Sleeping Beauty and the Lion: A Shifter Fairy Tale Retelling of Sleeping Beauty (A BBW Shifter Fairy Tale Retelling Book 3) by Sylvia Frost Read Free Book Online Page A

said.
    “Me too,” I lied. I hoped if I said the words aloud it would make them true.
    I needed this date to work. I’d spent so long holding out for a prince to sweep me off my feet, I’d literally ended up in a wheelchair for the last week. I was done waiting for my day dreams to just come true.
    Mamma would be disappointed, but it was easy for her to say, “Trust your gut and never date a guy that doesn’t make you comfortable.” She got at least one marriage proposal a month.
    But I was still a virgin, because I’d been waiting for a guy who didn’t make my skin crawl. With all the books I read, my dude radar was off-kilter. Sometimes I wondered if to me, anyone who wasn’t Prince Charming seemed like the evil villain.
    I smiled weakly over my shoulder at the man whose username was TheMagpieKing.
    He smiled back, and it wasn’t a bad look with his neatly trimmed dark hair, even if no happiness reached his sea-glass green eyes. He, unlike me, fit in with the crowd of thin women and men in black. There were no wrinkles in TheMagpieKing’s button-down and his jeans looked fresh enough to still have the tags on them.
    Yes, his wristwatch had more bling to it than any white-guy’s should’ve, but all in all my date wasn’t unappealing. Really. He wasn’t. Plus, his real name was Lonan, which sort-of sounded like an Irish warrior.
    Lonan raised his hand to motion at the hostess, a leggy blonde.
    She smiled at him, like they were old friends. “Lonan!”
    “Celia,” he said, “can we get a table for two?”
    “Of course,” she purred. “The usual?”
    The usual. I wondered how many other girls Lonan had brought to this bar. I followed numbly as Celia wove between the the dimly lit wooden tables to find a space for us at the back.
    When we arrived, Lonan pulled out a chair for me, although as it was made of long planks of reclaimed wood, it was really more like a miniature bench. “For you,” he said.
    “Thanks.” I sat.
    Lonan’s hands idled on my shoulder, his cold, dry touch finally meeting my skin. My mark of hairs zinged with warning. Instinctively, I brushed my braids over my left shoulder to dislodge him.
    Lonan’s bony fingers flitted from my shoulder to my neck. He hummed low in his throat, almost as if in recognition. “What’s this?”
    “N-nothing.” I shook my head, sending my braids falling protectively down my back, hiding the mark. “I’m fine.”
    “Hey, no judgement.” He squeezed my shoulder, like he was my coach. “But I’d recommend seeing a doctor, okay?”
    “I will, thanks,” I lied, not wanting to explain the details of my hormone imbalance to him just yet. I’d save that for date two. If there was a date two. The few other dates I’d been on often involved the guys scramming before dessert. Part of me wouldn’t mind if Lonan scrammed, but that part of me was the reason I was a virgin.
    Lonan slid into the chair across from me. Before even picking up a menu he said, “Has anyone ever told you that you have amazing eyes, Rose?”
    “No.” A smile began to twitch on my lips, but I couldn’t push it through. “Just pretty normal ones. Brown.”
    He laughed, but it sounded forced.
    I squirmed, the wood grain cold and rough against my thighs. Why had I worn one of Mamma’s dresses? The bright red and yellow made me feel like a chubby parakeet.
    “So tell me,” he went on, still not picking up a menu, a single sheet of flimsy paper. “Sorry if this is a personal question, but that mark on your neck, how long have you had it?”
    “Um, since I was thirteen. It’s really not a big deal.”
    He hummed again. His teeth looked plastic. “Of course it’s not. I’m being an asshole aren’t I?”
    “No,” I said, then I broke, shrugging with a grimace. “A little bit, actually.”
    To my surprise, Lonan didn’t jump out of his chair, but just kept up his plastic smile. “Sorry.”
    An apology was a good sign, right?
    The waitress brought two mason jars full