Page 89 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“Wherearewegoing?”Haven asked me as we walked down the street after her performance.

Mom, Dad, and Maddie had gone ahead of us to save a table at the ice cream parlor. They’d wanted to do a full meal afterwards, but I’d told them Haven wouldn’t want to eat that much this late at night. I think they forgot she was human and didn’t eat like we did. So this was their compromise.

“My family is waiting for us at Scoops Ahoy,” I told her. “Well, Mom, Dad, and Maddie. Seb didn’t come tonight.”

“No Sebby?” She pouted.

I furrowed my brow and turned to her to find her already laughing at me. “I can’t believe he lets you call him that,” I muttered, shaking my head and pulling her to my side.

“Are you jealous?”

“That he lets you call him Sebby?”

“That we have nicknames for each other.”

With my arm around her shoulder, I squeezed her lithe body into mine and pressed my lips to her temple. “No,” I grumbled unconvincingly.

“Liar,” she teased as we stopped near the door to the parlor, and I turned her so she faced me, my hands resting on her hips.

“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” I replied with a shrug, hooking my thumbs into the belt loops on her jeans and tugging her closer. “Because—“

“While I love how nauseatingly adorable the two of you are together,” Maddie’s voice said, interrupting our moment, “I REALLY want to order my ice cream, so can you please get your ass inside?”

“Language, Maddie!”

“PDA, Dickhead!” she retorted, then looked at Haven and added, “Nice to see you again, Haven!”

I groaned and grabbed Haven’s hand to follow Maddie through the door of the shop.

The vise grip Haven had on my hand had me pausing as soon as the door shut behind us, and I turned to find her biting her lip. I swallowed and resisted the urge to pull it out of her mouth with my thumb and sink my own teeth into it.

“Hey,” I soothed, standing in front of her to hide her from view. “You don’t need to worry. They already love you.”

“That’s why I’m worried.” She laughed. “They love me, but they don’t even know me. What if, when they do know me, they hate me?”

I wanted to laugh but knew that wouldn’t assuage her fears. But she didn’t need to worry. Not only did they already love her, they also pretty much considered her part of the pack.

I looked over my shoulder to where Maddie was impatiently waiting at the counter to order and at my parents talking quietly in the booth. “Just be yourself,” I murmured to her as I looked back at her, my hand caressing her cheek.

She took in a deep breath and nodded, reached up on her tiptoes to give me a quick kiss, then strode past me to the table.

“Hi, Mr. Stone, Mrs. Stone,” she said, holding her hand out to my dad. “I’m Haven. It’s really lovely to finally meet you.”

“Please, just call me Harrison,” my dad said as he stood up, shaking her hand firmly. “We’ve looked forward to meeting you for a very long time.”

“It’s so wonderful that you two found each other again,” my mom chimed in, coming around my dad to hug Haven. “We thought—well, it doesn’t matter what we thought because you’re here now.”

She pulled back to look at Haven and then pulled her in again for another hug, squeezing her tightly.

“Can we order our ice cream now?” Maddie whined, her arms crossed and her toe tapping against the linoleum flooring.

“Yes, yes, go ahead, Madeleine,” Mom said with a huff as she let Haven go.

She and Dad went to join Maddie at the counter, and I pulled my girl into my side, putting my arm around her shoulders again. We stood behind my family while Haven looked at the menu, and everyone else ordered.

“I’ll take a single scoop of the mint chocolate chip in a bowl,” Mom said.

“And I’ll have a double of the same in a waffle cone,” my dad added.

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