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I thought for a fraction of a second about lying to her but couldn’t.

“Yes, I do. You are happy. I get that. But what your life is isn’t what defines happiness for everyone else.

You have to understand and accept that.” I honestly didn’t have time to stand here and have a deep conversation with my sister.

She had already delayed me more than enough, so I simply walked away and slid into my car.

When I backed out of my driveway, Sam was walking to her car, which was parked on the street in front of my house.

I loved my sister—don’t think I didn’t—but I was only going on this blind date because she insisted that I sign up.

Never in my lifetime would I ever have considered doing this on my own.

I wasn’t unhappy with the life I had. I enjoyed my job and had a lot of good friends, and of course, I had Sam and her mate, Justin.

But I knew that, most likely, this was going to turn out the same as things always did.

Whoever this Silver guy ended up being, he was going to be too embarrassed to be seen with me. That’s just how it seemed to work.

I made the drive to the zoo by memory, just as I did this morning for work and every other morning.

It wasn’t far, and luckily for me, I had the perk of parking in the employee parking lot that wasn’t packed for the evening.

After parking my little car, I gave myself one last look in the mirror and took several deep breaths before getting out and heading toward the aquarium.

The Under the Sea restaurant had been completely booked by the Mate Match company this year for their own Valentine’s Day event.

It had been the talk of the zoo staff for weeks.

And although I’d eaten at the restaurant many times over the years, I’d never had anything as fancy as what had been planned for this event.

I was a zookeeper. We didn’t make mad cash, and having fancy meals wasn’t normally something we had a lot of opportunities to partake of.

After swiping my badge to get in through the employees’ entrance, I slid it into my pocket and started toward the aquarium.

I was nervous, and I couldn’t seem to get my mind to settle.

This was just a free meal for me. That was all.

Well, almost free. I did have to pay the fee to sign up for the site.

It was a small price to pay to get Sam to back off a bit.

But I was trying to be optimistic about things.

Yes, what we’d been told was going to be amazing food…

but just maybe something more? What if this guy I’d been matched with actually turned out to be my mate?

Wouldn’t that be ironic? That would be amazing if the answers to those thoughts were yes, but I still wasn’t holding my breath.

It was obvious that others were excited about the event because it was definitely in full swing by the time I arrived, and I was ten minutes early.

I had hoped to arrive at least ten minutes ago, but Sam threw off my schedule.

I truly did love my sister and was grateful for everything that she’d done for me since we’d lost our parents.

But boundaries were going to have to be put in place.

I made a mental note to talk to Justin about it first because I was curious if she was like that at home with him or if it was something that was specifically saved for me.

Was my sister having pregnancy-related matchmaking urges?

Or was it honestly because she just wanted me to be happy like she was?

That was something I would worry about tomorrow, though, because I needed to see if Silver was here yet.

I gave my ticket to Brian at the host station and was waved on through.

Perk of being a zoo employee, I guess. I hadn’t had to go to the front to get my ticket because I’d grabbed it earlier before I’d left for the day.

I could only imagine what the wait out front was like.

I quickly scanned the meet-and-greet area but didn’t see anyone who matched the description I’d been given from Mate Match. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find Silver, even in a large group. When someone was that tall, even around other shifters, the silver-tipped hair would still stand out.

When I didn’t see anyone who even closely matched the description, I thought that maybe he was already at our table and went in search of him.

I found the table, but it, too, was without Silver.

It was all right. I wasn’t going to freak out about him not being there yet.

It was early still, and I knew there was a line at the front entrance.

Not only that, but it was also a bit of a walk to get to the restaurant, and technically, Silver wasn’t late yet.

I sat at the table, rubbing my hands on my things nervously.

What if he didn’t show? I hadn’t really thought this through completely because I would never be able to live it down that my date had stood me up on Valentine’s Day.

I worked at the zoo. Sure, I didn’t work in the restaurant, but I knew everyone who did.

I was friends with some of them. How pathetic would it be if my match decided not to show up?

Not able to get myself out of my own head, I stood up and went searching once more. There was still time for Silver to show up, and I was being unfair to think the worst of him before he was even given a chance.

I’d only taken a few steps away from our table when I saw who I had no doubt was Silver. Oh my, was he sexy as fuck. I took a deep breath, hoping to calm my suddenly racing heart. And, well, other parts of me that were certainly interested in the sexy man.

When he turned toward the meet-and-greet area, I followed with the hopes of getting his attention before he was swallowed up by too many others.

Not that I wouldn’t be able to find him.

With someone that tall, he easily stood above the others.

No, it was because I was so incredibly short when compared to him and many others here that I knew I would struggle to get through people who were distracted by their dates.

Thankfully, I was caught up with Silver easily enough, and after taking a deep breath, I reached out and gently touched his wrist. The tingle that went through my fingers when I touched Silver’s skin had me questioning if he was imagining things, or was Silver actually my mate? Hopefully, I’d know soon enough.