Unraveling Midnight by Stephanie Beck

impression that werewolves really like ice cream.”
    His smile turned wicked. “Honey, like all canines, wolves have a thing for treats, the sweeter the better.”
    Why did the look on his face make her feel like she was the next confection on the dessert menu? And why didn’t the thought of being eaten by this handsome, wonderful, naughty werewolf scare her like it should have?
    “Don’t worry.” He lifted her palm to his mouth for an incredibly chaste kiss. “You’ll learn all the little details about us as we go. And if anything comes up, well, you just ask anything your mind wonders about.”
    She swallowed, his touch stealing most of her rational thought and dismissing every other question she’d had about werewolves. “Um. Okay.”
     

 
    Chapter 10
     
    Lucy looked around her empty store, and wondered at the change in her life. A month earlier, Scott had been a cranky dad at the play park. Now they were texting several times a day, taking the kids for day trips, and he and the kids were at the shop twice a week for knitting. Even though he was all healed up after being hit, she still spent just as much time at his place and would be back over soon for a barbeque.
    She checked her watch and wished it was six o’clock already. She was in charge of dessert and she had a cake to pick up from the bakery before they closed. The owner had agreed to stay ten minutes late for her to pick it up, but she didn’t want to push beyond ten. A lot of her business was done in the last of hour of the day, so she couldn’t leave either.
    But she sure wanted to. Scott, he was a tricky fella. She grabbed her knitting—socks for Greg—and started working while she thought about the man who constantly dwelled in her mind. She’d been very firm about the friend part of their relationship, and he hadn’t pressed her. No, he’d been nothing but friendly in the past few weeks since she’d learned his secret.
    In fact, he’d become her main friend, even her best friend. That was a little sad, all things considered. To better focus on the yarn shop, she’d settled for acquaintances instead of good friends in the past few years. Scott had wiggled right into best friend status and he made sure she knew she occupied the same for him.
    She and Brad had been friends before getting romantic so she absolutely knew friendship first was a wonderful way to start a relationship. At the end of it all, what she missed most with Brad was his friendship. They’d only been married three years, with him deployed for over half of it, so the sexual side of their relationship hadn’t matured past hot and fast.
    They’d talked about where they’d be in ten years and she’d been so excited to see where they were going. Then he’d died and those dreams had died with him. She understood and knew things couldn’t be different, but still, she almost wished she had the bigger experience to give her more of a basis for what things could be like with Scott.
    She wanted to talk with her grandma. Or maybe one of her sisters. Unfortunately, not one of them had had a successful relationship. She had half a dozen foster sisters but most of them had moved on and didn’t really check in with her anymore. Lucy had been a last resort for Jennifer when she’d called about the kids. The arrangement had worked out very well and Lucy hoped she would stay in touch. Family was family, she loved them, would do anything for any of the ones in her past, but she’d learned not to expect consistency. Her grandma hadn’t expected it either.
    Scott was different, though. With him, she’d learned what family meant and his version was unique. His family was a bit broken since his wife’s illness and betrayal, still his vision and plan of family was probably the one her grandma had started with but had modified out of disappointment and self-preservation. Lucy hoped she hadn’t become too callous or self-protecting, though she knew in many ways she had. Scott’s