The drive over to her shop was one of the tensest situations she'd ever been in. No words were spoken and she was basically plastered to the car door. Being enclosed in such a small space with such a very large man was suffocating. Theo was having the exact same problem. Her scent had filled the car and his wolf was basically rolling around like a cat with catnip. Every muscle in his body was straining and he had to shift his leg so Karen wouldn't see the effect she was having on him.
When they finally pulled up and parked in front of her shop, Karen bolted out of the car. However, in her haste to get out, she managed to trip over herself, landing hard on the side walk. Theo got out to help, but she popped up before he reached her.
"I'm fine!" she said, her voice taking on a slight shrillness as she brushed herself off. She turned quickly and went to open the shop, fumbling with the keys briefly.
Theo chuckled softly, shaking his head as he followed the flustered woman inside. He watched in awe as the tension seemed to melt out of her shoulders as she inhaled deeply. She turned to him, with a smile, which quickly slid off of her face, and she worried her bottom lip, which in turn made his pants grow uncomfortably tight.
"I guess you can use my office to hang out in," she said hesitantly, before gaining some of her fire back "but No Snooping!" she finished hotly.
Theo simply nodded, though he knew that there was no way he was going to be able to control himself given a chance to find out more about her. As she led him to the office, she pointed out different things such as the small kitchenette and bathroom. Theo just nodded absently, not paying attention to anything other than the hypnotizing sway of her hips. He swallowed hard when she looked back at him seductively.
"Are you even paying attention?" she asked softly
"Aye," he responded deeply, "Though not to what you're saying."
Karen glared at him before rolling her eyes "Pig." she said.
"Dog." he responded quickly "I prefer dog."
Her eyes widened in surprise slightly, before she recovered quickly "As you wish," she quipped before turning back around, patting her thigh softly "Come on doggy!"
Theo barked out a laugh and shook his head again before following her the rest of the way to her office.
"You don't have to stay in the office, all I ask is that you leave me alone while I work," Karen said as she gestured him into her small, messy office.
Theo simply nodded as he entered the cramped room and sat down in her chair. As Karen started to walk away, Theo called to her "One more thing,"
She stuck her head back into the doorway "What?"
"You're not going to come back and shoot me are you?" he asked with his crooked grin.
Karen shot him a saccharine smile. "Only if you bother me, or if I catch you snooping." she said sweetly.
Theo's laughter chased her down the hall back to her work station and she couldn't help but smile.
Well, shit.
She thought,
I might just start to like him.
Soon Karen lost herself in her work as she cut, prepared and soldered piece after piece into the image of the wolf that she had drawn. She chuckled as she remembered pull the gun on him and his shocked expression, making her think of her dad. Yet, as she looked down at the drawing that now had a wolf's head in beautiful, swirly grey glass, she couldn't help but think of how her life had changed. As she stared at the wolf, she also caught herself wondering what Theo looked like in his wolf form. Chuckling to herself about her wild thoughts, she continued to work, eventually all thoughts ceased and she focused on the glass.
Theo forced himself to wait about 30 minutes before he started to snooping through her office. At first he was cautious, worried that she could hear the shuffling of papers as he went through the piles on her desk. He had found mostly bills, receipts and other things relation to the business on the desk, so deciding to be bolder, he started to go through the drawers on the desk. The top drawer had little bits and bobbles in it, and the second had more business paperwork.
"Jackpot." he whispered when he opened the third drawer. Inside were tons of pictures, notes, doodles and letters. Finally he would be able to learn a little about the tiny woman who had turned his life upside down. He glanced through some of the letters, most of which were between her and her dad when she was a child. They showed intense pride, determination and nerves of steel as she recounted whatever adventure she was on at the time. They also revealed that much of her knowledge of fighting came from actual masters from whatever martial art she was studying at the time. The drive and encouragement from her father also explained why she was so wary. It also explained why she pulled a gun on him, he realized with a chuckle. Moving on from the letters, he turned to the little notes she seemed to have wrote to herself. Some were shopping lists and to do lists, while other were records of training/ Theo couldn't help but be impressed with the incredible regiment the tiny woman could put herself through.
No wonder she could take down Night Fairies
he thought,
she might even give me a run for my money.
He set aside the notes and finally turned to the pictures. The first were of her and Josh doing various things. Theo was shocked at the intense feeling of jealousy that reared its ugly head at the sight of one picture where Karen was sleeping peacefully curled around Josh as he gave the camera a 'what can you do' look. Shaking his head, he set aside those pictures and picked up a picture set into a glass frame. The frame was handmade out of stained glass and it was obvious that this was one of her first pieces she'd ever made. The picture inside was of her and her dad when she was small. Her dad had her on his shoulders as they both laughed at something. Theo smiled at the picture, and turned the frame over to see what year the picture was taken. She was only 5 in the picture. He chuckled to himself and looked at the adorable girl his woman once was. Deciding that enough was enough, he went to put everything back in the drawers.
Fate however, had different plans. As he went to place the picture frame back in the drawer, it slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor.
"Fuck!" he whispered fiercely as he quickly bent to retrieve the pieces.
"What are you doing?" Karen's icy voice bit out.
Theo froze and slowly looks up. He flinched slightly at the utter rage and hate he saw in her eyes.
"I come up to see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat, try and be cordial, 'Give him a chance Karen, he's a good guy'" she ended in a mocking tone of Becca's voice.
She glared harder at him and for the first time in his life Theo stuttered.
"I-I-I-... uh..." He stammered, as he realized just how bad he messed up.
He straightened up slowly, as she approached him like a predator. His wolf perked up at the threat, meeting her aggressiveness with its own. Once she reached the mess, she knelt down and swiftly retrieve the picture from the shards of glass. She turned it over and for a moment there was such a sadness in her eyes that Theo sucked in a sharp breath. He reached out to comfort her, but she shot to her feet and jabbed in him the chest with her finger.
"HOW DARE YOU!" she screamed at him "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"
Her fist made contact with his jaw before he even realized what was happening.
"You hit me!" he said incredulously, as he blocked the next blow by grabbing her wrist, his own anger rising. However, he missed the next blow as her knee came up and landed a hard hit on his thigh.
"Son of a... "He hissed as he quickly caught her other wrist as it came flying towards his cheek. His anger flared brightly and before she knew what had happened, she was pinned against the wall, arms stretched above her head
