Page 20 of Her Second-Hand Mate

Despite her light brown skin, I could see Lynn blush.

“A lot of it involves the body and the bedroom,” she said, uncharacteristically shy, and I heard Anthony choke on his water.

She turned to him, “What about New Jersey?”

Anthony still needed a minute to recover.

“You’re killing me, Lynn. I’ll have to ask Rowan about those bedroom customs they have over there. New Jersey isn’t naughty like that,” he winked at us. “Starting from the age of 13, both males and females have one day a month they choose to go on a “date” with their future mate.“

We females looked at each other, but he held up his palm to us.

“Hold on, before you judge, listen. So, for instance, this Saturday, I went to the movies and I had a nice dinner. All the while I was thinking about what my mate was doing right now, what she’d think of the movie, what she’d order, what she’d like, what she’s like, and so on. And then, after I meet her, this tradition is to be continued.

At least once a month, you have a date day, but now with each other, for real – you can plan new things, but you can also revisitdates and things you did before meeting them, talk about how that differed from being together, you can compare the things you’d imagined to the reality of the person...” he trailed off.

“That’s genius,” I said. “That sounds like a really fun way to spend quality time together, even after mating.”

“Tell us about Utah, Penelope,” Charlotte urged.

“Well, the females make a trousseau with all the things their future home might need – bed linens, tablecloths, rugs. From an early age, we are taught to sew, weave, embroider, and do all kinds of things to be able to do just that. And the males design and make a jewelry set for their mate – earrings, necklace, bracelets, rings, as many pieces as they want, as intricate as they can.”

Nana had told me all about the hundreds of hours Father spent on the beautiful set he’d made for my mother as a young male. I’d inherited the earrings, which I never took off. They were delicate and intricate, a true labor of love. The rest of the set was being kept for Evie. I’d never thought about whether Father had ever given Eden a mating present, but I was thinking about it now.

“That’s interesting,” Lynn remarked, “I’d like to see your trousseau someday.”

“Sure, maybe next time Dominic goes on a work trip, we can plan a nice day at my house.”

“Oh, a sleepover!” Charlotte clapped her hands and Anthony rolled his eyes.

“Are you inviting yourself to a sleepover at someone’s house, Charlotte?”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“You’re just jealous because we’re gonna have an amazing sleepover, and there is no way in hell an Alpha would let an unmated male spend the night at his house.”

Anthony just scowled.

“That’s a great idea, Charlotte,” I said, not bothering to hide my enthusiasm because I could see it reciprocated by both females. “Once I know the date of his next absence, I’ll let you know and we can spend an entire weekend at my house.”

“Don’t worry, Tony,” Charlotte patted his hand patronizingly, “you can go on a date that weekend and tell your mate all about your mean friends.”

We all burst out laughing at that.

I could barely contain my excitement on the car ride back from the Department. I’d already told Hank all about the trip and couldn’t wait to tell Dominic too, this time including my sleepover plans with my friends.

It was after 8 pm when I got home, and all the lights in the house were off. Was Dominic still at work? I thanked Hank, went into the house, fixed myself dinner, did a load of laundry, got ready for bed, and he was still not back.

It was almost midnight. My heart started racing. What if something had happened to him? Luckily, tomorrow was Sunday, and Isaac was coming to visit, so he’d be able to help me. I started to feel faint and sick.

Oh Lord, I was all alone and didn’t know what to do. I was trying to catch my breath when I felt a tickling sensation in my head.

“Penelope?” Dominic was mindlinking me for the first time ever.

“Dominic? Where are you? Is everything alright?”

“Yes, there was an emergency and I got called away. I’ll be back in a few days. Are you alright?”

“What kind of emergency?”

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