Page 52 of Snagged By Hook

“TAW? Do I even want to know?”

“No,” Nova confessed with a blush she felt to her toes. Hook would weasel it out of her one way or another, and she didn’t mind his methods.

“Count it any way you want in your head, but you better loosen up the vocal cords before you hit the border.” That sounded like Zombie. The rest of the words were lost when Hookdipped back out of the kitchen, closing the door behind him with a wink.

Always with the wink.

Heidi pulled the lighter from her pocket to light the candles. “You did a great job on the frosting, June. The dandelion is beautiful.” Heidi smiled down at Nova’s daughter.

“Thanks. It’s Jeremy’s favorite, dandelions and vanilla.”

That wasn’t exactly true, the vanilla was Nova and June’s favorite, and well, the dandelion had become Hook’s favorite, but only because ofhis Flower. It had become a theme in their lives since the day Hook showed up to tow their car. The sweet man had even tattooed one of June’s dandelion drawings on his arm.

“Are you sure you don’t want to write Happy Birthday or his name on it in frosting?” Nova asked for the hundredth time.

“No, Mom. This is how I want it.” It was a pale green cake with a big white dandelion on it and three candles. Why three candles? It made no sense, but Nova quit questioning her daughter’s logic. She usually had a reason, even if it wasn’t for her to understand. And who cared? It made June happy, which made Nova happy.

Hook and June had become inseparable—she was almost jealous. They shared a bond that defied explanation. For example, it wasn’t even Hook’s real birthday. June declared today his birthday when she found out he didn’t even know his real birthday, just the one they gave him when he was left at a church and entered the system. June had been appalled in only the way an outraged child can be.

She’d picked her favorite day of the year and declared it his birthday. Nova wasn’t sold on the favorite-day-of-the-year thing. It was more likely an excuse to have a party. June had asked everyone in the club about their birthdays and written them on the calendar in her room, a dandelion one, of course. Then shechose a day in between all the others so she could practically have a party every month. The kid was an evil genius.

“Ready, Mom?” June asked, cake in hand, walking slowly so as not to put out the candles. Heidi held the door open.

“Let’s ride,” June declared in the tone Hook did, and Nova rolled her eyes.

“Go on, Nova, we’re right behind you,” Heidi ordered.

Nova thought the cake should enter first, but it wasn’t her show. They were both following the orders of the pint-sized party planner.

When Nova turned, it took a hot second to absorb the scene before her, even then she didn’t comprehend it. The Royal Bastards stood in a semi-circle, hands clasped in front of them. On the floor before them, Hook was kneeling, and Devin hovered with her phone up.

“What…” She turned from the men to look at her daughter and Heidi. Both were beaming like they had a secret. June stepped forward. “Come on, Mom, Jeremy’s waiting,” she stage-whispered. Nova did as her daughter bid her, and realization struck.

Hook and June had tricked her. This wasn’t Hook’s new birthday at all.

Hook reached up and took her hand, clearing his throat.

“I never had a reason to believe in magic until I made a wish on a weed. That day, and the ones that followed, proved to me that magic is real. I can’t think of anything more magical than the two of you loving someone like me.”

Nova sobbed. She couldn’t hold back the sound, no matter how hard she tried. Under the armor he’d inked himself in, beat the heart of a hopeless romantic. How many ladies could say their man had the body of a badass biker with the soul of a poet? It was as if she were in a romance novel, and she was getting the perfect happily ever after.

“I’m asking you”—he turned his gaze to her daughter—“and you”—he turned back to Nova. “To make a wish, one we can make come true together. Will you, Nova Grace Harper, and you, June Bug—Flower Harper, honor me by legally becoming my family?”

He looked so hopeful and open. So different from the closed-off man who’d winked at her while staring at her tits with his arm draped around another woman.

He was still a helpless flirt, but it reached his eyes now when he looked at her.

Nova looked at her daughter, who was nodding so hard the cake was in peril.

“Psst,” Santa goaded. “I think you’re supposed to blow out the candles to make that wish, but what do I know.”

Nova nodded and bent toward the cake. Hook and June leaned in too, and the club counted.

“One, two, three.” On three, they each extinguished a candle.

Gwen appeared and reached for the cake. “I’ll get this cut while y’all finish up.”

Finish. What was there to finish?

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