Page 96 of Omega Sanctuary

"That's an easy solution." He perked up. "Have you been to any of the shops in the marketplace?"

"I was only here for the gala."

"It's only twenty minutes away from the Sanctuary. When do you think you could take a day off?" He grinned again. "I have a boat—"

"Really?" Now it was too hard to say no. "Have you been to all those little islands around the bay?"

"I have." His eyes lit up, the green so clear it felt like I was looking into rare waters. "There's a couple of islands only an hour's trip from here."

"We could go to the marketplace and maybe some good swimming places?" I stopped, hopeful. Nothing sounded better than a day at the beach at this point.

"Absolutely." He stroked his hand along the back of mine, and it was sexy and comforting at the same time.

I wasn't sure which I wanted more, to snuggle with Asano until I fell asleep, or to see where else he could touch me like that.

Both. Maybe we could do both.

He moved his hand away long enough to pull out a small card. "This is my address. Let me know when you're free, and we'll make a day of it."

I took the card. It was thick, cream colored, and soft to the touch.

"Soon," I said. "Let me speak with the priestess about it."

We stayed in the garden a while longer, talking about our favorite arrangements. It grew late, and I left reluctantly.

After pleading with Aalina for time away and implying I was trying to get to know alphas on my own, I managed to meet up with Asano at the marketplace a few days later.

It was much bigger than the marketplace in Penrith, with stalls of food and goods for sale that curved around several streets.

I'd woken up with a horrible headache that morning, and if I didn't have plans, I would have stayed in bed. I pushed myself extra hard yesterday, and I nearly asked Nikki to carry me back to my room. I hoped a night's sleep would have helped, but if anything it was worse today.

I found Asano at a fruit vendor. In addition to fresh fruit, the man also sold fruit breads and pies.

Asano grinned when he saw me, approaching quickly. He wore lose shorts that hit his knees and an open throated shirt that almost matched his eyes. It was as casual as I could imagine, but he still drew the eye of almost everyone around him.

"Good morning, hi!" He almost bounced in place. "I hope you don't mind, but I pulled the boat in last night in case you want to go to Hope Island. It's not really an island, but a very small rock that has grass and some trees."

"The island with the sand pipers?" I asked.

The marketplace was crowed, people jostling around us, and I tried to focus as his exuberant energy bounced around me like a puppy's joy.

"Yes!" His eyes lit up. "There's a really nice swimming spot nearby, something about the island breaking up most of the tides, so it's warm and shallow."

"That sounds great.” My temples pounded, and someone bumped my shoulder. I stumbled to the left, and Asano reached out to steady me.

"You okay?"

"My head is killing me," I said. "I'll be fine."

"You want to skip the marketplace?" He looked around us. "We could just go straight for the beach."

Warm, calm waters sounded like heaven. "Can we do the marketplace later?"

"Sure thing!" His former peppy energy perked up. "You okay to walk?"

I nodded. We could in theory take a carriage, but we would just have to find a place to set up the horse and carriage once we reached the beach.

Asano pointed out different restaurants and scenic points along the way as we left the town, winding down a small path of white sand.

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