Page 142 of All Packed Up

With a frown, Wendy glanced down at her pants to make sure there was nothing on her. “What is it? What are you looking at?”

Meeting his gaze after finishing her inspection seemed to be what snapped him out of his stare. He blinked and shook his head, closing the distance between them. “Nothing, nothing. You’re pretty cute for a pain in the ass,” he admitted and tapped her blushing cheek.

She opened her mouth and darted to bite his finger, and he pulled the appendage back with a jolt.

“Hey! Sheesh, just teasing,” he said, and their laughs meshed together a little too well.

* * *

Wendy knew shopping wasn’t going to be easy. But she thought with Griffith there, it couldn’t be that bad, right?

Wrong.

As soon as they pulled in the lot, Wendy took count of the cars in the parking lot. “Who needs to come shopping at ten AM on a Tuesday?” she complained, until Grif shot her a dry look. “Besides us, I mean.”

“Apparently, all of these people,” he drawled, and the car rolled to a stop in a faded parking spot. Through the frosted glass, Wendy couldn’t see much inside except a handful of blurs moving around.

Tension zipped a tight line up her spine, each tooth swallowed by the zipper making her chest feel tighter and tighter.

Grif cleared his throat, pulling her out of her trance. “Are you good?”

Wendy nodded, talking herself down. These were just harmless shoppers, total strangers who posed no danger. It wasn’t like Derek was going to jump out of the bushes. She could literally feel how weak the bond was, how thin it was stretched from the distance.

But that didn’t help her anxiety.

She slid out of the truck seat to the cracked asphalt below and waited by the hood for Griffith.

Everything was fine at the hardware store. Everything will be fine here too.

But believing it didn’t stop her nerves from fizzing under her skin in warning.

As they entered, a bell dinged overhead, and her cheeks flamed red as the nearest heads turned her way. Several gazes lingered on the tall, muscular alpha beside her, and she was suddenly grateful for his presence. Their eyes barely glanced over her before returning their stares to the object of their appreciation.

Wendy oddly felt more at ease that way, and she took a moment to survey the store.

It was cute in that small-town boutique way. Lots of cute cursive letters on chalk signs pointed the directions of the different clothes, sectioned off into square racks. To their right as they entered were the clerks and check out area, and in the very back she spotted the changing rooms. They were actual rooms instead of stalls, she was pleasantly surprised to find.

Griffith was a welcome, warm presence at her side, and he bumped her with his arm. “I think you should take the lead on this one,” he suggested with a nod toward all the racks.

His brows were furrowed with the sort of seriousness that seemed out of place for a clothing store. She snorted. He looked as if he was planning his next fight instead of navigating the racks of clothes.

At the sound, his concentration broke, and he looked down at her just as she pulled them in the direction she needed, far away from the people in the store.

Wendy swallowed hard. Her chest hurt. It was like each person she passed somehow knew the Sterling Pack. She feared they somehow knew who she was from a glance and were phoning in her whereabouts right now.

Grif pulled her to a stop.

“Live, laugh, love?” he asked, pointing to the first shirt on the rack.

“No.” She shook her head and pulled him to another rack. “Less that.” She scooted the hangers around, and it took her a few more tries to get past the painfully cheesy slogans, but she finally landed on options that weren’t terrible. “Oh, more this,” she said, grabbing the sleeve and angling it out so Griffith could see it.

It was a butter soft black material, with nothing on it except Protect the Planet squeezed in the shape of the globe.

“Still cheesy,” he commented.

Ignoring him, Wendy pulled one out in her size and tucked it over her arm.

He followed behind her as she moved on, and she felt protected, safe enough to actually let a little bit of excitement seep into her flurry of emotions.