“How did you go about compiling those kinds of questions?” Beowulf asked.
Dirk smiled. “It was easy enough. I hired a psychologist, who also happens to be a werewolf, to write them up for me. And I think she hit the nail right on the head.”
“So I take it you’re going to somehow get word of the website out to the packs,” said Roan. “If it starts to take off, aren’t you going to find it hard to keep up with your protection duties as well?”
“Not really. I’ve already hired an employee. She’ll be working from home and taking on some of the responsibilities.”
“You’ve hired a woman?” Jager asked. “A mortal woman, I take it.”
Dirk nodded. “Yes, she’s mortal. Her name is Ryann. Every time I’ve talked to her on the phone she seems like a real go-getter.”
“You gave her the job without meeting her face-to-face?”
“Nowadays, especially with an internet business, everything’s done online. Even the hiring of employees,” Dirk said. “Not that I should have to explain myself to you, Jager.”
“Dirk, are you hoping you can meet your mate through it as well?” Daylen asked softly.
He nodded again. “Yeah, I am.”
Being the last member of his family to become mated, sucked. He hadn’t said anything to any of them, but he yearned for what all of them had found. He hated being alone. Dirk had been doing a lot of searching for the one woman meant for him, ever since his brothers-in-arms started finding their mates. So far, he’d come up empty-handed. Even Beowulf’s nightclub, Wulf’s Den, hadn’t worked for him. Longing for his would-be mate and wanting to find her was just part of the reason why he’d come up with the idea for his online dating service. He’d been the first person to fill out a Mate Connection questionnaire.
Ansley sighed. “I think you’ll find her, Dirk. It sounds as if you have the whole site well on its way to doing what you set it up for. I wish you the best of luck with it.”
“Thanks, Ansley.”
Roxie closed the laptop. “Now that you all know, I guess this meeting’s over.” She turned to Dirk. “Don’t you have another one to get to soon, Mr. Boss?”
He smiled. “I do. I’m meeting Ryann for lunch in about twenty minutes.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Get going.”
More than relieved to have this part of his day over with, Dirk nodded, then turned and walked out of the room. He headed for the front door, thinking he’d have plenty of time to get to the restaurant ahead of Ryann. He wanted to be there before she arrived, to organize his thoughts on how he wanted their first meeting in person to go.
It wasn’t too far of a drive from Roxie and Beowulf’s place. It also was a nice and bright San Francisco day. Dirk slipped on a pair of sunglasses and took the top down on his gray metallic BMW 335is convertible. He actually looked forward to seeing Ryann. They’d talked so much over the phone since he’d hired her two weeks before he felt as if he’d known her for a lot longer than that. They also worked well together. And with her background, Ryann was just the kind of person he needed to help out with the service.
He pulled into the lot of the Japanese restaurant he’d chosen and parked the car. Dirk had become hooked on sushi about six months ago and couldn’t get enough of the stuff. He found himself coming to this place at least once a week to feed his new addiction.
After getting out of his car, Dirk walked to the entrance of the restaurant and stepped inside the vestibule, then pulled open the glass door that led to the main section. The place had a definite Asian flare to it. As usual, already quite a few people were there, eating. He’d learned early on to make sure he had a reservation.
Greeted by the hostess, he gave his name, saying he would have another person joining him shortly. The woman led him to a booth and left two menus on the table. Dirk’s stomach growled as he looked one over, promptly deciding what he’d order first. The thing he loved about this sushi place was that it was all-you-can-eat. Each menu item had a number, which had to be filled out on a form with the amount desired on a small slip of paper. The wait staff—whoever happened to see it first—picked it up, and shortly after that, the freshly prepared food arrived at the table. Someone could order as much and as many things as they wanted, so long as they finished everything before ordering more. Not that Dirk had any problem in that regard.
Dirk pulled in a deep breath, his mouth watering at the smell of raw fish, rice and other items the restaurant served. Being a werewolf, he liked any kind of meat practically uncooked, so raw fish was right up his alley.
As Dirk tried to think through what he wanted to say to Ryann, he drew in another breath, then one more quickly after that. His whole body stiffened—along with his cock—when he detected a new scent added to the mix of others around him. Dirk’s fingers held the menu tighter as the one thing he’d longed to feel surged through him, roaring to life—his mating urge.
He looked up to find a woman standing at the side of the table, smiling at him. Dirk latched his gaze onto hers, unable to do anything but stare. She was gorgeous, with long, black hair that fell over her shoulders. Friendly looking light blue eyes gazed back at him. He filled his lungs again with her scent, reveling in the fact that she was to be the one meant for him. His mating urge rode his ass hard, making it almost impossible to think beyond the need to claim her as his.
She stuck out her hand. “You must be Dirk. I’m Ryann.”
Dirk stood and wrapped his much larger one around hers and shook it. He had to fight with himself not to yank her forward and devour her with his mouth. His cock throbbed in time with his rapidly beating heart, pushing against the zipper of his jeans.
“Nice to finally meet you, Ryann,” he said in a voice that had gone husky as he forced himself to let go.
“And it’s nice to finally put a face to the voice. Just to start off, I have to apologize. My sitter bailed on me at the last minute. I hope you don’t mind that I had to bring my son, Tyler, along.”
Dirk’s gaze dropped to the small boy who stood next to Ryann, clutching her hand. The first thing that popped into his mind was: oh, shit. His mate was already married.
Chapter Two
Ryann waited to see what Dirk’s reaction would be after she told him about Tyler. When it came, she hadn’t expected to see his face turn slightly white as he stared down at her son.
Feeling a bit uncomfortable, she waited for Dirk to say something first. She also used the opportunity to study him closer. He was so good-looking she wouldn’t have been surprised to find herself drooling over him. He had the looks that would put a model to shame. And his body. Damn. His muscles filled out the form-fitting black t-shirt and blue jeans he wore quite nicely. He also was tall, really tall. Ryann guessed him to be around six-foot-six. At five-foot-eight, there weren’t too many men who could make her feel short, but Dirk did. And throw in his long—past his shoulders—dark brown hair with blond highlights and dark green eyes, and it was all she could do not to stare at him with her tongue hanging out.
Finally, Dirk brought his gaze back up to her face. His eyes were filled with such longing she felt her knees start to weaken. But then, he blinked and it was gone. He motioned for her to take the banquet seat across from him.
“That’s okay,” he said in a deep voice. Once they were all seated, he added, “I didn’t realize you had a son. Or that you were married.”
Ryann made sure Tyler couldn’t get at anything on the table that he could make a mess with before she turned her attention back to Dirk. “Well, that wasn’t one of the questions you asked when I applied for the job. And I’m not, by the way.”