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They turned, and Oz had to catch Koruk’s glass of water before he dropped it. Both of their mouths hung open.
“Is it too much?” I asked, knowing I had picked the dress well.
“Malinda, you are breathtaking,” Koruk said.
Oz took a long drag of the water he’d taken from Koruk and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I…I don’t even have words. I kind of don’t want to take you out. Maybe we can order in.”
I laughed and felt heat explode in my cheeks. “Come on, guys. How often does a girl get to go on a date with two gargoyles? Come on. Make my dreams come true.”
Chapter Sixteen
Koruk
The restaurant we chose to take Malinda to was an Italian place owned by some wolf shifters from the community. When we walked in, the unmated males had lowered their gazes. As gargoyles, we may not have been at the top of the food chain, but we were certainly at the top of the I’ll-beat-your-ass-if-you-look-at-my-mate chain, so there was that. They had the good sense to send a female server over. Malinda asked us to order for her since we were familiar with the place, probably having no idea how that stroked our shifter egos.
My fingers itched to touch the female sitting at the table with us. Her smooth, creamy skin called to me against the dark blue of the dress she wore, the soft swell of her breasts barely visible above the fabric.
She was mine. Ours. No doubt about it. And while all of that would be confirmed with a touch, Malinda would have to be the one to initiate any kind of physical contact. She was human, and those instincts were different in the human race. They relied too much on feelings and the perceptions of others instead of their baser intuitions.
“This looks incredible,” she said and dug in immediately. We’d ordered almost one of everything from the menu and told her to save room for dessert.
Oz and I both dropped our spoons when she moaned at her first taste of tiramisu. Her laugh afterward was music to me.
I had to admit, while our mate nearly flatlined my heart when I saw her in the dress, I missed our more casual conversations. The dialogue flowed over dinner, sure, but an air of politeness remained, almost a pretense about it all.
Her hair flowed down her back in gorgeous brown, combed waves, but I found myself wanting to see her with her bed hair, messy and thrown together. Her too-big T-shirts that hung off her shoulder.
I loved her unfiltered most of all.
“Should we go?” I asked after signing for the bill.
“Sure,” she answered.
Once we were home, we stood in the foyer, and I was so nervous, I had no idea how to proceed. It had been an ice age since we’d even considered dating a female. If she wasn’t our mate, then we found no point in pursuing her.
“Are you tired?” Oz asked her. I saw him fist his fingers into a ball. He wanted to touch her as much as I did.
“I’m not. I’m a night owl. We didn’t get to talk a lot at dinner. But I’m in desperate need of some comfortable clothes.”
We chuckled. “Now we’re talking,” I said. “Meet down here in ten.”
We raced up the stairs but let her win. She called us on it, of course, but soon we emerged from our bedrooms in lounge pants, while she wore a coral tank top with some white pajama pants with images of toast and eggs all over them. I pulled my lips between my teeth.
“Are you laughing at my breakfast pants?” She cocked one eyebrow.
“Never ever. They are terribly adorable though.” I winked at her and barely heard her swift intake of breath. Yeah. I was affecting her. Of course I was. We were mates.
“Another glass of wine or something else?”
She waved her hands. “Iced coffee? I only ever have one glass of wine or else…”
I couldn’t help myself. I laughed hard and loud. “Or else you sign up for an app where you are matched to two gargoyles?”
A blush filled her cheeks. “Yeah. That. Maybe I should drink more. Worked out well the last time, if you ask me.”
We made her an iced coffee that she swore wouldn’t keep her awake and sat on the big couch together in the living room.
“Tell me about what it’s like to be gargoyles,” she said before sipping from the straw.
