Page 31 of Tail, Dark and Handsome: Celestial Mates
“Oh.” His ears went flat. It was the saddest thing she ever saw. “And my father? He’s not so bad once you get to know him.”
She snorted.
“We’re going sailing this afternoon. You should come! Then you’ll see that he can be nice.”
“I highly doubt that.” Winter didn’t do nice. She suspected that nice was incompatible with his soul.
“I dare you.”
She wasn’t a child, but damn if she didn’t like the challenge in his jaunty tone. “Wanna bet? He’ll lose his cool in the first twenty minutes.” She knew Winter’s type, hypersensitive and ready to go off with the slightest provocation. She never backed down from some cocky pilots swinging their dicks around, trying to make her feel lesser because she flew day trips instead of long hauls, and she wasn’t about to start with Winter Cayne.
“Deal! You’re going to have the best date with my dad. Come on.” He took off down the beach, walking fast enough to be a run.
Wait a minute…
“It’s not a date!” she shouted after him, positive he suckered her into a date. “I’ve never been sailing!”
Winter
“What was that last night?”the comm unit whispered the message in Winter’s ear. The computer continued to read,“Who is that female? Do not cause trouble and upset our investors. We can’t afford to drive them away.”
Winter ignored the rest of the message. More of the same from his cousin.
Be more acceptable in public. Why can’t you smile for the cameras? Not like that. Don’t cause trouble.
It was exactly like all the messages he received from his father. The only difference was that now Winter didn’t care what his cousin, the stockholders, or the investors thought of him.
The sailboat rocked gently. The day turned out to be bright and the air pleasingly crisp. Three layers of protective gear shielded his eyes from the aggressive sunlight, but he found the effort worth the bother of layering lenses, tinted glasses, and wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
“Dad! Look who I found.” Zero approached the dock, the human female in tow, his chest puffed out as if pleased with himself.
Zero’s fascination with the female worried Winter. Somehow his kit had imprinted on the female. This was as bad as when Zero dragged home a wuap and begged to keep the hissing, feral creature.
Marigold frowned at Winter, arms crossed over her chest. “What?”
He believed the human to be marginally better behaved.Marginally.
“When you said you had to get something, I assumed you meant a snack, not a person,” Winter said. He should have allowed Zero to keep the wuap. Perhaps then he would have purged himself of the need to be a caregiver to a wild creature.
“A guest,” Zero clarified.
“As you say. Help your guest aboard and give her the proper safety equipment,” he said.
Zero marched up the ramp, ears pert and tail swaying in a manner that suggested he was entirely too pleased with himself.
Was this not a desire to have a pet? Was this an infatuation? His kit was too young for such emotions. Winter tried to remember when he was a youth of fourteen. He had been friends with Rebel for years, but he did not regard her the way a male regarded his mate. But he had noticed females and wanted their attention.
It was too difficult for Winter to reconcile his own wants and feelings at that age with his innocent and sweet mental image of Zero.
No. Not possible.
His meddlesome kit was up to no good.
The female stepped onto the gangway. A swell rocked the boat. She swayed dramatically and hopped back onto the dock.
“Take your time,” he said, adjusting the brim of his hat. “We’re not wasting daylight.”
She lifted her stubborn chin and traversed the short distance from the dock into the boat, clutching the rope railing the entire way. Once inside the boat, she immediately flopped down onto a seat and grabbed onto a handhold.
