Page 28 of Wrong Number, Right Cougar

Wilder made a start packing up my stuff while I spoke to my boss. I’d have to work for the next month, but that only required me to return to the city for one week. And he took me up on the offer of working as a consultant.

“My husband and I might spend our next vacation in Cougar Lake. He’s been pushing me for a hiking holiday rather than the beach where we usually go.”

My mate was knee-deep in button-down shirts, ties, and suits of identical colors when I made it back to the apartment.

“You really wore this every day? The same color?” He held up five ties.

“I didn’t have to think about what to wear.”

“And your colleagues didn’t think you wore the same suit, shirt, and tie every day?”

If they did, they never said. Maybe they’d held their noses when I walked by.

I’d rented the apartment furnished, so I didn’t have to sell anything, just arrange for a cleaning service.

There was no emotion when I said my goodbye to the apartment. I’d mentally detached myself from the place and I’d spent little time here. We had one more night in the city, and I planned to show Wilder all of my favorite things. But after that, I doubted I’d look back.

16

WILDER

“Do you know what I want to do tonight?” I stood behind my mate, my chin resting on his shoulder. We looked out the window onto the city.

“No, I don’t.” He rolled in my arms until he was facing me. “But I can guess.”

He leaned in for a kiss that quickly turned passionate. And, well—yes, I very much wanted to do that. But it wasn’t what I had meant when I asked the question.

“Close.” I gave him a peck. “I want you to show me what you like about the city. Take me to your favorite places.”

“Are you sure? It’s very peopley out there.” He was right about that. Just looking out the window, I saw more people than I would see in a month at Cougar Lake. But this had been a part of my mate’s life for a long time, and I wanted to experience that with him.

“How about this?” He rubbed his cheek against mine. “I’ll take you on the perfect date.”

“And what exactly makes a date perfect?” I asked, because I wanted to know for the future. The whole “date” thing was new to me, and I wanted to be sure that I constantly gave my mate everything he wanted and needed in life—including human fun.

“Being with you, of course. Now get your shoes on. We’ve got a lot of places to go.”

Thorn amused me when he got so excited, and I followed, not asking any more questions and crossing my fingers and toes that he wasn’t going to take me to one of those nightclubs my cousin and his friends liked so much.

“First, we’re going to have the best dinner in the city.” He stopped us at the corner, which turned out to also be a bus stop. When the bus pulled up, we climbed inside. He tapped a card for himself, then handed it to me to do the same. Apparently, coins were no longer a thing—everything had to be preloaded.

We rode for four stops and got out. We could’ve easily walked, but I suppose buses were part of the experience.

“Here we are.” We were standing in front of a food truck. “Best dinner in the city.”

I looked up, expecting to see one of those fancy places from those Food TV shows—where they compete to win a spot at some elusive prize location or whatever the prize was that week.

It was a hot dog cart.

Not fancy, weird hot dogs, like you would see competing on the show. Just plain old hot dogs. They also had bags of chips, nuts, cans of soda, and all the toppings you could think of for a picnic—but not so much that it turned your hot dog into something gourmet by any stretch.

“I’m trusting you on this one.” I put my hand on the small of his back and waited until it was our turn.

Hot dogs acquired, we walked across the street to the park and sat on a bench.

“I have to admit—” My mouth was full, but that didn’t stop me from expressing my delight at our meal. “I was skeptical when you said this was our date night dinner.”

“What? You didn’t believe your mate?” Thorn reached up with his napkin and dabbed a bit of mustard from the corner of my mouth.

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