At this point Kedi narrowed his eyes at me, his wolf’s blue-gray glow shining through. “So quit fucking stalking him and get on with the wooing already. And if you fucking harm a single hair on his head, I will tear out your jugular.”
I believed hecould do it, too.
Feeling discouraged, I let my feet take me wherever they wanted, off the park’s path and over the grass. Joel lived around shifters, worked in a shifter-owned establishment filled with half-feral patrons every weekend, but he had somehow managed to remain entirely ignorant to our existence this whole time. Was that because he was unwilling to accept that shifters existed? Or maybe that meant he would be entirely accepting of us, since he was clearly comfortable around predators already.
He said my eyes were pretty, my jaguar said, preening. Technically he’d saidmyeyes were pretty, but my beast had been looking through my eyes at the time, so I wasn’t about to split hairs.
Distracted as I was, I wasn’t paying any attention to my surroundings. My senses were full of all things Joel, and it wasn’t until I was nearing the far side of the park that his fresh scent was not simply lingering on my skin. In fact, it had been getting stronger.
“Now Iknowyou’re stalking me,” a voice said with a note of teasing.
My head jerked up, and I found myself face to face with my gorgeous mate. His blond curls were a bit wild from the wind, and his full lips were tilted in an amused smirk. I couldn’t help the blush my embarrassment brought to my cheeks. This time, I really had been stalking him!My jaguar’s self-satisfaction simmered inside me. I’d been so distracted, he’d followed Joel’s trail, guiding me right where we both wanted to be.
“It was an accident,” I blurted, instead of outright denial, because that would’ve been a lie. TheOmegas Weeklymagazine had said if you wanted a stable relationship, honestly was key.
Joel looked up at me from under his long lashes. “I’m not complaining, although most guys would just text, instead of tracking me down at work.”
“I was actually trying to text you just now,” I said shyly, waving my phone at him.
“And how’s it going?”
“Not as well as I’d hoped.” I slipped my phone into my pocket before he asked to see what I’d come up with. “But I’m sure if I’d had another week to work on it, it would’ve been a masterpiece.”
“I’m sure,” he agreed, laughing.
I finally managed to peel my gaze away from his face to take in the rest of him. He was dressed in a pair of gray sweats and a green t-shirt that made his eyes more vibrant. But even more striking was the fact that he wasn’t alone. Six pairs of eyes stared up at me from various heights, alert and very suspicious.
“Um, you have dogs,” I said, stating the obvious. Animals tended to be wary of shifters, sensing the beast within us, and these ones were no exception. “At… work, you said?”
His smile was instantaneous, and it made my insides melt. “They’re not mine. I have a side gig walking dogs for people who work long days. I love animals, but my current landlord doesn’t allow pets.” I nearly snorted, thinking about Kedi as Joel’s pet wolf. My jaguar, meanwhile, only heard that he loved animals.
I’m an animal!he said.He loves me!
“How many jobs do you have?” I said, trying to ignore the inner monologue my beast was having. This was not the time or place to have that discussion, but it was coming—soon.
“Just the three, but if I could find a way to cram another one in there, I totally would.” He shrugged. “What else would I be doing with my time? Might as well be making money. And besides, I have some pretty great coworkers,” he said, scratching the head of the German shepherd at his side.
“So…” I meandered a little closer to him, unable to keep myself from prowling. “If I asked you out on a date, would you be able to squeeze me into your busy schedule?” My confidence grew as I felt his body come alive at my proximity. He was not immune to the connection between us, and this heady feeling made me bold.
“Hmm, I’m sure I could pencil you in. What did you have in mind?” he asked, but his voice had gone a little breathy.
“I want to eat you,” I purred without thinking, before panic set in as I replayed what I just said. “I mean,feedyou! Cook you dinner!” I groaned and slapped a hand over my face, but thankfully, he was laughing. “I’m sorry, I’m so bad at this.” So much for being suave. “I don’t do this.”
“Do what, talk?” he asked, peeling my hand away from my face. His touch on my wrist felt like searing fire and left my whole body tingling.
“Talk to omegas,” I clarified, wincing. “I don’t… flirt. Or date—ever.” I felt like I was admitting some great fault, though I knew there wasn’t anything wrong with waiting for the right one to come along. But he should probably know how inexperienced I really was before we took the next step. “But for you, I’d like to try.”
His gaze softened. “You’re doing fine,” he assured me, grinning, before he closed the final distance between us, bringing us closer than was polite for a public park. If it weren’t for the Pomeranian trying to mount my leg, I might’ve believed we were back on that dance floor, our bodies melding, grinding to music only we could hear. Myhands moved to his waist all on their own, pulling him flush. He tipped his chin up toward my ear and whispered, “Besides, there was nothing wrong with your first suggestion. I invite you todine.”
Fuck. I was assaulted by the image of what me eating Joel would look like, how his floral taste would burst on my tongue as he threw his head back and screamed my name. Shit, and now I had a hard-on, with no choice but to hide it pressed up against Joel, rather than risk scandalizing the elderly couple currently walking hand in hand down the path behind us.
I made a sound, half whimper, half grunt, as I closed my eyes and tried to think unsexy thoughts, but with Joel’s corresponding erection nudging at mine, there was little hope of that. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s not nice to tease?” I asked, swallowing thickly. When I peeled my eyes open, he was still there, his pink tongue flicking at the corner of his mouth.
“Who says I’m teasing?” He quirked an eyebrow, as if daring me to have a taste.
First date: chaste kiss, I tried to remind myself of the step-by-step rules to dating, but when Joel rose up on his toes and pressed his lips to mine, all plans of taking things slow were tossed out the window.
His lips were so unbelievably soft, and when he opened his mouth in invitation, I was hopeless to do anything but fall. I let my tongue slip through, his own tongue there to greet me, and his floral flavor was so much better than anything I could’ve imagined. I wrapped an arm around his waist and dragged him up, his back bowing as I folded myself over him. He clung to me as best he could with six leashes hooked over his wrists, and he made the most lewd sound.
