Then he tossed his phone aside and curled up with Lady Cujo, wondering when his life had gone so off the rails that he was lying in bed petting a cat and waiting for a cat lady to make time in her schedule for him.
Jesus. Even saying it back to himself sounded pathetic.
***
“A zoo, huh?”
“Come on,” Magnus said, gesturing at the lion enclosure. “I thought you’d like the zoo. These are your people.”
She snorted, but there was a smile on her face. “I do things other than hang out with cats, you know.”
He gave her a clearly skeptical look.
She tilted her head, the two short braids flipping against her shoulders. “Okay, not much other than hang out with cats, but occasionally I have been known to be social when animals weren’t involved.”
He chuckled at her playful tone and her mock-wounded expression.
It was a weekday and the zoo wasn’t very crowded. The weather was overcast, a slight chill in the air. As a result, it felt almost like the two of them were alone in the big park. Which was rather nice, all things considered. It meant they could walk as slow as they wanted without making it seem as if Magnus was slowing down his normal stride for Edie’s limping gait. Not that he’d do that, because he knew she’d get pissed. But he found that he liked taking his time to admire his surroundings with her.
Mostly, it gave him time to admire her, too.
She was dressed low-key again, in jeans and a dark pullover sweater that had a few cat hairs on it that she kept picking at. Other than the braids, she had a dark knitted cap tucked over her head. And she was wearing that bright red lipstick again that had fascinated him so much before. Today she seemed very much like her own person—comfortable in her own skin and sexy in her own way. He was surprised that for a date she hadn’t dressed much differently than she would for work . . . and he liked that. He liked that she wasn’t trying to change into some sort of sexy vamp now that they were going out. She was still just . . . Edie.
He’d gone casual as well, a plain knit sweater over jeans. Both items were extremely expensive and well coordinated, because his personal shopper had picked them out. Magnus liked to spend money to make sure that others knew he had money. It was a vanity of his, but he didn’t care. He also guessed at the way Edie’s expression hadn’t changed when she saw his clothing that she had no idea how much it cost. Which was also amusing in its own way. He suspected his socks probably cost more than her entire outfit.
“I picked the zoo,” he said. “Sue me.”
She wagged a finger at him, but she was still smiling. One hand held a small bag of popcorn that they’d gotten from a cart, and she nibbled on a piece, then offered him some.
He took a large handful, chewed, and then shrugged. “It was either the zoo or a video gaming convention, and I picked this. Clearly I did not choose wisely.”
Edie shrugged and threw a bit of popcorn at one of the nearby birds that hopped around on the trails between animal enclosures. “I would have gone to a gaming convention if you’d have asked nicely.”
“So asking nicely is the key?”
“The key to everything,” she said, a gleam in her eyes.
“Then may I have a kiss if I ask nicely?”
“You may . . .” When he leaned in, she shook her head, giving him a teasing smile. “Not.” And she walked away, tossing him a sassy look over her shoulder. “Not on the first date.”
Magnus chuckled and followed after her. “I already kissed you once.”
“That one you stole. That doesn’t count.”
He just grinned.
The zoo had been a good choice, he decided. At a gaming convention, there was always awkwardness between men and women. Half the women came dressed normally, and the other half came in costume, some skimpier than others. There were always the fanboys that ogled every woman, and then he had to deal with his own contingent of fans from Warrior Shop . But at the zoo? All they had to do was be themselves.
And he found that Edie was pretty fun to be around, which surprised him . . . and yet, not. She had a wickedly sharp sense of humor, she gave no quarter, and she knew a lot about every species of cat that they saw. He watched her melting expression as they passed by the leopard cage and she saw a baby leopard being tongue-bathed by its mother. She had a soft heart when it came to animals.
“I’m surprised you’re not climbing the fences trying to get in there and free the animals,” he told her, teasing.
She laughed. “No, contrary to what you might think, a lot of zoos take good care of their animals. There’s always a few bad exceptions, but for the most part, the zoo employees care about what happens to them.”
“So what made you decide to become a cat whisperer?” he asked her as they strolled toward the reptile house.
“Cat behaviorist,” she corrected, scattering the last few bits of her popcorn for the birds that waited nearby and then ditching the bag. “And it seemed like a good second choice.”
“Second choice?”
A shadow passed over her face and her smile faded. Then she looked at him, shook her head, and kept walking.
He held the door for the reptile house open for her, pondering whether or not he should push and ask what she meant by that. But they were still too new to each other, and this date was about getting her to fall for him. If it ended early, Levi’s date with Bianca would also end early, and they’d have to go through this shit again.
No, this date was a one and done as far as he was concerned. He’d date Edie, have a pleasant enough time, and then Levi would settle down to work once more and they could get back to The World . Already they were overdue on the schedule Magnus had made for his brother. Neither one of them could afford to be distracted by woman troubles.