Page 332 of Love Bites

COCO

You’re lying.” Magnus sat back in his chair, wide-eyed, looking like a man who’d just been told the world was flat by a scientist. I wasn’t a scientist and the world wasn’t flat, but my sister was what I considered to be an expert in online dating, and I’d just told him one of her most unbelievable stories.

“Totally not lying. She showed up, and the man was on a bicycle with no teeth and most of his belongings in a bag. From collared-shirt-wearing businessman to homeless meth head in an instant. I don’t think she’d ever been so thankful to be in a public place in her life.”

“That’s just—” he shook his head and reached for his coffee “—bizarre isn’t a strong enough word.” Two sips and his eyes were back on mine. So intense, that stare. Almost possessive in the way his gaze held me captive. “Do much…online dating?”

Oh.Oh.That pause. Magnus said so much with that pause, and all of it sounded like jealousy. I had to fight to keep from preening right there in front of him. That such a virile, attractive man was jealous at the thought ofmedating someone else? Huge compliment. “I let Ginger handle that. She’s the online dating queen.”

“So no swiping right for you.”

“No swiping at all. You can’t tell much about a person from a picture, you know?” My own jealousy reared its head, coloring my words green as I tried to keep my voice casual. “What about you? Swiping right a lot?”

His slow smile warmed something inside of me. “No swiping right for me either. I prefer to play the dashing superhero and save women from dropping trays of baked goods instead. Shows me in my best light.”

“It really does. I was certainly impressed.”

“Then I’ll strive to be a superhero every day just for you.” That look in his eyes became more focused, stronger. His hold on me tightening. “So Ginger handles online dating, but you have a second sister. Yes?”

“Madeleine. She’s more of a…well, she’s gorgeous and sort of shy, so she only tends to date people others set her up with. Even that’s pretty rare, though.”

“And you?”

“Me?”

“How do you prefer to meet the men you date?”

I couldn’t help myself. “I like to accost them with éclair trays and see what they do.”

He sat back, all raised brow and crooked smile. Looking almost cocky. “Tell me more. I simply have to know what sort of trap I fell into this morning.”

“Well, see, if a man can save the éclairs, he’s a winner in my book. If you’d have let me drop all those delicious treats this morning, I wouldn’t be here now.”

“Thank the fates for quick reflexes.”

The fates. Not God. That one word made all my perceptions about him break apart and reform in another shape. One that morphed and rebounded in my head.Thank the fateswas a term I’d heard around town a lot, and his saying it likely meant he was a shifter of some breed. Dammit, and everything had been going so well. I’d sworn off shifters after Nico. Now, there I was, flirting with certain disappointment once again. No matter how much I cared about him, no matter how much he might end up claiming to care for me, someday fate would throw his true mate in his path andpoof…gone.

We had a connection, sure, but it was nothing like that of a fated couple. At least, I had to assume it wasn’t. I didn’t know what that intensity felt like, but I’d seen it a few times. Been close enough to it to witness two people fated to be together giving in to the pull. But this draw, this closeness I felt for Magnus, couldn’t possibly be that. Had I been Magnus’ mate, he would have said something. He would have told me or acted to make me his or…something. Even if I was just a human. I knew shifters and humans were sometimes paired up, and to be honest, I envied those couples. Shifters mated for life—no take-backs, no second chances needed, no falling apart. Sure, their relationships weren’t always perfect, but that bond was unbreakable.

My heart, on the other hand, was not.

“Where did you go?” Magnus asked, leaning closer and looking a little concerned. “Your face just went through too many emotions for me to keep up with.”

“Sorry. I just… So, you’re a shifter.”

He suddenly looked a little wary. “Yes. Is that a problem?”

Was it? The man was amazing—handsome and smart, funny and kind. Every part of me felt the attraction to him, especially my lady parts. They’d practically been calling his name since he met me at the front door to the restaurant looking so damned handsome. I’d regretted not allowing him to pick me up at home almost instantly, wishing instead to be alone and behind closed doors so we could get to know one another. With a lot fewer clothes on.

Stupid single-girl dating rules.

I’d been close to letting him pick me up like a gentleman, but Ginger had squashed that with one story of how an internet dater found her address and harassed her for weeks before the lion shifter next door finally had to put his fist down. Or paw, really. Whatever. I didn’t have a lion shifter next door, so meeting Magnus in a public place had seemed like the safe option.

But there was nothing safe about Magnus. He was danger personified, especially to my heart. I liked him…a lot. Probably too much. Something clicked with us, something drew me to him. I loved the way he made me feel and the easy conversation we’d had over dinner. Loved the smiles and jokes and the mature way he acted. The man was witty, classy, and hot as hell…what more could I ask for? And if in a few weeks or months he found his mate and walked away?

Well, I’d lick my wounds when that time eventually came. Not literally. I wasn’t very catlike.

“Coco?”

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