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I scooted closer to him and, we listened to music together. He laid his head on my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm around his waist. He let me. Rue even covered his hand with mine.

I’d traveled a hundred places and been on as many, if not more, dates, but all of that was nothing compared to the omega in my arms.

Chapter Ten

Rue

I’d never been so open with anyone I hadn’t known for a very long time, but something about the bear shifter made it easy to open up. Hardly anyone knew my alpha dad was my stepdad, but he and my omega father had been together for a long time. The cautious days of thrift I remembered were nothing compared to those first few years when I’d only had one father. At least according to what everyone in the gaze told me. My memories were of warmth and love and the kindness of my omega dad. He’d sheltered me from the worst of it, but the struggle had come close to costing him his health, and I didn’t want that for anyone else. Not if I could help it.

Dinner was over all too soon, and before I knew it, we were strolling up the path to my gate. Because Table for Two was so close to my home, we’d walked to dinner, and the walk home was entirely too fast. I didn’t want him to leave, and my raccoon was insisting on things like my dream happening immediately if not sooner.

“Thanks for a nice evening,” he said, standing outside my door. “I hope you had a good time.”

“I did.” I pulled out my key and unlocked the door, wondering if I should invite him in, but I hadn’t turned on the evaporative cooler or opened any windows and the day’s heat was still held inside. I hadn’t noticed when I was getting ready for our date, rushing into the shower and getting dressed. Another busy day had had made it tricky to get home in time without having to explain to Alfred. By the time he came back with our smoked pastrami sandwiches and potato salad, Pascal had already left. I wasn’t ashamed to be dating, but he’d tell his dads, and they’d tell mine, and then they’d want to know allabout it, and things would spiral out of control when I didn’t even know what was going on yet.

Mate.My raccoon’s opinion was still fixed, and I was starting to think he might be right. But I didn’t need the whole gaze showing up to find out why I had picked up a bear without even meeting the raccoon my dads had wanted me to meet.

Until I could say with full confidence he was my mate, I didn’t need any of that.

“I was going to ask you in for an iced tea, but it’s really hot in there.”

He glanced at the swing to the left of the door. “If you want to go in and open a few windows, maybe we could sit out here until it’s cool enough for you to go in? That is, if you’re not tired of my company.”

“Oh no!” The words spilled out before I could think to moderate them. “I mean, I’m not tired of you. It’s been a lovely evening. I’ll go get us some iced tea.”

“All right.” Pascal smiled, and I felt it down to my toes, the warmth and humor unlike anyone I’d ever met before. “I’ll wait on the swing.”

In the kitchen, I hurried around getting out glasses and filling them with ice, retrieving the pitcher from the refrigerator, and putting everything on a tray. I didn’t have any cookies or anything, but it seemed to me that we’d had an awful lot to eat already.

Back outside, I set the tray on the porch railing and filled two glasses, handing one to Pascal before joining him on the swing. “It’s unsweetened. I sometimes forget not everyone drinks it the same as I do. Would you like sugar? I don’t think I have any lemon.”

“It’s perfect, and so are you.” He laid his arm over my shoulders. “It’s just nice to sit here and enjoy the rest of the evening.”

I leaned back, enjoying his arm around me, the cool breeze on my face, and a sense of peace I’d never experienced before. We were quiet for a while, sipping tea, swinging gently, making me dare to wonder what it would be like to spend evenings like this on a regular basis.

But that was silly. Pascal had been kind to me, taken me out to apologize for our misunderstanding and made a very generous donation to Omegas in Need. All of those things were likely to turn any omega’s head—any with a heart at least. But he hadn’t said a thing about thinking I was his mate, or even about having another date.

If I was honest, that was at least a part of why I’d wanted him to stay awhile. To give him a chance to ask. He didn’t seem to be in any kind of hurry to leave; at least there was that.

An owl hooted in a tree across the street, and we both jumped, startled out of our stillness. Then we both burst into laughter, and his arm tightened around me. I looked up, prepared to make a comment on the silly bird, but his laughter died out, and his lips parted, quick breaths escaping.

“Pascal?”

“Omega.” Oh, that word. But before I could do more than register it, his lips hovered above mine. “May I?”

I nodded, and he brushed his lips with mine, teasing them to open. Which of course they did. I lost myself in his warm, woodsy scent and his arms around me. If he wasn’t my mate, Fate was truly cruel.

Chapter Eleven

Pascal

Rue had me questioning everything about my life.

Especially how my life would’ve been different had I not come home for my break.

I had everything I wanted, or thought I had, before him. I was going to travel the planet and surely find an omega who wanted to travel with me. Make deals. Sign papers. Only attend meetings when I had to. Let the money roll in while I lay on a lounge chair in the South of France sipping wine—alone.

But maybe that wasn’t my dream.