Page 77 of Hot Girls Date Shifters

He just...

Looks at me.

Not a quick glance.

Not the polite kind of eye contact people make during conversation.

He really looks at me.

Like I'm the only thing in the entire arboretum worth noticing.

The afternoon breeze stirs the leaves overhead, dappling sunlight across his face.

Somewhere behind us, a fountain trickles into the koi pond.

Children laugh in the distance, birds chatter from the trees, and a bee lazily drifts from flower to flower.

The whole world keeps moving.

Yet somehow...

Everything between us feels perfectly still.

Being looked at like this should make me self-conscious.

It should make me wonder if my hair is frizzy from the humidity or if I have soy sauce on my shirt from lunch.

Instead...

It makes me feel seen.

Like he's looking past all of that.

Like he sees me.

The woman who traded business suits for bookshelves.

The woman who still believes a little magic might exist somewhere in the world.

The woman who has somehow spent an entire afternoon forgetting to check the time because she'd rather listen to him laugh.

My heart does a funny little flip.

Then another.

Graham takes one slow step toward me.

Instinctively, I straighten.

Now we're standing so close I can smell him.

Fresh air.

Cedar.

Something warm and clean that reminds me of sunshine on flannel.

He's so tall I have to tip my chin up just to meet those incredible forest green eyes.