A Cajun in Colorado
Charlie Richards
A Cajun in Colorado Wolves of Stone Ridge: Book Twelve
Out of the cage: First impressions are rarely accurate when shifters are involved. Christopher Chris Peterson loses the bet. Now, he has to spend an evening at a straight bar dressed in drag. Butdon't worry, his friends will be there to protect him. Too bad they do a lousy job of it. His knight in shining armor takes the form of a sexy Cajun, Manon Lemelle. Chris immediately finds himself drawn to the handsome man. Too bad Manon thinks Chris is a woman. Still, Chris can't resist accepting a date with him. His friends are right, and it ends in disaster, because Chris finds himself liking Manon entirely too much.
Manon Lemelle's maman warned him that his mate would lead him on a merry chase. Nothing could be truer. When he meets his mate, Chris Richardson, he's introduced to a lovely, slender young woman. He enjoys her wit and charm, her shy attitude, and longs to hear her breathy voice whisper into his ear. There's just one small problem. Chris is really Christopher, and he's a man.
Can Manon convince his mate that even though their entire relationship started with lies, on both sides, they can still make this work?
To Megan & Lisa-because being sisters doesn't always mean you have to be a supportive friend, but you ladies are anyway.
Chapter One
"I
can't believe you talked me into this!" Chris snarled. His ankle twisted on the uneven asphalt of the parking lot when his concentration strayed from walking in the three inch chunky heels.
Daren grabbed his elbow, helping him regain his balance. His friend grinned hugely. "You lost the bet, man."
"Besides," Eric cut in, smirking, "you make a fine looking woman."
"Fuckers," Chris hissed, but he kept his voice down since they'd started getting close to the bar entrance. "You all better not leave me!" He so didn't want to have his ass handed to him if some straight dude figured out he wasn't a chick.
Chris knew with his lean, svelte figure and long black hair, add in the dress, more make-up than he normally used, and the padded bra, he did look like a woman. Problem was that the jock strap would only go so far to hide an erection if he got excited.
"Come on, Chris," Remy said, wrapping an arm around his waist. "We won't leave you alone." His friend pressed a platonic kiss to his cheek. "It's not like we could take you to any of our normal hangouts. Someone would recognize you," he pointed out.
He bit back a groan. Chris hadn't been to a het bar in years. Daren opened the door for him, as a guy should for a woman, and he followed Eric into the bar. The other two men brought up the rear. His three buddies had done their best to tone down that they were gay, wearing relaxed jeans, t-shirts, and foregoing their usual lip-gloss, eye-liner and hair gel.
He glanced between his friends as they all took a seat on a table and smiled. "You know, none of us would be recognized if we went to one of our usual haunts anyway."
That garnered a laugh from the other three men. A waitress approached their table, giving them an assessing look as she asked what she could get them. After they all ordered a beer, she nodded and headed away.
Watching her go, Eric cringed. "Man, I would not want to be a waitress in this place," he muttered.
Chris knew what he meant. At least four men caressed, pinched, or smacked the poor woman's ass as she made her way to the bar. Daren reached across the table and squeezed Eric's hand quickly before releasing him. "There will never be a need, babe," he murmured.
Chris watched the by-play and longing filled him. Eric and Daren had been a couple for over three years now, living together after just three months. Completely devoted to each other, they'd never come out of the honeymoon stage of the relationship. Chris didn't think they ever would.
"Gag me," Remy teased.
Daren leaned back in his chairand scowled at Remy. "Jealous much?"
Remy lifted one shoulder. "Maybe," he admitted. "Not that I'd want either of you, but finding that special guy. Yeah, I'd like that."
The waitress reappeared then, giving Remy an assessing look while she set the beersdown in front of everyone. "Will that be all for you? Can I get you an appetizer, perhaps?"
"Uh, yeah," Daren said. He gave the woman a smile. "I heard your hot wings are excellent. How about some of those?"
"Sure thing," she said with a nod.
"I'll take some, too," Eric said.
"Me, three," piped up Remy.
"I want potato skins, please," Chris said, catching the woman's attention.
"Sure thing, hon." Her gaze swept over the others at the table. "Anything else, boys?"
Eric hummed. "Better double the order of potato skins. Those sound delish."
"You got it." She gave them all one more appraising look as if trying to puzzle them out. It was more than obvious that they weren't this bar's usual clientele. "I'll get that placed and have them out to you in a jiff."
Aftershe'd turned away, Eric leaned close to Remy. "Dude, keep it down. I get the distinct feeling we could get our asses kicked by a few of these fellows."
Remy looked contrite. "Sorry. Didn't think."
Chris patted his shoulder as he glanced around at the men filling the bar. Eric was right. Most of the guys looked pretty macho- broad shoulders and muscles. Some had big guts and looked like they needed to spend more than a few hours on a treadmill and away from the bar.
As he looked over the men, a few of them caught his eye and gave him a once over as well. A thickly muscled dark-haired man with barely any neck gave Chris a lascivious smile. He openly swept his gaze over Chris's fake breasts and slender legs.
Chris suppressed his shudder and quickly averted his gaze, returning his focus to his friends. He tried not to shift uncomfortably in his chair, but the hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end. He could just imagine the dude still staring at him. When he got up the nerve to look around again, Chris carefully avoided looking that man's way.
His mouth suddenly went dry, and Chris reached blindly for his beer to take a drink. He could only see the man's profile, but the stranger's straight nose, slash of a mouth, high-cheek bones, and thick dark red hair that he had pulled into a sexy pony-tail, was a stunning picture of masculinity.
Wrenching his gaze from the arresting view because Chris couldn't seem to find his drink, he realized his questing fingers had been reaching too far to the right. Once Chris got his beer to his lips, he took a gulp. He licked the foam of the beer's thin head from his lips, and returned his stare to the hottie in the corner.
He found his gaze locked with the other man's dark, dark eyes. Chris wondered if they were really black, or if it just seemed that way because of the low lighting of the bar and the distance between them.
Chris couldn't help licking his lips, and who-boy did he like how the man's gaze followed the movement. Boldly, Chris swept his gaze down the man's form, taking in the lean muscle and long lines of an athlete.
"Stop ogling the straight men," Daren hissed in his ear.
Chris flushed and jerked his gaze away from the sexy stranger. He looked at his friends and shrugged one lean shoulder. "I can't help it. Some of these guys are really hot." So hot, in fact, that his dick had started to plump just from staring at the red-haired hotness in the corner drinking beer with two men and two women. Chris realized that one of those women could very well be the man's girlfriend.
That thought made his untimely erection deflate quickly. Besides, even if he was single, there wasn't any way he'd want Chris if he knew he was a man.
He sighed. "You're right, though," he said quickly, before his friends could chastise him further. "They areoff limits."
"Awe, it doesn't hurt to look," Remy quipped, glancing around. "There are some cute ones here." He grinned at Chris, his blue eyes twinkling. "Maybe you should see if one of them will dance with you. I see a dance floor in the corner with a few couples on it," he teased.
Chris frowned at his friend, but he couldn't help notice that Remy was right. In the corner, a juke box played, and couples were dancing to the selections. After sweeping his gaze over the dancing couples again, he couldn't help but glance toward a hottie in the corner. Chris didn't know if he was relieved or disappointed to find the man no longer paying attention to him. Instead, he had his head cocked and was listening closely to whatever the brunette next to him was saying.
The arrival of the wings and skins drew his attention and interrupted whatever Remy and Daren were arguing about. Eric just sat quietly, an indulgent smile on his face. Shit, they really were bad at pretending to be straight. Anyone looking at Eric right now would immediately know he was smitten with Daren.