And boy, come they fucking do.
“You sobbed all the way home?!” Lemon’s aghast, pretty pink lips dropped into an ‘o’ as she scans my face. “Bestie, why didn’t you call me?! I’d have come over with your favorite Chinese food.”
I sip at my martini as I consider how much to share. In the end, I know I can’t keep anything from these girls. Naima drains her mead glass as Kingston and Amadala stare at me.
“We had a really intense connection.”
“I’ll say,” Kingston offers with a wink.
When I shoot her a look, she waggles both brows at me. “Hey, your chemistry was off the charts at the coffee shop and I saw the way he was looking at you. Shit, he asked you to stay a day later just to take you on a date. It’s cool. He seemed really lovely.”
“He is,” I say with a sigh, thinking about how absolutely nothing has worked out on our joint calendars for the last week and half. We haven’t had a single day where we could see each other.
And it is. Killing. Me.
I let out a morose sigh as I reach for my martini glass again.
Lemon shrugs, her smile as bright as ever. She’s bubbly to the max. “I say you go back to Pine Gulch and show up on his doorstep wearing nothing but a coat and sexy lingerie underneath it. If your connection was as great as you say, that could be fun.” She looks around at the other three girls. “Right, ladies? She just needs to take the gargoyle by the horns, so to speak.”
“Or the tail,” Kingston says, waggling her brows. “Or the?—”
“That’s enough, Kingston,” Lemon says, playfully slapping Kingston’s shoulder. “We get it.”
Kingston gnashes her teeth at our happy go lucky friend, but Lemon just blows her an air kiss and beams at me.
“You’ve got this girlfriend. Why don’t we go lingerie shopping to find you something awesome, and then you can go knock the socks off your man.”
That cheers me up a little bit. I could even take a day off of work. It’s not like they don’t owe me. I’ve been working overtime since I got back from PG….
Lemon’s smile grows a little softer. “What does it feel like, Shadow, being in love?”
Warmth fills me as I think about how to describe it. Eventually, I shake my head as I try to put what I feel for Dain into words that can even encompass him.
“It’s a sense of belonging,” I finally say. “Like you justknowthat person is in your corner. And when anything happens in your life, that person is who you want to call first.”
Lemon sips her bloodtini and sighs. “Gods that sounds so fantastic, although I’d probably complain about my father and Hunter all day long and my person would get sick of me.”
“Not a chance in hell a male could get sick of you,” I say with a little laugh. “You brighten everything, Lemon, and one day someone is gonna be lucky as hells to lock you down.”
I clink my glass to hers. If I know Lemon, one day, it’ll take a truly exceptional person to keep up with her exuberance. I can’t wait to watch it happen for her.
Dain
New York is so bright and busy. Monsters rush along the traffic-filled streets, heads down and barely talking to one another. While the monster haven of Rainbow is physically one of the smallest in size, it’s the biggest in terms of population. It’s by turns exhilarating and overwhelming, coming from PG where I could go hours at a time without seeing anyone.
Ten days without Shadow has been utterly miserable. Every morning I wake up and reach for her. She’s never there, and I rise and go about my day in an absolute funk. Every one of my coworkers has noticed and said something. I even called my younger brother, the only one of us who’s mated, to ask him if what I’m dealing with is normal.
He suggested I get my ass in gear and find my woman as fast as monsterly possible. It’s what I’d planned to do anyhow after Shadow left.
I’ve got her home address, but I’d like to surprise her, so now I’m seated on a park bench outside of the Parks Department where she works. It’s situated on the bottom floor of a gorgeous old gothic style building. The department’s sign is rustic wood, though, and that reminds me of home.
But things are already rearranging in my brain, because home has felt less like home without her there. I just got here and I’m hoping she’ll be done around 5 p.m. so I’m seated on the bench with a potted variegated orchid from a South American haven. I’m hoping she’ll love it and she can add to the collection I’m gifting her. Plus it’s my job to feed her, so I’ve got a box of assorted mini cakes from Betty’s.
Glancing at my comm watch, I debate calling my woman. She might not even be at the office today, but I’m banking on it. If a while goes by and she doesn’t show, I’ll reach out.
Sunlight filters through the leaves of the tree that hangs over my park bench. The tiny pocket park behind me is absolutely stunning—gorgeous miniature trees and shocking swathes of wildflowers. Grass knolls are covered in the wildflower mix and then giant ferns burst from every shaded area. It’s maybe 1/10 of an acre in total, but everywhere you look is joyous, natural color.
And Shadow did that, I know she did.
