Page 8 of Stella

The sexy beta shifted in his seat. “Did you want my number?”

Never mind, then. Apparently, common sense was long gone and I already had a one-way ticket on the S.S. Lust. All higher functions, like thinking, had been suspended until the hormones flooding my body receded to more manageable levels.

“That would be great. My psychic powers don’t extend to ESP.” I glanced over at my purse, wondering if I should walk all the way over there and then come back. Then I saw that my family was watching us with rapt fascination. They all but had the popcorn out.

Traitors. I had a good mind to do another ‘favor’ for Sunshine the next time Logan and his pack were around.

I gave a little smile and pointed across the room. “My phone is over there. Can you text me, and then we’ll have each other’s numbers?”

“Of course.”

I was standing over him again, and it was the perfect position for me to lean closer so that my breasts were almost in his face.

My perfume hit again, and I silently urged him to type faster. I was going to need to get away from him if I didn’t want to embarrass myself.

Who was I kidding? It was already too late for that.

Once he’d finished typing in my number, I gave a little finger wave--could I be any more dorky?—and fled to the other side of the room.

Raina and Sunshine grinned at me, and even Luna was smirking.

“Well done,” Raina said.

“We’re going on a date to a bookstore tomorrow.” I heard the ping of a new message and rifled through my purse for my phone.

This is Jerrick Redman.

I slapped my hand on my forehead. “I’m a total idiot.”

I’d forgotten to ask his name or give him mine.

Hi! I’m Stella Sullivan.

I ignored my family, who were now openly laughing at me. Instead, I smiled and gave a little wave to Jerrick, then left Hot Perks before I could do anything worse.

Chapter2

Stella

The rest of the day was uneventful if you counted calming down two hysterical alphas and telling a beta to stop sleeping in the sauna room uneventful.

After the high of the morning, my hormones crashed, and I was cranky the rest of the day. Pre-heat hormones made PMS look like a well-adjusted day in the park.

If I’d had sex, my hormones would have released, but since I was trying to make a good impression on Jerrick and not come across as a sex starved lunatic, my body decided this meant we would have a massive headache instead.

After dealing with those alphas and the beta, I managed to burst into tears over not being able to find my favorite pen. Then I started laughing because I dropped a paperclip. While I was still in this state of insanity, Raina stopped by my office.

Being a coordinator meant I met with new clients, helped match them to possible bondmates, and imputed new data into the computer.

I was usually really fast at inputting data into the matchmaking software.

Today I was slogging through my second profile and trying hard not to silently judge the applicant’s boring answers.

“Go home.” Raina loomed in the doorway. “Your scent is all over the place.”

“I have to enter these profiles.” I frowned at my computer. I was ready to take two weeks off a month from now, when I wassupposedto be in heat. Not today.

“It will keep until the morning.” Raina started typing into her phone. A second later, my own phone lit up with a notification from the family group chat. “Stella is going home early.”

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