My Starry Eyed Wolf

**Arianna's POV** "Ari! Are you even listening to me?" Casey Jones, my best friend of the last 4 years asked. She had been complaining about her latest infatuation. "Sorry Case." I looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. We had just finished with our biweekly nail trip. Most of that time was spent with Casey complaining about Robby? Or was it Bobby? I honestly couldn't remember what her latest boyfriend's name was. "I swear, if I didn't love ya." She turned her attention back in front of us as we walked down one of the few main roads in our town. There were 3 to be exact. One runs directly through the middle of town, north to south. The second ran from east to west. The last "main" road in town I never really used. It ran past the home of the town's wealthiest man. I have never met him, of course. "Where are you headed now?" Casey asked me as we stopped at our cars parked on the road. We had parked near the town's popular pastry shop so we could grab coffees before getting our nails done. "Headed to help my dad at the shop." I got my key fob out of my purse and unlocked the door to my silver Toyota Camry. "Well, that sounds like you are going to need a drink later. Want to stop by my house on your way home for a glass of red?" Casey never missed an opportunity to break out some wine. I also never missed an opportunity to drink it. "See you later then." I smiled at Casey as she hopped into her cherry red Mustage. She had dyed her hair a dark red a few months back after getting the car. It had been so long that I could not recall her natural hair color. I would give the red another couple of months and then we would be moving on to something new. It would be around the time she moved on to another man as well. I love my best friend but she definitely has a short attention span when it comes to careers, men, cars and her hair. Myself, on the other hand? I have not had a serious boyfriend since my junior year of high school. We are coming up on 5 years now since that failed relationship. His name was Jeff. I was shocked when my high school crush asked me out. It was nice for a week or two. However, the moment he wanted to get more physical, I had let him know that I wanted to wait until things were more serious. He did not take it very well. He made sure to end things very publicly in the middle of the lunch room. I am glad that I met Casey in college. She did not bare witness to the most embarrassing time in my life. She tried to set me up in college but I quickly made sure that she knew I was serious about my studies. There was plenty of time for that once I had my degree. As for my hair. Not one lock has been placed in a foil in my 23 years of life. I was blessed enough to have naturally highlighted blonde hair. In the summer it gets lighter and in the winter it gets darker. Who needs to go to a salon for that? Casey felt that she had succeeded in some great victory by getting me to a nail salon every two weeks. I didn't have the heart to burst her bubble. Its not that I was against doing the normally girly things. I did put a small amount of cover up and mascara on every day and made sure that my eyebrows looked kept and even. I even went as far to make sure that once a week I wore some kind of dress or skirt. But, leggings were life in my opinion. I walked to the driver side of my car, slid in and started the ignition. The great thing about smaller towns is the amount of traffic. It takes me 5 minutes to get halfway across town to where my father's shop is located. Arthur Williams, my father, owns the local book store. As I walked in the shop, he was working on setting out the latest crime novel that had just come in. The author of the book escapes me every time. Crime novels do not tickle my fancy as much as the local housewives. My father makes sure that he sets out the newest crime novels in the center of the window display. It won't be long before we start to get a slow trickle of women in here. "Arianna Mae Williams." My father said my full name as soon as I started to head to the back office. I swiftly turned on my heel and headed back to the main part of the book store. Authur's Authors, the name of the store was corny, but so was my father. He wore glasses that were too big for his face and a sweater vest. No matter the season, my father was in a sweater vest. He truly looked the part of a book store owner, and I loved it. Most kids would have been embarrassed but my father and I have been as close as can be since my mother died in childbirth. Growing up, my father made sure to always talk about my mother. He never once dated, but instead devoted his life to his book store and me. Not one chore concert, art fair, or talent show was missed. My father was always front and center at every event. "Hi Dad." I said as I leaned over the box he was working on and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I thought you said you were going to be in by 10 this morning." He looked at the clock on the wall that hung behind me and above the register. "Its almost noon." "Sorry Dad. Casey and I decided to grab some coffee before our nail appointment." My father was already back to setting out the books on his window display. "After all these years, Casey still has a hard time keeping time." My father liked Casey, but you could tell that he did not agree with some of her life decisions. He also liked to make it known when she was around. Which Casey made sure was not often. "What needs to be done in the office today?" I asked, trying to change the subject. "Just the usual." He said without turning around. I took that as my queue and headed to the back office. Once inside, I put my purse on the small wood desk at the back. My father liked to keep things old school. He was not a fan of computers and preferred everything on paper. A few years back, I offered to help, but on the condition that I could keep track of things on my computer. Since then, my father has pretty much washed his hands of all the back office paperwork. It usually only took me a couple of hours to get everything squared away and caught up. I would then head out to the floor and help wherever I was needed. Most of the time, that was the register. My father was better at the book part and I was better at the technology part. He wasn't too happy when we had to get a card reader either. I did make sure to get one that was simple enough for him to use when I wasn't there. As I took up my usual position behind the register, I noticed that my father was talking to someone on the other side of one of the book shelves that ran along the middle of the shop. I couldn't see through the shelves who he was talking to, so I went about cleaning up around the register and putting a few things in their rightful spots. When I finally looked up from my task, my eyes were met with a pair of the purest emerald green eyes I had ever seen. There is no way someone's eye color could be that green. I must have been starring. My father cleared his throat next to me. I jumped just slightly, not realizing my father had come around this side of the counter. "Arianna, can you please ring Ian up?" My father handed me a stack of books. I couldn't help but notice most of the book titles had to do with business in some way. "Of course." I quickly set to the task of scanning each book. I didn't dare look up again from my earlier embarrassment of starring at my father's customer. "Looks like your total is $352.96." I finally looked back at the man in front of me and was taken back by how handsome he was. He had dark hair, almost black. He was at least 6"2 with a strong upper body that looked like he needed tailored shirts because whatever was off the rack would not fit him. I can't forget those green eyes either. He seemed to be deep in thought though. His stare was making me a little uncomfortable. I sat for a moment longer. When he made no move to pay, I finally asked him, "Would you like to pay with cash or card?" That seemed to snap him back into reality. "Card please." He finally looked away and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket. Allowing me another quick glance at him. He was in a button-up black shirt with dark washed jeans on. His clothes seemed to fit perfectly to his form. He quickly inserted his card into the machine and waited for the machine to chime so that he could remove it. While he was doing that, I worked on putting his books in a paper bag. Once his books were in the bag, I slid the bag across the counter. Our fingers connected for a moment as he also reached for it. The best way to describe the feeling I got as our fingers connected, is the same zap you get from a prank pen that all the kids had in school when I was younger. Instinctively, I pulled my hand away. Ian, as my father called him, got a pretty serious frown on his face. He then abruptly left the book store.