Free An Alpha's Tempest (Water Bear Shifters 4) by Sloane Meyers Page A

fitting room.
    “Let me know if you want an opinion on anything,” he said. “I’m no fashion expert, but I like to think I know what looks good on a woman. Especially a woman as beautiful as you.”
    He winked at Rhythm and she felt her cheeks heating up as her heart started racing again. With a nervous giggle, she disappeared into the dressing room. She wasn’t sure if that had been a real attempt at flirtation, or just a friendly tease, but the way her stomach had flip-flopped at his words had been no joke. She needed a moment away from him to catch her breath.
    As she quickly slipped out of her borrowed clothes and into the first black dress, she asked herself for the hundredth time what was wrong with her. She wasn’t normally the type to go boy-crazy over a guy, even one as undeniably handsome as Ben. But something about him was drawing her to him. She felt like there was an almost magnetic pull between them, and the more she tried to ignore it, the stronger it became.
    Rhythm sighed as she viewed herself in the mirror. The first dress was okay, but kind of boring. She supposed that boring was okay for a funeral. The point was to be respectful, not to be a fashion icon. Still, if she was going to spend some of her limited funds on clothing, she wanted the dress to be something that she would enjoy wearing again on other occasions.
    She stripped out of the first dress, and tried on the next three, feeling similarly uninspired by each subsequent outfit. She had just about resigned herself to a boring dress when she saw the purple dress hanging on the wall hook. She eyed it carefully for a moment, and then pulled it off the hanger with a shrug. She might as well try it on, since nothing else had sparked her interest. She pulled it on over her head and struggled with the back zipper for a moment. After finally getting the zipper pulled all the way up, Rhythm eyed herself in the mirror, and her eyes widened.
    The dress was perfect on her. It was an elegant, long-sleeved sheath dress, with a hem that hit just above her knees. The neckline was delicately scalloped, adding just a touch of interest to the otherwise conservative design. And the fabric hugged her curves perfectly, putting the emphasis on all the right places. Rhythm turned to the right and then to the left, looking over her shoulder and viewing the outfit from every angle. It was perfect for her, but was it okay for a funeral?
    She frowned. She hadn’t been to a funeral in a long time, and she had never been to one in Alaska, let alone one in Alaska for a bear shifter. What were the rules on what you could wear? She didn’t want to offend anyone by not knowing the rules. Would everyone else be wearing strictly black, or something like that? If purple was okay, she definitely wanted this dress.
    Despite her resolve not to parade any of her chosen dresses for Ben, Rhythm decided to make an exception and ask him what he thought of this dress. Hopefully, he would be able to honestly tell her if it was the completely wrong kind of thing for a funeral. She padded out of the dressing room in her bare feet and went to stand in front of where Ben was sitting, staring at something on his cell phone.
    “Hey,” she said gently. “Do you think this dress is okay? I mean, it’s purple, not black. I just don’t know the protocol for funerals around here, or for shifter funerals in particular. I don’t want to offend anyone if everyone else will be wearing black.”
    Ben looked up, and his mouth literally dropped. “Wow,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Rhythm, you have to buy that dress. It looks incredible on you.”
    He said it in a tone of voice that clearly implied he would love to take the dress off of her, and Rhythm felt her cheeks heating up again. This time, there was no denying the flirtation in his voice. Whether he meant to or not, he had just revealed his hand. He was definitely attracted to her.
    “Thanks,” she said, looking