DANTE LOOKED UP at the clock in his office. Almost five.
He lathered his face, neck, and hands with sunscreen and then grabbed his black jacket and wide-brimmed black hat. He wished it were the middle of winter tonight, so it would already be dark or at least make the place they were going to stay open longer. But he couldn’t control Mother Nature or the company’s hours.
He reached the front door just as Phoenix knocked and stepped through.
Wow, he thought upon seeing her outfit.
Under normal conditions, she was dressed casually and quite conservatively. But, for Phoenix, she was dressed practically provocatively.
She was wearing a V-neck black sweater that matched the dark streaks in her hair, making the red stand out. The top was not tight but not loose. Her dark blue jeans were the same. Both hugged her curves, and Dante was afraid he wouldn’t make it through their date.
Phoenix, on the other hand, looked nervous. She pulled on her top—not realizing that, when she tugged it down, her gorgeous cleavage made an appearance. “Does it look bad? It does, doesn’t it? I tried to tell Kenzie it didn’t do anything for me, but she insisted. I should go home and change.”
Upon hearing her rambling, he realized that he hadn’t said anything out loud. He’d just been staring at her, gawking like a teenager. “You look beautiful.” His big, dumb brain finally made his mouth form something useful. “Please don’t go home and change.”
“Are you sure?” She looked down at herself, noticed her cleavage being exposed, and let go of her sweater. “Oops.”
“Yes, I’m very sure,” he said as he stepped closer to her.
She sniffed the air. “Why do you smell like coconut?”
“It’s my sunscreen. Are you ready to go?”
At this, she lost some of her edginess. “Go?”
“Yeah, we’re going out tonight.”
She looked toward the stairs and then back at him. “But I thought…aren’t we…don’t you…” She grunted. “Never mind. Look, I’m not much of a going-out person. Maybe I should just go home.”
Dante laughed. “No way. I had to plan this a week ago. We’re going. Besides, you don’t even know where we’re going.”
“You said, going out. So, I’m assuming you mean, like, to a club or something. Then, we can get drunk and dirty-dance all over each other. But I don’t drink—at least not to get wasted—and I definitely don’t dance.”
Dante put his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Phoenix, you act like I don’t know you. When I said going out, I meant, going out of the house. We’ve been hanging out here, watching Game of Thrones and making out like teenagers. I haven’t even taken you on a proper date. Therefore, we are going out tonight.”
She looked like she was in pain.
Dante sighed. “What now?”
“Weeeell, I’m not really a dinner-and-movie girl either.”
Dante laughed. “Again, Phoenix, it’s not like I just met you. Have a little faith. I know you’re a unique female. Now, will you please trust me, so we can go?” He put his hand behind her back and led her to the garage.
She seemed preoccupied again. He hoped she wasn’t worried about their date.
“What’s wrong, Red?”
She hesitated but only for a moment. “What did you mean by I’m not a regular female?”
“You said it yourself. You don’t like drinking and dancing or dinner and a movie.”
“That makes me sound hard to please.”
He put his arm around her and tugged her close. “Nah, you’re just different.”
Her shoulders tensed.
“But I like that about you.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
“And I’m ninety-nine percent sure that you’re going to like where we’re going tonight.”
She let herself lean into him. “Now, you’ve spiked my curiosity. Lead the way, oh wise one.”
Dante stopped at the door to the garage and kissed her. “I would love to, but you have to drive. At least until the sun goes down. I’ll ride in the back.”
They climbed into the SUV with illegally tinted windows, Phoenix in the front and Dante in the back.
“I feel like your chauffeur,” Phoenix said.
“Sorry about that,” Dante said as he pulled up the address on his phone.
“Or I could just kidnap you and have my way with you.”
He looked up and met her eyes in the rearview mirror. He liked this more playful side of her. She was really starting to come out of her shell.
“You don’t have to kidnap me to do that,” he said with a smile.
He looked back down at his phone and hit Navigate. He leaned over the front seat and put his phone in the holder reserved for things such as this. As he went back to his own seat, he brushed his lips across her cheek.
He put on his seat belt and told her, “I’m ready whenever you are.”
Phoenix opened the garage door, and they headed down the driveway and then out to the road. When they arrived at their destination, a big brick building, Saxon and Tegan were standing outside.
Phoenix parked and turned around to look at him. “You asked those two to come along? What are you up to?” she asked as she handed him his phone.
He pocketed it and smiled at her. “You’ll see. Let’s go inside.”
Dante quickly said hello to Saxon and Tegan as he headed for the building as fast as possible. Thankfully, he was only out in the sun for a few seconds. But, even if he needed to feed sooner, it’d be worth it.
The three shifters followed him inside, and Phoenix finally saw where they were.
“Paintball?” she said, her voice full of amazement.
Dante took off his cap and smiled at her. “Yep. You and I are going to kick these twos’ asses.”
Saxon grinned. “I don’t think so. Right, Tegan?”
“Right. I’ve been brushing up on my shooting skills.” She pretended to point both fingers and shoot, and then she blew at the tips of her fingers.
“Not fair. I just found out,” Phoenix said.
“I have a feeling, you’ll do just fine,” Tegan told her.
At that point, a guy came out from the back. Dante told him the name for the reservation he’d made. They were shown to all their equipment. Suits, goggles, guns, paintballs, and so on. After they were ready, they split into their groups.
“How are we going to do this?” Dante asked Phoenix.
This was her day, and he wanted her to decide on their plan of action.
“Okay, here’s what I’m thinking…”
She leaned forward and laid out her idea, and she made sure to add what she felt were their opponents’ weaknesses. When she was done, they high-fived and went to opposite sides of the room.
They had the room for two hours, and they used it the whole time. Dante and Phoenix were good, but so were Saxon and Tegan. In the end, Phoenix and Dante barely won, but the important thing was that they’d all had fun, especially Phoenix, if the ear-to-ear grin was anything to go by.
By the time they got cleaned up, it was almost eight at night, closing time, and just about the time the sun went down. When they walked out of the building, the sky was dark with a sliver of red on the horizon.
Saxon and Tegan said good-bye to him and Phoenix.
After the two of them were alone, Dante put his arm around her and guided her to the SUV. “Hungry?”
“Starved.”
“Good. Me, too.” He held out his hands. “Keys?”
She took them out of her pocket. “I can drive again.”
“Nah, I already risked my life once tonight.”
She laughed and pushed him away. “You’d better watch it, or your life really will be in danger.”
“I’m scared.”
“You should be. Now, feed me.”
Dante got behind the wheel, and Phoenix slid in beside him.
“Where to?”
“Burgers. I need meat.”
“Sounds good to me,” Dante said.
He headed for the nearest Five Guys. They got a few stares when Dante ordered five burgers, and Phoenix ordered three. But he was used to it, and he figured Phoenix was, too, because she didn’t even bat an eye.
They ate their first two burgers each in silence; they were so hungry. Dante had had no idea paintball was such a workout. He might have to bring Phoenix there again.
The thought had him pausing and setting his fourth burger down. He’d never really thought about what would happen after she went through her heat. He supposed a part of him had assumed that they would keep up this thing they had started. But he had no idea what Phoenix was thinking. Would she want to continue in a relationship? Or would he simply be her baby daddy, and she wouldn’t need him anymore?
She licked her lips after she took an especially big bite, and it made him think of how she would bite her lip when she came. He couldn’t imagine, after the way she responded with him, that she would want to go back to a platonic relationship. At least, he really hoped she wouldn’t.
She ate some fries and then stuck her finger in her mouth and licked it off. He pictured her doing something similar to him. So far, the oral sex had been one-sided, which was okay with him. He loved making Phoenix come. But he couldn’t help but picture her going down on him.
And, now, he had a hard-on.
Without looking up from her food, Phoenix asked, “Is there a reason you’re staring at me?”
Whoops.
He hadn’t realized he’d been staring. He’d been so lost in his head, watching her.
“Sorry.” He smiled when she looked up. “I was just thinking about some stuff.”
“All good things, I hope.”
“Mostly good things.”
She pointed to his food. “Are you going to finish that last burger?”
He looked down and picked up the one he’d been eating. “I’d planned to.”
She stared at him, her green eyes looking at him with big pools of sadness.
“Fine. You can have half.”
She grinned. “Thank you,” she said, already cutting it apart.
“Faker.”
She looked up at him. “It got me what I wanted, didn’t it?”
“I believe it did.”
She smirked.
“Maybe you’re more of a dinner girl than you originally thought.”
She tilted her head. “Maybe I am. Or maybe I just am with you.”
He smiled at her, feeling good about their future.
They finished all their food and picked up their garbage.
“Come on, Red, let’s go.”
He still had a big night planned for her.