Don't insult my truck. She's sensitive.
She?
Berryl. I gave him details on the model and how she had a dent in the door and a radio that had constant static.
I could almost hear him laughing through the device.
Larkin changed the subject and told me his dragon was the strong silent type. It sounded as though he and his beast were pretty similar. I told him mine loved to talk and he had opinions about my wardrobe, what I ate, and who I associated with.
My dragon and I have opinions about you. As soon as I hit send, I regretted it.
What kind?
I can't repeat them over text,but they’re my opinions that he agrees with. I almost sent eggplant and peach emojis. But I stopped myself just in time.
I pressed the phone to my chest when he didn’t reply. Had I gone too far? We'd agreed to figure things out slowly, andI'd just implied I wanted to do unspeakable things to him, which I did.
Me too. And my dragon's been agitated since the barbecue. He's never like this.
Knowing his dragon was feeling the same made the ache worse and better. It was worse because I wanted to be near him but better because I wasn't going through this alone.
I’d avoided making the emoji mistake, but now I debated whether to make a suggestion.
We should eat. Somewhere that isn't a parking lot. Oh no, would he think eating referred to sex? I tapped out,Food. Eat food.
His response was one word.When?He didn’t question or umm and ahhh, and he didn’t refuse or tell me that was a bad idea.
Thursday. I finish my shift at six.I suggested a place somewhere not in either Trenton or Danvers. I didn't need Briggs spotting me having dinner with the enemy.
He sent me a link to a restaurant in Grafton I’d never heard of.
It's quiet, has good food, and isn’t romantic.
Wow, such a great selling point. "Not romantic." Should I wear sweatpants?
Wear whatever you want.
I tossed the phone on the couch and pressed my palms to my face. I had a dinner with my fated mate in two days, and that was how many hours? I asked my dragon.
Didn’t you do math at school? Forty-eight. I’ll set a timer and remind you every hour.
I had no clue about his “timer” but trusted he wouldn’t let me forget.
It's never just food with a mate, my dragon told me.
Thursday took forever to arrive.
I worked a twenty-four-hour shift on Tuesday that dragged on despite two calls. Between the calls, I cleaned the gear, restocked the truck, ran drills, and did everything I was supposed to, but my brain was in Grafton.
Briggs caught me staring at my phone during lunch.“Hot date?”
He was right, but I was admitting nothing. “Nope. Checking the weather.”
“On your text messages?”
I shoved the phone in my pocket. “It’s nothing.”
He went back to eating, but Hallie was watching me from across the table with that look she got when she was putting two and two together.
