Page 76 of Hot Girls Date Shifters

“Yeah? Well, I like you, Elsie Stevens. A lot. And I don’t want our date to end.”

My heart is pounding inside my chest. For a moment we just stare at each other.

Then, I nod.

Because I don’t want it to end either.

After lunch, Graham takes me to the Barvale Arboretum.

Summer is showing off.

Butterflies drift lazily through beds of lavender.

Bees hum between bright yellow coneflowers.

Children laugh somewhere near a koi pond while their parents sit on nearby benches.

I can't seem to stop wandering with him.

“Oh!”

I hurry toward a blooming magnolia.

“Look at this.”

He follows without complaint.

Every time I stop...

He stops.

Every time I kneel to admire a mushroom growing beside the path...

He crouches beside me.

When a family of ducks waddles across the trail...

He waits while I quietly count the ducklings.

“You notice everything,” he says.

I glance up.

“Don't you?”

He smiles.

“Not like you.”

I trail my fingertips across the velvety petals of a deep red rose.

“I spent years too busy to notice anything.”

The admission surprises even me.

“I promised myself I'd never live like that again.”

He doesn't answer right away.