Wolf Watch (The Madison Wolves Book 8) Read online

  "Oh, something shocking?" I wondered what she'd tell me if I asked for the same. "Well, I recently met this woman who I haven't stopped thinking about."

  "Oh? But you're here with me?"

  I laughed, but she offered a puzzled expression. "Wait. That wasn't a joke? Elisabeth..."

  "Oh." She colored. "Me? I suppose it shouldn't go to my head; we only met six hours ago."

  "True," I said after a moment. I certainly wasn't going to tell her I'd been stalking her.

  "But maybe you're warning me of something," she went on. "Do I have to worry about you stalking me now?"

  It was my turn to blush.

  "I think you'd find an efficient way of dealing with me if I did."

  "You're probably right. We have ways of making you disappear." She said it ominously. The thing was, I thought it was probably true.

  I thought about it for a minute. "You wouldn't have to worry about that."

  "Not a stalker?"

  "Oh, totally a stalker," I said with a grin. "But I'm harmless. Ask anyone."

  * * * *

  Conversation turned lighter after that, and soon we were pulling into the restaurant parking lot. She met me at the back of the car and took my arm. I decided I was entirely okay with that and leaned against her a little as we walked to the restaurant door. Once inside, she led me to the hostess station, where she was addressed by name.

  "Ms. Burns. We have your table waiting."

  "Thank you, Patty."

  The hostess handed two menus to a waiting teenage girl and whispered to her, and the girl told us, "If you will follow us." We followed her to secluded table. Elisabeth held my chair for me, and once we were seated, the girl said, "Becca will be your server tonight."

  "Thank you, Kyra," Elisabeth replied.

  As soon as the girl was out of hearing range, I turned to Elisabeth. "Ms. Burns, you seem to be known here."

  "I believe I am," she replied.

  "Is that all you're going to say on the matter?"

  "I've been here before."

  "Uh huh. Spill."

  She smiled. "I might be a minority investor."

  I stared. "Seriously? You own the restaurant?"

  "About five percent is all. Michaela and Lara each have another five percent."

  "Michaela is a school teacher, but she has money to invest in restaurants?"

  "Michaela's living expenses are exceedingly low, so she takes investment recommendations from her wife and her sister-in-law."

  "And you suggested a restaurant? Don't most restaurants fail?"

  Elisabeth gestured around. "Does this restaurant look like it's failing?"

  "It's Saturday during prime dinner time. Every restaurant in town is packed right now."

  "Well, this restaurant is not failing. Lara and I don't invest in businesses that are going to fail."

  I scoffed. Elisabeth raised an eyebrow. "You doubt me?"

  "No one has a hundred percent track record."

  "Your statement is flawed. I admit. Not all of my investments have done well, but none of them have become failed businesses."

  "Then you haven't been investing long enough."

  Elisabeth took a sip of her water while watching me. "Zoe, we don't know each other well. I don't want to appear dismissive, but I think on this issue, my information may be better than yours."

  I thought about it. "All right. How is it that you are able to do so much better than most investors?"

  "I am very careful in how I invest. I only invest when I know the principal individuals involved. I review their business plan. If I think they have a good product or good service but lack financial sense, I either require they obtain it or I don't invest."

  "But a restaurant?"

  "There are specific reasons why the failure of restaurants is so high," she explained. "According to some studies, sixty percent fail in the first year. Eighty percent fail inside five years. But the reasons they fail are predictable and highly manageable. It comes down to the experience of the people. The likelihood of success goes up when the owners have had significant prior experience. They need to be good people managers, and when they hire more managers, they need to do so carefully. I've already mentioned financial acumen. And then they must provide excellent customer service and quality food, and do so with incredible consistency."

  She gestured around. "This is not a large restaurant. The larger a restaurant, the more challenging it is to maintain quality." Then she smiled. "It also helps that Lara has investments in other businesses, including a marketing company."

  "Free services?"

  "Quid pro quo. For instance, this table is reserved. As long as I call before five PM, this table will be available. Well, unless Lara or Michaela has already reserved it. If we miss the five PM cutoff, then they release the table and it becomes available for reservations or drop ins. There are a few other tables that are treated similarly, although with an earlier cutoff, for companies such as the marketing firm and the interior design firm."

  I nodded. "What else?"

  "As you can imagine, Lara and I have a significant network. Our friends patronize our businesses." She smiled. "Our investments are always local, and we keep an eye on them. They may not always perform as well as we might like, but they never fail."

  The waitress took that moment to step up to our table. "Good evening, Ms. Burns," she said.

  "Hello, Becca," Elisabeth said. "This is Zoe."

  "Ah, yes," Becca replied. "We have a couple of specials that didn't make it to our menu." She described the available vegan specials then pointed to a few vegetarian choices from the main menu. Elisabeth ordered a bottle of wine for us, and Becca stepped away.

  I turned back to Elisabeth. She was smiling at me.

  "Do you like the restaurant?" she asked sweetly.

  "You are full of surprises. You didn't just make a reservation."

  "I may have mentioned my dinner companion preferred vegan choices."

  I was, well, beyond impressed. And if I felt like I was in over my head previously, it struck home just how far in I was. And I didn't think this was even a big deal for her. She'd gotten them to add to their menu specifically for me.

  "To be fair," she added, "it's easier for this restaurant to assemble those choices on short notice than it might be for somewhere else. They already use the ingredients in other dishes." She shrugged. "I wanted you to have a nice meal. I hope you don't mind if I have seafood."

  "The fisheries..." I started to say.

  "I know. Michaela mentions the tuna fisheries every time we go for sushi."

  "You eat sushi?"

  "Of course. But I hope you won't be offended if I don't ask to sample anything from your plate tonight."

  A moment later, Becca returned with our wine and a breadbasket. She prepared dipping plates with olive oil and pepper then explained, "The wholemeal wheat bread is vegan. I'm sorry, but the white is not."

  We placed our orders, and Becca disappeared.

  "So, Zoe," Elisabeth said, lifting her glass. "To discovery."

  "Discovery," I said. We sipped, and then I commented on the unusual toast.

  "But we have so much to discover about each other." Her gaze was intense. "I suspect we are both very curious people. I suspect we are both very complicated people. I imagine there is a great deal for us to each discover." Her gaze bore into me, and I felt like I was under a microscope. But then she blinked and turned to the breadbasket. "But maybe I am wrong. Perhaps you aren't interested in more than an evening."

  "Oh no," I said. "I find you fascinating. I want to know everything about you."

  "Well, perhaps we should take turns. What would you like to know first?"

  "Where did you go to school?"

  "I was, after a fashion, home schooled, first by my mother and then later my aunt. For college, I attended Harvard and then stayed for a business degree."

  "You have a business degree and used it to start a bodyguard business?"

&nbs
p; "My turn," she said. "How did you become an environmental activist?"

  "Oh, I see how this game works," I replied. "I actually got started in high school. My father was always taking my brother camping. For years, I whined that I wanted to go. Finally when I was fifteen, I think, they finally let me come. They thought I would hate it. It was high mosquito season, and they took me to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. It was a five-night trip, although I learned years later they were ready to cut it short if I was too impossible. It rained almost every day. They made me carry my own share of gear at every portage. We ate what we caught with freeze dried as backup. I got my own tent, but I had to set it up myself. The first two nights, I set it up on rocks, and, no matter what I did, it was lumpy. And of course, the mosquitoes were terrible."

  "Don't tell me. You loved it."

  "Every minute. It was so beautiful. At night, the loons sang to us. In the morning, the lake was still, and we started early each day. The water was like glass, and we just glided across it. I got yelled at a few times because I was always stopping to take pictures." I closed my eyes, remembering. "It was all breathtaking. I did my share without a single complaint, and I caught my share of fish, too, although I made my brother clean them."

  "After that?"

  "After that, I learned everything I could. I learned how rare it was to find such pristine places. I learned about how so many places are ruined through over development, runoff, and acid rain. I learned what DDT had done to the birds in this country back in the seventies." I faded off. "You get the idea."

  She nodded. "Those are the sorts of things Michaela teaches in her classes."

  "I'd absolutely love to go the next time you guys go kayaking," I said. Then I realized I had just invited myself, and that was rude. "Um. I mean. If you want me along."

  She smiled. "Let's get through tonight and we'll see. But we tend to go for long weekends, and we're all pure carnivores. I can tone it down for a meal, but as a group, you might find our dining habits shocking."

  I studied her for a moment before I said, "As long as I'm not on the menu, I think I could make it work."

  She laughed. "Naw. We never eat our friends." Then she laughed again. "There was this one deer..."

  "Deer?"

  "A friend of Michaela's."

  "And you ate it?"

  "No, no. I wouldn't do that. But we had to catch it."

  "Michaela had a friend that was a deer?"

  "She raised it, I guess. She used to work for Fish and Wildlife, and someone dropped it off as a fawn. She raised it and taught it how to find food, then let it go."

  "Why did you have to catch it?"

  "It was wearing a tracking collar. She needed it. But you haven't finished your answer. So you learned to love the outdoors in high school."

  "Yes. After that, they didn't take me on all their trips, but they took me on a lot of them. I had a job in high school, and I started giving money to some of the organizations. I subscribed to National Geographic, and I gave money to the Sierra Club and Greenpeace. Once I got to college and was in that hotbed of liberalism-" Elisabeth laughed. "I became more directly active." I paused. "You should know, I got hooked up with a couple of pretty militant organizations for a while, but GreEN isn't like that. The worst we do is trespass. I've chained myself in front of bulldozers, but that's the most extreme in recent years."

  She nodded understanding. "It's good that you stand up for your beliefs. But you're not afraid to trespass?"

  "I believe it's my turn," I said with a grin. "Business degree. Bodyguard service. Explain."

  "It just sort of happened."

  "Just sort of happened? Were you in the military or something?"

  "No, but you can imagine from looking at us that both my sister and I have always been very athletic. It runs in the family, actually. I didn't form the company. My father did. After he died, it was run by my predecessor, but then he resigned, and Lara needed someone to take over."

  "Lara did?"

  "It's complicated."

  "So you work for your sister?"

  "Yes."

  "That has to be weird."

  "Not really. So you're not afraid to trespass?"

  "Oh no," I said. "You aren't done answering. Why is it complicated?"

  "We both inherited a variety of businesses when our father died. By and large, he didn't specify who got what. We worked it out ourselves. The way it worked out, she needed the protection services and at the time, I didn't."

  "That's all as clear as mud."

  She laughed lightly. "That's inheritance for you. She's better at some things; I'm better at others. Over the last several years, I've divested myself of most of the businesses that required too much of my attention. I have enough to take care of."

  "So there were changes in your life recently?"

  "Handling security is a full time job, and then some."

  "Our lives are so different," I observed.

  "So, you're willing to trespass?"

  I laughed. "Yes. For the right cause."

  "What would be the right cause?"

  "When I think a company is destroying the environment, then I'll do whatever is necessary to raise awareness."

  After that, we went back and forth. We compared favorite colors and favorite movie stars. We cautiously delved into politics. Neither of us was surprised to discover I was far more active politically than she was, although she admitted she voted a combination of liberal and civil rights.

  Elisabeth got me tipsy on the wine but was more cautious for herself. "I'm driving," was her only explanation. I didn't have a problem with that.

  I may have been more open about myself than I might have been otherwise, but my life was an open book, more or less. I did confess to a few crimes for which I hadn't been caught.

  "But I think the statute of limitations is up. I never hurt anyone."

  "Spiking trees is dangerous for the loggers."

  "Which is why I stopped doing it," she said. "We thought we could get them to stop logging. But you don't get in the way of economic progress that easily."

  All in all, it was a lovely meal.

  "Well," Elisabeth said eventually. "Ready to go?"

  "You haven't paid the bill. Or are free meals an investor perk?"

  "They have my information on file."

  "Becca's tip?"

  "Also handled the same way."

  "What if service had been poor?"

  She laughed and stood up.

  She held my arm on the way to the car.

  * * * *

  It was a short drive to the park. We were both quiet, having talked throughout dinner.

  I'm usually a decisive, dominant person. I wasn't accustomed to spending an evening with someone as powerful as Elisabeth. And it was everything about her, starting with her physical attributes and what I knew about her. But she was a dominant personality, and it was evident in everything she did.

  We arrived at the park and got out of the car, and immediately she took my hand. There was no indecision, no question. We would be holding hands. She tugged me in the direction she wanted to go, and we walked at the pace she set.

  There wasn't anything wrong with that. I just wasn't accustomed to it. Normally, like I had for our date in the first place, I took the lead, but never with this air that what I wanted was what we would do.

  I was sure if I objected, she would have taken everything I said into consideration. But I also realized that otherwise, we would simply be doing whatever she selected.

  It was quite odd.

  And so we walked where she led, and because she didn't instigate a conversation, we walked quietly. We made it all the way out to the end of the point, and she pulled me to one of the waiting benches. There were others out walking as well, and so we weren't in complete privacy, but no one was paying particular attention to anyone else, so in a way, we were alone.

  She tugged me to the bench, and we sat down together. A moment later, her arm was aroun
d my shoulder.

  I'd never been out with a woman this tall and powerful before, and it was an intoxicating experience. I looked up at her for a moment, then I leaned into her, laying my head against her shoulder.

  "Is this what you had in mind when you asked me out?" she finally asked.

  "My thoughts hadn't gotten this detailed," I replied. "This is really nice."

  She shifted towards me slightly. My legs were crossed, and after a moment, her far hand settled on my knee, the fingers just underneath the hem of the skirt. She caressed my leg almost absentmindedly, but I didn't believe it was at all casual. Still, she didn't disturb the lie of the skirt, and so I didn't need to stop her hand from creeping further up than I found comfortable.

  At least in public.

  But I did say, "You're bold."

  "I've been called that before," she said. She didn't stop what she was doing or ask if it was all right. I leaned against her just a little more, and she chuckled. "You seem to like bold."

  "What can I say?" I asked. "I live for the thrill."

  "Is that what I represent?" she asked. "A thrill?"

  "I don't know," I said. "Maybe. You're not like other women I've dated."

  "In what way?"

  "Your physical attributes, to begin with. And I've never dated anyone who was rich. A lot of women earn more than I do, but you're in a different class."

  "Is that why you asked me out? My money?"

  "No. I couldn't take my eyes off you. Surely you noticed."

  "I did, actually," she said. I looked up at her and she was smirking. "Why is that?"

  "Fishing for compliments?"

  "Curious. As you say, I'm not your usual type."

  "I don't have a type," I said. "Well, I do. Intelligence is critical, and I won't date someone whose politics I find egregious."

  Her hand left my knee, which I found disappointing, but a moment later she was caressing my cheek instead. Her hands were so big she could rest her palm against my cheek, caressing my cheekbones with her thumb while her fingertips were just touching my ear.

  I stared into her eyes. My heart began pounding. I just knew she was preparing to kiss me. Everything was moving so quickly, and I felt entirely swept away.