8. Kennedy
Chapter 8
Kennedy
T hree days later, I was dressed and waiting for Eli outside my apartment building. I had insisted I was happy to meet him wherever he was planning to go, but he had been just as insistent that he wanted to pick me up.
So, I’d agreed to let him pick me up from outside the apartment building. I didn't tell him my unit number, but he knew the building.
Just because he was cute didn't mean I should be unsafe.
He pulled up in a large SUV, beaming at me as he hopped out of the vehicle, circling it and coming to greet me. He looked just as painfully handsome as I remembered, wearing a pair of dark-wash jeans and a dark button-down shirt, paired with a black trench coat.
Yummy.
“Hey, you didn’t have to wait out in the cold.” He frowned as he took me in, standing on the sidewalk, waiting for his arrival.
“Oh, it's not that bad.” I waved off his concern.
That wasn't exactly the truth. The weather was unseasonably chilly. I was wearing a thick tartan coat, but even that wasn't doing enough to protect me from the cold.
Eli raised an eyebrow. “You’re a terrible liar, Kennedy. If it's a safety thing, next time, just stay inside until I'm here. I'll text you when I get here, and then you come out. I don't want you getting sick from being out in the cold.”
“You won't be offended that I don't want you to come inside?” I asked, chewing my lip.
Eli snorted. “I would be lecturing you if you let me inside your apartment this early into dating. You have your child to protect.”
“Okay, in that case, next time, I will wait inside until you text me. Although, I must say you're being rather presumptuous that there will be a next time.” I giggled.
“True. You may run away screaming by the end of the night when you realize how terribly dull I am.”
“I'll save my judgment for after you’ve fed me.”
Eli glanced around before looking up at the apartment building, his eyes narrowing, a confused look spreading across his face as a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I think we're being watched.”
Whirling round, I looked up and, sure enough, Beth was at my window, peeking through the curtains from the third floor.
“Ignore her!” I squeaked, grabbing Eli and turning him around, shoving him lightly in the direction of the car.
“A friend of yours?” he asked.
“Unfortunately. Usually, she has more manners than this, but considering she's looking after my child, I can't be mean to her right now.”
Eli threw his head back and laughed deeply. The movement drew my attention to the veins in his neck. God, he smelled so good, I wanted to bite him there. His laughter only intensified his scent, making my mind go all wobbly.
I needed to get my hormonal omega instincts under control immediately, or my date was going to descend into chaos.
Eli took a few steps toward the car, opening the door on the passenger side and gesturing for me to enter.
“Are you going to tell me where we're going?” I asked.
“It’s a place on Emerson Street, you’ll see.” He smirked. “I'm assuming you've shared your location with your friend?”
“I haven't, actually. I probably should do that,” I admitted.
Eli's smile fell. “While I have zero intention of hurting you, you still need to look after yourself. I could be a serial killer!”
“I thought we already covered this. I'm the serial killer and you’re my innocent victim.”
He rolled his eyes. “No amount of being cute is going to stop me from telling you that you need to take better care of yourself. Now, share your location with your friend before we go, then I can continue wooing you.”
Wooing me?
I could get used to the idea of being wooed.
Pulling out my phone, I shared my location with Beth. The only answer I received from her was a bunch of emojis with heart eyes and a few that I was pretty sure meant something sexual. There were several vulgar emojis.
Turning my phone screen so he could see, I beamed at him. “See, all shared.”
“Good girl.”
Good girl.
Fuck me, the date hadn’t even officially started, and I was a quivering mess.
It turned out, Eli was taking me to a café.
“I thought most cafés closed before the evening,” I said. It was past seven, so surely, they should be closed.
“This place is a little different,” Eli said as he led me through the doors and to the front counter. “It's open late, and it serves drinks and food, but the biggest attraction is the fact that there are over a hundred types of board games we can play.”
My eyes widened. “I've heard about these kinds of places, but I've never been to one!” I rushed to say excitedly.
“If this isn’t your sort of thing, we can go to the Italian place next door,” Eli said, a hint of nerves entering his voice.
“No way! Just look at how many games there are. What can we start with?” I asked, peering around the room and the shelves of games.
Eli’s smile widened as he gazed down at me. The tension dissipated from his shoulders, and he relaxed, wrapping an arm around my waist from the side and pulling me closer to him.
Twenty minutes later, we were sitting at a table, a glass of red wine in my hand and a game of Scrabble laid out in front of us.
Eli had let me pick the first game.
“I’m going to judge you on your vocabulary,” I informed him as I perused my letters.
Eli smirked, resting his chin on his hand as he did the same. “I fully expect that. In fact, I would be shocked if you didn’t. Though, most of my vocabulary consists of mathematical terms that sound like a foreign language.”
I snorted. “A dictionary may be needed.”
“Luckily for you, we have dictionaries on our phones,” Eli said as he adjusted his tiles, reordering the letters as he tried to decipher what words they could make.
As he did that, I pulled the menu toward me. “There’s a good selection of food,” I commented.
“There is,” Eli agreed. “But I would say, avoid the fish. The chicken is always perfect, though.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Is there a story behind why you won’t recommend the fish?” I asked.
“My pack mate, Charlie, had the fish tacos the first time I dragged him here, and let’s just say, he was sick as a dog later that night.”
“Definitely no fish, in that case.” I winced. “Do you think the barbecue chicken panini is safe?”
“More than safe. That’s actually what I tend to get.”
I nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.
“I’ll get that then, and maybe a side of fries. Fries make everything better.”
“I agree with you there. Stay here, I’ll go put the order in.” He stood up gracefully and ambled to the counter before I could even pull out my wallet to pay for my food.
“Let me know how much I owe you,” I said as he returned, sliding into his chair with far more grace than I ever could.
He paused, giving me a disbelieving look for a moment before chuckling. “Yeah, that’s not happening, killer. I invited you out, I pay.”
I wanted to protest, but the look he gave me silenced my complaints. It would clearly be useless because Eli was set on this.
“Ladies first,” he said, gesturing to the board.
Taking a sip of my wine, I looked down at my tiles. One word immediately jumped out to me. I snorted, picking up the tiles and laying them down with a smirk to spell the word killer .
“That seemed apt.” I chuckled.
Eli bit his lip, trying to contain his laughter. “You’re right, there.”
We played a few words each, taking sips of our drinks in between.
“So, you mentioned your pack mate Charlie… How many members are in your pack?” I asked.
Eli smiled as he tapped a tile against the table, his eyes locked on mine. “I have three pack mates. Charlie, who I’ve mentioned, is the same age as me. He’s studying sports medicine. Micha is younger, and he’s studying computer science. Then there’s Storm. He’s a hockey player and a sports therapy student. They’re a pack of idiots, but they’re family.” His face was serene as he spoke about them.
“How long have you been a pack?”
“Two or three years. We’d planned to officially pack up and file the paperwork after we all finished studying, then I decided to do a PhD, and we wanted to live together. The university offers pack housing, so we made the jump early. We don’t regret it at all, though. What about you? What’s your family like?”
I swallowed a large gulp of wine as I tried to think of my answer. “It’s just me and Charlotte.”
Eli’s face lit up. “Is that your child’s name?”
I nodded. “She’s nearly seven months old now,” I said as I pulled out my phone and located the photo I had taken of her chewing on her toys earlier that night, turning my screen around so Eli could see.
“She’s precious,” he said, his smile widening.
“She’s at that age where she’s really starting to get curious and react to the world around her. It’s adorable and stressful.”
“I can imagine. I hate that you’re on your own, though you’re doing an amazing job, from the looks of it. A master’s and a baby is no small achievement.”
I preened at his praise. It didn’t matter that I hardly knew him; I was a sucker for praise.
“Well, let’s see if I actually make it to graduation first.” I laughed ruefully. “I’m pretty sure I failed a test recently because Char kept me up for three days straight after deciding she hated sleep.”
Eli winced. “That sounds brutal.”
“It is. Parenthood is not for the weak.”
“My pack mate Micha has seven siblings… I’m convinced his mother was a saint!”
My jaw dropped. “I’m struggling with one baby. How on earth can she cope with eight? The laundry alone…”
“She had a pack, so I think that helped.”
A pang of sadness gripped me. How much better would my experience have been in the early months of motherhood if I had a pack of alphas to support me? There would have been less sleepless nights, that was for sure.
I hummed in agreement. “I can imagine it would.”
“Do you want more kids?” Eli asked, cocking his head to the side before a surprised expression spread across his face. “Crap, that’s probably a bit too personal right now, isn’t it? I’m sorry!”
“No, I’m happy to answer. I guess I haven’t thought about it much. I’ve been so focused on Charlotte, plus dating as a single mother isn’t exactly a priority. In the future, if all the stars lined up, I would like it. I always imagined having a gaggle of children.”
Eli’s smile made my stomach flip. “My pack has always wanted that as well. Don’t get me wrong—until the last year or two, Storm was basically a giant child himself, but we always knew we wanted it in the future.”
“College is the time to be young and crazy,” I agreed with a nod.
Eli snorted. “Well, some of my pack mates have definitely enjoyed their youth. I would never classify myself as young and crazy.”
“You did ask a potential serial killer out on a date in a random library late at night,” I reminded him. “If that's not taking a walk on the wild side, I don't know what is.”
His beaming smile gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside that, deep down, I knew was dangerous.
Our conversation flowed easily. It didn't stall when we got our food; we simply nibbled on our paninis while we went through board game after board game. Scrabble, Monopoly, and even chess.
It was the perfect first date activity. If there were any awkward moments, we could focus on the game. Only, there were no awkward moments between us. We were engaged, chatty, and I didn’t think our smiles slipped for a single moment.
We were so absorbed in one another that we didn't realize how late we had been out together until the server came and told us that they were closing in ten minutes.
“Oh my,” I muttered, glancing at the empty tables around us. “It must be getting late. Shoot, I totally lost track of time.”
Eli smirked. “I’m not going to complain about that, because it means you’re having a good time.”
I pulled out my phone. “I am having a good time, but I do need to check in with Beth. Usually, I text every hour for an update when I leave Char.”
“Of course. Why don’t you do that while I take care of the bill? As much as I want to stay here and continue playing, I think we're about to be kicked out,” he said, looking at the server, who was watching us pointedly.
“They don't look happy with us.” I giggled as I opened my messages.
“I’ll tip them well,” Eli said as he slid out of his seat and made his way to the counter.
I had a few messages from Beth on my phone.
Charlotte is doing amazing. How is her lovely mother doing? I’m guessing no news is good news.
I’m going to miss my favorite niece when I go away soon. I hate visiting my family. I would much rather stay here.
If I stayed, I could babysit more while you went on dates with the hot alpha…
It's a good thing I have your location, otherwise your lack of communication would be concerning.
Also, a gaming café? That's cute.
She’d followed her message with a photo of Charlotte asleep on her chest.
Vanilla and smoke assaulted my senses as Eli returned. “Is everything okay at home?”
I nodded. “Char is dead asleep. She's a really deep sleeper. I was quite lucky over those first few months. She's actually slept through an earthquake before.”
Eli laughed. “Did she get that from you?”
I cocked my head to the side as I gathered my purse. “I think so. Before I gave birth, I would sleep just like that. Nothing could wake me. The building could be falling down around me, and I would still sleep soundly.”
“Did giving birth change that?”
“Oh, totally. Since it’s only the two of us, I had to wake up every time during the night for her, and it's like my body changed so I would easily wake up for her.”
With my purse in hand, I stood up, and Eli held out my coat to put it back on. Even though his hands weren't technically on me, I relished in the near touch.
It had been so long since I'd been touched by an alpha, and I was craving it badly. I wasn't just craving any alpha’s touch, though; it was specifically Eli’s. His every movement was so controlled and measured, he seemed to be the master of his own little world, and I wanted to know more.
He placed his hand on my lower back as he guided me out of the café. We had parked on the street just outside, so the walk wasn’t far.
“Would it be bad if I admitted I don’t want this to end yet?” Eli asked as we reached his car.
I bit my lip. “I don't really want it to end, either,” I admitted. “Unfortunately, I've got a little lady waiting for me at home, and her sitter has class in the morning.”
Eli nodded and leaned down toward me, pulling me close and wrapping his arms around me. “Well, there goes my plan to try and convince you to stay out later.”
“I’m sorry.” I winced. He actually wanted to spend more time with me, and I had to rush home. That was the downside of dating a single mother. My time wasn't my own.
Eli leaned back to look me in the eye, his brow furrowed. “Why on earth are you apologizing?”
“Well, it's my fault we can't continue this date right now,” I said, chewing on my lip.
When a soft chuckle escaped Eli's chest, my face heated. “That isn't something you should apologize for. You are a mother, that's just part of who you are.”
I tried to reply, but the words got stuck in my throat. So many people saw my status as a single mother as a disgraceful thing, a problematic thing, something I should be apologizing for. It was oddly refreshing and terrifying to hear an alpha talk about it so casually and positively.
I sighed. “You’re trouble, you know that?”
“I’m a straight-A math nerd… How am I trouble? I fully accept the title, but I'm just confused how I've gained it.”
“Because you're so damn nice, I may just get attached.”
“Well, that's only fair, because I'm already attached.” He shrugged, a smirk plastered across his face.
My core clenched at his words. I wanted to grab him and pull him close. Bury my face in his neck and never let go.
“Don't go looking at me like that,” he said in a playfully disapproving tone.
“Just how am I looking at you?” I asked in an innocent voice.
Eli chuckled, leaning down to kiss the top of my head. “You're looking far too tempting, and I can't do half the things I want to do with you tonight, because we have to get you back to your Little Miss.”
Was he suggesting that he wanted to do dirty things with me?
God, I wanted that.
But my baby was waiting for me at home.
As he dropped me at my doorstep of my apartment building, butterflies assaulted my stomach, and I resisted the urge to dance as I climbed the stairs.