Dirk's Love by Marisa Chenery (top 50 books to read txt) 📗

and Daylen, Skylar and Braelyn, and Leif and Jaden. Jaden sat on her mate’s lap while Leif’s large hand rubbed her six-month pregnant bel y.

Roxie’s mate, Beowulf, sat on the floor with their nine-month-old daughter, Nevaeh, playing with some of her toys with her. The whole gang was here. There would be no getting out of it now.

“Yeah, we were wondering if you two got sidetracked upstairs and forgot about us,” Roan said. “And it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Roxie gave him a pointed stare and cleared her throat. She ignored Roan’s comment, and said, “You’re al probably wondering why I asked you to come to this meeting.”

Jager groaned. “Please don’t tel me you’re pregnant again.”

Roxie sighed. “No, Jager, I’m not expecting another baby. This has to do with Dirk, not me.” Dirk felt al eyes turn his way. Stupidly, a wave of uncertainty washed through him. He had a feeling this was going to blow up in his face. He just knew it. He opened his mouth to tel Roxie to forget about what she’d planned, but she spoke again.

“It’s final y time to reveal the project I’ve helped Dirk bring to fruition,” she said with a smile.

She opened the laptop and shifted to a spot where everyone in the room would be able to see it. The others leaned in for a closer look as Beowulf picked up Nevaeh, then stood so he was nearer.

“Mate Connection. What the hel is that?” Jager asked, blunt as usual.

“Oh. Oh, I know,” Ansley said. “It’s an online dating service. Right?”

At Dirk’s nod, Leif burst out laughing. And it didn’t help that the rest of his brothers-in-arms laughed along with him. The only males in the room who didn’t were Beowulf and Eli, mostly because their mates looked at them, just daring them to join in. Dirk felt as if he should go climb under a rock somewhere.

“Oh, god,” Leif said between laughs. “An online dating service? Real y? Couldn’t you come up with something better than that?” He then started to laugh again, but harder.

“Shut up,” Roxie said with a loud growl. “Al of you.” The room instantly fel silent. “Listen up, boneheads. No more laughing at Dirk, or you’l get better acquainted with my backyard, if you know what I mean? It was seeing each my backyard, if you know what I mean? It was seeing each one of you find your mates—your mortal mates—that Dirk came up with this idea to have a website where male werewolves can look around to find potential mortal women.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Jaden said as she gave her mate a smack to the back of the head. Leif cringed in response.

The rest of the women quickly agreed, which made Dirk feel a trifle better. At least, the females of his family sided with him. It was a start.

“Okay, I can see that having some merit,” Skylar said. “But what makes your service any different than the mortal ones already out there? Male werewolves could search them just as easily as yours.”

“Good question,” Roxie replied. She then turned to Dirk. “Wel , Dirk, why don’t you answer Skylar, since you haven’t said a word yet.”

He took a deep breath. “Al right. What makes mine different is that the questionnaire the females have to fil out is geared more toward a male werewolf. It isn’t obvious, but the answers the women give wil determine whether or not they would be acceptable to one of our kind.”

“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 wel ?”

“Not real y. I’ve already hired an employee. She’l 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, especial y 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 wel ?” 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 al 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 fil out a Mate Connection questionnaire.

Ansley sighed. “I think you’l find her, Dirk. It sounds as if you have the whole site wel 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 al 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