Page 87 of Lucky In Love

Taking a few moments to regain her composure, Shelly trailed behind him.

Could it be so simple that the man of her dreams and the answer to how she’d spend her future had walked right up to her table in the middle of a nightmare date and saved her?

Crash

An hour later, Crash had taken a moment to step outside the back of the pub to make a call to his brother. He wasn’t just close to his brother. Arrow, Trey Adler, was his best friend, and he wanted to share the news that he found his mate. He dialed the number and put the phone to his ear.

“Crash, bro, tell me you don’t need bail,” the older man said on the other end of the line.

He was only younger by seven years, but Crash was used to Arrow treating him like a grown child rather than a brother. Crash didn’t take it as an insult. He knew it came from a place of love, and he appreciated that Arrow cared about him enough to watch out for him and had for his entire life.

“No bail needed.” Crash chuckled. “I found her, Arrow. My mate. I found her. And, fuck, bro, she’s gorgeous. Smart. Funny. Quick-witted.”

“Shit, Crash, that’s great. She know?”

He sighed, knowing what his brother was asking about. Arrow wasn’t just talking about the mate factor of the situation. He wanted to know if Lucky knew about shifters. “Not yet.”

“So, she’s not one of us.”

“No. As far as I can tell, she’s human.” He was positive she wasn’t a fellow shifter, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a vampire or a witch. It also didn’t mean she wasn’t a champion of the gods. Some of them were technically shifters, but they were granted gifts that made detecting them difficult. Even so, he didn’t believe she was any of them.

“Make sure you know she’s down for the ride before you tell her, Crash. Not all mates are okay with it. It happens.”

Crash nodded, even though Arrow couldn’t see him. Intellectually, he knew that some mates just weren’t able to handle the realities of shifters. Although their personality and the personality of the shifter were perfect for each other, that didn’t mean the human was able to handle the other consequences attached to having a spouse who went furry every once in a while. Some mates even freaked out at the knowledge and ran in fear.

“I know. I will. But can you just be happy for me?”

Arrow laughed. “I am. I’m just also your brother. What’s her name?”

“Shelly, but I call her Lucky.”

“You would.”

Crash chuckled. “I’m gonna head back to my woman. Love ya, bro.”

“Check in. Can’t wait to meet her. Love ya.”

After ending the call, Crash yanked open the back door of the pub and walked down the hall with a grin on his face, excited for the future.

***

The woman was hitting every green flag he could think of if he sat down to compile a list of factors that made up his idea of the perfect woman — Beauty, brains, humor, curves, flirtatious, clever, strong, engaging conversationalist, open-minded, compassionate, and kind. Lucky was all those things and so much more. He was stunned and a bit overwhelmed by their connection as he watched her laugh at some stupid joke he had just told. Her amusement lit up her face and made her green eyes sparkle, and the sound of her voice and her laughter that came from her perfect lips was like soothing music to his ears. Crash wanted to make Lucky look and sound that way as often as he could.

“Why do you keep staring at me like that?” she asked as her laughter started to die down.

“Because you’re stunning,” he admitted.

A beautiful blush graced her cheeks as her gaze dropped down to the tabletop. “Thank you.”

“Just being honest.” Crash reached out and took one of her hands in his, gently pulling her closer as he leaned in. When she looked his way again, he gazed into her eyes for a long moment before he took her lips in a slow, deep kiss, caressing her tongue with his own, enjoying the sizzle the touch sent through his body. He was grateful that the pub had chosen the small round tables, allowing them to sit close enough for the contact. She hadn’t been sitting directly across from him, more to the side than directly across, but even if she had been, the table wasn’t enough of a deterrent to stop him from getting a taste of her glorious lips.

His tiger purred at the contact, but he knew the cat wasn’t happy that he hadn’t pushed to complete the bond. She was his mate, his perfect partner, a person picked for him by the gods. To his tiger, that was all that was needed to be known. Crash knew it was much more complicated than that, and consent was very much a thing.

As much as he didn’t want to, he ended the kiss with a groan and pulled back. “When I get you naked, things are gonna get explosive,” he growled low.

Lucky chuckled. “Promises. Promises.”

Crash sat back in his chair and cleared his throat. “What do you want to do now?”