Page 15 of Mating of Convenience
“I could have stayed out even later if I knew you were having company.” I glanced at the long-haired alpha by his side. “Hi, I’m Raphael. Conner’s roomie. Temporary roomie.”
“This is Dave,” Conner introduced the alpha before the man could speak up for himself. “We know each other from work.”
“Oh, I haven’t seen you around the shelter,” I said, still looking at ‘Dave.’ There weren’t a lot of alphas at the shelter. Traumatized omegas seldom felt safe with alphas nearby.
“No, I work with the police department,” Dave said.
“Oh.” That explained that. He didn’t look like a cop, though. Not in that Hawaiian shirt. What was Conner doing with this guy?
Trying to herd him out of the house, apparently. “Dave was just leaving,” Conner said as if the whole thing was kind of embarrassing him. I had the hardest time not laughing as he dragged his friend past me and to the door.
“What was that?” I asked when the alpha was gone.
“Nothing,” Conner insisted.
“Sure.” I walked into the kitchen, hearing Conner follow me.
“You left work early today,” he said, clearly eager to change the topic. As if it was going to be that easy.
“So did you,” I pointed out. “Early by your standards anyway. Never expected to see you home when I got here. And with an alpha too.” I flashed him a grin as I operated the coffee machine. Yeah, I’d only just had coffee with Nathan, but after that meeting, I could stand another hit.
“Dave is just a friend.”
“Is that why you’re bragging about your books to him? Seriously, you need to think of some better moves. Spice yourself up a little bit.” I turned to him. “What do you think about getting a tattoo?”
“No way,” Conner shut me down.
“C’mon, not even a little one? How about a stack of books over your heart? Or just a tiny book? On the inside of your wrist?”
“Stop trying, Raph. You’ll never talk me into that kind of thing.”
“Don’t be like that. It’s not the craziest thing you could ever do.” I raised the mug of coffee I’d just filled to my nose. It was too hot to throw it back the way I wanted to, but even just the smell of caffeine was pretty amazing on its own. Maybe Nathan had rubbed off on me a little bit. Speaking of Nathan and alphas… “The craziest thing you could do would be to marry someone to inherit a large sum of money so you could save your family from losing their home.”
Conner gave me a blank stare.
I took a small sip of my coffee and then smiled at him. “It’s insane, right?”
“What are you even talking about?”
“A proposal my grandmother made me. She’s off her rocker.”
“Sounds like it.” Conner still looked a little dubious. I couldn’t blame him. My life was crazy.
“I’m not going to consider it. But I met Nathan today.” I had no idea why I connected those two things in my head but somehow I did. Crossed wires, probably. I wasnotgoing to marry Nathan for money. Not that he’d ever go along with a crazy scheme like that. My Nathan was a romantic at heart.
Damn, had I just thought of him asmine?
That was a habit I needed to lose.
“You saw Nathan?” Conner asked, clearly still struggling to follow what I was telling him. “Did you talk?”
“I bought him a cup of coffee,” I said with a small shrug. As if it was no big deal. Maybe it wasn’t—he’d said he was over me, after all. “He’s coming over Friday night, if that’s okay with you.”
“He’s coming here? I mean that’s cool and all, but... are you--“
“We’re not getting back together. We’d just like to be friends again.”
Conner nodded, even if he didn’t seem wholly convinced. Something else I couldn’t blame him for. “It’d be great if that could work out for you.”
