Page 23 of Purple Scales & Coffee Tales

I kind of liked that he had chosen not to kiss me, but at the same time, it sucked.

Later that night, I lay on my bed and pouted at the ceiling, too frustrated to sleep or masturbate.

I was independent enough to kiss him first but our height difference made it impossible, and fuck!

I rolled over to pout at my bedside table. I still wasn’t sure if he enjoyed a little harmless flirting or was too well-behaved to make a move on me, but ugh, we needed to!

Chapter Fourteen

Maeve

I’d been up for a million hours already and it was only four in the afternoon.

First, I’d worked on the branding, then attended another lecture before doing groceries with my roommates.

I was dying to get home, take a long, hot shower, and snuggle up in front of the TV with my friends.

The new season ofAsh Soulhad just aired: twenty-five episodes of delicious slow burn between Molten Claw and Nir.

The last season had ended with Molten Claw snatching their Pooka heartthrob out of Bog’s clutches.

“Holy fuck, who’s this?” Vaughn suddenly muttered in a sexy snarl, and I looked up to see what he meant, spotting it right away.

A tall, muscular person, wearing all black, with thick gold-adorned horns curving around the back of his head, stood facing us.

He had his shoulder propped up on the column by the entrance to our house.

His face lit up when he spotted me and he waved me over, the shy smile he’d worn for the first months of his visits to the cafe on his lips.

“Oh my God,” I muttered without moving my lips, and waved back.

“Is that your secret admirer?” Tiff asked in barely a whisper.

“Yeah—I mean, no, he’s my boss.”

“Maeve, hi,” Taran greeted me sheepishly, rasping his hand over the nape of his neck. “Sorry to intrude, but I… Your neighbour caught me ringing your doorbell and told me you’d be back soon.”

Tiff snorted. “Yeah, Mrs Parker notices everything. Hi.” She extracted a hand from the heavy bag and held it out to him.

“I’m Taran. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Mave told me about you.”

“Wish I could say the same,” my bestie chuckled and I could have kicked her.

Taran’s tail twitched nervously behind him. Ugh, I’d have a word with Tiff later about making him this uncomfortable.Precious baby. Must protect.

“Don’t be a dick, Tiff. Maeve told us about you.” Vaughn jumped to my rescue. “I definitely remember her mentioning you on multipleoccasions. Good to meet you.” I might not have told them his name, but they knew he existed.

“Sorry, I guess we’ll get this upstairs and leave you two, uh, to it.” With a wink, Vaughn pushed open the front door, and they were gone.

“Sorry about that, she—”

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry for intruding. I was in the area to pick up my suit for the weekend and… Why would you tell them about me?” he added in a fake unbothered voice.

“Is that a rhetorical question, Scales?” I asked quietly and his mouth snapped shut.

“I was going to ask you if you wanted to have dinner with me,” he said slowly, tail thumping against the wooden front door with every word he got out.

Oh my God. He wants to…

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