In the parking lot, she and Tawk lingered. She was leaning up against her driver’s side door, while he chatted from five feet away.
“Work tonight?” he asked.
Tammy smiled. “Work always. I have student loans to pay off. Text me later, if you want to.”
Tawk pulled his phone out of his back pocket and typed out something, and in her own back pocket, her cell phone vibrated with a text message. A grin confiscated her lips as she checked it.
All the text said was,Here is a text from me.
With a hot blush filling her cheeks, she typed back,Hello sky chicken. She sent it and then watched his face as he read it.
A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he typed something out.Not a sky chicken. A dragon. Hello hotel shampoo thief.
God, he was so freaking cute.
“I have to go now,” she said regretfully. “I have the early shift today.”
He nodded and kicked at a tuft of grass with the toe of his boot. He ran his hand down the short scruff on his jaw and looked like he wanted to say more, but instead, he gave her a wave and did an about-face and left. Just like that.
He was very abrupt with his decision to leave. He’d left with barely a word last night. Left abruptly when she’d said she was going to say hi to Harley and Timber. And now, he had left so quickly without a goodbye.
She didn’t like that, but mostly because she enjoyed talking to him and wanted him to stick around longer.
A little confused, she climbed into her truck and started it right up. Goodness, she appreciated his work on it. She should thank him again.
She gripped the steering wheel and stared straight ahead at a young family climbing into an SUV. She knew what she was doing. She was looking for excuses to text him, and that meant one very serious thing—she really liked him.
That was bad news.
She’d already thanked him, it was enough, that had been fun, he’d taken very good care of her body, and now it was time to go their separate ways.
He was a dragon shifter.
She was a human.
He had no roots put down in this town, while she was bonding to Darby, Montana with purpose.
He didn’t have feelings like regular humans, while she had all the feelings.
They were just too different.
The end.
Her phone lit up and she fumbled and nearly dropped it in her rush to see if Tawk had texted her.
It was a message from Harley instead.See you tomorrow when you definitely walk the stage. Don’t be a wuss. We will all be there cheering you on.
The disappointment of the text not being from Tawk was extinguished almost immediately.I already have plans to steam my cap and gown tonight. I’m going to be the old lady walking that stage, but you have convinced me.Send.See you in the morning.Send.
While her phone was open, she pulled up the text thread with Tawk.My shift starts at noon. Stop by if you get hungry.Her finger hovered over the send button for a few seconds as shehesitated, but then before she could change her mind, she hit send.
His response was almost immediate.I have meetings today.
Oh. Okay, yeah. Of course he had a life. Tammy shook her head, embarrassed. He wasn’t just waiting around to follow her to each errand she had to run and each work shift.Have the best day, she typed in a rush and sent it.
Tammy tossed the phone into the bag of cupcakes she’d bought just to hide the embarrassing thing from her sight. She was really bad at flirting. Was that even flirting? Inviting a man to come see her while she worked? Gah, she didn’t know. Her cheeks were on fire.
A vision of the hunger in his eyes as she gripped her small hand around his throat made her squeak and close her eyes against the mortification. Why was she so affected by this man? She was Tammy Ray, the bartender who could talk to anyone. Why did this man get to her so easily?
