Then again, Lucy felt like a schmuck. He was right. Yeah, he was an Alpha, but she wasn’t really giving him a chance, just like she hadn’t given the four before him a chance. Well, one of them kept taking calls from his ex-girlfriend on his phone, so he didn’t really give himself a chance. This one, though, he seemed decent enough. It wouldn’t hurt her just to attempt to have a good time would it?
“Listen, I’m sorry. I’m being rude. Let’s start over. Tell me about being a cop. Do you enjoy it?”
“I don’t know if enjoy is the right word. I’m committed to it. I believe in it.”
“What are you doing on a dating site, really? I mean, you can guess why I was there. It was the easiest way to get dates with five Alphas, but what about you? I’m sure you meet plenty of women in your line of work.”
“Not exactly the kind I’d want to date,” he said, laughing.
“Right. I guess not. Okay, so you don’t meet the right kind of women at work and you signed up for a hookup or two on Alpha Meets Omega then?”
“Not a hookup.”
“Ah, looking for a baby mama then.”
“Is that what you think all Alphas do? We spend all our time hunting for a subservient little Omega to mass produce a family for us?”
“Honestly, yes. No offense, but that’s been my experience.”
“With what, the other four Alphas you dated this month? Week? I think I will take offense if it’s okay with you.”
“Fine. What are you looking for then?”
“Alright. Here’s the thing. I work a lot and it can be kind of dangerous dealing with some of the folks I come across. I can’t afford to bring a family into that situation. It wouldn’t be good for any of us, but I do like to date every once in a while. Since we’re being brutally honest here though, I just needed a date for the Valentine’s Dance that is coming up at the station. The guys are leaning on me hard to bring a date. I didn’t bring anyone to the Christmas Party and skipped the New Year’s Eve gathering, so they’ve noticed it and are ragging me.”
“That’s it? You just want a date for some dance?”
“Yep. That’s it. I guess I should keep looking, huh?”
Lucy smiled at him and took another bite of her steak, using the time she needed to chew to study his face. He didn’t seem like most of the Alphas she knew, though they’d only spent a short amount of time together, so far. If he wasn’t looking for a baby factory and just needed a date to a dance, perhaps they weren’t so far apart in what they were looking for, after all.
“We’ll see,” she told him, a smirk on her face.
He chuckled and dove into his own food, the conversation shifting to more lighthearted subjects with considerably less animosity. By the time they were finished, they were laughing like old friends. They stepped out of the restaurant and stood a little awkwardly on the sidewalk facing one another. Lucy wasn’t sure she wanted the night to end so early. Instead, she found herself desperately wanting him to kiss her.
“I guess this is goodnight,” he said with a shrug.
“I guess it is.”
“Unless you want to have a few drinks with me.”
“Can you drink in that uniform?”
“No, but if you want to come to my place, I can change out of this uniform and we can have some wine. Or I think I have some gin and rum. Probably some beer.”
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Lucy wasn’t sure if he was joking or not, but she didn’t let that stop her. Even if he was putting a move on her, she hadn’t gotten laid in a while. This hot Alpha would do nicely for scratching that particular itch.
“Okay. Should we take my car or your cruiser?” she said nodding toward the police car sitting in a nearby parking space.
“We could take the cruiser, but it’s not mine. Whatever officer drove it here might get a little pissed about it. Plus, you’d have to ride in the back. It’s in the rules.”
Lucy laughed and he leaned down to kiss her. It was just a quick peck, but so soft and oh so warm. She felt it tingle along her nerve endings, where it ignited a previously ill attended ember she’d all but forgotten existed.
“How about I follow you?”
“Sounds like a plan,” he replied. “The black Dodge Charger is me.”
Lucy glanced past him at the dark charger with chromed out wheels and tinted windows. It looked like a drug dealer’s car. If he weren’t wearing a uniform, she’d have to think twice about whether he’d been honest about what he did for a living. Even he must have to admit it was hard to reconcile the undercover car with the police uniform. Talk about a contradiction.