Southern Shifters: Stick Shifter (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Moxie North Page A

years. Taking care of her father and the business, well, to be honest, it was exhausting. She hadn’t had a break since she took her first shop class in junior high. She’d never had a vacation, never done anything life changing, or been anywhere interesting beyond her small world. Would it be wrong to take this man up on whatever he was offering for as long as he offered it? Did that make her a gold digger?
    The weird eyes, well she’d grown up in the Appalachian Mountains. There were all sorts of stories that people had been telling for generations. Many dating back to immigrants coming over from Scotland and settling in the Mountains. Boogeymans, skinwalkers, and the like were common stories. Delaney wouldn’t say she was a firm believer, but hearing them all her life, she didn’t necessarily refute them either. There were plenty of things in the world she couldn’t explain.
    “Are you making me promises that you think you are going to keep or know you are going to keep?” Her sensitive girly side that she usually kept hidden under her tough mechanic attitude suddenly pushed its way to the front of her mind.
    Will didn’t seem put off by the question. Considering his bold declarations, she would have been surprised if he did.
    “Oh, I never break a promise, Monkey. I mean everything I say.”
    “You don’t know me,” she warned.
    “You don’t know me, either. But here we are very sexually attracted to each other. I know you feel a pull to me that you’ve never felt before. Times that by ten and you are getting close to what I’m feeling. It’s not that I just want you, Delaney. It’s that I have to have you. All of you, body, mind, and soul. I won’t be able to leave here without you. I don’t care what problems you might think we can’t overcome, but I assure, I can fix all of them in a blink of an eye.”
    “Like how you got your bike here?” she asked, raising her eyebrow at him.
    “I won’t lie, having money solves a number of problems.”
    “I bet it does. Am I a problem for you to solve? Do you think you are rescuing me from something?” Delaney couldn’t help the sharp tone that came out.
    It was Will’s turn to let out a snort. “You don’t need rescuing. Delaney Owens would make a perfectly fine life for herself here. You’d probably find a nice townie to marry, make little townie babies, and end up sitting on your front porch yelling at your grandkids. Nobody needs to rescue you from anything.”
    “Then what is your deal? Why the big declarations of ownership and sexy talk?”
    “I said your life would be perfectly fine. I intend your life to be bigger than that. In my scenario, you marry me, have my babies, and yell at our grandchildren from the front porch. But before that, we will travel and see the world. I will show you things you’ve never imagined. I will give you anything you want or need. If you don’t want me to do it for you, I will be right by your side removing any obstacles that impede you from getting what you want for yourself. You can work, stay home, or start your own business. Raise llamas for all I care. Whatever makes you happy. The second I laid eyes on you, your happiness became my only goal.”
    Delaney couldn’t help but shake her head at the crazy man again. His explanation of not rescuing her helped. She was warring with the idea that she needed any help from anyone. But even though he said it in a totally bossy way, it still sounded sweet his offer to help her if she wanted to do something on her own. But kids? Marriage?
    “I think I need to get back on my bike before you make my brain so mushy I can’t ride,” she said, attempting to take a step back from him. She didn’t get far; his hands tightened on her.
    “We can ride, but I changed my mind. I’ll take lead. I found a pretty spot I want to show you,” he said, the glow in his eyes seeming to fade as she watched.
    “Why, so we can get naked in the woods? I’ll have you know that I am