Page 45 of The Beta's Blind Date

Once the door closes, Dominic lifts his head from his hands and leans back in his chair, gripping the armrests. “How’d you meet him?” he asks through clenched teeth.

“Reid?” I ask.

His teeth clench more, if that’s possible. “Yes.”

“If you must know, we went on a date.”

He lifts his brow. “You. Went on a date. With Reid Thomas. The beta who doesn’t want a mate.”

“I didn’t know it was going to be Reid when I agreed to go on the date. We found each other on Date-To-Mate.”

“You’re on Date-To-Mate?”

“Yes. After you and I ended things, I joined. I want a mate—fated or chosen. Someone to settle down and start a family with. I haven’t found anyone here, so I figured Date-To-Mate would be a good way to find someone.” I leave out the part about it being Blake who set up my account for me. He doesn’t need to know that. All he needs to know is I am moving on.

“And how many dates have you gone on?”

I purse my lips together and pluck an errant piece of grass off my leggings. “Just the one. With Reid.”

His lips twitch, his eyes glint, and he crosses his arms and swivels his chair, a small, triumphant smile playing on his face. I swallow and pull my phone out of my pocket, opening the app I haven’t checked since I had dinner with Reid.

“But I’ve been messaging someone else.” A little white lie won’t hurt. I was planning to look at more matches. At some point. Maybe. “I was going to ask him to meet in person. This week.” My fingers tap at the phone with precise strokes as I shoot off a message to the first match that pops up on my end. “There,” I say, setting my phone on the desk and crossing my arms. “I just asked CantHoldMeDown to meet for dinner on Thursday night.”

We stare at each other, neither of us blinking, neither of us looking away. Neither of us backing down.

He sighs and leans forward, resting his elbows on the desk, one hand wrapped around the other. “Why are you doing this?” he whispers, his voice almost inaudible.

I’m not sure if he’s talking about the warrior challenge or the dates or both. But my answer is the same either way. “Because this is what I want.”

“Are you doing it to get back at me?”

I scoff and shake my head. “If you think that, then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did.”

“What if you get hurt?”

“Then I get hurt,” I say with a shrug. “But I am not going to stop living my life because I might experience pain. Physical or emotional. I’ve been here for over a year—almost a year and a half now—and I have been stagnant that entire time. I’m ready to grow. Ready to be alive.”

He blows out a breath and rubs his hand over his face as my phone pings. We both glance at it, staring at it like it’s a bomb about to go off. I reach for it, unfolding my body from my closed off position, and pick it up, checking the notification.

CantHoldMeDown: Sure. La Dolce Vita? 8 p.m.?

“Well?” Dominic asks.

My eyes flick to him and back to the phone and then back to him again. I don’t really want to go on another date. Not right now. Not when I need to be focusing on my training for this challenge. And not when the first thing I think of when considering my answer is what Reid will think. How he will react when he finds out I went out with someone else.

Which is absurd. We are nothing. He is nothing to me other than a friend. A sexy, funny, muscular, kind friend. Who I want to do very naughty things with. Who I want to let do very naughty things to me.

But right now, I need to stand my ground with Dominic. I need to keep hold of my upper hand, and I need him to know I am not playing and I will not back down and return to being under his thumb for everything.

Me: Sounds great! See you then :)

“I’m having dinner with him at La Dolce Vita on Thursday at 8 p.m.,” I say.

He squeezes his hand around his fist, and that vein in his forehead pulses. But he nods. “Will you… will you still go to the Crescent Lake wedding with me?”

Shit. The wedding. I wonder what Reid will have to say about that? How will he react when he learns I’m going with Dominic?

Again, that thought is absurd. Reid’s opinions and reactions don’t matter.

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