Chapter 4

M aggie picked up her favorite coffee mug from the desk and immediately dropped it. She caught it before it hit the desk and blew out a relieved breath.

She was nervous!

All because she'd been asked out by the sexiest guy she'd ever seen in her life.

Alistair.

Even his name was sexy.

She felt a connection to him that was stronger than she thought it should be because they'd just met. She felt like she'd known him forever, but they'd only spent a couple hours together at the park, plus she hadn't been able to devote her full attention to him because she needed to focus on the kids.

But still…stormy-gray eyes, dark blond hair, and lips that seemed made for kissing and other wicked things.

She could admit, to herself anyway, that she'd had a heck of a time concentrating. And she'd hated to leave the park and say goodbye to him.

"So, when are you meeting up with your sexy fellow?"

Maggie let out an eep and nearly dropped the mug a second time. Setting it gently in the box with her still-trembling hand, she looked at Jenny, who had leaned into the classroom and was currently smiling at her like the Cheshire Cat.

"What?" Maggie pushed in her chair and lifted the box of her things. As she walked to the door, she glanced around the room at the small desks and chairs, the bookshelves that lined the wall under the windows that she'd never been able to figure out how to open to let in fresh air.

"I asked when you're meeting up with your sexy fellow, what was his name, Alexander?"

"Alistair."

She put the box on her hip to hold it with one hand, flipped the lights off, then grasped the door and closed it behind her as they both stepped out into the hall.

"He said he'd call at four."

"That's so neat! Nothing exciting like that has ever happened to me."

"I'm so glad I was still subbing here so I could go on the field trip," she said. They walked down the hall and hung a left, then stopped at the office so she could turn in the room key.

"Me too," Jenny said. She walked with Maggie out to the parking lot, and when the box was on the passenger seat, they hugged. "I hope to see you again."

"I hope so too," Maggie said. "Who knows, maybe one of these times I'll get a permanent sub assignment here."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed. Do you know where you're going to be assigned next?"

"There's nothing posted yet," she said. "Hopefully I'll get a call this weekend. I hate sitting around and waiting."

"I would too. So, you have my number, give me a call and we'll hang out."

"I will, take care."

After saying goodbye, Maggie got into the car and drove off as quickly as she could, anxious to get home.

She hadn't been this nervous about…anything in as long as she could remember. Of course, she hadn't been on a first date in close to two years, not since she'd gone out for the first time with her ex, Seth, and then spent a year dealing with his emotionally abusive behavior, only to find out at the end that he'd spent the entire time cheating on her.

The last year that she'd spent not dating anyone and focusing on healing her heart had left her still feeling kind of hollow and not worthy of affection. She hated that Seth's parting words after their breakup still stung.

You're not worth being faithful to.

She pushed the vile thoughts of Seth away. It always made her stomach feel queasy. Hell, maybe she hadn't fully healed yet, but Alistair was the first guy in the last year that had sparked her interest.

And her interest was very sparked.

He was the first guy who made her think about romance and love and happily ever afters, even with the dark clouds that poked at her subconscious and made her wonder if he would also end up being unfaithful and breaking her heart.

She pulled into the space in front of her townhouse and parked, resting her forehead on the steering wheel.

She wasn't going to ruin things with Alistair before they even started.

She wasn't going to assume anything about him, or compare him to Seth, because Seth was a jackass and she never had to see him again, thank freaking goodness.

By the time she got her box and purse into the house and had toed off her favorite pair of loafers, her phone rang, and the name on the screen sent her heart into overdrive: Alistair.

Alistair had spent the last couple hours moving into one of the apartments at the back of the park. The alphas had decided to build a set of eight apartments for their people to use. Since they'd been built, several shifters had taken temporary residence in one of the units in the two-story complex. It allowed the shifters to have a place to call home that they could take their soulmate to before they shared the truth of their shifting nature with them.

Cael had stayed in an apartment while waiting for his truemate, Novi, to fall for him so he could share the truth. And just recently, Mercer had stayed at the apartment while he romanced his soulmate, Rhomi.

The apartments were furnished but were all currently unoccupied, as Alistair was the only one with a soulmate who didn't know that he could turn into an elephant.

And he had no idea how to even begin to share that truth with Maggie.

His elephant trumpeted impatiently in his head.

It was nearly four, so he could call his sexy female soon.

He hadn't lived anywhere but the underground living quarters for the memory since he'd moved to the park, so staying away from his people was going to be interesting. But he'd do anything for his soulmate, and at least with the apartment he didn't have to lie about where he lived.

He placed the empty duffel in the bottom of the closet in the master bedroom and shut the door. The bedroom had a king bed and matching dresser and side tables, with a black blanket and gray pillows. The family room and small kitchen were done up in shades of gray as was the master bathroom, the monochromatic theme reminding him of his elephant.

There was a knock at the door, and he walked through the space and opened it.

"Hey, Seneca," he greeted the large bear shifter.

"I heard you found your soulmate today," he said as he handed over a large box.

"I did, she was one of the teachers with the kids visiting today."

"That's really awesome, gives all us unmated males hope. So, here's the things you ordered from the market. Jeanie threw in some frozen breakfast sandwiches, and since you might be bringing your female back here tonight, I put in a box of chocolate-covered strawberries and two pieces of Lexy's peanut butter cheesecake."

"That's awesome, thank you so much."

"Anytime. Have you made plans for a first date yet?"

"Tonight." Alistair set the box on the coffee table and returned to the open door, leaning against it. "I'm supposed to call her soon once she's home from work. I'm still trying to narrow down the options for the date."

"What are the choices?"

"Well, there's Manriados, the Italian place, or Doones for a good steak."

Seneca hummed. "I just saw something online called a progressive date."

"What's that?"

"It's where you pick an area with a lot of different restaurants and you go to each one for one course. Like you could do appetizers at Manriados and the main course at Doones, and then dessert somewhere else, even here if you'd like with what I packed for you. I think the point is that all the different places and moving around helps to keep conversation going."

"That's pretty interesting, I never heard of that, thanks."

"Hey if it works, maybe that'll be good karma for me and I can be the next one to find my soulmate."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed for you."

Alistair said goodbye to the young male and shut the door, then hurriedly put away the groceries so the apartment looked more like he'd lived there for a while and hadn't just moved in that day.

He glanced at his watch and saw the time ticking away.

Soon enough he'd get to call Maggie.

But first, he would plan this progressive date. It sounded like a winner to him.