Bits of conversation and laughter from the full restaurant fill my ears as I eat the best ribs I've ever had. I swallow down my mouthful of food, and Quinten asks, "Do you have sisters and brothers?"

I shake my head. One of the things Jayden and I bonded over in college was the fact we were raised by single mothers. "No siblings, and I grew up with only a mom." When Quinten frowns, I add, "My dad wasn't a big part of my life. He and my mother divorced before I was born, and he moved to Europe. But he did provide child support, and I visited him every summer until I graduated from high school. We still talk from time to time."

"Wow. My family might be culture shock for you."

I smile, because it won't be for long, and part of me was always curious about what it's like to be part of a big family. And about the time I find them stifling, we'll be moving back to LA. "I'll be fine. They seem like a lot of fun."

"I hope you think so, because there's the weekly family dinner at my parents’. It's not optional. My mother does the cooking, and— “ he leans in and lowers his voice, "— she’s as good if not better than my dad, but nobody dares to tell him that."

I chuckle as I picture a huge dining room table full of bowls and platters of food while Quinten's family members tease each other and tell stories as they consume a feast of home cooking. And then I flash to a memory of Thanksgiving, eating a take-out turkey dinner on the couch with just my mother as we watched the Macy's Day parade. Not that it was awful or sad, because it wasn't. But it wasn't what one typically thinks of for a holiday meal.

Quinten reaches over to take my hand, and I snap out of my thoughts. He says, "Hey. I lost you there for a moment. Did I bring up a bad memory?"

I realize I must have been frowning. "No. It was nothing." I let out a sigh as I pull my hand away and rub my stomach. "I ate too much."

"I bet you did. You polished off more ribs than I thought possible. You must have a great metabolism to stay so thin."

"Not at all. I never eat this much." I grin. "You'd better be careful. If I keep this up, there'll be a lot more of me to love."

Quinten pumps his eyebrows. "More to hold. Bring it, babe." I laugh at his teasing. "But once I change you, you won't have to worry about a thing. We need a lot of fuel."

I ponder that for a moment. Alisha and Jayden explained that their metabolisms skyrocketed when they changed, and muscles they didn't know they had were suddenly more defined, which makes staying in shape a lot easier. Considering the only diet that's even been effective for me is stress, that's definitely a perk to becoming a werewolf. But my weight is not something I should consider in deciding to be a werewolf. What am I thinking?

I shake my head a little as I begin to understand why my friends seemed to be so excited about my date. They believe I won't be able to resist becoming like them, and now I know it's going to be harder than I thought. Maybe staying here for another month isn't such a good idea. A better one comes to me.

"Quinten, you're going to have to let Shelly in on the fact you auditioned for Zip Code Star, because we need to go to LA to get you ready soon."

Concern clouds his face. "How soon?"

I think I'm moving too fast with this, so I backtrack. "I'm sure Rita, my boss, is going to be so excited when she sees your tape that I bet she'll want you as soon as we can get there, but you've got time. I'm not supposed to go back to work until the end of August."

"Oh." He scowls and grabs a menu. "Here. Pick the dessert you're having."

I glance down at the back of the menu, where desserts are listed. "I don't know if I can fit in another bite."

"I'll eat most of it, but Doris would never let me hear the end of it if you didn't at least try one."

"Of course." I notice a decadent chocolate option. "Molten lava cake."

Quinten grins. "A chocolate girl. You definitely do fit in my family."

I'm filled with the happiness of being accepted, as if I just became one of the cool kids, before I realize how he distracted me about leaving town. I get back to the subject. "I plan to make the announcement tomorrow that you're our new star, so you'll need to start getting organized to leave. You should probably tell them at work tomorrow. After you tell your family, of course."

Quinten holds up a hand. "I can't spring this on them until after they all meet you. You can do that at the next family dinner."

"Okay. Sure. When is the next one?"

"Friday."

Considering today is Friday, I find his answer curious. The fact the majority of his family works in a restaurant makes me ask, "Everyone really takes one of the busiest nights of the week for family dinner?"

He shrugs and avoids my gaze. "Sometimes."

I think Quinten is nervous about leaving and is stalling. He grew up here and may be anxious about life in a big city. And I'm sure he's going to miss his family, so I reach over and touch his arm. "Hey. I'm going to be with you every step of the way, and you can come back to see your family as often as your schedule allows."

"Thanks." He glances around the busy restaurant. "You'd think I'd get better service than this. I'm going to go make our dessert myself."

"Ah, sure." I frown in confusion, because Quinten barely finished eating dinner. It's not like we've been waiting for the waiter.

After he leaves, I don't have much time to ponder it, because Shelly plops down in his seat. "I never thought he'd leave you alone. I've been dying to talk to you."

She flips her brunette ponytail over her shoulder to her back, and I ask, "Have you?"

"Yeah. I feel bad about the way I teased Quinten at the gas station. I had no idea you were his true mate, and I was only joking. He never used the calendar thing on anyone else. He's so not a player. I swear. Just a really big flirt."

I smile at her. "It's fine. I'm not the least bit concerned about other women."

"Good. Because the true-mate bond is so locked in. You know?" Before I can answer, she reaches out and grabs my hands. "Oh my gosh, Chelsea! Another female in the family. I'm super excited for us to get to know each other. Being surrounded by men makes me long for girl time."

Her enthusiasm is contagious. "It will be fun."

"Shelly, you're not telling Chelsea horrible things, are you?" asks Quinten as he approaches us with a dessert in his hand.

She winks at me as she gets out of his seat. "Not yet. I'm saving the good stuff for over a bottle of wine."

"Nice. I still have time to win her over."

"Not much," says Shelly. "There's no way you're getting out of bringing her for dinner on— “

"She's coming to family dinner. Promise." Quinten's voice takes on a stern tone. "Don't you have tables to seat?"

"Grumpy, aren't we? Don't worry. I'm out of your hair." Shelly looks at me. "See you Monday."

Monday? My suspicion that Quinten's family doesn't take Fridays off was right, and I think he was covering for his lie when he cut her off before. It makes me think Quinten is definitely stalling and that he might be having second thoughts about becoming a star. If that's the case, then I'm going to have to show him just how amazing his new life will be.

The dessert plate thumps down between us, and Quinten asks, "What did you talk about?"

"Not much. She just said she was excited for us to be friends."

"Shelly's great." Quinten sinks a spoon into the cake, and chocolate oozes out. "I know you've only seen us tease each other, but she's got a huge heart." He lifts a mouthful of dessert and pushes it toward me to take a bite.

I open my mouth, because even though I'm full, I'll never pass up chocolate. I slide the gooey cake off the spoon and let the sugar work its magic. The taste is so delicious I close my eyes and let out a small noise of happiness. "Amazing."

"You are."

I open my eyes to see Quinten looking at me with so much love I'm not sure I deserve it. "You are too, you know. I can't wait for my colleagues to hear your voice in person, Quinten. You're going to knock them off their feet."

He tilts his head to the side, and I think I see a bit of the real Quinten, because his usual cocky smile is gone, and his words are genuine. "Do you really think so? I mean, I know I'm better than most around here, but compared to real stars?" He lets out a small huff of denial and digs into the cake again.

"Quinten." I lean in close to look into his eyes. "Yes. You have so much more than a great voice. You have charisma. That isn't something people can learn. There is something about you that makes people want to be around you."

As if to prove my point, a young girl walks by and in a sing-song voice that tells me she's got a crush on him says, "Hi, Quinten." When he gives her a nod, she blushes and scurries away.

"See?" I ask. "You turn heads." Now it's my turn to cock my head in disbelief. "I thought you knew that. You certainly come off pretty confident."

"I act that way because it works. But trust me, once I knew you were my true mate, I was scared to death you wouldn't recognize it to give me the time of day unless I made it impossible not to."

I chuckle as I recall the way he kept showing up after he passed me on the highway and almost got us killed. And then I remember how he yanked me into the convenience store, giving me no choice but to pay attention to him. "You didn't give me an option." I smile as my feelings for him rush forward and fill me with a warm glow of love. "But something tells me our true-mate attraction wouldn't have let me avoid you for long."

Quinten's cocky grin returns as he holds out a bite of cake for me. When I move in to take it, he pulls his hand back. "Think you'd have dreamt about me?"

"Probably."

He moves the dessert closer to me before yanking it back again to ask, "Think you'd have trouble keeping daydreams about me out of your mind?"

I grin at his teasing. "Maybe."

I open my mouth as he moves the spoon closer, and this time he leaves it just out of reach. I let out a whimper, and he says, "Admit it. You love me, Chelsea."

I gaze into his crystal-blue eyes and nod, because I do.

Quinten puts the cake in my mouth, and I wrap my lips around the spoon as he draws it out slowly. I gulp down the mouthful and reach out to grab at his shirt, because chocolate isn't what I want to taste. I kiss my true mate and let the sweet flavor of love flow through me as if it's all I'll ever need to consume to survive.