Nathan held their handshake for just one moment longer than was strictly normal before he released Reese. Her eyes flew around his face, searching for any evidence that he had felt the same strange rush of electricity she had where their skin met. She could find none. His expression remained faintly friendly with no evidence that anything was amiss, other than the fact his attention was for some inexplicable reason focused fully on her.

"So, now that we've met, would you mind if I sit with you?"

"Yes, sure," she said automatically without even taking time to stop and consider whether it was actually a good idea or not. With a quick flash of smile that somehow made him simultaneously look both more and less intimidating, he turned and headed towards the counter, leaving Reese with her nearly empty cup of mixed hot chocolate and coffee.

That was okay, though. She drained her cup while his back was turned, thinking that if she was done she could leave sooner. She could even get up and remove herself from this awkwardly exciting situation.

But even though there was a clear path between her and escape out the door, she didn't dare move, kind of like a small animal frozen by danger. Even though her body stayed motionless, her mind whipped through the encounter and tried to make sense of everything, especially those insane tingles. That sensation had not been normal, and she needed to figure out what had caused such a startling, pleasurable but bordering-on-unpleasant experience.

Even though the thought was completely absurd, the obvious unrealistic explanation was that she was in a situation like a character in one of the books that were her guilty pleasure. She'd be in the role of the oblivious cute-but-nothing-special female lead, and that hotter than possible guy who had just walked in would be the son of a mafia don, or a celebrity trying to live a secret life, or a vampire searching for his beloved, or an assassin who had been paid to kill her but couldn't bring himself to do it. Or most likely of all, and her personal favourite of all the ridiculous possibilities, she was the destined mate of a werewolf.

After all, who wouldn't want some super hot guy to be happily dedicated to her? Probably some people, but she wasn't one.

It was impossible, but it was easy to imagine otherwise from the way her hand had felt in his solid grasp. If only it could be true. The idea of having a soul mate—and especially one who looked as mouth watering as Nathan—was a deeply appealing thought.

But unfortunately, Reese lived in reality. Instead, he was just really hot, probably disappointingly less perfect than he seemed at first glance, and her lack of direct exposure to men who were that incredibly attractive just made her senses overreact a little.

Well, maybe it wasn't that sad. The real world was a more beautiful place since he was in it. And if she had somehow insanely caught his interest, she'd be crazy to complain, but she also wasn't getting her hopes up from this weird situation. It was just as likely that he had seen that Harley was talking to her, and wanted Reese to facilitate between him and her model-like friend.

Of course. Now that was the most likely possibility. There was nothing wrong with Reese's appearance, but next to Harley she knew she looked like a drab little mouse. Reese's stomach felt heavy and sick with the realization that probably yet again, some guy thought she was a low risk path to Harley's attention. Harley never went for any guy that would use Reese that way, but that hadn't stopped more than one guy from trying.

She eyed the door again. Maybe she should just make a break for it.

He returned to the table carrying two disposable cups, and set one in front of her. She blinked at it in surprise and peeked at his face, her hair falling forward to half hide her from his view. She didn't want him looking at her any more, not if he just wanted her to play cupid.

"Hope you don't mind. I asked her to make another of whatever it was you were having." He sat down across from her.

Reese smiled at him. "Thanks, I appreciated it." Normally, sweet caffeine was always welcome, but the fact that it was a likely bribe kind of soured the experience.

He smiled again. The expression was dangerous, because it made her want to do whatever it would take to see it again. Even set him up with her beautiful friend.

She really needed to get a hold of herself.

"So, do you come here often?"

"Yes, it's pretty quiet except between classes. It's a good place to study." Or read the latest chapters of the books in her library, but she wasn't going to admit that to him. She wished she was somewhere else, reading right now.

He glanced around, but it seemed more like he was pretending rather than interested in the drab little cafe surrounding them. "I can see why you like it."

"I've never seen you here before," she commented in a feeble attempt at small talk and then inwardly cringed at how awkward it sounded. Why was she so bad at this? The girls in books never had this problem. Or maybe they did, but she just wasn't as emotionally invested in their difficulties. And for that matter, why didn't he just get to the point already?

"I've never been here before. I was just walking by, and something peaked my interest."

"Oh? What was that?" Better to get the truth out and this awkward experience over with.

He just smiled, and she got caught up in the expression all over again, so it almost surprised her when he spoke with a shrug. "Just had a feeling this would be the perfect place to get a coffee. You know how sometimes you just know that you're in the right place at the right time?"

"I guess?" Reese didn't operate much on feelings or intuition, but it sounded really sexy that he did.

Ack! Why was she letting her mind go where it had no business going? She was just going to get herself hurt. It hadn't been flattering when guys had tried to use her to get close to Harley in the past, but when it was someone who really appealed to her, she was pretty sure it would sting that much more.

He took a drink of his coffee and then said, "Well, that's what it was like. This was where I needed to go, and I'm glad I did."

Reese didn't even know why her silly heart was racing so frantically. Sure, what he was saying and the deep gravelly way he was saying it would have been amazing if it was directed at her.

Even if she had originally had some hope to keep her cool, his next words would have ruined it anyway. He maintained steady eye contact. "So, Reese, would you be interested in going out with me?"

She just blinked. "What? Go out with you?"

Nathan's smile faltered, and he straightened his shoulders defensively. "You know, like would you want me to take you out somewhere?"

"Really? Me?" Was he jerking her around? If he thought Harley was the sort to date guys who used and dumped her friends, he was going to be sadly disappointed.

"Of course, who else?"

It was better just to rip the bandage off. "My friend, maybe?"

"Your...friend?"

"Harley?"

"Who's Harley?" He looked legitimately confused, and Reese began to doubt her conclusion, a sinking feeling overtaking all the other rolling emotions.

What if he really had been unbelievably been interested in her, and she had just screwed it up? She suddenly felt like crying. "A friend of mine. She's just... It's just..." There was no explanation that would make her near accusation sound more reasonable.

He let out a single disbelieving chuckle, but there was no trace. "I really don't know who you're talking about. Are you trying to set me up with this friend of yours?"

"No." The thought made her sick, but she didn't want to explain her reasoning.

His brow furrowed and he looked anything but happy. "I want to get to know you better, if that's what you want."

She bit back a bunch more stupid questions. It sounded like she hadn't entirely screwed up this once in a lifetime chance. The whole situation was out of Reese's comfort zone, not that she really minded. She liked how direct she was being. She liked a lot of things about him, and she'd only known him for a few minutes. "I'd like to get to know you better, too."

His smile returned, tentative, but visible. "That's great. Are you free tonight?"

Wow. That was fast, and she didn't even need to consider it. "Yes, I'd love—" The memory of her promise to Harley resurfaced at exactly the wrong moment. Or right moment, she regretfully corrected. She wasn't the sort of person who blew off her promises, even if she'd been hit with a once in a lifetime opportunity. "I mean, I'd really love to see you tonight. But I kind of promised my friend that I'd go with her to a party tonight."

"Oh. Okay." His face fell, and his shoulders dipped slightly, making the strong man in front of her resemble a child who had lost his favourite toy.

Her guilt rose with his disappointment. Was he really so quickly invested in her? Unbelievable. "I could ask if you could come, too?"

He perked up again. "Let's exchange numbers. And if that doesn't work, we could try tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that would be great. Here." She passed her phone over to him, and he added himself to her contacts and texted himself before passing it back.

She glanced down at the text on her screen. This whole situation was blowing her mind. Her gaze flicked up the top corner, where the time shone out at her with silent judgement.

"Oh, shoot! I'm going to be late for class! I'm never late for class!" Reese scrambled, shoving her phone in her purse and grabbing her bag off the seat where she had stashed it when she had first arrived.

He watched her, bemused. "Sorry that I distracted you."

"No, no, it's not your fault. I knew, I just lost track of the time." She paused and met those intense eyes one final time. How could any eyes be that mesmerizing? "Thanks again for the drink." She really meant it now.

"Anytime, Reese."

She dashed away from the most intriguing person she had ever met, barely even able to believe that her whole encounter with Nathan had even happened.