Page 30 of The Beta's Blind Date

“Maybe we can get something to eat while we talk? Are you hungry?”

I don’t know why I blurted that out. Or why I invited her to eat something with me. Other than the fact that we’d spent several hours working off any calories we’d already consumed today. I could easily tell her the information I found the next time we train. Or I could tell her right now, without having to take a drive into town and spend another meal with her.

I was content to watch her leave, fine with seeing her again later this week so I didn’t have to fight the pull to her or fight my wolf. I’d been doing great, keeping my distance and not letting her affect me. Until my wolf pushed me to pet her wolf after she shifted.

I meant what I said. Her wolf is beautiful. Petite but strong, and this unique mix of white, tan, and gray.

But as soon as I reached out to her, as soon as my skin touched her fur, the bond reared its ugly head, sending tingles up my arm and lightning into my soul. I almost got lost in it, in the feel of her fur beneath my fingers and the delight of the mate bond sparks. I had to stop and storm away before my wolf pushed me further, before he made me open up and confess all my sins to her.

At least he listened to me when I told him we couldn’t react to her wolf after I shifted. He held himself still and behaved like a gentleman. But he tugged on the reins of control when she pranced around him and mocked his pose. Her wolf was showing off for us with no qualms about it, and he wanted to pounce on that adorable, sassy little creature.

Come to think of it, I wanted to do the same to her human.

She licks her lips, her dark eyes twinkling with thousands of stars as she gives me a coy smile. “Starving.”

Just that one gesture, that one look, that one word has Reid Junior struggling to not stand at attention.

I clear my throat and think of anything other than her tongue running along the path of her plump lips. But all that replaces it is the thought of her tongue running along my lips, or up the column of my neck, or from the root to the tip of my cock.

And now Reid Junior is standing at attention like a wooden toy soldier.

My throat clears itself again and I walk to her side, taking my time to see if I can hide the outline of my dick in my sweatpants. I can’t let her know the effect she has on me. If she were any other she-wolf, I wouldn’t think twice about making my desire for her known.

But I can’t lead her on. I can’t take things further, can’t act on the impulses the mate bond is awakening in me. It would make things worse in the end. When the truth comes out and I have to reject her. It’s better this way—to be friends. Just two people who are training together.

Will it still piss her off when she learns the truth? Yes. I can almost guarantee it. But at least she won’t feel used.

Or at least I hope not.

“Have you been to Brewed Awakenings before?” I ask when I reach her.

“No.”

She takes a step closer to me, and, even with her height, she has to tilt her head back to look up at me. She’s close enough for her scent to fill my lungs, the way it has been off and on all day. That sweet, delicious scent that does indescribable things to my insides and dredges up emotions I don’t want to process.

The lack of space between our bodies is glaring. I feel my wolf staring at it, scowling at it. I have the urge to close it, to grab her by the shoulders and pull her tall, slender but strong frame into my body and never let her go. The urge to protect, to claim, to cherish, and worship her.

No. No, those are the urges of my wolf. Goddess, it will be so nice when he goes back to being quieter and less on edge after I reject her.

I clear my throat again—I have been doing that a lot today—and take a small step backwards. “It’s a cafe in the human city. Our pack owns it. They have amazing lunch options, high-quality coffee beverages, and…” I scratch the back of my neck and look at the ground, my cheeks heating as I trail off.

Which, what the fuck? I am never embarrassed.

“And what?” she asks, her brow raising and her lips twitching.

Like she knows. Like she knows precisely what I was about to say. Two days with her and she already understands how my mind works.

“And delicious fresh-baked cookies.” I spit the sentence out so fast it all sounds like one word. “They do traditional flavors, seasonal flavors, and two weekly flavors that they rotate, and this week it’s blueberry lemon and salted caramel chocolate chip, and both are my favorite!”

Goddess, I am rambling like fucking Wesley right now.

I need to play it cool. This isn’t my long-lost pen pal who appeared on the shore of the lake in my hometown. She’s not anyone special to me, not someone I need to worry about impressing. I couldn’t care less what she thinks of me. She may be my mate, but only for the next few weeks, and then I can return to my regularly scheduled programming.

So why am I blabbering like I’m a love-struck fool?

“That sounds perfect,” she says with a smile, and every tense cell in my body relaxes.

Her grin is contagious. It would light up a room, lift the heaviest of spirits, brighten the darkest of hearts. And just like that, I almost forget every reason I am going to reject her. I almost act on my urges, almost close the distance between us, take her in my arms, and press my lips to hers, throwing all my best-laid plans for my life out with the garbage.

---