Page 16 of Wrong Number, Right Lion

Mine.

Ours.

My beast took his desire to see us sooner rather than later as a good sign. He wouldn’t have been so quick to offer tonight if he weren’t really interested, right? I was going with that.

“I can do tonight.” Even if I hadn’t been, I’d have made sure to remedy that. “I do need to go home and shower because—if you haven’t noticed—I’m pretty gross.”

“You could never be gross.” He looked me up and down. “You do need a shower. Or two.”

“I’m not that—” I glanced down at my hands. “Yeah, I am that bad. How about I go home, shower and change, and then we go on our date?”

“I’d like that.”

Normally, I dawdled when it came to leaving, not ready to be away from him. But this time, after a quick chat about the date, I left without hesitation. Because the sooner I got back to my place, took a shower, and came back, the sooner I could start exploring a real relationship with my mate—one that we were taking at his pace—which, as it turned out, wasn’t as slow as I feared it might be.

Go, fate, go.

9

ARLO

Is it time? I asked myself for the hundredth time.

It wasn’t, but it was another minute closer to when Kalen would collect me than when I’d last looked.

He’d told me he’d prepare food but to wear shoes suitable for walking. That could be anything. Wandering along the riverbank and stopping at a bar for cocktails before eating our picnic waterside. Or maybe it was some indoor experience. I hoped it wasn’t a gym. I hated when people left the machines with sweat dribbling over the metal and didn’t wipe them down. Gross!

After checking myself out in the mirror and admiring how my butt looked in the tight black tracksuit pants, I stood with my nose pressed against the window until headlights swept over the porch.

Grabbing my keys and phone, I slammed the door and raced toward the gate, the car's lights shining in my face. I leaped in and grinned at my date.

“Hi.” Too soon to kiss? Probably.

“Hi, yourself.” He grinned and backed onto the road.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re headed or do I have to wait? The suspense is killing me.”

“Can’t have that.” He took his eyes off the road and shot me a glance. “You’ll see when we get there, but I hope you like stars.”

Stars? As in celebrities? I’d never lined up for autographs at a movie premiere or wanted to be part of a reality show.

“As in famous people?”

He chuckled. “No.” He pointed upward. “The ones twinkling overhead.”

Oh, we were going to the planetarium. “Cool.” I wasn’t sure why I needed hiking gear and comfortable shoes but shrugged off my confusion.

But instead of heading downtown, Kalen drove to the city outskirts and continued away from the built-up area.

Fear fluttered in my belly, and Stephen’s words about Kalen’s motives echoed in my head. No, he was wrong, and I knew Kalen and he didn’t.

“So where are we going?” He pulled into a driveway and in the distance was a large house, lights blazing in the windows.

“My friend lives here, and he’s given me permission to take you up his mountain.”

I froze. His mountain? Was that a sex thing? I gripped the seatbelt, my palms oozing sweat. Kalen didn’t take the road toward the house but veered to the right and parked at the bottom of what appeared to be a steep slope. It didn’t look much like a mountain. A big hill perhaps.

“Ready?” He grabbed a picnic basket from the back seat plus a blanket.

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