“N-no!” I rush to respond. “It’s not that at all! I don’t care about designations. I just…” I grab my drink, stroking the warm cup, my heart thudding erratically against my ribcage. “I don’t get asked on dates very often,” I confess quietly. “I thought you might’ve been joking.”
“Joking?” His chocolate-brown eyes widen. “Of course not! Why would I joke about that?” He sounds genuinely confused. “I’d love to take you out. How about tonight? Or tomorrow?” He runs his hand through his dark waves. “I mean, unless you don’t want to.”
My heart swells at his endearing eagerness, recalling this morning’s horoscope. Perhaps this is exactly what it meant. This could be a new chapter.
“I’m free tomorrow night.” I straighten my spine. “I have a smutty book club meeting tonight.” I check the clock on the wall. “I’m actually meeting a friend here. She’s due any minute.”
“Smutty book club?” His eyes twinkle. “Now that I have to hear about.”
“Well, we read a different book a month, and I make penis cookies to go with it.”
He bursts out laughing. “Penis cookies?”
“Tae!” the barista calls behind us. “We have more customers that need serving!”
“On it, boss!” Despite his response, Tae doesn’t pay any attention to the restless line forming, handing me his phone. “Let’s swap numbers.” Fingers trembling, I put mine in. “I’ll text you later,cookie.”
He winks before greeting the next customer. With a new dazed spring in my step, I snag a table right as Nia bundles through the door, books piled high in her arms.
“Sorry I’m late!” She plops down the book stack with a thwack. “Are you okay? You look a little… flustered.”
“Me?” I pick up a book to read the blurb while I hear Tae welcoming other customers from across the shop. Although I’m facing away from him, I swear, I feel his gaze flitting over. “I’m fine.”
We stay for an hour, discussing books and forming questions we can bring to the discussions. By the end of our time together, we have the next month’s reading list sorted out.
“He keeps staring at you,” Nia comments, reclining smugly in her chair. “The hot barista has barely taken his eyes off you since I got here.”
“Well…” I fiddle with my sleeve. “We’re going on a date tomorrow.”
“Delilah!” she screeches then drops her voice to keep it casual. “That’s amazing.”
Outside of the Stella girls, Nia is one of the few people who I’ve told about the situation with Jagger. Granted, she doesn’t know his real identity, but she does know that an alpha I thought was my scent match skipped town without saying goodbye.
“It should be fun.” I shrug, nervous excitement already bubbling in the pit of my stomach.
“Speak of the devil.” Nia wiggles her eyebrows as I’m hit by Tae’s rich espresso scent.
“I thought you may need more drinks to keep you fueled after talking about dirty books.”
His husky voice sends a tremble down my spine as he leans over to place two drinks on the table for us, his hand brushing against my arm for a split second.
I snort when I see the foam, spraying the buttery crumbs of my Danish everywhere. One has a perfectly milk-formed vulva, and the other has a cock and balls.
I gaze into the mugs. “You weren’t joking about being good at latte art.”
“Told you,” he quips. “See you tomorrow, cookie.”
“The chemistry between you is insane,” Nia leans in to tell me as soon as he vanishes. “He is definitely a keeper.”
“We only just met.” I wave her off. “We’re just going to hang out.”
She doesn’t say any more but smirks knowingly as she sips her cock-foamed latte. “If you say so.”
Maybe this semester will not be so bad after all.
FIVE
Jagger
