect Brenda did. Even though I hadn’t been dating anyone else while I was seeing Brenda, I’m sure she thinks I was with you on the sly. Why else would you be available to date me on the spur of the moment?”

  “I was already going to the gala.”

  “Exactly. But she’s not going to see it that way, nor is she going to let on that that’s the case.”

  She frowned. “I never had anything to do with you at the previous events.”

  “I know, but I always watched you and was interested in you.”

  Kate scoffed.

  He pulled up to the restaurant. “It’s true. I wanted to see you, but I just couldn’t bring myself to—”

  “Date me?” she asked.

  “Right. I was afraid to fall for another she-wolf and get my hopes up that she was the one for me.” He got out of the car and then went to her side. This time, she waited for him, and he helped her out.

  Then he saw the paparazzi, and he pulled Kate into a hug and kissed her. If they were going to write stories about him and Kate, he wanted them to get the stories right.

  This time Kate didn’t race off either, pulling Derek out of the limelight. She kissed him back. “I’m not after your money,” she whispered in his ear. “But all that wolfish hotness? Now that’s another story.”

  “And I’m not after your half of the cosmetics business. But one fun she-wolf—that’s a whole other story.” He suspected she was beginning to feel more comfortable with the paparazzi taking photos of them together now that she was nearly dating him.

  She smiled, took his hand, and led him into the restaurant. “I hope Brenda’s here tonight.”

  He chuckled. “You like to live dangerously.”

  “I do.”

  Inside, a hostess was busily escorting all the new arrivals to the banquet room.

  Kate smiled and glanced around the room, her arm around Derek’s waist. He had his arm slung over her shoulder.

  “I was afraid you wouldn’t be coming with me to any of these events. That you didn’t want to be to be seen with me,” Derek said.

  “Well, I changed my mind after we had so much fun this weekend. Brenda also needs to see that this is real between us and to get over it. Besides, I’ve had the biggest crush on you ever since I saw you.”

  He smiled.

  “I’m serious.”

  “I knew it! That’s why you wanted to work for me, and you knew I felt the same way about you.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, and you were afraid to lose your heart again.”

  “I was. You saw me watching you at the social events that Lexi and you attended, didn’t you?”

  “A time or two.” She gave him a cute little shrug.

  “You knew.”

  “Why do you think I applied to be your bodyguard? I saw you running on the beach with one of your dogs, and I smelled your scent, knew you were a wolf, and had to know who you were. It had nothing to do with you having a lot of money. I didn’t know you from Adam. Believe it or not, I don’t read the tabloids. But I loved how you stopped to play with your dog, tossing a Frisbee into the air.”

  Kate figured Brenda still wanted to be with a much hotter, virile wolf, though she wouldn’t know he was a wolf. They soon saw Brenda with the same guy as before, standing near the entrance to the banquet room. Kate was glad Brenda witnessed that she was still with Derek.

  “At least she won’t be seated by us tonight,” Derek said, smiling at Kate.

  “It won’t matter.” Kate pulled Derek into her arms and kissed him. “Because I’m showing her and you just what I feel for you. Believe me, there are no other wolves waiting in the wings.”

  “That’s just what I wanted to hear. But only from you.”

  Kate had thought of telling Derek all the bad things Brenda was saying about her on social media, but she figured she would just handle the situation herself. She didn’t need anyone else fighting her battles. She could be just as snarky as the woman, but she was trying to hold back her wolf nature and just ignore Brenda, who was acting like a sore loser. Like Derek was handling Brenda, Kate thought that might be the best way to deal with someone like her.

  When they finally took their seats, they realized that Brenda and her date were sitting opposite them. Was it a coincidence, or had Brenda bribed someone to rearrange the seating? Kate was kind of surprised that Brenda had come with the same date because he’d abandoned her at the gala. If Brenda was seeing the man now—despite saying she was just a fill-in unless the other woman was still sick or something—why continue to harass Derek for a date? Maybe because she truly was the fill-in. Or the hot wolf was a lot more appealing than the older man with more money.

  So money, in that case, didn’t buy everything.

  The small tables—covered in white tablecloths with red roses in glass vases sitting in the center—made the gathering more intimate. They could eat all the sushi they wanted, artistically prepared by a chef from Hawaii. Along with that and a variety of sautéed vegetables, they enjoyed cocktails while live music played on the other side of the restaurant.

  It was really beautiful as they enjoyed the dinner. Derek donated money to funding a cure for cancer. He’d already bid on several items during the silent auction: an all-inclusive trip for two to Hawaii, dinner theater tickets, an all-inclusive ski trip to Vail, Colorado, and dinner for two at one of the exclusive restaurants in their area.

  Kate didn’t have the kind of money Derek had, so it was hard to imagine bidding so much for a vacation he could pay half the cost for. She had to remind herself it was all for charity and she was glad he was so generous and that he could afford to be so. She noticed Brenda’s date wasn’t bidding on anything in the silent auction, while Derek was using mobile bidding on his smartphone.

  This was really exciting and less stressful, Kate thought. At the end of the silent auction, the winners were announced, and Brenda looked smugly at Derek when it appeared he hadn’t won anything. Everyone else was already paying for their wins, and then Derek leaned over and kissed Kate on the cheek. “Are you ready for an all-inclusive trip to Hawaii?”

  “Seriously?” She had never won anything in her life, and she was so surprised. He probably had paid a fortune to win the trip. “Your name wasn’t called.”

  “I used DS Enterprises, a subsidiary that handles my real estate ventures.”

  She smiled and kissed his mouth. “How wonderful that you won! I can’t wait to go. I’ll have to get some new clothes for the trip. This is going to be so much fun.” She didn’t know if it would really happen. By the time he was ready to take the trip, Kate could have been easily replaced. But for Brenda’s benefit, Kate was playing it up big time.

  Derek kissed Kate back and smiled at her. He seemed pleased at her reaction.

  Brenda’s glower couldn’t have been any harsher. Then she scoffed. “I imagine so since you’re wearing the same gown that you’ve worn before. Is that a wine stain on the bodice?”

  “No, and you’re just plain rude,” Kate said.

  Brenda’s date smiled at Kate as if he was glad she had said so. Then Kate noticed Derek was smiling too. Good. Kate didn’t want him to feel he’d made a mistake in taking her to the dinner because she couldn’t ignore Brenda’s uncalled-for comment.

  When they finally finished dinner and enjoying the night’s events, Derek and Kate headed to her place.

  “I can’t believe you won the trip to Hawaii. I mean, I’m sure you paid a fortune for it, but…were you serious about going with me?”

  “Yeah, I am. As long as you want to go, we’ll have a great time.”

  “Oh, sure. When we both have time.” She still felt by the time it was scheduled, she and he could have moved on. “Sorry about bothering to set Brenda straight at the dinner table.”

  “I would have done it if you hadn’t. She was being rude. If she thinks that putting you down in front of me and others will convince me to date her again, she’s gravely mistaken. So would you like to go out tomorrow night or just come over and have dinner with me? Walk the dogs on the beach? Swim in the pool?” Derek asked, sounding like he wanted to ensure he had dates with Kate every night now.

  She was afraid of that. She didn’t want to make him feel bad, but she thought she needed to have some time away from him so her judgment wasn’t clouded about what was going on between them. She would be with him from Friday through Sunday. “Uh, no, really, I need to get my stuff sorted and packed up for the campout, and I’ll be busy doing other things after work. Laundry, cleaning the house, you name it. So thanks, but I’ll see you on Friday!” She really had to make sure she was doing the right thing with him. She thought taking a breather was the best thing for her—and probably for him. Though he seemed kind of down about it. “We’ll have a blast this Friday.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, sure, we will.”

  But he sounded like he’d done something wrong, and he hadn’t. It was all her. She was worried that the fun would run out and then she would be down about the whole thing.

  “You’re not changing your mind about us, are you?” he asked.

  She smiled at him. “No. I just need to get some things done, or Friday will be here before we know it and I won’t be ready to go.”

  “Okay.”

  When he parked at her house, she leaned over the console and kissed him, telling him she wanted more, but she didn’t want a repeat of last night again so soon after. He kissed her back, but with a little reservation, as if he was afraid she would break his heart.

  She sighed, smiled, and got out of the car. “See you on Friday!” Then she waved at him, shut the car door, and headed into the house, hoping she wasn’t making a mistake in not going out with him the rest of the week. When it came to dating, she definitely didn’t have much of a success rate.

  Chapter 15

  That night on the way home, Derek thought about Kate, afraid she was changing her mind about dating him and wondering what was wrong. He wanted to see her at night, just like dating wolves would. Every evening, he wished she could be sitting on his back patio enjoying cocktails with him, running along the beach with the dogs or running as wolves, swimming with her in his pool, but she had put on the brakes big time. A cooling down? He was afraid he’d done or said something wrong. He didn’t think Lexi kept her busy working on the business at night. And he couldn’t imagine she had that much work to get ready to go camping.