Chapter 20

"Dude, if you had murder vision, the paint cans would explode right now."

Ryker looked away from glowering at a can of purple paint and instead leveled his glare on his Beta. Charlie had decided to look at the paintbrushes instead of Ryker, though he tossed a bright grin over his shoulder once he felt Ryker's attention on him.

"Duncan's getting cocky."

"Oh, I just thought you were mad at the color lavender," Charlie said, gesturing toward the can. "But Duncan makes more sense."

How Charlie kept his cool and didn't get insanely irritated whenever Duncan came around or did something infuriating (which was practically all Duncan did), Ryker would never understand. It had taken every ounce of self control Ryker had to not jump across the chairs and go for Duncan's throat when he had seen him talking to Jo that afternoon.

The only thing that kept him from going after the other alpha was knowing that being overly protective of Jo would make it clear that she was his mate, and Ryker wasn't ready for that. Jo definitely wasn't ready. The longer he let it go, though, the harder it was going to get. At least this painting date thing would help. They could start moving forward.

"They should go to another college," Ryker said. He double checked the text from Jo before grabbing a can of eggshell paint and then another of a shade of green called sage. Like the plant. She had actually typed that in there.

"The treaty says they can attend Sugar Maple." Charlie shrugged. "And that's been around since the college started."

"They weren't trying to edge onto our territory when the college started," Ryker growled, feeling heat crawling up his neck. His skin began to itch as fur threatened to grow. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down.

Wolfing out in the middle of Seth's hardware store probably wouldn't be a good look, even though Seth did know about the pack. He was one of the few people in town who did, but Ryker wanted to stay on his good side so he couldn't turn into a huge brown wolf and possibly shove the metal shelves over.

"Yeah, well, they're just testing their limits. Brett thinks they're bored."

"I think they're planning something," Ryker said. Unlike his older half-brother, he always had to be on the alert, always thinking about the worst-case scenario. Honestly, having a human mate was a pretty terrible scenario. He gripped the paint cans harder and then nodded to Charlie. "Grab a couple more cans of these. And whitewash."

"How much of the house are you painting?"

"As much as she'll let me."

It would give them plenty of time to hang out, and he could get to know her better. Even though they rode together to and from college every day, he still felt like he didn't know much about her. She was stubborn and aggravating, witty, and incredibly guarded.

As for her background, he knew she was from Charlotte and both of her parents were alive. That was about it. She might as well have been the Fort Knox of girls.

He grabbed a couple clean paint rollers and tossed them into the basket Charlie was carrying. There were also a couple packets of nails and a deadbolt in there. That front door of Jo's wasn't set up for security, and he would feel better about her being all alone if her lock was better.

"I still think you should figure out what she likes to do. She'll get bored of painting eventually," Charlie said as they walked up to the front.

"I'm working on it, Charlie."

"At like a snail's pace." He grinned and jumped out of the way as Ryker reached over to shove him.

By the time they got to the front and set the paint cans on the counter, Ryker's cans both had bent handles, the curves perfectly in line with his clenched fists. Seth gave him a long, even look.

"Bad day?"

Ryker glared at him for pointing it out while Charlie just laughed. "Not helping," Ryker growled at his Beta.

"Wasn't meant to," Charlie said with a shrug, still smirking as Seth rang up the purchases.

"No trouble for the town, I hope?" Seth asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ryker shook his head, then rubbed his temple. "Not yet, at least." He had to figure out how to handle this mate thing, fast, because if Duncan kept coming to the class, it was only a matter of time before he figured out what Jo meant to Ryker.

"Well, let me know if there's anything I can ever do," Seth said as Ryker paid.

"Thanks, Seth," Ryker said, nodding at him with true appreciation. The dude had a personality that was steady as a rock, just like his grandma had been and her dad before her. It was one of the reasons his family had been trusted as a human liaison to the werewolf pack for generations. But with him being the liaison, it was also one of the reasons Ryker didn't exactly want to share any brewing troubles just yet. It wasn't his place to do that, not before talking to his dad at least.

"Let's go," Ryker said, nodding at Charlie before grabbing the cans and heading toward the door. Charlie headed home, while Ryker made a quick stop for pizza before continuing the drive to Jo's. Even just nearing her place, he felt himself starting to relax, knowing he was about to see her, knowing she'd be safe while he was with her.

Also, knowing that stupid useless door of hers was about to be fixed.

Too bad she probably wouldn't go for replacing her windows with bullet-proof glass.

As he got out of the truck, the door swung open. "You know, we don't have to paint. We can just eat pizza like normal people, without a home improvement project."

"Normal people do home improvement projects," he said as he grabbed the pizzas from the passenger seat. It might look excessive, but he'd finish off half of a pizza easily and he might get hungry later. The pizza he had gotten was a meat lover's with extra bacon. And there was no way he was eating any of hers. Pineapple on a pizza...it was indescribably gross.

"Okay, but don't start complaining when we get halfway through the living room. It was your idea." She headed toward him, her black ponytail swinging as she came down the rickety steps faster than she should have with an ankle that was still healing. Annoyance that Brett agreed she didn't need the crutches anymore swept through him again. At least the crutches would slow her down while her ankle healed some more.

"I've got it," he said, closing the truck door.

"I can get a paint can or two," she said, her chin lifting.

Ryker made a face. She wasn't going to let it go. He hadn't known her for long, but he already knew that about her. "You carry the pizza, then."

Judging by the not-very-well-hidden smug look on her face as she took the boxes from him, that had probably been her aim all along. "Are you sure you got pineapple?"

By the way it smelled to him, that was all he had gotten. The pineapple scent, even though it was only on half of one pizza, was very strong. "No, I left that out. I thought you wanted anchovies."

"Ryker," Jo growled at him, punching his arm lightly with her fist. While it wasn't a werewolf's growl, the fact that his girl had just made that noise was a major turn on. Like...a lot. And then she went and got all aggressive on him. Ryker gripped the side of the truck tightly and took a deep breath. Down boy.

Luckily, she was focused on the pizza boxes and so didn't notice his reaction to her. "You can't tease about pineapple," Jo was muttering, lifting a lid to inspect the pizza. The pineapple one was on top, so she was quickly assured of the lack of anchovies. She turned toward him, making a face as she shook her head. "Anchovies, really..."

Ryker grinned at her. "Some people like those, you know." Like Brett.

"Weirdos," Jo said, lifting the boxes.

"Be careful, you just insulted your doctor," Ryker said, chuckling. He couldn't wait to tell Brett that Jo had called him a weirdo.

Even without being a werewolf, it was like she could read his mind. Her beautiful dark eyes flashed at him. "Don't you tell your brother I said that!"

Ryker just winked at her as he grabbed the bag of door lock hardware and several cans of paint. "Better take that inside, pizza's best when it's hot and fresh."

"What all did you get?" she asked even as she headed to the house.

"I brought roller brushes, drop cloths, and pans from home," he said, knowing he'd need to go back to the truck to get them. "And paint and clean rollers." He would mention the lock later, when she was happy from eating pizza. He knew he was always more likely to say yes to things when he was full, so he was hoping Jo would be similar.

"You're prepared."

"Had to be. It was my idea."

"I'll pay you back for the paint and everything," she said, "It's not fair for you to have to pay for it all."

The steps creaked under his weight, and he felt like he might fall through at any moment. He stepped up onto the sturdier porch and followed her inside. "Let's paint first, and then if I do a good job, you can pay me back."

"I can afford paint, Ryker," Jo said with a hint of bristle in her tone.

"I didn't say you couldn't," he replied evenly. The living room was clean but definitely in need of a new coat of paint. He had seen it from the window that one time and made a guess off of that; seeing it up close made him even more sure of his suggestion.

"Just don't want you thinking I'm a charity case."

"I don't..."

Looking unconvinced, she carried the pizzas out of the living room and into the kitchen. After putting down everything he was carrying, he joined her. The kitchen was small and a little dingy, with only a couple small overhead lights. It was extremely clean, though, and it was just the paint job and the lights making it dim. He mentally added a few more projects to his list of improvements that her house needed.

"What?" Jo asked, looking up at the ceiling. Oops. He'd been looking at it too long.

"Nothing, just checking out everything that needed to be painted," Ryker said, only feeling a small twinge of guilt for lying. He doubted she was ready to hear that he could come up with an endless list of projects to keep near her. For the next year if need be.

"We're not painting the ceiling," Jo said, narrowing her eyes at him as she handed him a paper plate.

"What, you're not one of those women that wants every popcorn ceiling demolished?" His mom sure had been one of those about five years ago.

Jo rolled her eyes. "A few bumps on the ceiling aren't going to hurt me, especially considering that I rarely look up there."

"Oh, I see, so it's just the bedroom ceiling you want fixed." Ryker smirked before biting into a slice of pizza--he felt like a 12-year old adolescent, ridiculously pleased at somehow bringing her bedroom into the conversation. Especially when he noticed the slight flush of pink on Jo's cheeks.

"My bedroom ceiling is just fine the way it is, thank you," Jo said, also biting into her pizza. "Mmm," she moaned. "This pizza is so good." Ryker watched, open-mouthed, as she swiped some sauce off the corner of her mouth and licked it off her finger. "Mmm."

Was she trying to drive him crazy? Intentionally?

Ryker cleared his throat, but when he spoke, his voice was still raspier and lower than usual. "Yeah, Tony's is the best pizza around here," he said, clearing his throat again.

Jo gave him a funny look, and Ryker was momentarily lost in her stare. They just looked at each other for several seconds before Jo blinked and looked away, the flush returning to her cheeks. Ryker couldn't resist the urge to try and find out what she was thinking. He desperately wanted to know his girl better.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ryker asked, leaning forward and resting his elbow on the counter. He was screwed if she actually wanted a penny though.

Jo blinked again, then looked down, then back up at him. When she spoke, her voice seemed to come out in a lower tone, one that Ryker found quite sexy. "Why are you helping me so much?"

About that. "You don't know anyone here," he said, trying to be nonchalant, "I'm trying to be neighborly."

"By being my personal chauffeur and now my handyman?" She lifted an eyebrow at him. "I'm serious, Ryker. The day we met, you acted like you couldn't stand me, and it's hardly been a week since then. What changed?"

Actually, nothing had changed. He hadn't been angry at her when they had met, he had been completely caught off guard. And if there was one thing he really did hate, besides Duncan, it was being caught off guard.

Ryker rubbed the back of his neck and then reached over to pick up a piece of pizza. "I wanted to get to know you better." There, fine. He wasn't good at beating around the bush anyways.

Jo blinked. She looked out the tiny window over the kitchen sink, her hands on the counter. "Ryker."

"Yeah."

"Is this a date?"

Heat dashed up his neck and curled around his ears. He took a huge bite of meat lover's pizza.

"This is a date, isn't it?"

Ryker swallowed. "I thought that was sort of obvious..."

Jo opened her mouth as if to say something then closed it again. Tension built under his skin. Was she upset about that? Maybe he should've been really clear when he mentioned painting. He took a ferocious second bite out of his pizza, nearly demolishing it, as he waited for her to say something.

"I can get behind a romantic home improvement project, I think."

He looked up to find her smiling, and for the first time, it was a genuinely warm, soft kind of smile, not a hint of wryness in it. It made him want to grab her up and kiss her just to see what it tasted like. But she probably wouldn't like that, seeing how she had just figured out this was a date and all.

Ryker smiled back at her, hoping she could at least see some of his feelings as well. He didn't want her to know the depth of them yet, but he was glad she finally knew he wanted something more with her. It was a relieving, exhilarating, and one of the happiest feelings he'd ever had, all at once.

"I'm glad to hear that," he said softly. His eye caught on a strand of her hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and was in danger of coating itself in pizza sauce. He automatically moved toward her to tuck it back behind her ear. His heart jolted as he heard a hitch in her breath--it was nice to know he could affect her in the same way she affected him.

His smile grew more mischievous. "So is now a good time to mention I also brought tools to switch the lock on your front door?"

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A/N: Ahhh, this story has reached over 100 votes! I couldn't be more excited! I'll try to do a faster update sometime this week or next weekend to celebrate. ^_^ Thank you to everyone for voting and commenting on the story, I really hope you're enjoying it! <3 There will definitely be an update on Wednesday, Feb. 3.