The Reluctant Mate

Amanda

I was all ready for my date with Porter, except that I wasn’t ready at all. I paced around the kitchen near the door where he would presumably show up.

“It’s going to be fine. You’re just going to a movie. It doesn’t have to be serious,” Daria assured me, her eyes following my progress as she leaned on the other side of the island counter and took a bite out of an apple.

“Plus he’s super hot so even if it does get serious you hit the jackpot,” Lisa added oh-so-helpfully from the couch.

I groaned. They had no idea how serious it already was. It was too intense and he definitely wasn’t thinking casually. But maybe it would be okay if he followed all my rules. Although his acceptance of them had been shaky at best.

I almost brought my finger to my mouth to chew my nail before I realized what I was doing and forced myself to stop.

“He is obviously into you.” Lisa added.

I could have groaned. “I know that.”

“And you’re obviously into him or you wouldn’t have let it get this far.”

“Ugh shut up.”

“You’ve just gotta relax and enjoy the ride, girl. I need to live vicariously through you. I’ve only seen him a couple of times, but that was enough to know that Parker is on a whole other level.” Lisa dramatically fanned her face as she leaned her head back.

“Porter,” I corrected. I didn’t care that she kept getting his name wrong, because she was abysmally terrible with them. Instead, it annoyed me that she so obviously found him attractive. Which was crazy because normally I wouldn’t care if she thought a guy I had slept with was obvious eye candy. I would have agreed and went on without a second thought.

The good thing about Lisa’s opinion was that my annoyance overshadowed my nervousness for just long enough for there to be a knock on the door. I nearly jumped out of my skin and then froze and stared at it.

Daria rolled her eyes. “Do you want me to get it?” she asked.

“No,” I said, and I hurried forward. It was, unsurprisingly, Porter. He looked as good as ever, maybe better, if I were being honest, but maybe it was just because it had been so long since I had seen him. “Hey, Amanda.”

“Hey,” I repeated.

He glanced at my roommates who were both annoyingly gawking at him. “Hey, Lisa, Daria.”

They repeated his greeting just like I had done. It was super awkward.

“Well, I’m ready to go,” I said, and I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room. “See you later,” I called behind me as I shut the door and then rushed him away towards his truck.

He had a half-smile on his face, stuck somewhere between amused and bemused. “Eager?”

“To get out of there? Yes.”

He chuckled. “Sorry I didn’t bring you flowers, but I seemed to remember you yelling at me about how you didn’t want any.”

“It’s fine. I’m not really the flower type.” I’d had enough with flowers and I just wanted to put them behind me and start fresh with him.

We both got in, and he was quick to put the truck in gear and drive us to the theater, our conversation casual. I still felt nervous, like I was walking into dangerous territory, but at the same time I didn’t want to be away from him even if that felt like what I should do to be safe. It was probably my instincts that were all screwed up so I pushed them aside.

He held open the door for me and I didn’t argue with him and walked in first. At the kiosk we found there were only three movies with a reasonable wait time. “Which do you want?” he asked.

“Not that one,” I said, pointing at the horror. I used to love the genre but I got that creeping sensation of being watched enough lately without feeding it fuel, thank you very much. I had been so much happier before I knew that vampires—and who knew what else?—were real.

“Let’s watch action then,” he said decisively. It was a good choice. It might end up being boring but at least I wouldn’t have to cringe my way through a romantic comedy with him on a first date, if that was what you could call this considering we had already had a couple of mind-blowing one night stands. Which might be a contradiction since it was turning out there was probably no one night about them, but whatever. Obviously I had handled them terribly if I had ended up here on a date.

But then again, maybe I was glad I was here. At least I was glad he wasn’t here with someone else, I thought, as I watched a pair of women give Porter a second glance. I didn’t like that thought at all. I swallowed hard as we went farther in with our tickets. Porter paid and for everything at the concession stand. I didn’t fight it, free drinks were still free drinks even if non-alcoholic. I eyed the price on the menu, for the price he was paying by rights they should contain alcohol. Of course if they did, I would probably end up trying to drag him off to my bed which was not what I was going to do this time. Even if I really wanted to. It would be so much easier than this whole dating thing. What was I even supposed to say?

Once comfortably settled in our seats, Porter looked over at me and smirked mischievously. “Not so bad, is it?”

“It’s not,” I admitted. Although I was uncomfortable. I wasn’t used to this normalcy any more. Just dating someone seemed like a lifetime ago, the last time I had been on a date was back when Steven had been charming me straight into his trap. Porter didn’t seem like he was doing that, but I hadn’t thought that with my ex, either. I’d been like a lamb to the slaughter.

And this time I was knowingly playing with a wolf. A way too intense wolf. Even the way he looked at me, even when his eyes were soft, a hunger lurked. And I liked it.

I was a very stupid lamb, it seemed.

Didn’t help that he had already proven himself so very good at devouring me.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, inspecting my face as if he could read my mind in my eyes.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I shot back. He probably would like to know that I was thinking about him in bed and I wasn’t going to give him any ideas about that. I was self-aware enough to know that if he even slightly hinted in that direction I’d fall like a house of cards again.

“Of course I would. I want to know everything about you.”

“Just ridiculous thoughts,” I said. “Why, what are you thinking about?”

“You.”

“Oh? What about me?”

“How hot you look tonight, how happy I am that you’re with me tonight, if you’re happy too.”

“Yeah, maybe you need a hobby. I shouldn’t be the centre of your universe.”

He shrugged. “That’s how it is with people like me.” His voice was low enough that no one nearby would hear.

The words constricted my chest. “Well that’s pretty heavy.”

“Sorry, I shouldn’t be—”

“It’s better if you’re just clear about your feelings even if they...make me uneasy.”

“I don’t want you to be uneasy.”

“It’s not you, probably.”

“If I ever meet that ex of yours I’m going to have trouble not killing him, Amanda.”

I shook my head. “You won’t. He hasn’t bothered me since the restraining order.”

“I’m almost disappointed.”

“Stop thinking like that.”

“Why? Worried about him?”

“No, I’m worried about you,” I admitted, and then instantly regretted it. Then I saw the happiness on his face and I couldn’t regret that. I sunk back in my seat. Everything in me was just so conflicted with this man.

My eyes wandered over his face. It wasn’t just his body that was hot. His face was great, too. His nose, maybe slightly too big, could have been his only flaw, and even then the fact it had probably been broken and not set properly at some point kept him from looking too refined.

“Looking for flaws?”

I scoffed. “You barely have any.”

“Tell me more,” he said as his cocky smile stretched into a grin.

I rolled my eyes, but the only thing that saved me from melting then and there was the trailers coming up on the screen. A few more people were coming in, but the theater we were in was only about half full and no one sat close to us. I had the most absurd desire to lean towards Porter, but I resisted it. I kept getting comfortable around him, then my wariness would return like whiplash.

I didn’t like it.

But I couldn’t escape that I liked him. Damn it, this wasn’t how I had planned for things to work out. I was going to party until I was thirty-something, work my way up maybe into a management position or find a better job, and once I was more financially stable, have fifteen cats. I liked cats. Cats didn’t manipulate. Cats were sleek and classy and adorable. Aloof and straightforward. I was a cat person, not a dog person.

“I want fifteen cats some day,” I whispered.

He pulled his eyes away from the screen, eyebrow raised and clearly confused. “What?”

“Fifteen cats. Minimum.”

“Why?” He didn’t look enthusiastic about the idea. The number was random but I wasn’t going to budge.

“Because I want them.”

He shrugged and still looked a bit perplexed. “Okay. If that’s what you want.”