The last three days have felt like twice that. All I could think about was if I was going to react the way I reacted to him at the diner. I mean, can you just imagine me just staring at him for the whole day? The possibility of this happening terrifies me.
As I get ready my mind wanders to what we're going to do. He said he wanted to show me around and get to know me. He also said he would answer any questions I have regarding shifters. That alone, had my butt in gear and eager for this date. Was it a date? I mentally shrug. No need to analyze this to pieces.
I decided to leave my hair down, but put a little curl in a few places. I'm just finishing up when there's a knock on my door. I glance down at my watch. Ten minutes early. I like punctuality. I'm early everywhere I go. I take one last glance at myself, satisfied with how I look, I turn the light off and go to the front door. I look through the peephole, just to make sure who I'm opening the door to. It's JJ.
I swing the door open, my hands shaking because I'm suddenly nervous again with him right in front of me.
"Hi." He says in greeting, a smile lighting his face. It immediately calms me, and just like that I'm no longer shaking. This is the complete opposite reaction I was expecting to have. I take a deep breath and roll with it. This is new territory for me, so for the time being, I'm just going to go along for the ride and see how it plays out.
"Hi, yourself. You're early. I like it." I says with a little laugh. His smile widens a little bit, and it takes my breath away. "Give me just a minute to get my things and I'll be ready." I turn to grab my phone, keys, and wallet. I slip the phone and wallet into my back pockets. I turn and walk back to the door, stepping out and locking the door behind me.
We turn and walk down the steps. My eyes lift and I see his vehicle. It's my dream car. It's Baby.
"'67 Impala? This is my dream car." I tell him, my mouth hanging slightly open. He reaches over and nudges my chin, effectively closing my mouth. I flush with embarrassment, but I can't stop staring at the car.
It's stunning. Near mint condition, its glossy black coat shines in the sunlight. I walk closer, and the angle I'm looking at it changes, so does the color. Where black used to be, now I'm looking at purple. It's color changing paint.
"The paint job is so cool." I say as I run my hand along the door frame.
"I spent a lot of hours working on this car." He says proudly. And he should be. This is truly a work of art. "You ready to go?" He asks as he opens the door for me, gesturing me to get in. I nod my head and get in, and he closes the door and walks around to get in himself.. The soft leather feels good under my hands as I reach for the seat belt to buckle myself in.
"So where are we going?" I ask.
"To some land my pack owns, if you don't mind. There's some horse trails, I thought we might go on a horseback ride."
"I've never been on a horse." Although, I'm completely game to try.
"Well, we'll just have to change that."
He starts the car up, and it rumbles underneath me. It's such a great feeling, I lift my shoulders in glee. I feel like a little kid. He looks over at me.
"It feels good, right? Took a lot of time to get that purr just right." He puts the car in gear and we're off. It's not even like we're driving, more like floating. He has some classic rock playing softly on the stereo. It's like I'm in an episode of Supernatural. I love it.
"Do you mind if I turn the sound up a little bit? I really love this song." He nods his head and reaches for the dial himself. He cranks it, and I start bobbing my head to the beat, as The Eagles blast through the speakers. He starts humming along to the melody. I listen for about fifteen seconds before I start humming along with the harmony. We sound good together. When the song is over, I turn the volume back down.
"I take it you like classic rock?" He asks me. I just shrug.
"I like all kinds of music, but classic rock is definitely one of my favorites. I also like, hard rock, eighties and nineties country, pop, and classical. I'll really listen to anything. I just love music in general."
"That's good. I like all kinds of music, too. Sometimes, I like to just sit, reading a book and listening to some good tunes."
"What?" I exclaim, putting my hands to my heart. "You're a reader? that's awesome. That's one of my favorite things, too. I can literally get so lost in a book, I lose time. You're endearing yourself to me more every minute." He flashes me a megawatt smile, which sends my heart beating into overtime. I take a deep breath, and will my heart to slow.
"I have a feeling you're going to be the death of me." I tell him in all seriousness. I could lose myself to him.
"No, Skye, I think you have that the wrong way around. My wolf already knows you belong with us. He's very impatient to make it happen. The man in me knows this is all very new to you, so I am willing to be patient while you learn about our world." He keeps his eyes on the road, but glances at me every so often. "I'm not going to lie,being this near you, my wolf is going batshit crazy not being able to touch you." He looks at me and his eyes are glowing.
"Is.. is that your wolf looking through your eyes right now?"
"Yes." He says, nodding his head. "It's taking all of my self control to keep him from taking over." The seriousness of what he's saying isn't lost on me, so I reach my hand over and lay it on his shoulder. He looks at me, and his eyes begin to dim.
"Is this okay?" I ask him.
"More than okay. My wolf is content now that our mate is touching us. Just a simple touch, like yours, can go to great lengths to calm the beast that lives inside us. It's that way for all shifter species." I relax my hand, and just let it sit there, resting on his shoulder. I'm in awe that something as simple as a small touch has such a profound effect on him, or his wolf rather.
"So are you and your wolf the same, or are you different beings sharing a body?"
"We are two souls sharing the same body. We have distinctly different personalities. Rational thought isn't present in his world, everything is driven by instinct alone. He actually hates being on the backburner when I'm driving the body, so to speak. He relishes it when he's in control in our wolf form, to be free to run and hunt. I am on the backburner when in wolf form, although I can wrest control, and still be a wolf if need be."
This was a lot of information to absorb. Keeping my hand on his shoulder I face forward and think about what he's told me. It's startling to realize and actual animal driven by instinct alone resides inside of him.
"Why didn't I feel threatened when your wolf was looking at me?"
"We would never harm our mate. Remember. Instinct. It's instinct to protect our mates and families. We would never willingly harm you. In fact, we would kill ourselves before harming you." Whoa. Okay, then.
He starts slowing down, then makes a right turn onto a dirt road. We bounce along for about ten more minutes before some stables come into view. Outside of the stables is a haddock with about ten horses lounging around inside, some eating grass, some just standing around. A thought occurs to me.
"Wolves are natural predators. Are the horses not scared of you?" He laughs a little.
"They would be scared of normal wolves. Our wolves, while they can sometimes be feral, are tinged with humanity from us, so the horses don't instinctively fear us." He says parking the car alongside the haddock. He tells me to stay put while he gets out and runs around the car to open the door for me.
After opening the door for me, and assisting me out of the car, he closes the door. He walks to the back of the car and opens the trunk, retrieving a small picnic basket. He walks back toward me, and grabs my hand, leading me to the barn.
We go through the doors and into where all the horse stalls are. All the horses must be outside, because the place is deserted.
"Is it always this deserted?" I ask him, genuinely confused as to why it seems like like nobody is around.
"No. I asked everyone to make themselves scarce while we are here. I didn't want to overwhelm you." He replies. A rush of gratitude flows through me.
"Thank you. I appreciate that very much. I've never been good around a lot of people. I wouldn't call myself anti-social, but get me in a room with more than a few people and I suddenly forget how I'm supposed to act around people." I tell him with a soft laugh. "So, we're going to ride some horses?"
"Yeah. This way. Since you've never been before, I have the perfect horse for your first time." He tells me, while tugging on my hand.
We walk through the barn, and go out the other side, which leads to paddock. All the horses are just milling about. I start to get nervous, seeing them up close. They're huge! Way bigger than I had imagined they would be. I suddenly stop and look at all the horses. Can they tell I'm nervous? Are they going to trample me? My feet stop moving, which brings JJ to a stop. He turns and walks the two steps it takes to be right in front of me.
"I can feel your nervousness, Skye. The horses will not hurt you. None of them will." I look into his eyes and see his sincerity. I'm immediately calmed.
"I'm sorry. They're just bigger than I thought they were going to be, and all of a sudden my anxiety took over. It happens sometimes." I tell him. He takes one more step and leans down so his nose is almost touching mine, his warm breath fanning across my face.
"Do I have to keep reminding you that I would never hurt you? That includes doing something that could potentially put you in any danger." He tells me, his eyes never leaving mine. His stare is intense, so I drop my gaze. I'm staring at his slightly parted lips. Now I'm all of a sudden wondering what those lips could do.
My heart starts beating faster, and my breath comes in short bursts as I think about his lips on mine. And now I want that very ting to happen. I want to know how he tastes, what his tongue would feel like dancing with my own, and how it would feel with his arms wrapped tightly around me.
I'm brought out of my fantasy by a soft growl. My eyes quickly lift and see his wolf staring at me.
"What had you feeling aroused?" He asks me, the growl still very evident in his voice. My face heats at where my thoughts just were. I let go of his hand and cover my face with both of mine. Wait. What?
"How do you know what I'm feeling?" I ask behind my hands. He pries my hands away from my face, and locks them between his own.
"Because that's part of the mate bond. If we were fully mated, then if you were feeling nervous or scared, I would be able to send you calming waves. I can't do anything about the arousal, except to feel it as well." He tells me. "So what were you thinking about?" Boy, he's insistent. I can tell he's not going to drop it.
"Well, your stare was really intense so I shifted my gaze, which happened to just be your lips, which then had me wondering what a kiss from you would be like, and I kind of just let my imagination run away with it." I rush out in one breath. My face is flaming. I have my eyes closed, trying to hide in the darkness behind my lids.
"Do you want to find out?" He whispers. God yes! More than anything! But I slowly shake my head.
"Isn't the kiss supposed to come at the end of the date?" He chuckles. I open my eyes to see an amused look on his face, his wolf having disappeared back inside.
"I suppose you're right. But know this, I will be thinking about it all day, so when we finally get to the end of our date.." He leaves the rest of the sentence hanging, but I can feel all too well his intention.
It's going to be amazing, and it will probably be the best kiss in my entire life.