The disappointment was there. Subtle, but unmistakable.
And there was also something else. Seth had his defences up, as if he was already trying to protect himself from an answer I hadn’t even given yet.
I blinked. Why was he backpedaling so hard?
Seth pushed his chair back abruptly and stood, grabbing a rag from his apron. He wiped at the table in front of me, even though it was already clean.
“I don’t know why I—” he started, then cut himself off with a small shrug, eyes fixed anywhere but on me. “Forget it.”
He made a move to turn away.
“Seth, wait.” The words came out before I could think them through.
I reached out and caught his hand. For a second, everything narrowed down to that point of contact. His skin was warm. Softer than I expected, but not delicate.
There was a faint roughness along his fingers, probably from work. His pulse jumped under my thumb. Mine answered, just as fast. My wolf went still.
“Oh,” it said, in a tone I didn’t trust at all.
Seth froze. I realized I was still holding his hand.Right. Let go.For some reason, I didn’t though.
“I’ll go,” I said.
The words came out easy.
“I mean, yeah. Sure. If you want,” I blurted. I wanted to grimace.
Seth went completely still, eyes snapping back to mine. Those big, warm brown eyes widened slightly, like he was trying to figure out if he’d heard me right.
Like maybe I’d said something else and his brain had filled in the wrong answer. I felt heat crawl up the back of my neck.
Yeah. That had sounded over eager. Maybe a little desperate. Great.
“You don’t have to, seriously,” Seth said, recovering just enough to shake his head. “It’s really not a big deal. It’ll probably be boring.”
He was giving me an out. I tightened my grip on his hand just slightly before finally letting go.
“I don’t mind,” I said, faster this time, before he could talk himself out of it. “Got nothing else going on.”
That part wasn’t entirely a lie.
“Besides,” I added, leaning back like I hadn’t just volunteered myself at record speed, “it sounds fun. I’ve never played someone’s pretend date before.”
His mouth twitched, like he wasn’t sure whether to smile or question that.
“Right,” Seth said slowly. “Pretend date.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll try not to ruin your reputation.”
“I don’t think you could,” he said automatically, then blinked like he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.
We both paused. Then, almost in unison, looked away.
“So,” Seth said, clearing his throat. “We should probably exchange numbers.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
I pulled my phone out and handed it to him.
