by R. E. Butler
“Like what?” Joss asked.
“Well, I was at a drive-in restaurant a few months ago and they had mac and cheese topped with barbecue brisket and onion rings. And once I ate at a fancy restaurant in Philly and had lobster mac and cheese, which was fabulous. I always thought it would be neat to have a food truck that only served mac and cheese.”
“Why don’t you do that?”
“Money.”
He nodded in understanding. “They’re pretty expensive to get up and running. But if you’d ever like to make fun mac and cheese, I’d be happy to be your taste tester.”
“Oh?”
“Of course.”
She smiled and looked down at her food, stabbing another piece of chicken. “Do you live around here?”
“I do. You?”
“I live in Barreston, so only about forty minutes away. I moved into a rental house after I...” She paused, not wanting to lay her whole crappy history on him before they even made plans for an actual date.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and he put his fork down and reached across the table to take her hand. She felt a zing of pleasure shoot up her arm at the warm, firm pressure of his grip. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, Jeanie, but whatever you do tell me, I promise won’t garner any judgement from me. We’ve all got a past. Whatever happened in your life before today brought you here to the park so that you and I could meet.”
She squeezed his hand back, then launched into the tale of her adult life that left her at this point – working at a greasy spoon with a mountain of bad debt from her asshole ex, with no kids or family left.
He made a sound that reminded her a lot of an angry growl, and she swore his eyes changed color to a dark amber. But it was surely a trick of the sunlight streaming through the trees.
“I was... married,” he said. “She passed away fifteen years ago from an infection from an injury. My daughter died when she fell from a tree when she was little, and then my son died.” His voice faltered, and his eyes got so sad looking. He cleared his throat. “Now it’s just me. The workers at the zoo are like my family now, but it’s not quite the same as having someone that’s just mine, you know?”
Nodding, she said, “Yeah. I totally get that.”
His phone buzzed on the picnic table, and he turned the screen over. “Your album is ready. Would you like to get some ice cream on the way? There’s a stall that’s got some pretty amazing flavors.”
“I’d love to.”
They threw away their trash and walked to an ice cream stall where a man and woman were handing out cones to kids that were decorated with cookies and candies to make them look like bears.
“Hey, Tayme,” Joss said, coming up to the side of the stall. “This is my friend, Jeanie. This is Tayme and his wife, Rory.”
“Nice to meet you,” Rory said, shaking Jeanie’s hand.
“What can we get for you?” Tayme asked.
Jeanie looked at the flavors. “Oh, mint chip. I love that.”
“Make it two,” Joss said.
Rory scooped the pale green ice cream dotted with chocolate chunks into freshly made sugar cones and handed them over. “Enjoy.”
Joss thanked them for the ice cream, and he and Jeanie walked and talked, meandering down one path and then another. By the time their cones were gone, they’d reached a gift shop. Inside the air-conditioned store, she smiled as she saw the shelves of stuffed animals. They had every animal on the tour, from a moose that was nicknamed Tank to the huge elephants and dozens of wolves.
“Here you go,” Joss said, taking the photo album from a woman behind the counter.
“Thanks,” Jeanie said, flipping through a few of the pages. “You’re a pretty good photographer.”
“I had a lovely subject.”
She smiled. “You’re sweet.”
He cleared his throat. “I hate to have to say goodbye, but I need to get back to the office. Don’t feel obligated to leave, you should stay and enjoy the park as long as you’d like.”
“I think I’m ready to go home.”
“I’ll walk you to your car.”
“You don’t have to.”
“But I want to.”
“Okay.” Tucking the album under her arm, she walked with Joss out of the store and to the front gate. She had to get her phone and look for the photo she’d taken of the row number where she’d parked. Once she was standing next to her old car, she smiled up at Joss. She wasn’t a really forward person. She’d never asked a guy out before, but she was certain if she drove off without at least asking for his number, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.
“I’d like to ask you out,” Joss blurted out suddenly.
“Oh! You would? I was just thinking about asking you myself. I’d love to see you again. Give me your phone and I’ll put my number in it.”
He unlocked his phone and she created a new contact, adding her name, phone number, and address.
“I could pick you up for dinner tomorrow night,” he said, taking back his phone.
“Seven?” she offered.
He nodded, looking at the screen and smiling. Her phone buzzed and she saw a text from him that said, “It’s me, Joss.”
“Seven’s perfect. Do you have a food preference?” he asked.
“Anything but a diner.”
He chuckled. “I’ll choose a great place.”
For a moment, they just stared at each other, his gaze flickering from her eyes to her lips. She thought he might kiss her, and she was fully prepared to let him. But he just smiled and opened her car door for her.
“Until tomorrow, Jeanie,” he said, his voice dropping a little lower and making things deep within her cheer.
“Bye, Joss.”
He shut the door and she turned on the car, then backed out of the parking spot. She waved and he waved back, and she swore she saw his eyes turn amber once more.
Another trick of the sun, she was sure.
Once she was on her way home, she turned on the radio and put the windows down. She couldn’t believe how her day had turned out, and it was all thanks to Glennis’s VIP tour ticket, and a sexy guy named Joss who came to her rescue.
Chapter Four
Joss didn’t sleep well Saturday night. His wolf wanted to go to Jeanie’s house and just watch over her. His human side knew he couldn’t do that. It would be akin to stalking, and certainly not the way he wanted to start things off with his soulmate.
Soulmate.
The word made his heart clench.
What would she think of him when he told her everything?
Not just that he was a shifter, which her kind didn’t know anything about. But that he’d killed his own son in the name of protecting that secret.
As an alpha, he’d learned to never show fear, under any circumstance. Even though his people had no issue with him as alpha, there were pack members who watched him closely for signs of weakness. He didn’t want to stop being alpha until he was good and ready. So he couldn’t go to any of his people and ask for advice on dating. They’d see his unease with the situation and potentially think him in need of being taken out of power.
So he’d have to find someone else to talk to about dating.
He wanted to romance Jeanie, but he had zero idea how to do it.
It would be far easier if she were a shifter. Then she’d feel the soulmate connection between them. As it stood, he couldn’t reveal his shifting nature to her until she was in love with him.
How the hell long would that even take?
His wolf was already half in love with her. Every time he thought of her his beast wanted to roll onto his back for some belly rubs, which was fully out of character for the predator in him.
His mind flitted to a human male who worked in the finance department. Devlin was mated to Jenni, a lioness. Making a mental note to speak to Devlin about romancing a human, he closed his eyes and ordered his wolf to settle down. In less than twenty-four hours he’d be seeing Jeanie
again, and they could start the process of winning her heart. He could think of nothing better than waking up for the rest of his life with the dark-haired beauty in his arms.
* * *
Later that morning, Devlin knocked on Joss’s office door. “You left a message you wanted to see me?”
“Come in. Shut the door.”
Devlin did as requested and sat in one of the chairs across the desk from Joss. “I feel a bit like a kid getting called to the principal’s office.”
Joss chuckled. “Nothing bad, I promise. I do need to ask for your discretion.”
“Of course. Whatever you say is just between us.”
Joss explained how he’d come to meet Jeanie.
Devlin’s brows arched. “No kidding? That’s great! Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Joss said. “I have a date with her tonight, but I’m at an utter loss. I have no idea how to romance a human female. I’ve spent my whole life almost entirely surrounded by shifters.”
Devlin nodded. “Jenni says it’s easier to deal with shifters because they don’t have the hang ups that humans do. Like waiting until you’re in love with someone before you get married. How can I help?”
“What can you tell me about human women? What will she expect from me?”
“Well, they’re all different of course. Be a gentleman – get the door for her, bring her flowers, pay for dinner.”
“Flowers?”
“Sure. Roses are a good bet, a dozen should do the trick. Be sure to compliment her, too. Women love that. Jenni gets all flustered and adorable when I tell her that kind of stuff.”
“How long will it take to get her to love me?”
Devlin’s brows nearly disappeared into his hairline. “Shit, Joss. You can’t plan that sort of thing. Some humans fall in love fast, some don’t. Depending on how much baggage she’s got from her ex, she may be wary of jumping into a relationship. Since you can’t tell her about your shift until she’s in love with you, she may pick up on the fact you’re holding something back from her. I knew there was something different about Jenni before she told me. It’s like there’s a part of her that she kept from me, and it made me nuts.”
Joss’s wolf didn’t like hearing they couldn’t put a timeline together for moving things forward with Jeanie.
“You could always go the route of bringing her in and shifting for her before she loves you. Of course, that has its own problems with it.”
Joss nodded. One of the human mates had been brought to a meeting room and her soulmate had shifted in front of her. The alphas had made it clear, however, that if they went through with the shift that she wouldn’t be allowed to leave the park until it was certain that she wouldn’t betray them. It was too risky a move for now.
“Thanks for the advice,” Joss said.
“Where does she live?”
“Barreston.”
“I know a great steakhouse not too far from there. I can make a reservation for the two of you if you’d like.”
“Thanks. That would be great. Seven thirty?”
“Perfect. I’ll text you the details. And good luck.”
Joss nodded. When he was alone in his office, he attempted to get some work done, but now his wolf was too excited by the prospect of seeing her in a few hours. He decided it would be better to just cut his losses and go to the marketplace underneath the zoo and see if he could find something to wear on his date.
Two of his wolves – Zeger and his mate, Anke – worked in the marketplace, a central location where their people could get food prepared by the bear shifters, clothing and other items from the wolves, and females could get their nails painted by two of the human soulmates.
“Hello Alpha,” Anke said when Joss walked up to the counter.
“I’m in need of dress clothes.”
“Of course. We’ve got a nice selection of slacks, shirts, and shoes.” She led him toward the back of the shop where several racks held different sizes of clothing. He chose black dress pants and a gray dress shirt, picking out a tie that had gray and olive tones mixed together, the green shades reminding him of Jeanie’s hazel eyes. Once he’d gathered his clothes for his date, he thanked Anke and headed to his house to get ready. He still had several hours ahead of him before he needed to leave, but he couldn’t sit around in the office anymore. His wolf was restless and excited to see Jeanie.
He trimmed his beard, showered, and got dressed once it drew closer to the time he needed to leave. Topside, he checked out an unmarked SUV. The park used marked SUVs for zoo business and unmarked ones for private business. They’d had a problem in the past with people following the marked vehicles back to the zoo.
Setting the GPS to Jeanie’s address, he sent her a text to say he was on the way. When she responded quickly that she was looking forward to seeing him, his wolf started doing cartwheels in his head. Shaking his head at himself and his crazy wolf, he left the park and headed to her place to go on his first-ever date. With a human.
Who happened to be his soulmate.
Chapter Five
Jeanie looked at her closet and sighed deeply. Standing in her bedroom still wearing her favorite fluffy robe, she simply couldn’t decide what to wear. It was a first date, but somehow it felt even more important than that. She couldn’t put her finger on why it felt so monumental. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t dated since her divorce. She’d been on a few blind dates, had gone to a local bar with Regina a time or two, but no one had warranted more than a second date at the most, and often the first date was plenty.
She picked up her phone and video called Glennis.
“Hey neighbor,” Glennis said.
“I need help. I have a date. He’s going to be here in like an hour, and I don’t know what to wear.”
“Oh! I’d love to help. I’ll be right over.”
“Thanks, you’re a life saver.”
The call ended, and a few minutes later, Glennis was standing in front of Jeanie’s closet, swishing the hangers back and forth on the metal rod as she looked through her clothes.
“I’ve never been to Jacquard’s,” Glennis said. “Do you know how fancy it is?”
Jeanie had never been to it either, but after Joss told her he’d made reservations for dinner, she’d checked out their website and seen what appeared to be a fairly upscale restaurant. “Pretty fancy, I think.”
Glennis hummed a little tune, off-key, and dug way into the back of Jeanie’s closet.
“Ah-ha,” Glennis said as she emerged with a short skirt and a fitted blouse that Jeanie hadn’t seen in years.
“Um, the skirt’s kind of short.”
“Yeah, and? Come on, you’ve got a great figure. You hide it behind loose stuff, show off those curves!”
Jeanie made a face but couldn’t stop from smiling at her infectious tone. “I’ll try them.”
“What’s your undies situation?”
“What?”
“You should always wear sexy undies on dates.”
While she certainly had entertained some fantasies about the all-too-sexy Joss, she didn’t plan on getting naked that night. “He’s not going to see anything but these clothes on my body.”
Glennis rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, I don’t mean you need to give away the farm, or whatever the saying is. Confidence starts with sexy undies. You’ll feel sexy just knowing you have them on, and that’ll come across to him. Guys like a confident woman.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”
She found her sexiest matching bra and panty set – a pink floral satin and lace set she’d splurged on after the divorce was finalized. She’d never worn them, though. But she would tonight. For Joss.
Heading into the bathroom, she dressed in the short navy skirt and put on the elbow-length fitted top. She’d left her hair loose and long, the wavy strands cascading past her shoulders. She applied her makeup – which she’d learned from watching a few online videos, since she normally didn’t do more than the bare mi
nimum.
“Come on, lemme see!” Glennis said.
Inhaling, Jeanie opened the bathroom door and stepped out.
“Oh, you look so great!”
Jeanie slipped into a pair of low heels and put a few beaded bracelets on her wrist, then looked at herself in the mirror.
“What do you think?” Glennis asked, coming to stand with her. “I think he’s going to lose his shit when he sees you.”
Jeanie wanted to look special for Joss. Wanted the date to go well.
“Thank you so much, you picked out a perfect outfit.”
She hugged the younger woman.
“Anytime. Text me and let me know how the night goes. Good luck!”
Jeanie walked Glennis to the front door and closed it behind her, looking at her watch and seeing that the time was close to when he was due. She paced from the kitchen to the family room and back, her nerves not letting her sit for long. She heard a vehicle pull into the driveway, and her heart started to pound as anticipation rolled through her.
Calm down, she chided herself. You don’t want to look desperate.
There was a knock at the door and her mouth went dry. Smoothing her trembling hands down the skirt to straighten it, she took in a few calming breaths to settle her flying pulse and opened the door.
Joss looked amazing, from the top of his carefully styled hair to the shiny black dress shoes on his feet.
“You look beautiful,” Joss said, his eyes wide and his voice filled with awe.
He was standing on the tiny front porch holding a bouquet of red roses. And staring at her.
“Are those for me?” she prompted.
He jolted out of his reverie. “Ah, yes. I hope you like them.”
“I do, they’re lovely, thank you. Come on in, I’ll put these in water before we go.”
She smiled when she turned away from him, liking that he was as nervous to see her as she’d been to see him. She found a vase in the cupboard, removed the wrapping from the stems, and put them in the vase, giving it a bit of water.
Carrying the vase out to the family room, she put it on the coffee table and smiled at Joss. “Thank you.”
