Page 80 of Pretty Little Shadow
Callum set his phone down on the table. "Too late. It'll be here in an hour."
Kat's eyes brightened. "Thanks."
"Of course." He took another dumpling, then put the carton of them in front of Kat without making a big deal of it. She flashed him a smile and slid closer.
Rae poked my arm with her fork. "You're not eating anything."
"I'm basking."
"Basking in what?"
"You."
Her expression was skeptical. "That's not a thing."
"It is for fae." I lifted her knee off the table and kissed it before setting it back down.
She looked at Kat for confirmation, but Kat shrugged.
"It's a thing," Callum said. "Particularly when you've only found your mate recently, or been away from them for a while. The transition between paying the price of our magic and touching our mate is dramatic, so taking a moment to enjoy it is normal."
"Hmm." Rae looked down at me again, then back to Callum. "When does your magic feel the worst, if you guys aren't together?"
She was trying to confirm whether I'd lied to her about mine or not.
"Nighttime."
"That's why he got rid of the couch and the rest of the furniture before we were really together," Kat explained."So I would sleep next to him."
Rae nodded, like she knew the story.
They'd probably talked about it while they were hanging out. I wasn't entirely sure what they'd been doing all morning, but Rae seemed happy, and she was sharing her food with me again.
We talked while we ate. Rae and Kat got along a hell of a lot better than I expected. Kat kept her talking, and Rae seemed a lot less guarded with her than she'd been with Merrily. Definitely less guarded than she'd been with me the first time we had a conversation, too.
It was a good sign.
Rae even talked to Callum, and considering her dislike of people in general, that was significant.
We headed out after the food and chocolate cheesecake was gone. Rae was so in love with the cheesecake that I pretended not to enjoy it, so she ate my slice too.
Instead of going straight home, I took her to a car dealership, and we wandered for a while.
She wouldn't tell me which car she liked the most, but I kept catching her staring at a matte black Corvette. I walked her over to it a few times, just so I was sure, and we left without buying anything.
It would be more fun as a surprise.
I took her to one of my houses afterward, so we could swap my bike for a car.
Rae wasn't thrilled about it, but she agreed to get in the driver's seat in exchange for the last two corn dogs we found in the freezer.
I gave her a short rundown of driving that particular car, and she gave me the last bite of her second corn dog as she put the car in reverse, wearing a deep grimace.
We spent two hours driving slowly around the neighborhood while I gave her instructions and she adjusted to being behind the wheel.
Raereallydidn't want to go out on the road, but she admitted that she needed to learn how to drive, so she eventually took the plunge. She drove slower than the majority of the traffic, but she had no real problem with it.
We stopped for food after a few hours of aimless driving, and inhaled more takeout.
