Page 3 of Handcuffs & Honey

Julina’s brows shot up, and Dominic wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was his mate interested or not? Dominic was picking up the vibe that Julian was into him, but sometimes it was hard to tell. Did his mate feel the pull? Was he just as wildly attracted to Dominic as Dominic was to him?

Since Dominic had never been mated before, he was a bit uncertain.

“Um, I…you know…well…”

“Say yes,” Dominic encouraged. “No strings attached. Just two people with a blossoming friendship on the horizon.”

Had he just said that? Dominic inwardly rolled his eyes at how corny he’d sounded. Smooth, genius.

Julian’s sandy-blond brows furrowed. “We’re friends?”

“We could be,” Dominic said. “Or am I that much of a bear that you don’t think we can be friends?”

A little pun never hurt, though Julian had no idea that Dominic was a bear shifter.

“No!” Julian’s hand fluttered to his throat. “Why would I think that of you? We don’t even know each other.”

“So let’s hang out,” Dominic said.

“I, uh, get off at three,” Julian said. “Won’t you still be working?”

“Nope.” Because Dominic was going to take the rest of the day off once Julian clocked out. His deputies could handle things at the station. It wasn’t as if Midnight Falls was a bustling town. It was as laid back as you could get.

When assholes didn’t start trouble, and considering there were a lot of assholes in the preternatural world, chaos could ensue at any time. But lately it had been quiet, and Dominic was thankful for that.

Humans could be trouble, too, but since they didn’t possess any powers, their kind of trouble was usually tame in comparison, at least in Dominic’s opinion.

Stolen cars, trespassing, vandalism, or the occasional theft at the pharmacy or other local businesses were things he could handle.

Escaped demons, fairies who wielded dark magic, vampires trying to kill someone, and shifters with very bad attitudes were at a whole other level.

Dominic tried his hardest not to get the Ultionem involved—the council for the preternatural—because those guys already had a lot on their plates. Nope. He insisted on handling Midnight Falls’ problems on his own, with the help of his deputies.

They didn’t have an alpha who ran their town. Keeping the peace was up to Dominic and his men, and they took their job seriously because they liked having a place where families could raise children and people came together in hard times. The town rekindled the feeling of a bygone age where you could sleep with unlocked doors.

“Okay,” Julian said, pulling Dominic from his thoughts. “I’ll see you at three.”

With a smile, Dominic watched Julian hurry away to wait on other tables. He finished his food, paid his bill, and headed outside into the brisk fall air. Thanksgiving had been a week ago, and Dominic had celebrated the holiday with his deputies, who were also single.

But it would have been nice to share it with Julian. Dominic had no idea what Julian had done that day and hadn’t asked. Now that his mate had agreed to hang out with him, maybe Dominic could get to know him better.

And if things progressed naturally, as he hoped they would, Dominic could claim his mate.

His bear growled in agreement.

* * * *

“Did Sheriff Harper just ask you out on a date?” Elijah asked after Dominic left.

“It’s not a date,” Julian protested, though he wasn’t sure if that was the truth. Did Dominic really want to hang out? Why?

Elijah shoved the pad of his thumb between Julian’s eyes. “You’re thinking too hard.”

Julian slapped his hand away. “And you’re making too big a deal out of this.”

“Can you two get some damn work done?”

Julian jumped at the sound of Roman’s voice behind them. He hadn’t heard the guy’s approach.

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