Page 97 of Cowboy Bull's Promise

I blink. “Isn’t your grandfather there?”

“He is. But I think you should meet him. Don’t you?”

And that’s when I freeze.

Not like fear-freeze.

More like holy shit, I might be about to meet the man who changed her diapers and also owns a shotgun freeze.

I’m not the meet the family kind of guy.

I’m the hide in the shadows and run before her husband comes back guy.

Thought this time around I’m kinda the make sarcastic remarks while fighting off fate and feelings guy.

Only I am done fighting.

Because Arliss?

She’s not just any woman.

She’s mine.

My mate.

And when she looks at me with that mix of hope and affection, my Bull stomps once in approval and gives me the mental equivalent of a headbutt.

So, I nod and let her lead me up the cracked concrete steps of her apartment building.

It’s old. Paint peeling. Rust stains curling beneath the windows.

I file that away under shit she’ll no longer be dealing with.

Because I’m going to take her out of here as soon as she lets me move her in to my place.

Slow and steady, I remind myself.

She’s a normal.

Human.

Soft in all the ways that count.

Must resist the urge to go all caveman.

Something brings my head up as we near her front door.

Voices.

Laughter.

A familiar scent.

A woman giggles.

A man responds with something that sounds suspiciously like a flirt.

Arliss opens the door and—BAM.

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