Page 42 of Moonlight and Mischief
“I’m so sorry,” I stutter, rushing to grab their hands and peel them away from their defacement. “Daisy, you know better.”
“I was serious, I think it looks great,” Jasper says, chuckling.
Hawthorne and Crickett pick that moment to arrive as I’m still staring at the girls’ artwork. Leaning in, I hiss, “I’ll clean this up.” We rush back to the porch to present the girls to their parents, tugging their smocks off as we go.
“We painted the house!” Daisy blurts, looking proud. Crickett’s mouth tightens into a concerned frown.
“Don’t worry about it. Just a little finger paint. It washes off easily,” I assure her.
“I want my playdough!” Daisy whines.
Crouching, I look into her eyes. “We talked about how that playdough is for the classroom. You can play with it tomorrow with your friends. Remember?”
“Oh, right,” she says. Hawthorne rolls his eyes at his daughter’s antics and leads his little family away.
“Thank you, Marigold. You are the best!” Crickett hollers over her shoulder.
Once they’re gone, I unfurl the hose and begin to spray the log siding. The paint runs down, making puddles swirling with pink and blue. As I’m stepping closer to concentrate on a particularly stubborn area, the snap of a branch startles me. Swinging toward the noise, the hose comes with me.
The water is still pressurized from my hold on the hose, and the spray soaks Jasper from chest to knees in a split second.
His surprised expression is so cute and my nerves so frayed, that I can’t help but burstinto a fit of giggles. For a moment, he blinks at me, mouth slightly open. The hose sprays into the dirt at my feet.
“I’m so sorry,” I say, fighting back another fit of giggles. Spell broken, he stalks forward, reaching for the hose in my hands, but I twist away.
“Marigold, give that to me,” he says, his low voice caressing my skin. He sounds far too calm for someone scrambling to take something out of my grasp.
“No way!” I say, backing up a few steps and grinning like a maniac. But Jasper is incredibly quick, and when he darts forward, I cannot react in time. His arms clamp around mine, and in the struggle, water shoots straight up and covers us like rain.
“Happy now?” he asks, water dripping off his nose and eyelashes.
“Yeah, I am,” I snicker, trudging over to turn off the hose he’s now pointing at the ground.
We stretch out on the wooden floor of the patio, letting ourselves dry before we traipse across the cabin’s wood floors.
Stretching my neck to look at Jasper, I say, “I forgot to ask, how goes the Alpha Counsel prep?”
“Fine. We spent ages going over everyone we know from each pack that might be there. And I know a lot of them, but it’s still a lot of new names to learn.”
He looks up at the beams above us, the fading evening light haloing his profile. He’s breathtaking.
“So your parents will be there,” I say quietly, “And maybe your sister?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure how much they’re training her, since she’s their heir now and everything. Theywon’t bring her if she isn’t ready to make a good showing.”
“Have you talked to her at all?”
He turns his head, aqua eyes meeting mine. “The two times I texted her, she sent back a picture of her middle finger.”
“That gets the point across, I guess.”
His lips curl in amusement.
“Would you try to talk to her if she comes?”
“If I can. But I doubt I’ll get a chance.”
“Are you okay with that?” I probe, my tone gentle.
