Page 79 of Hero for the Holidays

“There aren’t enough wolves to concern yourself with,” he said.

“I don’t know,” said Fia. “I feel quite concerned with wolves. All fairy tales suggest we ought to be.”

“I think those wolves might be a metaphor,” he said.

“For what?” she asked.

He looked at Fia, his blue eyes blazing into hers, and he lifted a brow. And it was like he had spoken the words. He didn’t need to. But they expanded inside her all the same.

All the better to eat you with.

Yeah. She knew exactly what it was a metaphor for. She knew exactly what young girls were being warned about when walking in the woods. And it certainly wasn’t bobcats.

After all, walking to a cabin in the woods had been Fia’s downfall. She had definitely let the big bad wolf eat her.

And the way he was looking at her now?

Lord.

“I should be having my background check completed in a couple of days.”

“Great,” said Landry.

“So it should be full speed ahead for us to be both adopting Lila.”

“That’s so weird,” said Lila. “I’m getting adopted twice. And this time it’s by my biological parents.”

“Life is weird,” said Landry. “That’s for sure.”

“I think it would be more believable if I were a secret princess.”

“It’s definitely believable,” said Landry. “A secret princess with a throne made of stuffed animals and the gecko adviser.”

“Gort is a lousy adviser. Because he cares about nothing and no one but himself. And crickets,” Lila said.

“Well. Of course crickets. Though he hardly cares about them in a way that’s good for their health.”

“That is true.”

They had the pan-fried steak and green beans, and Lila went upstairs to go spend time with her lizard. Fia tarried. Even though she didn’t have a reason to.

“Want to sit outside for a spell?” he asked.

Somewhere in there, she should feel like there was a warning. Because she knew better than to go sitting outside on porch swings with Landry King. Because it was those hot blue eyes that had caused her all manner of trouble in the first place. But here they were, grappling with something entirely new, entirely different. So why did some of the feelings in her now feel so...familiar. Old.

The image had flashed through her mind before. Of their anger getting scraped aside. Demolished. And when that happened, it was unveiling some of the desire.

That old need that used to consume her, control her. They couldn’t afford that. But she still said yes.

“Drink?”

“Sure.” At the same time her subconscious told her no.

But she accepted a bottle of beer from him, and they went out and sat. “How were the last couple of days?”

“Good. They were very good. You know... This has been amazing. I’m starting to feel like it’s real. It’s taking time. I don’t know if this is a honeymoon or what. But I like it. She told me today that when her parents died she had a dog named Sunday. And that Sunday had to go to the shelter. I want to try to track her down. I mean, I know that there are very low odds that she’s in the shelter network anywhere. But I do want to know where she ended up. Because I think it would be good for Lila to know she’s okay.”

“We should get her a dog.”

---