Page 29 of Hers to Call
“Calita?” Charmain prodded.
“Yes, I’d love to. What time?”
“Well, there are a total of ten of us, so we’re carpooling. Do you want one of us to come get you?”
“No, that’s okay. I can drive myself.” It would give her an excuse to leave in case she and the women didn’t get along.
“Okay, great! We’re meeting there at ten.”
She glanced at the clock and calculated how long it would take her to get dressed. “That’s perfect. I’ll see you then.”
“I’m so excited, see you then.”
She smiled and ended the call. Simon came out of the bathroom dressed, his hair wet from a quick shower.
He leaned over the bed and kissed her lips. “What are you doing today?”
She handed him his phone. “I’m going to brunch with a few of your bears.”
He snorted. “They’re meddling.”
“Of course,” she agreed, and found herself unable to be upset with that.
In the year she’d been in town, she didn’t have much personal experience with their meddling. She was an outsider, a great chef who cooked well, but an outsider all the same. It didn’t help that she’d held back from Bear Ridge’s residents, not sure she’d stay in town as long as she had. She was happy to be invited even if it was just because she was dating their alpha.
She dragged the sheet up to cover her body and scrambled from the bed. “I gotta get dressed.” She shooed him with a kiss and a push on his shoulder.
“Don’t let them interrogate you.”
“My secrets are my own,” she said over her shoulder.
“True enough,” he grumbled.
Guilt niggled. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about her. If she decided to give it a go at being his mate, then she would need to tell him at some point. She shook out that morose thought. She was going to brunch, and possibly making more friends. It was time to get out of her shell and live. She couldn’t let her past control her life anymore.
