Chapter 33: Official First Date

-ALEC-

“Is this officially our first date as a couple?” Leena asks over the small table, the noise of the restaurant is minimal in comparison to the bars we’ve been in previously, but enough that it covers idle conversation.

“If you want it to be.” I want it to sound casual, but I haven’t been on a date or anything like it in years, only one-night stands and flings. The idea of a formal date, especially with Leena, is scary in a way that I’m unfamiliar with. I want to do it right. For her.

“I think it should be,” Leena muses, reaching a hand out across the table with her palm up, waiting for me to take it. This, easy affection, I can do.

I take her hand, pull it towards me, and give her palm a quick kiss just to watch her flush in the dim lighting. I thought I’d be used to it by now, smelling the blood well up under her skin and her body coming alive with chemical signals and pheromones, but I don’t think I ever will. I hope I don’t.