Page 18 of Rock Pucking Bottom

Not until we were fully committed to each other for the long haul. It would mean a death sentence for meif she would even believe me. I had a feeling that she would think I was crazy.

As dawn finally broke, I shifted back to my human form. I dug my phone out of my pocket to see the message from her.

Now, I really felt like shit. She probably thought I went on a bender.

At least, alcohol wasn't on my radar last night. The only thing on my mind was trying to get close to my mate and keep her protected from the other werewolves in the area.

It was irrational since we were trying to hide all things paranormal away from the human world and attacks didn’t just happen. Yet almost all mated werewolves would do the same thing especially if they had a human mate.

I had to reassure her that I wasn't ruining things. But I didn't want to lie to her.

Sorry, I spent the night in the woods and I didn't have my phone with me. I'm good. Can I take you out to dinner to make up for my lack of response?

I thumbed the message quickly so I didn't chicken out with taking her on a date.

Sure. Would you be okay if it's a late dinner? I'm leading a couple of support groups. I'm busy from 4pm-7pm.

I probably should do one of those meetings. But it would depend on how late things went at the rink. I was still trying to regain the trust of my teammates.

No problem. I'll pick you up at 7pm.

Looking forward to it. The group from 6-7 is an AA so think about coming to that too.

You and me both but I also told the guys that I would work with them on some shooting drills and the PK.

Makes sense. See you when you get there.

Just knowing that we had a date set up, and she was okay with my job coming first just as much as her work felt good.

Chapter 16

Emmy

Itwastheendof another AA meeting and Eoghan helped again instead of socializing. I wished he would try to talk to people more afterwards instead of waiting off to the side until it was time to help me clean up.

Every once in a while, he would talk to a regular. But it always seemed like he held some of the distance and kept things very surface level. It was no wonder he didn't have many friends, he always exuded an aloof, standoffish vibe. While it wasn't intentional, it also made me curious why I was so different and how he could open up to me almost from the start.

I was still acting like his sponsor, and it felt more and more inappropriate.

We'd gone beyond just talking about our struggles to stay sober, to something far more intimate and even a bit more romantic. As much as I wanted to tell him to find his own sponsor, it was part of the process. I just needed him to open up a tiny bit more to everyone else or for an extrovert to adopt him. He needed another Scuba in his life to make him be social.

After the last person left the room, Eoghan stacked the chairs in the corner. He was always so good about helping to do that or to even clean up the waste that people left behind.

As I stacked the last chair, Eoghan had his hands tucked into his sweat pant pockets, which only seemed to highlight his package. Looking at his bulge seemed totally inappropriate at a church hall.

He didn't say anything but with the way he kept licking his bottom lip, it seemed like he was debating something. Not being able to wait any longer, I said, "Just spit it out."

"What makes you think I have something to say?" But the smirk on his face told me he totally had something on his mind. I just hoped it wasn't going to be something that would make me blush. I crossed my arms and stared him down until he continued on. "Fine, I need a favor."

That was unusual, since he was so private.

"Any chance you could check on my house and grab my mail when I'm on the road? Maybe be there when I get home?"

Given how flirty he had been since our first date, I had a feeling that he was trying to kill two birds with one stone.

I stepped close and wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered, "You mean in your bed, right?"

There was a flash of red that hit his face, but the blush only existed for a moment. While the blush vanished, his voice lowered. "That would be an added bonus and something to play for."

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