Page 4 of The Art of Avoiding Your Soulmate

I locked the door to the ladies’ bathroom behind me and spent a solid five minutes panic-scrolling on social media. I hoped it would reduce the uncertainty I’d started to feel about Bauther.

It didn’t.

And it felt too weird to stay in the bathroom any longer.

So, when my five minutes was up, I flushed the toilet like I’d actually used it, then washed my hands for good measure. If someone was waiting out there, I didn’t want them to realize I’d been hiding.

Was that weird?

It was probably weird.

I was feeling too panicky to care.

So I stepped out of the bathroom—and halted abruptly when I found a huge, beautiful man in front of me.

I was average height for a woman, around 5’5”, but he still towered over me by an entire foot.

And holy shit, he was gorgeous.

He smelled just as good as he looked, too. My wolf lifted her head in the strange space where one of us remained while the other was in control, but she didn’t say anything. Just studied him.

His eyes moved down my face slowly.

“Um, hi,” I blurted, not sure what else to say to Bauther.

We hadn’t had an actual conversation since I gave him a cookie a few months ago. That had been stupidly awkward. I’d dropped crumbs on my boobs, and he’d totally checked them out.

“Hey.” Bauther’s gaze lifted back to my eyes.

My face warmed. “Hi.”

Shit, I’d already said that.

I started to take a step away, ready to make my escape, but he stopped me with a question.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

I glanced over at the ladies I’d left at my table.

They were both staring at us.

I couldn’t exactly reject him while they were watching, could I?

I finally looked back at him. “Sure.”

Wow, his eyes were pretty.

A shade of dark blue that I felt like I could fall into.

That was weird, though.

There would be no falling into anyone’s eyes.

Especially not Bauther’s.

He offered his elbow, and I took it. While I was reluctant to do so, I tried not to let it show.

When he gestured me toward a barstool, I sat down. It was sandwiched between his stool and the wall, which was either good or bad.