“All I wanted to do was spend time with you.” He waves his hand, wiping my worries away with it. “Besides, the music oflurrrvvvveisn’t really my taste anyway.” He peers down at my knees, where there’s a fresh run in my tights. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“I’m okay.” I force a smile. “Honest.”
It’s a crisp January night, the campus still bustling with students meeting up after the holiday break. “So how did you spend the holidays?”
“Packing all my life into boxes to move here.” He chuckles. “Nothing too exciting.” Before I can ask for him to elaborate, he turns the conversation back to me. “What about you?”
“I was at home with my family.” I tuck my chilled hands into my pockets. “We take the holiday season seriously. We played a lot of boardgames, which I love, but they often end in arguments because my dads are so competitive.” I giggle at the memory of when they didn’t speak for a day over Monopoly. “We all help out at a soup kitchen on Christmas Day. Mom baked her amazing peppermint crunch snickerdoodles this year, and I made a giant gingerbread house. Both were a huge hit.”
“Tell me, Delilah…” His tone is serious, pausing to look at me. His almond-shaped eyes are gorgeous, the intense way he focuses them on me turning my knees to jelly. “Does your head hurt?”
I raise a hand to my curls.Shit, do I have a huge spot erupting on my forehead from all the stress of skating?“My head?”
He flashes me his adorable dimples. “You know, from when you fell from heaven?”
“That’s a cheesy line!” I laugh, swatting his shoulder. “Is that how baristas charm girls on first dates?”
“I’m serious!” He shows me his palms. “You bake food for all your friends and go to a soup kitchen on Christmas Day. You’re a literal angel.”
“I don’t know about that.”
We resume strolling, passing the sCream Queen ice cream truck parked on Main Street. When she sees me, Vi waves in our direction. Her hair is dyed in a seasonal red-and-green striped pattern, and she’s standing beside one of her burly alphas who has ornaments in his beard.
Despite it being cold, the line for her ice cream still snakes around the corner. She has a brand new menu that revolves around hot fudge sauces. Her cinder toffee and salted caramel one sounds incredible.
“I suppose you do read smutty books.” He shrugs. “That’s not exactly something an angel would do.”
“Hey, even angels need to unwind,” I scoff. “They have needs too, and who knows? Maybe they even enjoy reading about dirty devils sometimes.”
He arches an eyebrow teasingly. “You’ll have to send me your reading list.”
My cheeks warm. The way he looks at me makes me feel all fuzzy inside, something I haven’t felt in so long.
Since being with Jagger, I’ve found myself comparing every other guy to him. The few drunken make-out sessions I’ve had only left me with the bitter taste of regret and cheap Jell-O shots on my tongue. The only reason I kissed the random guyswas to give Sabs’s theory of “getting under someone to get over someone” a try, quickly learning that it’s totally not for me. But Tae is different, fanning my embers of desire that I thought had been extinguished completely.
“Maybe I will.” I mentally face palm when my voice comes out deeper and more sultry than usual.Do I just sound like a strange robot?
“I think I’d like that.” Yep, he’s definitely flirting. “And?—”
“Del!” I spin around at the sound of a man’s voice from behind us.
I turn to see two large, familiar figures heading in our direction. There’s no missing them, one with crazy red curls, the other looking like a Viking with his blonde hair scooped into a bun, a telescope tucked under one arm.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Laz—Sabs’s older brother and one of Faye’s pack—looks Tae up and down with interest. “Are you on a date?”
“I…” I want the ground to swallow me up. Thankfully, I’m spared from having to say anything as Tae cranes his neck to get a look at Riven’s telescope.
“Woah! That looks pretty neat, man.”
“It’s a new one.” Riven sounds proud as he shows it to him. Riven is part of the Valen Pack courting Kady. Although they haven’t officially bonded yet, they’re scent matches, so it’s only a matter of time. “After we hit the arcade club, we’re going to look for meteors.”
“An arcade club?” Tae’s eyebrows shoot up. “On campus? No way! How haven’t I heard about this?”
“You’re a gamer?” Laz’s eyes shine in approval. “I’m Laz, by the way. And this is Riven.”
“I’m Tae.” They shake hands. “Before I moved here, I had a genuinePac-Manmachine in my apartment. We couldn’t take it with us, though.”
“Really?” Clearly excited, Laz hops from one foot to the other. “They have one of those at the club. It’s a members-only place, but you could come with us some time.”
