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My heart tripped over itself as he held the door for an elderly lady following him out, pushing a wheeled walker slowly. Very slowly. She got caught up in the doorway and he helped her out. And his smile, aimed at her sank a sharp arrow into my chest.
No such thing as the perfect man? Maybe not perfect, but I’d bet this van I’m in that I love so much that Riley the wolf shifter was pretty damn close.
No, the saving of the virginity I’ve been doing, because I wanted giving it to someone to mean something, shouldn’t have gone to Devon. Fate intervened. It also shouldn’t have gone to the four boyfriends I had before Devon, three of which got tired of waiting, one of which moved away before he lost his patience.
But a man like Riley might deserve it.
A man who would choose a lifelong mate and be faithful to her for life. All hers. Never cheat. Never intentionally hurt her. Not make fun of her behind her back with the intention of taking something from her that she’s been saving for someone who would appreciate it. Someone kind. Patient. Genuine. So handsome he takes my breath away.
Before I found out about my family’s secrets, about the coven, about everything supernatural that my mother tried to protect me from, I’d been planning to save my virginity for marriage – because I was a romantic.
For all my parents’ flaws, they were madly in love with one another and showed it every single day. I wanted that.
And then despite being eighteen, nineteen, and twenty years old and being the only virgin I knew, I’ve held onto it. And thinking back to that while looking at the beauty of the dark-haired, green-eyed, muscled Riley Savage with the beautiful smile… I knew I was right to save it. I was also pretty sure that what I’d learned about wolf shifters only added to my resolve to save it for someone who’d care that I saved it for them.
Because what I saw that day three years back along with what Aunt Lyrica told me about their nature, their pack structure – it made me even more of a romantic.
She said most shifters, particularly alpha-male wolf shifters, mate for life. That the alphas give a claiming mark to their love that deepens their connection. She told me their mating relations were special, that while he might play the field until he finds his fated mate, he saves certain things for her only. He’d only lock together with his true mate through an expanding knot on his penis. He’d give her pleasure like she’d never get anywhere else. The knot also worked to prevent pregnancy on others, locking his seed up inside him, until he was with her, his one. It would release and expand for his mate, giving her his children.
And I thought it was romantic. Sexy. I swooned, especially at the idea of that gorgeous specimen of a man giving me something special just like I’d give him something special of mine.
I thought that since he’d save that for his one and only, it’d be romantic if whoever she was… she saved that all for him, too.
Devon charmed me, acted like it meant something to him that I was that kind of girl. And as hurt as I was, looking at Riley the wolf shifter and remembering that about him, I was so very glad I didn’t give it up to Devon.
A horn was leaned on behind me, so I realized I was still idling by the diner even though Riley was walking in the opposite direction. In my mirror, I saw him glance over his shoulder at the blare of the horn. Panicking, I surged forward.
And that’s when I bumped into a fire hydrant. Hard enough that water began spurting out.
***
Of course he came to my rescue. He’s just that perfect.
One second, I was taking in the reality of the geyser in front of me, and the next, he opened the door and gently led me out, holding my hand.
Holding my hand!
And the electrical jolt I felt? Like real electricity, more energy than I’ve ever felt when practicing magic – which meant we both should’ve been zapped on the spot as water dripped from his face and shirt.
“You okay, darlin’?” he asked, looking straight into my soul with those vivid green eyes.
And I couldn’t even form a sentence.
“Here.” He tugged my hand and pulled me further away from the water fountain, then released me. He got in my bus and expertly backed it up into a parking space as a dog and two kids ran through the water happily down where the spray tapered a bit.
Concerned faces around us turned to smiling faces as an old man caught up with the kids and pulled his t-shirt off, then boogeyed through the water.
