Were-Reader

2

Nathan held their handshake for just one moment longer than was strictly normal before he released Reese. Her eyes flew around his face, searching for any evidence that he had felt the same strange rush of electricity she had where their skin met. She could find none. His expression remained faintly friendly with no evidence that anything was amiss, other than the fact his attention was for some inexplicable reason focused fully on her.

"So, now that we've met, would you mind if I sit with you?"

"Yes, sure," she said automatically without even taking time to stop and consider whether it was actually a good idea or not. With a quick flash of smile that somehow made him simultaneously look both more and less intimidating, he turned and headed towards the counter, leaving Reese with her nearly empty cup of mixed hot chocolate and coffee.

That was okay, though. She drained her cup while his back was turned, thinking that if she was done she could leave sooner. She could even get up and remove herself from this awkwardly exciting situation.

But even though there was a clear path between her and escape out the door, she didn't dare move, kind of like a small animal frozen by danger. Even though her body stayed motionless, her mind whipped through the encounter and tried to make sense of everything, especially those insane tingles. That sensation had not been normal, and she needed to figure out what had caused such a startling, pleasurable but bordering-on-unpleasant experience.

Even though the thought was completely absurd, the obvious unrealistic explanation was that she was in a situation like a character in one of the books that were her guilty pleasure. She'd be in the role of the oblivious cute-but-nothing-special female lead, and that hotter than possible guy who had just walked in would be the son of a mafia don, or a celebrity trying to live a secret life, or a vampire searching for his beloved, or an assassin who had been paid to kill her but couldn't bring himself to do it. Or most likely of all, and her personal favourite of all the ridiculous possibilities, she was the destined mate of a werewolf.

After all, who wouldn't want some super hot guy to be happily dedicated to her? Probably some people, but she wasn't one.

It was impossible, but it was easy to imagine otherwise from the way her hand had felt in his solid grasp. If only it could be true. The idea of having a soul mate—and especially one who looked as mouth watering as Nathan—was a deeply appealing thought.

But unfortunately, Reese lived in reality. Instead, he was just really hot, probably disappointingly less perfect than he seemed at first glance, and her lack of direct exposure to men who were that incredibly attractive just made her senses overreact a little.

Well, maybe it wasn't that sad. The real world was a more beautiful place since he was in it. And if she had somehow insanely caught his interest, she'd be crazy to complain, but she also wasn't getting her hopes up from this weird situation. It was just as likely that he had seen that Harley was talking to her, and wanted Reese to facilitate between him and her model-like friend.

Of course. Now that was the most likely possibility. There was nothing wrong with Reese's appearance, but next to Harley she knew she looked like a drab little mouse. Reese's stomach felt heavy and sick with the realization that probably yet again, some guy thought she was a low risk path to Harley's attention. Harley never went for any guy that would use Reese that way, but that hadn't stopped more than one guy from trying.

She eyed the door again. Maybe she should just make a break for it.

He returned to the table carrying two disposable cups, and set one in front of her. She blinked at it in surprise and peeked at his face, her hair falling forward to half hide her from his view. She didn't want him looking at her any more, not if he just wanted her to play cupid.