What the hell?
“Is it yours?”
“What?”
“Is it your dress?”
“That’s a weird question, James,” Christopher said, approaching. “And you’re standing awfully close to my mate.”
“Your mate?” James turned back toward Allison. “Mate?”
“It’s my sister’s dress, it’s not a weird question, and I would like to repeat the question that James just asked. Mate? What?”
“You’re my mate, Allison,” Christopher said.
In romance movies, there was always some sort of big reveal where everyone realized they were actually kind of perfect for each other, and in his mind, this was that moment for them. This was the great romance movie of their life. This was the scene where she would say that she knew, that she had always known.
This was the moment where she would promise to love him back.
Only, Allison didn’t do that. Allison didn’t do any of that. Instead of falling into his arms, and instead of promising to love him, and instead of saying that she’d known all along they were mates, she stepped back into her office, and she closed the door, and she left him standing in the hallway with James.
“Ouch,” James said.
“Get lost,” Christopher growled.
“Yep.”
James turned, walking in the opposite direction, and Christopher stepped up to the door. He wasn’t giving up on her. Not just yet. Not like that. Not ever.
“You may not be ready,” he said to the door, “but I’ll wait for you, kitten. I’ll wait for you.”
Chapter 10
The night of the Christmas party came, and Allison stood in front of the bathroom mirror at the party, looking at herself. This was it. This was the night she’d been waiting for. This night was the reason she was not currently speaking to Christopher, and she felt horrible about that. The idea that she was working with a dragon shifter she couldn’t even bring herself to talk to was horrible.
Everything had happened because she’d asked James to come with her to the party.
It had been dumb, she knew. She should have just been brave and invited Christopher to come with her in the first place. It would have been far less difficult than she pretended it was. It wouldn’t have been bad at all. After all, if Yvette had planned to propose to a guy, Allison could ask a guy on a date.
She’d been a nervous wreck, though, and she hadn’t known whether he liked her, too, so she’d gotten scared and totally screwed up.
Well, tonight, everything changed. She was here with James, and she’d invited Yvette to come along, too. Allison’s goal was for the two of them to hang out and have fun, and then she’d be able to go find her feisty dragon boss and win him over.
“Are you ready to go find this guy?” Yvette said, turning to Allison.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Definitely. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Entertaining a hot guy? No, I don’t mind.”
“I mean, I know it hasn’t been long since you and Frank broke up, and you do live together...”
“Frank and I are old news,” she said.
“Has he tried to get back together with you?” Allison asked.
“Yes,” Yvette nodded. “I’m not ready for that, though.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said. Relationships were hard work. Whether you were 18 or 28 or 108, relationships were tough.