Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
He looked like the kind of law enforcement a woman might get arrested for on purpose.
Was I going into heat? Was I capable of that? Because….
I had never in my life had a thing for a guy in a uniform, other than a football one, but I was really, really reconsidering it.
I’d always found him attractive. First, he’d been cute. Then I’d thought he was hot. Now? He was handsome.
Too handsome.
Stop it, Nina.
“I’ll live,” I called out, retying my shoelace real quick, then tucking my legs under me and standing. He was the only one around, so I had that working for my pride. “Hi, Fluff.”
A flash of blue stopped in place, Duncan’s tail straight up in the air. He wasn’t growling. That was good.
“Hey.” Henri kneeled and held out his hand. “Hi, Duncan.”
The puppy didn’t move any closer, but he craned his neck, smelling his fingers from a distance. Henri’s smile was visible through the shadows. Nothing could hide in them from me.
“You’re a handsome boy. A good boy, huh,” he murmured to my donut, keeping his hand extended as a little nose twitched. “I made your breakfast this morning, remember that?”
I watched them.
“We need to take you to stretch your legs,” Henri kept talking to him in a low, calming voice. That small, pleased smile remaining on his features despite the fact Duncan hadn’t inched any closer to him. “How’s he done with Matti on runs?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as Duncan’s tail lowered just a little bit, like a hair, but a minor improvement was still an improvement. “We haven’t gone anywhere together where Matti or Sienna felt safe enough to be in bodies that they could run freely.”
“Why’s that?” he asked. Henri stayed focused on my puppy, who was doing the same thing right back. “He’s been with you for two years, hasn’t he?”
“Yeah, but we don’t see each other that often. We go a couple months between visits. Your cousin travels a lot, Sienna’s busy with work, and I’m not usually close enough to Chicago to drop by easily.”
He made a face.
What was that expression for? I wondered. What was wrong with that? It wasn’t like he saw them that frequently either.
Whatever had come to mind wasn’t that important though from the way he moved the conversation along. “If you’re comfortable with it, Randall and I can take him out on one of my days off. We can bring Agnes for company since they seem to get along. Nothing long or strenuous. Just to let him run a bit.”
I didn’t have to think about it. “Sure.”
Those orangey-brown irises met mine.
Why did he look surprised?
“What? Matti told me I could trust you, and if I can’t, then there’s no point in being here. And we used to know each other. You were always polite to me, Fluffy. Sometimes you were even very nice,” I teased him.
His eyes moved toward Dunky-Dunk, and I saw his mouth stretch into a smile as he gave my boy a long, assessing look, which he got right back from someone a fraction of his size. Duncan was half an angel, but his side-eye game was strong. He was something else. “That’s a good point.”
“He did really good at the nursery today.”
“Good job, pup,” Henri encouraged him, using a voice gentler than any other one I’d ever heard from him before.
I had to shove every little bit of my attraction down.
I fidgeted. “Hey, about Agnes… she caught us sneaking out, but I didn’t want anyone to think I was kidnapping her. No one has said anything about her parents….” I scratched my throat. “Is she yours?” They didn’t look anything alike, but you never knew. Sure, Henri didn’t have a mate, but….
That got me his attention. “Everyone here is mine.”
The hardest part of living here was going to be learning how to suppress my emotions, I decided right then and there.
Somehow, I kept my face even, chained whatever sound was in my throat in place, and said the only thing I could. “Hmm.”
But that wasn’t an answer exactly.
His gaze flicked to me before going back to my donut just as fast. “She’s bonded the most to me and Franklin, but we all take care of her. Every child here considers every elder extended grandparents, Agnes especially. In the same way that every adult is a guardian to every child,” he explained. “You’re included in that now. Their safety and well-being are the responsibility of everyone, not just a biological family member.”
That made my chest feel a little funny, and my eyes feel even funnier. The situation was what I’d been expecting. What I’d hoped for. “That’s nice.” I heard the hitch in my voice that got curious amber irises back on me. “Then, you’re saying I can take her out to play at night, if she’s awake, and no one is going to try and bite my head off?”