Page 59 of Hot Girls Date Shifters

For one terrifying second my imagination runs wild.

Have I met him before?

Did we go to school together?

Before I can spiral any further...

He grins and reaches across the small space between us.

The movement is slow enough that I never feel threatened.

His fingertips brush lightly against the name tag pinned to my cardigan.

The contact lasts barely a second.

A whisper.

The gentlest touch imaginable.

Still...

Warmth shoots all the way up my arm.

Our eyes meet.

Neither of us moves.

Neither of us seems particularly interested in breaking whatever this strange little moment is.

“My detective skills aren't as impressive as they seem,” he says with a soft chuckle.

I look down.

My name tag.

Right.

“Oh.”

Heat floods my cheeks all over again.

“Well...”

I sigh dramatically.

“... duh, Elsie.”

He laughs.

It's warm.

Rich.

The sound settles somewhere inside me in a place that has felt empty for far too long.

“I was hoping...” he says, his voice quieter now, “... that maybe you'd have lunch with me.”

Those green eyes never leave mine.