Page 23 of Shade
Diego
I was sitting onmy couch, counting down the minutes until our date. I'd woken up early in my excitement, and quickly showered, made myself some coffee and toast for fuel—so I'd still be able to eat if we had breakfast plans—then gotten ready.
For the past thirty minutes, I'd been chilling on my couch, with my cat in my lap. Pixie seemed perfectly content to sleep on my legs, and I was glad I'd picked light-colored jeans, or it would be covered in her fur. Unless the tag was wrong. What if it was? I'd made those myself, and Liam had helped me put them on my newer clothes. What if one of us had messed up, and I was about to head on my date with Shade with my legs covered in visible cat fur?
I shook my head at myself. Shade had seen me in way worse conditions. Sure, I'd been a kid back then, but still. He wasn't going to lose interest because of some stupid cat fur.
My phone rang, pulling me out of my worried thoughts, and I answered it before the automated voice could tell me who it was, my voice a touch breathless as I said, "Hello?"
"Hey, Diego. You look very dashing today," Shade said, making me duck my head, which I realized possibly showed him more of my embarrassment since he was most likely in my shadow.
"Ah, thank you. I'd return the compliment, but..." I trailed off with a grin, and he chuckled. "Iamhappy you're here."
"That's even better. Now come on. Time for our date. Does Pixie have everything she will need? We'll be out all day."
I smiled, then gave Pixie a few more scratches before carefully sliding her off my lap and onto the couch. She must've been really sleepy, because she barely protested. Leaning down, I kissed the top of her head, then stood.
"She does. Her feeder is set on a timer, and I just refreshed her water bowl."
"Okay, then. Let's go."
"Give me a second. I'll switch to Bluetooth so I don't have to hold my phone to my ear all day," I said, then pulled the case out of my pocket. Quickly connecting the buds to my phone, I stuck them into my ears. While I used them daily to listen to my audiobooks, I rarely used them outside the house because I needed to be aware of my surroundings. But with Shade, I could trust him to guide me, and wouldn't need to be as careful.
"Done."
"Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear. Okay, where are we going?"
"That's a surprise."
"Okay,howare we getting there?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Unfortunately," I said as I realized what he was planning.
Shade snorted. "Grab your cane."
I did, and a moment later, I felt myself fall before slim, strong arms wrapped around my waist, holding me close.
"Hi," Shade said directly into my ear, and I turned to him, a grin on my face.
"Am I inside a shadow?"
"Your couch's, yeah. I thought we could get there via a shadow. The other option would've been a cab, but Liam said it would take forty minutes. Forty minutes!"
"That's a lot of time," I murmured, wondering where exactly he was planning to take me.
"Right? Hold on," he murmured, and I wrapped my arms around his middle, tucking my face against his neck as I felt the familiar tendrils of shadow envelop me.
"Okay, we are here. Step forward," Shade encouraged, and I let go of him and did just that.
Between one step and the next, I went from the cool darkness of the shadows to the warmth of sunlight, the sounds of alotof people around me, unfamiliar sounds that I couldn't quite place, the scent of warm, spicy food, coffee, chocolate...it was overwhelming, and I found myself trying to step right back into the shadows, except I just stepped into a shaded area of some sort with all the sounds still there.
"Are you okay?" Shade asked in my ear, and I realized he must be back in my shadow.
Focusing on his voice helped drown out the noise around us, and I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got a little stunned by the clamor."
