Page 16 of Cost of Courting

“Yes. Let’s go. There’s a twenty-four-hour café in town where we can go.”

Bailey waits for me to get on. Just as he starts the big bike, I see something out of the corner of my eye. I glance back, but it’s gone when I look again. Must have been my imagination.

I lead him inside and order two coffees while he finds a table. The place is modern chic with a brown and white palette. The table is right at the back, where no one can see us. I smile to myself, refusing to admit that I’ve got a little bit of a crush on this alpha. With coffees in hand, I approach and sit in the chair opposite him.

“Tell me why you’re working at the pub,” Bailey spits out before I can even sit properly.

“Bills need to be paid.”

He sits back, a smile playing on his lips.

“That simple? What would you do if you could, anything in the world?”

“Anything?”

He lifts his cup up in one hand and sits back, stretching an arm on the back of the seat beside him.

“Anything.”

I hum over it, considering all my options, but, in the end, I go with my first instinct. “I would be a teacher.”

“That is unexpected. I would have pegged you for a journalist or an activist.”

I snort a laugh. “I would have said veterinarian, but I’m too soft to cope with saying goodnight to all those pretty babies.”

He shakes his head. “You are…not like other people.”

My pulse jumps, and I find myself smiling at him. I’ve heard this line a million times and always thought how dumb, of course, everyone is the same, but now he’s saying it to me. There’s a flutter of excitement and a thrill that has me melting. “I’m not?” Ugh, smooth.

I want to giggle and play with my hair. I’ve never had a reaction like this. This isn’t a guy who knows I’m trash. He doesn’t know how I live or who my family is. He simply likes me for me. I have no idea how to cope with this new experience, and as much as I want to run far, far away, I can’t move.

“I love the blue hair.”

I smile, preening. “My sister did it for me.”

“Why blue?”

My smile fades before I can stop it. “All things blue are mysterious. I wanted to be mysterious. I didn’t want to keep being forgotten.”

“Who could forget you?” His soft comment melts my insides and has my heart galloping. I want to reach out and put my fingers against his chest so I can assure myself that he’s a real person with a beating heart and not a figment of my imagination. Is that too forward?

“You’d be surprised.”

“I would never forget you, Selene. You are one of a kind.”

Shit, this is getting too deep. I am falling too fast. At this rate, by morning, I’ll be down on one knee begging him to marry me. I clear my throat and cast around for a subject that can bring us back to solid ground.

“What about you? What would you have been?”

“I would have been a famous athlete like my cousin.”

“Cousin?”

“Yeah, he’s a hockey player.”

“Ah, I don’t know hockey players. Or hockey, even.”

His eyes widen, and he leans forward. “You’ve seen a game, though, right?”

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