Page 28 of Alistair

“Meeting you was the best moment of my life,” he said. “But this topped that by a million.”

She let out a low chuckle and nuzzled his chest. “It’s never been like this for me. I’ve never been so taken care of, so cherished. You’re amazing.”

“I’m in good company, sweetheart.” He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her.

It was tempting, once more, to tell her everything.

How close was he to having her heart?

But it was too soon and he knew it.

So instead of telling her he was a shifter and swearing her to secrecy, he said, “Do you believe in fate?”

“You mean romantically?”

“Yes.”

She hummed softly, then said, “I guess I didn’t, really, but I do now because of you. I think we were meant to meet when we did because I can’t explain why I feel so connected to you when we’ve only known each other since yesterday.”

He smiled. Even though she was human, she could feel their connection. It was the first step to winning her heart.

“I feel the same way.”

He couldn’t wait for the moment that she held his heart, that they were both in love and he could tell her everything. Lying to her, no matter how noble and important it was, made him feel dirty. And that was no way to feel after such an amazing night together. They drifted off to sleep a little bit later after talking in that soft, sleepy way about what the future might bring.

Love.

And soon, he hoped, the truth. So he could tell her everything and bring her to his real home and share his life with her.

Maggie didn’t get any subbing jobs for the following week, which she actually didn’t mind, because it meant she got to spend nearly every day with Alistair at the park. She had a few students to tutor in the afternoons, but otherwise, the days had been spent helping Alistair with the animals in the park’s petting zoo. She got to feed and play with baby animals, including the pygmy goat that kept trying to eat her shoelaces.

She’d spent most nights at his apartment too. Though she’d offered for him to stay at her place, he’d said he was on-call with the animals and couldn’t be too far from the park. While she would have enjoyed having him stay at her place, she honestly didn’t care where she slept as long as she woke up in his arms.

There was genuinely nothing better.

Well…except for how much he rocked her world every time they were intimate. No man had ever touched her the way he did, elicited the pleasure that he seemed to always give her, or made her feel so cherished.

Friday had come quickly, the days a blur as they spent time together when she wasn’t tutoring and he wasn’t busy with the animals that were too dangerous for her to help him with. She was falling hard for Alistair, and why not? He was sexy as hell, so sweet and charming, and she enjoyed spending time with him.

But despite all of that, she still felt like there was something he was keeping from her. She couldn’t put her finger on it exactly, and she sometimes felt like she was being paranoid, butsomethingdidn’t seem quite right between them. It’s not like she expected he’d tell her everything right away, of course, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a secret between them and it was a doozy.

She’d spent Thursday night at his apartment, where he’d knocked her socks off in bed before they’d fallen asleep snuggled up on the couch watching a movie. She didn’t have any kids to tutor, so the day was theirs until they had to get ready for the wedding.

She picked up her phone from the kitchen table and grimaced.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “You made a face.”

She tilted the phone and blew on it. “There’s still freaking glitter from my sister’s bachelorette party on my phone.”

Wednesday night, she’d joined her sister and her friends and several family members at a bar for drinks and dancing, then one of her friends had decided to throw glitter on everyone. Maggie was still finding pieces of it stuck to her phone and purse.

He sprayed cleaner on a paper towel and handed it to her, and she took off the case and carefully wiped everything.

“So what’s on tap for today?” she asked. “Baby animals, I hope?”

He grinned and set a mug of coffee in front of her. The mug was one of a set that he had which had elephants on them. She really loved it because it was a soft gray color and the handle was the trunk.

“I’m taking you on a tour of the park.”