Page 77 of Begrudgingly Yours
“There’s nothing like a casual filet mignon for lunch,” I tease him.
He smiles big. “It’s my protein day. I need carbs and meat.” He also points at the mash potatoes he got with it. “Our location may be casual but that doesn’t mean our food has to be.”
I take another bite of my burger and hum out my agreement. We take a few minutes to enjoy our food and listen to the rustle of sound around us. We’re not in the throes of campus, pretty far away from the quad, so it’s peaceful as much as it is beautiful, and it makes me look upon Dax with admiration.
“What’s your ultimate dream date?” I ask him.
He eats the bite of steak that was already heading for his mouth as he thinks about his answer, considering it seriously. “You’re going to laugh.”
I hold back a snort. “Try me.”
He contemplates, thinking before answering. “I’d like to go to a Michelin star restaurant as a pack, enjoy the food without thinking about money in the slightest. And then I want us to go to the circus.”
My burger stops in its trajectory to my mouth. It’s so perfect of an answer, I try not to laugh so he doesn’t take it thewrong way. “That’s kind of incredible. Why those two things? And why together?”
“I think the juxtaposition of them creates the perfect date. We can show you our seriousness, our capabilities, and then we can show you a good time, make you laugh, and give you a fantasy.”
“But those both have to do with me, what would you want to do?”
Dax smirks. “I want to make you happy, first and foremost. But I want to laugh and have fun, too. I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for trapeze artists. It’s magical to me.”
His answer satisfies me. It does feel like the perfect mix of activities from Dax of all people. And it feels like something we would all enjoy as a pack.
“Just let me know if you ever plan that dream date, because I’d like to look cute for the circus.”
“I love that you mentioned that in regards to the circus and not the Michelin star restaurant,” he quips. “What about you? What’s your dream date?”
I don’t even have to think about it. “It might seem weird but I’d love to watch a live taping of literally anything. Experience the way things work behind the scenes.”
Dax’s face morphs into something that I can’t decipher. The smile that takes over his face is ecstatic, and he avoids my eye contact for a moment.
“What’s that? What are you doing with your face right now?”
“I just like that you said that,” he responds. And then he adds, “It’s very you.”
I’m about to ask what he means when the scent of warm amber seems to integrate with the wind. Jett comes around the corner a second later, smiling wide as he heads straight for us.
“Oh, are you crashing our date?” I joke.
Jett doesn’t take the bait, he just wraps his hand around my hair and pulls me back to look up at him. “Just for the last few minutes. I figured we’d walk to class together.”
There’s a storm of flutters in my stomach as he bends down to kiss me. His lips are confident against my own, and I can’t stop the smile that erupts mid-kiss from appearing.
“Is it a good date?” Jett asks, eyeing our expensive food.
That doesn’t deter or bother Dax at all. He beams widely as he cuts a piece of steak and reaches out to his pack mate. “Do you want some?”
Jett eats the steak, not even bothering to grab the fork from Dax’s hand. I literally just watched himfeedmy most surly alpha.
This pack stuff may actually be everything I’ve ever dreamed of.
“Are you ready?” Jett asks me, to which I respond with a scrunched up nose.
“Class won’t be like last time,” Dax reassures me, but I don’t fully agree with him.
When we get to class, Professor Chapman is already there. Jett and I give each other a bewildered look, because he’s never here early. He’s always a few minutes late—fashionably late, apparently.
But no, he’s standing right at the front, looking down at his notes. Whenever he sees us walk in, he closes it and gestures for us to come forward. When we both start moving, he puts a hand up. “Just Miss Cromwell, please.”
