Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
RIANN
I don’t know what kind of restaurant I pictured when I imagined fries and milkshakes, but it wasn’t an upscale steakhouse. The place Skylar takes us to easily outshines anything back in Woodside.
She opens the car door for me when we arrive, offering me her hand.
I’m mentally squealing and kicking my feet as we cross the lot together, trying to keep my cool.
I feel like I’m floating on air, walking next to the sexiest alpha I’ve ever seen, and more than a few curious gazes drift in our direction as we step through the front door.
We sit across from one another in a corner booth, which is probably for the best. I don’t trust either of us not to start something in the restaurant if we’re pressed against one another for any amount of time, even though I just want to be close to her.
I’m not eager to give the restaurant goers a show.
Our waiter, a wisp of a beta male, slips up to our table to take our drink order, shooting Skylar curious looks.
“A large chocolate milkshake and a water,” she says after only briefly glancing at the menu.
“Of course,” he says. “And are you ready to order?”
Skylar nods, her eyes sliding over the menu a second time. “Can we have a Caesar salad, a medium rare filet mignon, beef carpaccio, cheesy steak fries, stuffed mushroom caps, and a cinnamon fry?”
I hungrily take in the sight of Skylar ordering food. As does the server, the two women sitting at the table next to us, and the busboy cleaning a nearby booth.
She gives the beta an easy smile, and he hurriedly jots down the order before scurrying off.
My gaze skips around the packed restaurant, with nearly every table full. A mix of chatter and laughter bounces around the room, and several large flatscreens are playing live highlights from a recent women’s MMA fight.
Skylar’s back is to it all, her attention completely focused on me.
“There’s no way we can eat that much food.” I stare at her across the table.
“Don’t worry, we can take the rest home,” she assures me.
Home.
I shift as the uncomfortable truth sets in further; I don’t know anything about her home life or how I would possibly fit into it. What does she do outside the clinic, aside from work out? Does she have roommates? Pets? What are her hobbies? Aside from fucking like a goddess, obviously.
I’m not even sure how to start asking her the questions pestering my mind. I don’t want her to feel like I’m interviewing her, especially considering how well we know each other physically, but where do I start?
Do I ask her favorite color? Or dive straight into asking her if my stuff will fit in her house?
I startle when I notice her staring.
“What?” I ask, worried I have something on my face.
“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” she says, not even trying to keep her voice down. Thankfully, her words are swallowed by the noise floating through the room. “Everyone’s looking at you.”
I snort as I shake my head. “It’s not me they’re looking at.”
“Are you sure?” She runs her eyes over me appreciatively.
Leaning forward to prop her elbow on the table, she rests her chin on her palm.
“You really don’t know how stunning you are, preciosa.
You could have anyone you want in this restaurant, but you’ve chosen me.
” Heat scorches my cheeks, and she gives me a smirk before continuing, “I’m already tempted to drag you out of here, but I want to make sure you get your chocolate shake. ”
I want to fire back something incredibly witty and sexy, but all I can do is awkwardly twirl my fingers in the end of my hair as my blush intensifies.
Skylar's lips part, and she’s about to say something before the waiter shows up with our drinks. He slides the milkshake in front of me and my mouth waters, my eyes glued to the mountain of whipped cream that’s topped with a fat cherry.
“What is preciosa?” I ask as I pluck the cherry off my milkshake and pop it into my mouth. “What does that mean?”
She runs her tongue over her teeth and reaches for my cherry stem as soon as I set it down, twirling it between her fingers without breaking eye contact.
“It means… precious,” she admits with a bashful smirk that makes me melt. “If it bothers you, I can stop, I just—”
“No, don’t. I like it,” I cut her off. More than like it, I don’t think I’d ever want to be called anything else. I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “I just don’t speak Spanish.”
“Te ensenare,” she says in an accent that has me swooning. “I’ll teach you.”
I smile to myself at the thought of Skylar teaching me way more than she’s already shown me, and my mind races again with possibilities of the future. However, my train of thought derails and crashes when she pops my cherry stem in her mouth and turns it into a knot with a few swipes of her tongue.
Heat pools between my thighs and curls upward, winding around my nipples before desire rests in my heart. The last thing I want is to soak the booth with slick, so I quickly change the subject.
“What do you do when you’re not at the research center? Aside from working out?” I ask, shifting in the booth and taking a quick glance of the room. I can't look at her mouth right now without thinking about all the delicious things her tongue can do. “Do you have any weird hobbies? Pets?”
“I’m kind of a hermit.” She sets the knotted cherry stem aside, and it takes every shred of my self-restraint not to stare. “And I do good to keep myself alive, so pets probably aren’t a good idea. What about you?”
I raise my shoulders in a shrug, trying not to dig up the conflicting emotions surrounding my life back home. “I live at the academy—no pets allowed. And I don’t do much besides hang out with my best friend, Ziel. He’s great. You’d love him…”
The thought of him slipping into the booth with us right now makes me chuckle. He’d be playing twenty-one questions with this alpha, trying to determine if we’re a good match, and he’d enjoy the hell out of it.
“Do you have siblings?” she asks.
“No.” I shake my head. “No family; it’s just me.” Her expression falters, but I keep going before she can feel sorry for me. “What about you?”
“I have a lovely pain-in-the-ass older sister named Lana.” She laughs. “She’s a beta, but that doesn’t stop her from bossing me around.”
I make a face and take a swig of my milkshake, nearly moaning as the chocolate melts over my tongue.
“You really let her boss you around?” I cock an eyebrow at her.
“Let her?” Skylar laughs again. “She’s like a goddamn Chihuahua; tiny and feral. I don’t stand a chance.”
Our laughter rings out through the restaurant, catching us a few curious glances.
“She really is lovely though. Sometimes.” Skylar shrugs. “She has a heart of gold. I think you’d like her.”
Heat prickles over my cheeks, and I drink my milkshake to disguise my smile. The thought of Skylar introducing me to her sister, to the rest of her family is… nice. Nerve-wracking, but nice.
Thankfully, the food arrives soon after. It takes two people to bring it to the table, and every inch of the surface is overflowing with plates. It smells heavenly, and my mouth waters as I devise a plan of attack.
“Dig in, preciosa. I don’t want to eat all this by myself.”
I cackle, snatching a steak fry and taking a bite.
With a smile, Skylar reaches for her glass of water and raises it to me slightly. “To our first date.”
My insides wiggle. Our first date.
What would she think if I told her that this is my first real date ever? Sure, I’ve met alphas at the academy mixers, but they’re supervised. Arranged and coordinated by the staff, they’re hardly natural.
I decide against it, picking up my enormous milkshake and clinking it against her glass, feeling courageous despite my nerves. “To many more.”
She takes a sip of her drink, but I don’t miss the way she smiles around the glass. We dig in, Skylar making sure I try a bit of everything and even feeding me a tender piece of steak off her fork. I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I had food this delicious.
“It’s so good,” I moan, and her eyes light up. It looks like she’s enjoying watching me eat more than the steak she’s chewing.
We weave in conversation between bites, which is mainly me trying to mine for information about her without turning it into an interrogation. Once the questions start coming, everything feels more natural, and the conversation starts to flow.
“No pets at all? Not even a fish?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I take care of people every day at the clinic. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but I just focus on myself when I’m not there.”
“What about a mate? Do you want one of those to take care of?” The question flies out of my mouth before I can stop it. I quickly grab a cheesy steak fry, shoving it in my mouth to shut myself up.
Her features soften unexpectedly. When she meets my eyes again, I feel like I’m seeing straight through the guarded mask she puts on for everyone else. Getting a glimpse of the real Skylar that probably very few people know.
“I spent so long thinking a mate wasn’t an option for me that I nearly gave up,” she admits, her voice tender. “It’s always been my hope to find someone who’ll accept a lone female alpha, someone who won’t focus on what I can’t give them and just accept what I can.”
My chest seizes. I hadn’t meant to spark something so emotional, but Skylar's honesty pierces straight through me, leaving me speechless.
“The answer is yes,” she goes on. “I would bend over backward, do anything within my power to take care of my mate. I’d give her the world on a silver platter if it was within my power, spoil her senseless, do anything she asked of me.”
A huge silence falls between us. The rest of the steakhouse fades to white noise, and we’re blanketed in our own little bubble. Right now, no one exists but Skylar and me. I know she didn’t say it was me specifically, but I can’t help but interject myself into her hypothetical.
She would spoil me senseless.
She would do anything to take care of me.
My pulse lurches as I struggle to form coherent thoughts, my mind suddenly overwhelmed with what a forever with Skylar could look like.
But, before I can ask anything else, she changes the subject.
“When are you planning to fly back to Georgia?” she asks casually, even though it feels more loaded than the fries I’m battling with.
Never.
My heart argues with my head, begging me to say that I have no intention of going home. I want to stay here with her, as fucking crazy as that sounds, but I have to get back to the academy and give them my test results.
I have a life at home waiting for me, even if the only life I can think about right now is one that involves Skylar.
“Um…” I let my gaze stray because I really don’t want to answer. “I have to check flight schedules and see what's available but probably the day after tomorrow.”
Shit. That sounds so soon, but I know it’s inevitable. I can’t stay at the hotel indefinitely; even if they keep running tests on me at the clinic, I don’t have any money left. I won’t be able to go anywhere or buy anything, and I’m certainly not asking Skylar if I can stay with her.
I’m not completely insane.
“Do you want to see me again before you leave?” she asks, popping a piece of steak into her mouth.
What kind of fucking question is that?
“Of course.” I nod. “As long as it won’t get you in trouble.”
“Let me worry about that.” She sips her glass. “I’m off tomorrow; I was thinking about staying the night again. That is, if you want me to.”
Heat burns up my face, lighting my cheeks on fire. The thought of having Skylar all to myself, alone in my room, does twisted, delicious things to me, and my thoughts spiral into the gutter.
“Definitely,” I say, hating how eager I sound, but I can’t help it. I’m not missing out on a chance to spend more time with her. Whether she wants to cuddle with me and talk all night or fuck me until I can’t feel my legs, I’ll take whatever she gives me.
Besides, when we’re completely alone, maybe I’ll be able to ask her what she thinks of making things official. What she thinks of me staying with her in Boston.
What she thinks of marking me and making me her omega.
“Are you sure? The bed’s not very comfortable; you probably figured that out the other night.” I chuckle awkwardly as I sip on my milkshake, licking at the whipped cream on top.
“That’s okay,” she assures me with a wicked smirk. “I don’t really plan on sleeping.”