Page 7

When Lucius was sure that the call was over, he stepped out of the building. She turned to face him, eyes luminous and shoulders hunched.

“Hey,” she said, trying to sound happy when she clearly wasn’t.

“Are you okay, sweetheart? You look upset.”

“Just…my mom.” She waved her hand dismissively.

“Do you need to leave?”

She sniffled and pushed her phone into her bag. “Before I talked to my mom, I toyed with the idea of going home to change for our date, but now I don’t want to.”

“You look perfect anyway,” he said.

She snorted. “You’re sweet. I wouldn’t have minded changing into something a little dressier, but if I go home, I’m going to get into another argument with my mom and hard pass on that.” She smiled at him. “Do you need to go back to work? You were in the office for a while.”

“Not at all, I’m free to hang out with you. Unless you don’t want company?” He didn’t want to push her if she wanted time to herself.

“I’d love some. I think you said something about popcorn?”

“You got it,” he said.

They made their way to the kiosk that sold popcorn and cotton candy, which was staffed today by Marcus, the alpha bear.

The bears handled the food for the park, both for the patrons and the shifters who lived and worked there. There was an employee cafeteria aboveground as well as a cafeteria underground where their people had private living areas with each shifter group living together. The marketplace had not only a great cafeteria that served three meals a day, but also a sundry store, a nail salon, and a makeup shop, and there were offices and conference rooms underground as well.

He wished he could tell Sidney all about his life and take her to his home in the lions’ private living area. He wanted to show her the greenhouse where they grew the plants for the lions’ mating ceremony. But mostly he wanted to show her his lion, and tell her everything about himself so there were no secrets.

But that wasn’t how things went in the park.

Shifters didn’t tell the truth of their beasts until they had won the heart of their soulmate. That ensured the secret would be kept. So for now, he had to keep a big secret from his soulmate, and he hated it.

But soon, hopefully, she’d fall in love with him and he’d be able to show her his lion.

His beast made an inquisitive purr in his mind that was filled with hope.

“What can I do for you and your friend today, Lucius?” Marcus asked as he handed change to a woman who was buying a bag of blue cotton candy for her child.

He looked at Sidney and she said, “Is the colorful popcorn flavored like anything or is it just sugary?”

Marcus reached under the counter and set a small cup of the colorful popcorn on top. “Try it for yourself. It’s sweet with a hint of fruit. We picked the colors for Zephyr, the macaw.”

Lucius held the cup while Sidney took a few pieces and popped them in her mouth. “Oh, it’s good! Very sweet but a bit like fruit salad. Neat.”

“Would you like a bag? It’s on the house,” Marcus said.

“Actually, while I like it, my favorite is regular old butter popcorn.”

Lucius smiled. “I like that the best too.”

Marcus scooped butter popcorn into a square white-and-red striped box and said, “Drinks?”

They both took bottled water. “Thanks for the snack,” Sidney said.

“You’re welcome, stop back any time.”

“Thanks, Marcus.”

They walked away and found a bench near the carousel, settling in to watch the families as they waited in line for a turn around the old-fashioned ride. His friend August’s soulmate Ginny, who was a jackal shifter, ran the ride.

They snacked on popcorn in silence for several minutes.

Then he said, “Do you want to talk about the conversation with your mom?”

She sighed. “I wasn’t being too loud, was I?”

“Not at all, I just know you’re upset and I’ve got two perfectly working ears if you’d like to talk.”

She exhaled through her nose and didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then she told him everything in a rush: the argument with her mom, the way she’d always felt pressured to support her mom but had never gotten the same support.

“Hell, you and I just met and you’ve been more interested in my art in the last couple of hours than my mom has my whole life. My dad was supportive of my art, but he was also really involved in the salon and did a lot of things for my mom. When he died, my mom needed me to keep the salon from going under, so I stepped in and took his place. But it was never supposed to be a permanent change.”

While she talked, she’d gotten out her sketchbook and sketched one of the horses on the carousel. He was amazed at watching her draw as she talked, the pencil smoothly moving across the thick paper as she made the horse seem like it could jump off the page.

“Did you want to go to art school?” he asked.

“Yeah, but I’m okay with not having gone at this point, though I would love to work in something related to art, even if it’s just working at an art supply store or teaching classes somewhere part-time.”

“It’s not fair that your mom put so much pressure on you and didn’t offer you any support.”

“Well, life’s not fair.”

“Maybe,” he said, “but I think family should try to make it as fair as they can. Support and love go a long way.”

“True.”

She put the pencil down on the bench and held up the sketchbook.

“It’s a beautiful drawing, Sidney,” he said.

She gifted him with a very big smile, her eyes glittering with happiness. “Thanks, Lucius.”

She put her things away and they finished the popcorn, but she didn’t want to talk about her mom or herself at all; she wanted to hear about his life. He’d told her some things, but so much of what he’d gone through and what had brought him to New Jersey was related to him being a lion shifter, so there was a limit to what he could say.

“Well, my dad Caesar works at the park here in the security department, and so do my brothers Jupiter and Amadeus.”

“You guys have some interesting names,” she said.

“Right?” He laughed. “My dad said it’s because his family always named the guys unique names and he wanted to continue the tradition.”

“What about your mom?”

Now that was a conversation he didn’t really like to have, because he always felt betrayed by the situation. But he could at least tell her a good portion of the truth, even if it hurt his heart to retell his history.

“So we’re originally from California. Our parents were together for a long time, but then when I was little, our mom decided she wanted to be with someone else, so she left our dad, and us, and started a new life for herself. My dad had friends out here at the park, so we moved and have been here ever since.”

“Wow, that sucks,” she said. “Are you in touch with her at all?”

“No, her new life didn’t include keeping us in her life. I think it bothers Jupiter and Amadeus more than me because I was so young when she left that I don’t have a lot of memories of her. But they’re older and they do. No matter how old I was when she took off, though, it was rough growing up without a mom even though my dad did as best he could.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Honestly. Plus, if all that hadn’t happened, then I wouldn’t be here with you now.”

She shook her head with a chuckle. “That’s putting a nice spin on a devastating past.”

“Hey, I’m all about silver linings, sweetheart.”

His phone buzzed and he saw it was a text from Devlin letting him know that the apartment was set up.

“It’s been an hour,” he said. “Why don’t we grab your photo album and we can hang out in my apartment for a while, it’s here in the park.”

“You live here too? Now that’s pretty cool.”

“Yep, there’s a small complex and I was lucky enough to get one of the apartments.”

She took his hand and they stopped long enough to toss their trash, then continued to the security office where he introduced her to Jupiter, then picked up her album.

“Thanks, Lori,” he said.

“Anytime.”

Sidney looked through the album as they walked back to the apartment complex. They talked about the park and his job, and how different it was for him working with his family than for her working with her mom.

And then he opened the door to his apartment and smiled down at her.

“We’ve got reservations for dinner at six. How about the nickel tour?”

“Lead the way,” she said, grinning.

The dinner was spectacular. It wasn’t just that the meal was good, but that spending the day with Sidney and going on their first date was incredible. He was falling hard for her, and his lion was entirely smitten. It took all his willpower not to just tell her the truth. Because he was sure she would keep the secret, and it killed him not to be able to share it with her.

But he wasn’t going to take any chances and was going to follow the rules set in place by the park alphas. His dad had sent him a text while he was at dinner to say how happy he was for him and was looking forward to meeting Sidney, and that Amadeus was too.

He was so glad he had a supportive family.

It made him ache a little for Sidney.

But hopefully, she and her mom would come to an understanding about things and Sidney could carve out some happiness for herself. Especially since he wasn’t allowed to live anywhere but the park, so once they were mated, she’d need to live with him. At least he would support her art. Whatever she wanted to do, even going to art school, he’d encourage her to pursue whatever made her happy.

He would do anything for one of her sweet smiles.

He opened the passenger door of the SUV for her, and she paused before she got in.

“This has been the best day, Lucius. I’ve never had such a perfect first date. Everything about today…was just amazing.”

She smiled up at him, and the sweet scent of her arousal made him want to purr.

“I’ve had a great day with you too, Sidney. You’re beautiful and special, and I’m so glad we were able to spend the day together.”

She moved closer, her body brushing his as she stared up at him. Her eyes darkened and the scent of her arousal deepened even more, until he felt like he was going to drown in her sweet scent.

She rose onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.

His brain misfired at the feel of her against him, his lion roaring in happiness and his whole body jolting at how amazing this first kiss was.

Their lips parted together as her arms went around his neck. He let go of the door and pulled her even closer, slipping his tongue into her mouth to deepen the kiss. She melted in his arms with a soft moan, the kiss seeming like it would never end. And he was totally okay with that.

When the kiss ended and he felt practically drunk on how intoxicating she was, he helped her into the SUV, then got behind the wheel.

She leaned against him, her arm around his and her free hand on his thigh. It wasn’t until they were back in the park and he asked where she’d left her car, that she said his very favorite words: “I don’t want the night to end.”