An Alpha's Lightning (Water Bear Shifters 2) by Sloane Meyers Page A

heart sank as she realized that she wouldn’t get to see him again for at least five days, since he’d be busy at the Coast Guard station. Jade frowned as she swept the floor of the charting room, and told herself to stop being ridiculous. He was busy, and she had given him no reason to think that she would care if he took a few days off from volunteering. She just needed to be patient and wait until he came back from whatever business he was taking care of.
    Jade continued sweeping, forcing herself to hum one of her favorite pop songs to try to lighten her mood. Halfway through the chorus, her phone started vibrating in her pocket. She stopped sweeping and pulled it out to look at it, nearly dropping it on the floor when she saw Ace’s name come up on the caller I.D. She leaned the broom against the wall, took a deep breath, and answered the call.
    “Hello?”
    “Jade? Hey, it’s Ace. Lance told me you called.”
    Jade suddenly felt embarrassed. Ace must know that she had found Lance’s number from his emergency contact information. In retrospect, she had probably overreacted a bit by calling just because Ace missed two days of volunteering that he hadn’t even been officially scheduled for. “Uh, yeah. I was surprised when you didn’t show up to volunteer and wanted to make sure you were okay.”
    “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for disappearing. I had something kind of urgent come up in Alaska. My cell phone didn’t get service up there.”
    “Alaska?” Jade asked, unable to keep the surprise from her voice.
    “Yeah. It’s a, uh, really long story. But, anyway, sorry for not showing up the last few days. I’ll be back next week.”
    “You don’t have to apologize,” Jade said. “I’m just glad you’re alright.”
    There was a long pause, and Jade held her breath while she waited for Ace to speak. She wanted to launch into an explanation of how she had realized that she was falling for him, and that she wanted to know if he still had feelings for her. But he sounded tired, and she wasn’t going to see him for almost another full week. She should probably just wait to talk to him in person.
    “Well, anyway, I just wanted to call you back,” Ace finally said. “I’ll see you next week, okay?”
    “I changed my mind,” Jade blurted out before she could think about it or stop herself.
    “What?” Ace asked, suddenly sounding a little less tired.
    “I changed my mind. About going on a date with you. I think…I think I’m falling for you,” Jade said. Her heart had started pounding so quickly with nervous anticipation that she felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest.
    “Jade, really?” Ace said. His voice sounded like a strange mixture of hopefulness and sadness. “I don’t want to put pressure on you if—”
    “Come over,” Jade said, interrupting him.
    “What?”
    “Come over. Please. I know you’re tired, but I have to see you. I have to talk to you, in person. I don’t want to wait until next week. I can text you my address.”
    There was a long pause again, and Jade squeezed her eyes shut in anguish. Come on, Ace, she said to herself. Don’t leave me hanging, feeling like a complete idiot.
    “Okay,” he said. “Text me the address.”
    Jade felt her stomach fill with butterflies at his words. She felt like a high school girl who had just found out that the captain of the football team liked her. Her head was warning her to take things slowly, but her heart was encouraging her to charge full steam ahead.
    And she was done listening to her head.
     
    * * *
     
    Ace gripped the steering wheel tightly for the whole drive over to Jade’s apartment. He should be feeling triumphant. After all, he had gotten what he wanted, right? He’d been trying to woo Jade for weeks, and his persistence had finally paid off. But he didn’t feel triumphant. He felt apprehensive. Because he realized that he couldn’t in good conscience agree to a relationship with Jade unless he told her