Page 48 of How Not to Date an Angel

Rami smoothly slid between a buggy stalled in the middle of the aisle and an oblivious man scratching his stomach as he stared at the soup cans.

Julian paused right in front of the buggy, eying the unnecessary space the man was taking up with his inconsideration.

When Rami glanced back, Julian waved his hand at the buggy and mouthed, “Are you kidding me?” at the angel.

Their lips twitched, then they shrugged before moving on.

Grumbling under his breath athumans,Julian scooted between the buggy and the shelves without assaulting the human like he wanted to.

Next Rami led them to a colder part of the store, and chills broke out beneath Julian’s clothes. He crossed his arms and waited patiently as Rami hemmed and hawed in front of the cheeses.

Julian didn’t even know what some of themwere,so he tapped his foot and waited.

“Which do you think would be better?” Rami asked, pointing between two cheeses.

“You’re asking the wrong guy,” Julian said. “Will you hurry? It’s cold over here,” he complained.

Rami eyed his gooseflesh and paused for a moment before they began… shrugging off their cardigan.

Julian glanced around them to see if anyone else was shocked that the angel was suddenly stripping in thesupermarket.

Once they’d unstuck the fabric from their button-up, they held out the cardigan to Julian.

Julian stared. They didn’t mean for him to wear the—

“Oh, just put it on, would you? You won’t catch a disease.”

Rami’s fingers released the sweater and Julian caught it before it could hit the ground. “That’s not what—”

But Rami was already moving on, sliding between a family and an overly affectionate couple—in front of the salads, really?—and disappearing into the throng of shoppers.

Cursing, Julian pulled the cardigan on and moved to follow after the angel, but paused to grab the honey brie and the garlic and herb goat cheese.

He tried not to focus on how warm the cardigan still was from the angel’s body heat. He failed.

The sleeves fell past his fingers, and the hem draped well below his hips. He was practically swimming in the fabric, and it annoyed him that he felt all warm and fuzzy about it.

Stupid angels and their stupid—

Someone knocked into his shoulder, almost spinning him completely on the slick concrete of the floor.

“Hey, watch it,” a deep voice grouched, and Julian finished his turn to see who thehellwould—

“Youknocked into me,” Julian snapped back. “Watch whereyou’regoing next time.” He bared his teeth at the man.

“Excuse me?” the human asked.

Julian wasn’t intimidated, even though that’s clearly what the human was trying for, what with the brown work boots and mud-splattered jeans and bulging arm muscles beneath his sleeveless shirt.

“You heard me. I’m sure it’s hard to keep your balance with all that muscle, but something tells me you can manage.”

Julian’s point would’ve probably looked and sounded tougher if he wasn’t pointing at the man around the packaged cylinder of cheese.

The human’s face turned beet-red. “Why, you—“

“Oh, my dear, there you are!” Rami said, swooping in beside him and the human and—what?

Dear?

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