Free Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love (Melissa) BBW Werewolf Romance (Hope Valley BBW online dating app romances Book 3) by Ariana Hawkes

swiped to Harley’s message. She hit reply, and wrote:
    I do want to give you the chance to explain. Everyone deserves that at least. Are you free this afternoon? We could meet for coffee in Gino’s – maybe midday?
    As she hit send, she saw that he was online. There was a little green dot next to his profile. He’s awake early; it’s still only 7am . He replied immediately:
    Yes I’m free. That’s perfect. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet me, Melissa. I hope that everything will make sense once we speak.
    Forever yours,
    Harley.
    His words delivered a shot of adrenaline to her veins.  She wanted to be able to trust him, so badly. She knew, without a doubt, that if she didn’t have that uncertainty, she’d be head over heels at the prospect of meeting him for coffee. Her emotions were in such a tangle.
     
    *
     
    The next few hours passed slowly. Finally, at 10:30am, Melissa stood in front of her closet, sifting through her clothes. She wore an A-line mini-skirt more often than not, as it hid the bits she didn’t like and stopped her from looking too dumpy, but she didn’t want to give Harley the wrong signals. She hated wearing pants though; they didn’t flatter her shape at all . In the end, she picked black leggings and a sweater dress with a rolled neck. The dress was cut loose on her curves and finished half way down her thigh, while the high neck drew attention to her face. She felt a flicker of annoyance that her shape always necessitated such complicated clothing decisions. She picked out a new pair of knee-high brown leather boots and, before she left the apartment, she enveloped herself in a giant down coat. She thought she looked like caterpillar in it, but she didn’t care. Being warm outdoors was the most important thing. Then, she put on a dark brown knitted hat, which sat prettily on her curls, and she headed out to her car.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Harley was already in the café. She could see him through the glass panel in the door. There was an open fire, and he was sitting in a nook right beside it. He looked great. A striped scarf was slung loosely around his neck, and his brown hair was tousled, as if he’d been running his hands through it repeatedly. Melissa had a fleeting urge to run her own hands through it. He smiled at her as she walked over to him.
    “Thank you so much, again, for coming, Melissa,” he said. His voice was warm, but she detected an undercurrent of unease.
    “I think I need to know the truth as much as you want me to hear it,” she replied, taking off her coat and hat. “I’ve tried so hard to forget about what happened, but I guess it was always going to come out someday.”
    She ordered a mochaccino from the waitress. They were silent for a moment, neither of them sure how to begin. Melissa glanced around the café distractedly. It was a cozy place, with cherry-colored walls, and dark wood furnishings. It would be the perfect place for a winter date. If the circumstances were different , she reminded herself.
    The waitress brought the coffee over.
    “Tell me what happened, from the beginning,” Melissa said, once she’d gone. Harley cleared his throat.
    “I was in math class, when I heard someone screaming from far away. I knew it was a sound of someone in pain and fear,” Harley said.
    “But how could you tell from so far away?”
    “Because I’m a wolf, Melissa,” he said, and the amber in his eyes became so bright that they were dazzling, and she had to look away. Fleetingly, she saw something of his wolf nature, and began to grasp that he wasn’t divided in two – half-human and half-animal – but his wolf was actually present all the time. It was unsettling and intriguing in equal measure.
    “So I rushed out of the lesson and ran after the sound,” he continued. “I traced it to a door in the hallway that I’d never noticed before. And I picked up your scent immediately.”
    “But how did you know my scent? You didn’t know me,”