Page 27 of So I Fell for Bigfoot

“That makes you sound like a criminal.” I tried to keep my tone casual.

His eyes narrowed. “Hardly.”

“Then what where you imprisoned for?”

“Defying the king. Trying to make this valley a better place.”

“We haven’t had a king in Colorado in a very long time, so I assume that you are referring to the Shifter King.”

Armand nodded. “He’s fallen from grace, but that doesn’t make him any less dangerous.”

He’d given me a gift, and it was too easy. Superfans were usually pretty good when it came to investigating things they had no business knowing, but even I wasn’t that good. If I asked if Leif was still alive, then he’d know he had an advantage over us. “What kind of dangerous things is he doing?”

Downtown Sunset Springs was packed like it was every night. The place was crawling with shifters, humans, and maybe some long-forgotten royalty. The van had slowed to a crawl.

“Looks like I’ll have to go to valet,” Bjorn said. “Unless they know we’re coming.”

“I texted the manager. They’ll have a room waiting for us,” Bibi said.

“That wasn’t what I planned.” Armand growled.

“We can’t film in a public space without having the consent of every patron in there. It’s a liability,” Marissa explained. “Which we would’ve explained to you if you’d told us your plans ahead of time. Plus places like Larkspur frown upon all our equipment getting in the way of their very expensive dinner service.”

“Is there a reason you don’t want to be in a private room with me?” It came out like I was flirting. Ugh.

Armand was on point. “I very much want to be alone with you. But I was looking forward to showing you off.”

Bjorn pulled into the valet line.

“Don’t worry, in a place like this, I’m sure to stand out.” I had a feeling he was up to something. “I’ll probably feel more comfortable in the private room anyway.”

He frowned. “You don’t seem shy.”

“I’m not.” How could I explain this? Telling him anything about me felt icky. “People who go to these places make me feel unsophisticated. Like they learned some grand life lesson that I missed.”

“No one will ever make you feel inferior when you’re with me.” He growled.

“Thanks.” And there it was. The awkward. “You didn’t answer my question.”

The attendant was coming toward the car door, and I wanted to ask this before we got whisked inside and our little bubble was sure to pop.

Armand raised a brow. “There’s nothing I would deny you.”

Ugh. “What kind of dangerous things is the king doing?”

He put his finger under my chin, the same way Lars had just hours before. But instead of making me want to ravish him, it made me feel defiant. Defensive. Like he saw me as a thing to conquer.

“He wants to make sure sweet, delectable humans like you get nowhere near a beast like me. He has a plan in place to make that happen.” He came in closer, and I was sure he’d try to kiss me. But he didn’t. Thank the moon. “Lars won’t stand up to his brother, but I will. All of us have already shown our true colors.”

* * *

On the surface, Larkspur was my kind of place. The décor was rustic wood with purple velvet seating, tons of plants, and those fat, bulbed string lights. It was full of people in sleek hair and tailored outfits who all turned to look at us as we headed to our private room.

And all I wanted to do was get the hell out of here. Lars needed to know that his brother was very much alive. I wasn’t sure what this information meant yet, but I planned to find out before the date was over.

“Hannah!” Zoe tackle-hugged me and spun me around. She was in a killer LBD with her dark hair slicked back into a ponytail. Destiny waved from behind her. She wore a sexy red jumpsuit. “You look fantastic.”

“So do you.” Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled to see the girls, but I was on a mission, and anything I said in front of Zoe and Destiny would be all over the forums before the attendant had a chance to get the van out of the valet lot. “This is Armand.”

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