Page 32 of Second Chance with Bastet

"Help yourself," I said.

She poured herself some wine and sat back in her seat. "I hope there are plenty of good people here tonight."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said that you just came to these for fun?"

"I am, but that doesn't mean I don't want to find someone. Being around the two of you has started making me feel romantic." She took a sip of her wine. "Mmm, this is good."

"Bastet has good taste," Ptah said.

"You would hope that's true," Menhit responded.

I smothered a laugh. "So, you're hoping to meet someone?"

"I don't know. I've also connected with someone on the Jinx dating app, so maybe that's going to go somewhere."

"They have a dating app?" I asked, surprise coming through my voice.

Ptah chuckled. "Jinx has everything."

"I'm starting to realise that."

"All right, well, I'm going to make the rounds. Or else I'll end up back at speed dating next week." She topped up her wine glass before leaving the two of us alone.

"Rather her than me," I muttered.

Ptah raised an eyebrow. "You're not a fan of speed dating?"

"I'm a fan of the results," I joked. "I'm sitting here with you, I reconnected with an old friend, and I have a nice new place for me and the cats to live."

"But the speed dating itself?"

"It's not for me. I barely remember any of the people I talked to other than you," I admitted sheepishly.

"Same here. But I only joined in because I saw you." He tightened his arm around me.

I shuffled closer on the bench and leaned into him. "I was considering running away completely until I realised you were there too."

His chest rumbled as he laughed. "So what you're saying is that we both could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we'd just talked to one another before the bell sounded?"

"That's about it," I agreed. "But the end justifies the means. I'm here with you, and that's what matters."

He kissed the top of my head, making my heart skip a beat. How did he still make me feel this way after thousands of years of knowing one another? It was a question I would probably never know the answer to, but it didn't matter. Some things were just meant to be, and this was clearly one of them.

"Thank you for giving me a second chance," Ptah said softly.

"Same back at you." I set down my wine glass and twisted so I could put my hand on his chest. "I know it can't have been easy."

"I'd say the opposite. Loving you is one of the easiest things I've ever done. Letting you go the first time was the worst experience of my life, and one I hope I never have to experience again."

"I don't intend to let it happen again," I assured him. "Especially as we have a lot of lost time to make up for."

"Yes, we do." He reached out and tucked my hair behind my ear. "I love you, Bastet."

"I love you too."

"And I'm not going to let this slip away from us ever again."

"Neither am I."

He leaned in and pressed his lips against mine, sealing his promise with a kiss. But I didn't need him to say the words to know they were true. The way we felt about one another was imprinted on my soul, and it always would be.

Now we were finally getting a chance to properly explore our connection, and it was all thanks to Sekhmet's insistence that I went to a speed dating event.