Page 11 of Rebel's Fairytale

“Rebel,” she uttered in a warning.

His attention returned to her eyes in the mirror. “What?”

“You know what.”

He grinned. “Can’t blame a man for enjoying the scenery.”

She snorted a laugh and shook her head. “Shifter or not, you’re still a man.”

He shifted until he was behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “That I am, Ruby. That I am.”

After she was done fixing her hair, he followed her back into the living room, where she grabbed her glasses off a side table and slipped them on her face. That alone was enough to have Rebel’s lust sparked again.

Fuck.He was in trouble.

Bri

Because she had to go to work after their date, Rebel rode his bike to the diner and Bri followed behind him in her car. The entire way, she was able to take in the sight of him straddling the machine and in complete control of its movements. And, what a sight it was. He wasn’t the nervous man he was at the library when he was on his bike. He was a confident man with a bit of a bad boy and a lot of a sexy biker mixed in. To be honest, it made her wish she could just call off work and spend the day with her arms wrapped around him on the back of his bike.

Wondering what it would be like to take a ride on a motorcycle, she followed him into a parking lot behind a brick building a few blocks from the police station that held a diner, a shop that sold men’s attire, and a nail salon. Bri had been to the diner before and knew she loved their pastries. She smiled as she got out of her car.Rebel and apple fritters?It was almost too good to be true.

“I like that smile,” Rebel commented as he strolled up to her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

“I love this place,” she told him honestly.

Sliding his arm around her shoulders, he began leading her toward the back door of the diner. “Good. We have a diner at the compound, TC’s Diner, but we would have no privacy if we went there, so I figured this was a better bet.”

“I’m curious about the compound. You’ve mentioned it a few times. I’ve driven past it, but I’ve never been there.”

Rebel let out a sigh, but a smile grew on his face. “You’ll spend time there soon enough. For now, though, I’d like to keep you to myself.”

As they crossed the parking lot, Bri thought about her list of questions he found and answered for her. She was happy to hear shifting didn’t hurt him, but some of the other answers only created more questions.How could his clothes just disappear and reappear? How did he change shape like that without any pain or discomfort? Was his gene makeup different from hers? Were they a different species? Why did he say they would talk about mates more later? What did he mean by, ‘If my mate is human, and she is,’? How did he know his mate was a human?

Her brain was running through questions as he reached to grip the handle of the door. Then, he just stopped.

She glanced up at him to find his attention fixed on her. He pressed his forehead to hers and gazed into her eyes. “Listen. I will answer all the questions about shifters I know are swirling around in that gorgeous mind of yours, but for now, can we just have a normal date and do the typical get-to-know-you stuff?”

Feeling a bit bad about focusing so much attention on the wolf side of him, Bri sighed and nodded. “Sorry. When something sparks that part of my brain, I tend to go into overdrive with the research.”

He gave her a peck on the lips. “Don’t apologize for being curious, Sweetie. Being around you makes me happy, and I could use some happy. Can we have just an hour where we’re just a man and a woman?”

Bri reached up and caressed his stubbled cheek with her fingertips before she ran her fingers through his full, thick beard. “I think we can do that.” Her inner girl was squeeing that she gave him happiness just by being near him. For a big, bad biker who could turn into a terrifying predator, he was such a sweetheart.

He gave her another peck, before he pulled the back door open and led her inside the diner. Calling out a hello to the older server behind the counter, he chose a booth in the front corner of the place.

Bri slid into one side while he slid into the opposite side of the booth. The server came right over and took their orders. She ordered a vanilla chai latte and an apple fritter. Rebel ordered a black coffee, a maple glazed donut, and a custard-filled cherry pastry. She was curious about the last item he ordered but decided to wait until it arrived to see what it was.

The server returned quickly with their drinks and left them to chat while they waited for their food.

Bri took a sip of her beverage and let the flavor and warmth flow over her. After taking a moment to appreciate it, she looked across the table at Rebel and asked, “So, what do you do for a living?”

After a sip of his coffee, he set the mug down and wrapped his hands around it. “The club owns several businesses. Like quite a few of my brothers, I work wherever it’s needed on any given day, but I spend most of my time either doing maintenance on the rentals or I bartend. Sometimes, I do security. Considering our club was blown up, I’ll be doing construction for a while.” Rebel took another sip of his coffee. “You saw the disaster that is my blood family. Tell me about yours.”

Bri wanted to ask about the club and about the story of his family, but she figured that might be too deep for a first date. “Well, my parents met when they were seniors in high school. They dated for a few years and got married. A year later, I was born. Four years after that, my brother, Brandon, arrived. My childhood was… comfortable. We didn’t have everything, but we had everything we needed. My dad is a construction supervisor and has been for as long as I can remember. When my brother was old enough to start school, my mom took an admin job at the construction company my dad works for. We had a decent home and my parents drove decent vehicles. We were happy.”

She sighed and sipped her latte. “I had friends who struggled, and it made me appreciate what we had. Seeing my friends worry about whether their parents could pay their bills for the month, or where their next meal was coming from, made me understand that I may not have had the best of the best, but I was lucky.”

Rebel’s smile was sweet. “I’m glad you had a good childhood.” That smile faded. “My brother followed my uncle down the drug path and ended up overdosing when I was a teenager.”

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