by Amelia Jade
Almost at the same time a loud giggle came from the group on the far side of the rink. He winced. “I’m sorry if I’ve made you the subject of gossip.” The tone of the giggle had been fairly evident.
“Oh please,” she said with an exaggerated eyeroll. “They’ll gossip about anything. They’re starved for drama lately. I’ll be the most popular girl around for the next twenty-four hours, unless something else happens.”
Braden couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “Glad I could help then.” On a whim, he stuck out his hand. “Braden Fields.”
There was no hesitation as she took his grip, her small hand engulfed inside his grip. “Elle Mirrine,” she replied, pronouncing it “Mer-een.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Elle. If you have any trouble with the gossip, I have a few things I can share about Rachel or Angela.”
“You know them?” she asked, twisting to look back at the others.
He looked down as he felt a tug, and realized with a start that they still hadn’t let go after shaking hands. Confused, he looked up, watching as Elle came to the same conclusion. Almost in unison they opened their hands, looking anywhere but at each other. Braden thanked his lucky stars he had something to continue talking about.
“Um, yeah. Did I not mention I was a Guard at the Cadian embassy? I work alongside Hector and Noah.”
Elle shook her head, obviously as relieved as he was that they could avoid discussing what had just happened. “No, I don’t think we’d gotten that far. But that’s good to know. If I have any difficulties, you’ll be the one I come to for dirt.”
“Whoa now,” he said, holding up his hands. “I’m not a professional blackmailer. This is all new to me.”
She laughed. It was a lovely singsong noise, light and airy. It made his heart stir, and forced him to clamp down on his bear once more, holding the other half of him steady.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Braden could tell the end of the conversation was nearing. She was there with friends, after all, and she couldn’t just up and leave them to spend the rest of her day with him. Not politely, at least. If he wanted to talk to her some more, he was going to have to screw up his courage and ask her to see him again.
Right. Easy. Not a problem. Can-do. Absolutely. Piece of cake. Easy as A-B-C.
“I should probably be getting back to my friends,” she said.
Elle glanced over her shoulder and nodded, then turned back to him, licking her lips. Was she nervous too? He thought she was as cool as a cucumber, but maybe she was experiencing some of the same butterflies he was. After all, she’d held on to his hand as much as he’d held on to hers…
“Maybe we could resume this conversation at another time?” he blurted out. “When they aren’t around?”
The way she dipped her head down but still managed to somehow look up at him through her eyelashes sent his heart soaring and his…well, other things happened too. She had that effect on him.
“That would be nice,” she said. Then she quickly gave him her number. He repeated it back to her to show he had it.
“Bye,” she said, turning before he’d even finished speaking and skating back across the rink.
Braden just watched her go for a moment, then turned and headed off himself, his lips moving as he repeated her number over and over again. He didn’t wish to pull out his phone and stand there while they all stared at him and made comments to her, so he just headed off, resuming his walk. It took all his willpower not to look over at them, but he knew that would only have made things worse, not better, for her.
Right now he figured half the group was grilling her, while the other half was watching him depart, eyes like hawks, looking for anything that would make good entertainment. He almost stopped and bent over right at the waist to tie his already tied boot up, but decided that would just be too much.
Elle was already going to be under attack from her friends. The last thing he needed to do was add more “Did you see his butt?” or “Look look look!” cries to their already vast repertoire. He hoped, more for her sake than his, that none of them had noticed the way they’d held hands, but he doubted that had escaped observation. Especially with Angela and Rachel there, who had already gone through the whole process of realizing their fates had them destined as mates to shifters.
That was why he kept repeating her number over and over again until he was out of sight. And that the first chance he got he nearly ripped his pants apart digging his phone out to put her number into it.
But they didn’t need to know that.
Chapter Four
Elle
“Look at him walk away…”
“So calm and collected.”
“Nice butt.”
“The way his T-shirt stretches over those arms. Yum!”
“Not even looking back at her.”
“I could just—”
“OKAY ladies,” she said forcefully as the pack opened up like the maw of some gigantic creature, swallowing her whole into its midst as she skated to them. “I don’t think the ice is due to be reflooded for another hour at least. Let’s stick to that schedule, shall we?”
The hoots of laughter that greeted her jab only served to bring a smile to her face. “He is cute though, isn’t he?”
Near-shrieks of agreement from the group made it clear the others felt the same. “So, who is he?” “He’s a shifter right?” “What’s his name?” “Details girl, let’s go!” “Did you get his number?” “Did you give him yours?”
“Calm down. Calm down!” she practically shouted, waving all the questions silent. “Y’all are worse than teenagers right now, seriously.”
Several catcalls and jeers were the only response she got.
“His name, which I’ll tell if you shut yer damn clap-traps,” she said, pointing at Angela and Rachel, two of the worst offenders, “is Braden. And if you hadn’t already guessed, he’s a shifter.”
“He works at the embassy with Hector and Noah!” Rachel shouted. “And he’s single!”
Elle dropped her head heavily as the questions and clamoring started up all over again.
“Thank you for that,” she said to her best friends. “I really appreciate that.”
She tuned out the others for a moment as Angela responded. “Oh come on now. You would have done the same damn thing in our shoes.”
“I know,” she admitted with a smile.
Then she turned to the others. “Okay, stop acting like those crazies you see on the talk shows, people. We’re adults here.” She paused thoughtfully, then looked at her best friends. “Well, most of us are,” she amended.
The women didn’t let up, but she just started not responding, laughing at the way they all just kept reinforcing one another. Eventually the hubbub died down, but she knew that wasn’t the end of it.
“You’re so lucky!”
She turned to face Laura. “I am?”
“Yes. He’s gorgeous. I’ve seen him around… a few of us have. But he’s never shown any interest in anyone before. What did you do differently?” The question could have been interpreted as pointed and filled with jealousy, but Elle knew her friend better than that.
“Did you try wiping out on ice and heading for a collision that could have resulted in a minor concussion?” she asked helpfully. “It seemed to work for me.”
The groans from her audience were audible. It was great. Elle grinned at them. “Have you had your fill yet? Can we resume our skating?”
They hadn’t really stopped; the pack of them had sort of been slowly meandering around the rink as they harassed her for information, but she wanted the freedom to separate from them again, to just glide across the rink and enjoy the action of skating.
“That depends,” Angela said, a sly look on her face.
Elle had a sudden sinking sensation. “On what?”
Angela’s lips curved up in a wicked smile. “Are you going to see him again?”
Fuck you, she mouthed at
her friend as the group clamored excitedly for an answer. Angela just smiled and winked at her.
“I don’t know, she said, raising her voice to be heard. “But I think so. And so you’ll all just shut up and let me be, he asked if we could continue our conversation at a later date, because he could tell that you all were getting impatient with us. So, if you had had the good graces to behave like mature adults instead of the gossip-queens you are, then maybe I could have had more juicy things to share.”
She was greeted with a chorus of laughter and boos from the assembled group, which is exactly what she’d expected. Elle grinned. “I gave him my number. That’s all I can tell you, because that’s all I know.”
“So you’re going on a date?”
“She’s going on a date!”
“Oh my goodness. She’ll have to dress up!”
“And do her makeup!”
“And her hair!”
“I’ll help with her nails!”
In a moment they were all offering their services to help her when she got ready for her date. At some point that seemed to morph into her going somewhere that evening.
“You’ll have to shower!”
“This is all your fault,” she grumbled to Angela, the smile on her face betraying the fact that she wasn’t actually angry.
“Oh shut up. We’re all having a hoot, just like you. So enjoy it,” Angela said, elbowing her in the side.
“Yes ma’am,” she replied with fake sullenness. Then, to the crowd at large, “Nobody is helping me shower. I can handle that one on my own. Got it?”
While her friends all laughed she took the time to look over her shoulder. Like she’d expected, Braden was long gone, having disappeared into the wooded forest on the far side of the park that they had exited from. Her eyes roved between the leafless trees for several long seconds, but she couldn’t pick up any movement.
She wanted to pull out her phone, to see if he’d texted her yet, but knew the instant that she did the women around her would descend like a mad horde, demanding to know what she’d written and then forcing her to use the group-crafted responses that they came up with. She knew. She’d been on the other end of it before. Usually when they were finding interesting ways to get guys to leave them alone, but also for some of the girls who’d been interested in men, they helped make up the texts that showed them as “interested, but not too interested.”
Finally the hubbub around her died down and she could get back to skating. Despite all the teasing and jokes at her expense, one thing never changed.
The smile on her face had never faded.
Chapter Five
Braden
It took him a day to work up the courage to call her, and then another day after that to ask her if she would like to go out with him.
Braden was fairly sure he’d been on the edge of passing out from holding his breath before she answered him, but in the end she’d agreed. That’s one of the perks of text messaging, I suppose. She didn’t see me jumping around and pumping my fist like an idiot.
He smiled at the memory. In real-time it had only taken her approximately three minutes to respond, but in the moment it had felt like an eternity. When his phone had finally lit up with the “New Message” notification, he’d been both excited and nervous, his heart pounding in his chest as he double tapped his thumb to open it. His nerves had been for nothing though, Elle had agreed and said she was “down to hang out.”
It was after that, that the pressure had really rocketed. Now that she’d agreed to go on a date, he had to figure out where to take her! That had been nerve-racking, trying to decide someplace to go that would be both fun, interesting, unique and also allow them a chance to talk.
Thankfully an offhand mention to one of the shifters who was in town on a vacation pass from Cadia had resulted in an amazing suggestion. He suspected that Elle was going to be thrilled by the idea, and that he would go a long way to getting a second date out of it from that alone. Of course, there was the little problem of making it through the evening without screwing up first, but he hoped he could do so.
“All set?” Noah asked as he headed down the lobby stairs.
“As I’ll ever be,” he said tightly, his nerves already getting the better of him.
“Relax!” the other embassy Guard said, slapping him heavily on the shoulder. “She’s already given you her number, and then agreed to go out with you. She’s interested in you. Just be you. Don’t try to be someone else, or otherwise it won’t work.”
Braden forced his face into something that he hoped resembled a smile and nodded, trying to convince himself to do just that.
“Where are you taking her anyway?” his friend asked just before he pushed his way through the double doors and outside.
“Can’t tell you,” he replied. “It’s a secret. I tell you, you tell Angela, then the whole town knows. Sorry man!” he called, not waiting for a reply as he headed outside, making his way down the stairs and into the streets of Cloud Lake.
It wasn’t a long walk to the south end of town where Elle resided, but he wasn’t meeting her there. She’d told him that one of her friends had volunteered to babysit, so she could meet him wherever. Being a shifter he didn’t drive, and it was cheaper for them to just meet downtown.
Now he walked through town, his thoughts on Elle, her shoulder-length dirty-blonde locks, almond-shaped eyes, and shapely derriere. He couldn’t wait to see her again, to hear that melodious laugh and feel his heart stop when she smiled at him. It was all he’d been able to think of for the past three days, five hours and…okay, so he hadn’t been keeping quite that close a count, but she’d been on his mind a lot.
His bear didn’t understand why he couldn’t just walk up to her, toss her over his shoulder, and carry her off into the mountains. No matter how hard he tried, explaining the concepts of law, consent, and manners or propriety had fallen short. It was a rather literal beast, which made communicating hard. It knew she was his mate. Its whole point was to find a mate. One plus one equals two, that sort of thing.
One thing it did understand, thankfully, were mating rituals. That was currently how he was keeping it in check. It had taken several attempts, but Braden had eventually managed to convince his animal side that this was all part of the ritual dance of humans. While he himself knew that there was no guarantee that they would sleep together, it had sufficed to convince its bear. Apparently it thought it knew better than he did.
Besides, sleeping with Elle wasn’t the only thing on his brain. Sure, he was male, she was gorgeous, so the thought had presented itself. But he also wanted to see her smile. To make her laugh. To touch her hand. He was interested in her hopes, her dreams, her successes, and the scars of her failures. Braden wanted to know everything about her; no one particular area was more important to him than another.
She was his drug, and he needed her like a fix. From the outside he could tell that it might be disturbing if he were to express those thoughts to another. But for him, for his animal, he knew she was different. That she was going to be unlike any other woman he’d ever met. But he still had to ensure she felt the same. The last thing he was going to do was push himself on her. Hence the nerves.
“Braden?”
He almost walked right past her, so engrossed in his own mind was he, so focused on staying relaxed. Now he jerked to a halt, blinking rapidly as he refocused. Had he really walked across town already?
“Elle!” He greeted her with a big, sweeping hug, briefly lifting her off her feet and doing a partial spin.
Her surprised yelp caused him to set her down abruptly, at which she only shrieked some more.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, panicking. Had he used too much strength? Had he hurt her?
“My shoe! My shoe! It’s fucking cold!”
He looked down to see that she was wearing heels, and his actions had, apparently lifted her clear out of one of them. Then when he’d set her back down, he’d put her foot into the sn
ow. Unsure of how to react, he just sort of stood there, frozen to the spot as she hopped around, putting out one hand to hold onto him for balance as she slipped her shoe back on and did it up tightly this time.
It was about the time that she stood up that he regained the ability to, well, anything. “Um, sorry about that,” he said lamely.
Elle looked up at him funny. “I make a great first impression, don’t I?”
“You?” he said with a laugh. “I was going to say the same thing! Here I am, coming along, de-shoeing you with a hug, and then I just stand here like a dummy while you hop around like an oversized rabbit trying to put it back on!”
Her eyebrows came together as he spoke. “I…think being called a rabbit is a compliment, right?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t meant as that or an insult, truthfully. Just an observation.”
She glanced down at her shoe. “So what were you trying to do, steal my rabbit’s foot for luck? ‘Cause you’re going to need it the way this date is starting off.”
“I think that makes two of us,” he said with a laugh, gathering her up with an arm and showing her which way they were going to go. He contemplated extending his arm, to see if she was interested in taking it, but he declined. Not yet, maybe after the first part of their date.
“So, where are we going?”
He sighed internally, grateful for the change of topic. Maybe something would go smoothly. “We’re almost there,” he teased.
“Where is “there,” though?” she pressed.
“In here, actually,” he said, stopping abruptly and pulling open the door before she could read the sign. When she tried to move around him to see it, he just smiled and blocked her view.
Exasperated, but with a smile on her face, she lifted her chin and walked inside. He followed, letting the door with the sign Learn to Paint – Classes Every Evening on it swing closed.
“Oh, I know what this is!” she said excitedly as they doffed their coats and in her case hat and scarf and gloves at the door.