“Well, let me educate you.” He smirked. “See those stars over there? The ones that are all clustered?” He pointed toward the sky.
“I think so,” I replied, thinking that his description was not specific enough to know which stars he was talking about.
“Well, that’s Princess Wolf Enim-saj.”
“Princess Wolf Enim-saj, really?” I turned to look at him, raising one of my eyebrows.
“Yes, Princess Wolf Enim-saj.” He had a silly grin on his face. “She was a beautiful, beautiful wolf with amber-colored eyes. So beautiful that Zeus wanted her all to himself. But Enim-saj was not interested in Zeus and preferred a more handsome and stronger gentleman wolf name Ekul.” I laughed and Luke continued. “Artemis saw how perfect the two wolves were for each other, so she blessed them as mates.”
“What about Zeus?” I asked.
“He challenged Ekul to a duel to the death.”
I played along, gasping dramatically. “So what happened?”
“Well, Princess Wolf Emin-saj was afraid they would kill each other. And she was such a selfless wolf that she sacrificed herself, turning herself into stars. And it’s now said that when someone wishes to meet their own beautiful wolf, they should make a wish on her constellation.” He then turned to face me smiling. “But, for the record, if the duel went on, Ekul would have won.”
I laughed, punching him playfully and asked, “So, did you make a wish?”
“Of course I did. That’s how I met the beautiful Princess Wolf Jasmine.” He beamed, his whole face lighting up. “Princess Foxy Jasmine actually.”
“Foxy?”
“You remind me of a fox in your wolf form. So beautiful. And foxy.”
“Foxes are orange.”
“Some are brown. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy wolf.” He snickered.
“You’re missing ad.” I laughed.
He looked at me, confusion on his face. Staring at me intently, he replied, “I can guarantee you I’m not. Missing ad.”
A flush burned across my cheeks as I realized what I had accidentally implied. “I meant,dfordog. When you’re typing. Thedog‘s thedon the keyboard. You said wolf so the sentence didn’t have ad,” I frantically tried to explain.
“Relax, I know.” He smiled. “You’re so cute. But, for the record, Ekul does have ad. Of course, you know that already.”
I couldn’t help but now recall what I knew in graphic detail, feeling my whole body overheating even with how chilly it was outside. He kissed me on the cheek, the ensuing spark practically zapping me with how sensitive I felt at that moment, breathing in Luke’s scent, being so close to him, buzzed off the wine.
“So do you actually know anything about constellations?” I asked out of nervousness, thinking I should change the subject.
“Nope.” He laughed. “But I wanted to impress you, like in the movies,” he said, pulling me toward him and kissing me. Fireworks erupted as his lips touched mine. He deepened the kiss, pulling me closer to him, his hands all over my back. I completely lost myself in the kiss as our bodies moved against each other, rolling all over the grass. I felt abandoned and didn’t even care that I was rolling on the ground in a nice dress and jacket. I wrapped my legs around him, my dress hiked up so high my underwear was exposed. And yes, I felt hisd, which was very much not missing, throbbing against the thin fabric of my panties.
Once we were gasping for air, we finally separated. Luke lay on his back as I put my head on his shoulder. He pulled me close to him and said, “Kissing someone you have a mate bond with has to be the most magical thing I’ve ever felt. I’ve had a lot of good kisses in my life, but nothing like this,” he said.
“Mmm,” I replied in agreement. He was right. I enjoyed kissing Blake, but kisses with Blake didn’t emit literal sparks like they did with Luke.
“Even just lying here with you is magical. It feels like we’re supposed to be together. I can’t even bring myself to stop touching you.”
I snuggled closer to him, and we began kissing again, the mate bond pulling us forcefully back toward each other.
Cold droplets falling from the sky interrupted us. Luke pulled me up and helped me back into the golf cart. We drove back to where we had come from and parked the cart in the same spot we originally got it. Luke put the key back and then we walked toward the casino entrance as a drizzle fell on us. Luke looked at me once we entered the building and brushed down my hair with his hands. His hair was tousled, which was actually kind of sexy, and he had traces of my lipstick all over his face. We both started laughing looking at each other. “We should probably clean ourselves up,” Luke said as he led us to the bathrooms.
I entered to some girl looking me up and down. I then looked in the mirror to see my hair was in complete disarray and my lipstick had spread widely from where it had been applied. I also had grass stains on my jacket and the skirt of my dress. I laughed at my reflection.
So much for Perfect Jasmine.
I brushed my fingers through my hair, trying to put it back in order, and wet a paper towel to clean my face. I had worn a rich, red lipstick, which I had reapplied after dinner, and it had stained the skin surrounding my lips. I eventually gave up on trying to remove it, knowing I’d need to use makeup remover.