Braden
It took him a day to work up the courage to call her, and then another day after that to ask her if she would like to go out with him.
Braden was fairly sure he’d been on the edge of passing out from holding his breath before she answered him, but in the end she’d agreed. That’s one of the perks of text messaging, I suppose. She didn’t see me jumping around and pumping my fist like an idiot.
He smiled at the memory. In real-time it had only taken her approximately three minutes to respond, but in the moment it had felt like an eternity. When his phone had finally lit up with the “New Message” notification, he’d been both excited and nervous, his heart pounding in his chest as he double tapped his thumb to open it. His nerves had been for nothing though, Elle had agreed and said she was “down to hang out.”
It was after that, that the pressure had really rocketed. Now that she’d agreed to go on a date, he had to figure out where to take her! That had been nerve-racking, trying to decide someplace to go that would be both fun, interesting, unique and also allow them a chance to talk.
Thankfully an offhand mention to one of the shifters who was in town on a vacation pass from Cadia had resulted in an amazing suggestion. He suspected that Elle was going to be thrilled by the idea, and that he would go a long way to getting a second date out of it from that alone. Of course, there was the little problem of making it through the evening without screwing up first, but he hoped he could do so.
“All set?” Noah asked as he headed down the lobby stairs.
“As I’ll ever be,” he said tightly, his nerves already getting the better of him.
“Relax!” the other embassy Guard said, slapping him heavily on the shoulder. “She’s already given you her number, and then agreed to go out with you. She’s interested in you. Just be you. Don’t try to be someone else, or otherwise it won’t work.”
Braden forced his face into something that he hoped resembled a smile and nodded, trying to convince himself to do just that.
“Where are you taking her anyway?” his friend asked just before he pushed his way through the double doors and outside.
“Can’t tell you,” he replied. “It’s a secret. I tell you, you tell Angela, then the whole town knows. Sorry man!” he called, not waiting for a reply as he headed outside, making his way down the stairs and into the streets of Cloud Lake.
It wasn’t a long walk to the south end of town where Elle resided, but he wasn’t meeting her there. She’d told him that one of her friends had volunteered to babysit, so she could meet him wherever. Being a shifter he didn’t drive, and it was cheaper for them to just meet downtown.
Now he walked through town, his thoughts on Elle, her shoulder-length dirty-blonde locks, almond-shaped eyes, and shapely derriere. He couldn’t wait to see her again, to hear that melodious laugh and feel his heart stop when she smiled at him. It was all he’d been able to think of for the past three days, five hours and…okay, so he hadn’t been keeping quite that close a count, but she’d been on his mind a lot.
His bear didn’t understand why he couldn’t just walk up to her, toss her over his shoulder, and carry her off into the mountains. No matter how hard he tried, explaining the concepts of law, consent, and manners or propriety had fallen short. It was a rather literal beast, which made communicating hard. It knew she was his mate. Its whole point was to find a mate. One plus one equals two, that sort of thing.
One thing it did understand, thankfully, were mating rituals. That was currently how he was keeping it in check. It had taken several attempts, but Braden had eventually managed to convince his animal side that this was all part of the ritual dance of humans. While he himself knew that there was no guarantee that they would sleep together, it had sufficed to convince its bear. Apparently it thought it knew better than he did.
Besides, sleeping with Elle wasn’t the only thing on his brain. Sure, he was male, she was gorgeous, so the thought had presented itself. But he also wanted to see her smile. To make her laugh. To touch her hand. He was interested in her hopes, her dreams, her successes, and the scars of her failures. Braden wanted to know everything about her; no one particular area was more important to him than another.
She was his drug, and he needed her like a fix. From the outside he could tell that it might be disturbing if he were to express those thoughts to another. But for him, for his animal, he knew she was different. That she was going to be unlike any other woman he’d ever met. But he still had to ensure she felt the same. The last thing he was going to do was push himself on her. Hence the nerves.
“Braden?”
He almost walked right past her, so engrossed in his own mind was he, so focused on staying relaxed. Now he jerked to a halt, blinking rapidly as he refocused. Had he really walked across town already?
“Elle!” He greeted her with a big, sweeping hug, briefly lifting her off her feet and doing a partial spin.
Her surprised yelp caused him to set her down abruptly, at which she only shrieked some more.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, panicking. Had he used too much strength? Had he hurt her?
“My shoe! My shoe! It’s fucking cold!”
He looked down to see that she was wearing heels, and his actions had, apparently lifted her clear out of one of them. Then when he’d set her back down, he’d put her foot into the snow. Unsure of how to react, he just sort of stood there, frozen to the spot as she hopped around, putting out one hand to hold onto him for balance as she slipped her shoe back on and did it up tightly this time.
It was about the time that she stood up that he regained the ability to, well, anything. “Um, sorry about that,” he said lamely.
Elle looked up at him funny. “I make a great first impression, don’t I?”
“You?” he said with a laugh. “I was going to say the same thing! Here I am, coming along, de-shoeing you with a hug, and then I just stand here like a dummy while you hop around like an oversized rabbit trying to put it back on!”
Her eyebrows came together as he spoke. “I…think being called a rabbit is a compliment, right?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t meant as that or an insult, truthfully. Just an observation.”
She glanced down at her shoe. “So what were you trying to do, steal my rabbit’s foot for luck? ‘Cause you’re going to need it the way this date is starting off.”
“I think that makes two of us,” he said with a laugh, gathering her up with an arm and showing her which way they were going to go. He contemplated extending his arm, to see if she was interested in taking it, but he declined. Not yet, maybe after the first part of their date.
“So, where are we going?”
He sighed internally, grateful for the change of topic. Maybe something would go smoothly. “We’re almost there,” he teased.
“Where is “there,” though?” she pressed.
“In here, actually,” he said, stopping abruptly and pulling open the door before she could read the sign. When she tried to move around him to see it, he just smiled and blocked her view.
Exasperated, but with a smile on her face, she lifted her chin and walked inside. He followed, letting the door with the sign Learn to Paint – Classes Every Evening on it swing closed.
“Oh, I know what this is!” she said excitedly as they doffed their coats and in her case hat and scarf and gloves at the door.
Braden did his best to contain his own happiness as he mentally thanked his stars that something was going smoothly. She had been surprised, and liked it.
“This is one of those painting classes, right? Where they give you a picture, and instructions and everything, so that you can learn some skills?”
“It is,” he admitted. “Have you ever been to one?”
“No!” she exclaimed. “But I’ve always wanted to. This is amazing. I’m so excited.”
He grinned and together they went and grabbed a pair of empty chairs that were next to each other. After waiting for her to take a seat first, he slid into the empty one on her right. As he did his eyes glanced over her. This was the first time that he’d seen her outside of bulky winter clothing, and he had to admit that it did her absolutely no justice.
Elle was average height for a woman, but that still left her well under his six-foot-eight frame. He pegged her around five-seven or so. She was thick of frame, but with large breasts, and, if he didn’t miss his guess from when he’d seen it at the rink the other day, a rear to match. There were curves all over her body in the most delicious ways. He tried not to stare, but as he settled himself down it became obvious that she’d already busted him at least once for checking her out.
“Do try to pay attention,” she whispered as the other people who had been milling around settled into chairs and the teacher stepped up in front of them and began speaking.
He leaned over sideways to whisper to her. “I’ve never been very good at following instructions.”
Elle giggled, but after that they settled down to try their hand at painting. It quickly became obvious he had exactly zero talent for it, while Elle was a natural.
“Thank goodness we’re not getting graded on this,” was all he could say as they finished up and prepared to leave.
“Just because the teacher didn’t, doesn’t mean that I’m not,” Elle teased. “For all you know, that could be what determines if we have a second date or not.”
Braden swallowed nervously, which only served to produce a laugh from his date as she handed him her picture and proceeded to cover up her lovely frame with her winter coat.
Dinner, it seemed, was going to be very interesting. He couldn’t wait.