Page 91 of The Alpha's Pen Pal

“Maddie,” I said, looking at my sister. “What did you mean when you said ‘Nice to see youagain, Haven’?”

“I saw her the other night? At Maya and Levi’s party?”

“You went to the party?” Dad said, leaning around Mom to glare at Maddie.

“Just to grab some food!”

“You saw Haven, and you didn’t tell me?!” I exclaimed.

“I didn’t realize it was her until you came home the next day whining and crying because she stood you up and then yelled at you!”

“I wasn’t whining,” I grumbled, frowning.

“You were totally whining,” Maddie replied with a scoff.

“I wasn’t whining!” I said again, “I wasn’t,” I repeated softly, glancing down at Haven as she laughed next to me.

The waiters brought out our ice creams and set them in front of us, saving me from further embarrassment.

As soon as the server handed me our milkshake and both of the straws, Maddie faux gagged. I glared at her, letting out my aura, but the soft giggles coming from the gorgeous female next to me forced me to relax. I blew out a breath, calming my annoyance with my stubborn baby sister, and threw my arm on the booth seat behind Haven, letting her relax into me as she talked to my parents.

And as we sat there, her at my side and sharing my food with me while spending time with my family, I had flashes of us doing this for years to come—a glimpse of her with a ring on her finger that she twirled while she talked, a snippet of pups running around us and causing a ruckus while Haven tried to get them to settle down and my dad encouraged them—and I couldn’t help but smile at the imagined future I hoped with all my heart would someday come to be reality.

CHAPTER 32

WESLEY

True to my word, I went to see the ballet every night of Haven’s performance run. Some nights I went alone; other nights I came with one of the guys, or Jack and Shirley, or whoever happened to be interested in attending with me.

I leaned against my truck outside the theater Sunday afternoon waiting for her to come outside, kicking rocks with the toe of my boot while I tried to be patient. All the dancers had to clear out their dressing rooms so everything could be cleaned and readied for the next ballet. Maya had offered to take all of Haven’s bouquets back to their apartment so I could take her out for a late breakfast. Or “brunch,” as they liked to call it.

And Haven hada lotof bouquets. Because, one, I had bought her a bouquet of roses for every performance, a different color each night, and two, she had flowers from every single person who knew her and came to see her, as well as some from other admirers of her performance.

Was I jealous that people who didn’t really know her gave her flowers? No.

Okay, yes.

But I knew she treasured mine above all the rest. Maya sent me a picture of her dressing room, showing me how only my roses sat on her makeup counter while she had already taken the rest back to their apartment. But mine all stayed in the place of honor for the entire run of the ballet. With Barry the dancing wolf right in the middle of them all.

The hint of jasmine fluttered towards me, and I lifted my eyes to find my girl strolling to me, her hair down and flowing around her shoulders, wearing the same denim shorts I’d seen her in at the lake, a black T-shirt, the sweater she’d thrown on over her dance clothes when I’d ambushed her at her apartment, and a little crossbody purse.

In her hands she held an envelope, and I tried to peek at it, but she hid it behind her back as she skipped on her last few steps, landing in front of me with a little puff of air and a smile, her curls bouncing with her movement.

“Hey!” she chirped.

“You all done?” I asked, smiling down at her and resisting the urge to pull her into my arms and devour her right there in the theater parking lot.

“All done!” she repeated, a grin on her face.

“Good,” I muttered. “Now I get you all to myself,” I added, almost too quiet for her to hear.

She stepped in closer to me, and I moved my legs, making room for her body to press up against mine. She’d been so busy the last week that, aside from the gala, we hadn’t spent much actual time together. We’d had a few brief moments after her performances, a quick lunch the other day between her rehearsals, and ice cream with my parents, but other than that, nothing.

She needed her rest to be in top condition for each of her performances, and I respected that, even though I wanted to be selfish and take her out every night and show her off. Or take her back to Crescent Lake, bring her to my house, and show her all the ways I could make her little body respond to me, then fall asleep with her in my arms and wake up with her by my side.

Obviously, I had done none of that during the two weekends of her performances and the days in between. But now that she had a bit of time off before rehearsals for the next ballet began, I intended to make the most of it and take steps to deepen our relationship and move things further. Slowly, of course.

And not just because I wanted to be with her physically, even though I did. It was because I wanted to be withher. With Haven. My pen pal. My Sugar Plum.

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