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While Espie ate the majority of the nachos herself, she was pleased to see Luther at least making a small effort now. Maybe his nerves were finally starting to fade; Espie had never imagined her fated mate to be the kind of guy who got nervous on dates, but maybe that was the point. Maybe they were supposed to complement each other that way.
They spent the rest of their meal eating and commenting on the football game playing across all the flat screens scattered around the bar. When the nacho plate was finally empty, she excused herself to quickly run to the bathroom, and when Espie returned, she discovered he had already paid the check and stood waiting at their booth, hands in his pockets and eyes on the TV screen.
“Oh.” She stopped beside him, gripping her purse strap tight. “I guess we’re done?”
“I was actually wondering if you wanted to go dancing,” he asked, eyes still on the screen.
Espie’s gaze narrowed for a moment. “Dancing?”
“Well, or just somewhere different to grab a drink,” he offered as he finally looked back at her. “I get a strange feeling here… I hope you don’t mind, but I’d just rather go somewhere else.”
She shrugged. “There’s a nightclub about fifteen minutes outside of town.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Nightclubs weren’t really Espie’s scene, but if the local sports bar wasn’t doing it for him, she was willing to give him one more chance and try elsewhere. Besides, she was wearing a dress—a rare occurrence for Espie. Navy blue with little pink and yellow flowers on it, Maida had suggested it for the way it highlighted her curves without looking scandalous.
Just as she got ready to move through the bar towards the front door, Luther caught her hand in his, the butterflies in her stomach turning into fireworks at the contact. They paused, gazes turned down to their clasped hands before darting up to meet one another.
And for the first time that night, both offered real, genuine smiles, and suddenly, things didn’t seem quite so bad.
“We should take both cars,” Espie suggested. “Makes it easier – after.”
Luther nodded, heading for his truck while Espie headed for Miguel’s. She was borrowing it again, of course. She led, Luther followed, and they soon walked into the nightclub together.
Sometime later, as she curled into Luther’s chest in the booth they’d chosen, she had to admit the change in scenery had been a good decision.
“Espie?” said Luther just loud enough to be heard over the pounding music.
“Yeah?”
With an arm secured around her waist, he leaned down and spoke in her ear, each caress of his breath sending an oddly pleasurable tightening sensation from her sex out to the rest of her body.
“I just wanted to say that this is the most fun I’ve had since I moved here.”
She snorted into her drink—a vodka-cranberry with an insane amount of ice to keep from overheating in such a tightly packed space and to dilute the alcohol so she could keep a relatively clear head. After all, being in the presence of her fated mate had made her feel drunk half the time anyway. She didn’t need actual alcohol helping her along the way.
“Are you serious?” she asked, pushing up on her toes to speak in his ear.
He smirked and bobbed his head up and down. “Dead serious, grizzly.” He tossed back his shot of tequila—third since they’d arrived almost an hour ago—and winced. A part of her worried he’d loosened up so much because of the alcohol, but nothing about him suggested he was inebriated. His speech wasn’t slurred. His movements weren’t staggered. His eyes held their focus, especially when looking at her.
Maybe he was right. Maybe the sports bar just hadn’t been his scene. Here, they’d lost themselves in the shadows of the room, even among all the writhing bodies and pounding music. This somehow felt more intimate, and the two of them settled in a two-seater, semi-circular booth, curled up against each other for the greater part of an hour.
“Mm, this is nice, Luther,” Espie practically purred as she laid her face on his chest. “So now maybe you’ll be more willing to tell me something about yourself?”
Luther chuckled. “Come on, Espie, I wasn’t kidding about that. There’s really not much to tell. My clan broke apart back when I was a child, and my parents brought us to live in Oregon. While I was there, I learned that mining was one of the best-paying jobs around, and I joined up. I know it’s strange, but I love what I do. I love trying to make sure that even though I’m extracting rocks and minerals, I still leave the earth as intact and unharmed as possible. We never just start digging without doing impact studies first. Some people don’t really have a good idea of how much thinking goes into what we do.”
“So did you come here straight from Oregon, or did you move around a bit first?”
Luther shrugged. “I’ve been here and there for work, but I’ve never been anywhere quite this beautiful and unspoiled. You know, the miners in my crew all love it here. So far, this has been the best job I’ve ever worked. But maybe I’m biased about that: because this is the only job that ever brought me to you.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of all the moving around?” Espie asked, practically sitting in his lap now.
“I do,” he agreed. “It’s been frustrating to never be able to settle somewhere long term. I’ve always wished I could put roots down in some town or other and feel like I actually had a home.”
Espie felt herself tearing up, thinking of what it would be like to live a purely nomadic lifestyle. “I could never do that, I don’t think. Go from place to place that way. Maybe always having a family and friends and a life in one place has spoiled me.”
“No, Espie, it’s made you strong,” he disagreed.
