Page 43 of A Wolf After My Own Heart
“I’m never just being nice. Finish your milk. And it goes in your mouth, not down your chin.”
“Picky, picky,” he muttered.
And this time, when the door behind her was thrown open, she didn’t even jump.
“Are you guys okay?” Ox cried. She turned and saw he was a wreck. Worse than the night they met, and that was saying something. His hair was a mess (and it was hard to muss up a Caesar cut), his smudged dress shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way, his suit jacket wasn’t buttoned at all, his pants were dirty, he hadn’t zipped his fly, and he was sockless while wearing dress shoes (ouch!).
Why, if I didn’t know better, I would think earlier tonight he stripped outside, didn’t care where his fine clothes landed, prowled around for a bit, did…something…and then rapidly re-dressed and ran over here. At night. During a house fire. In forty-five-degree weather.
“The kids are fine,” Garsea assured him. “And you saw Mama for yourself.”
His head jerked in what was probably a nod.Man, the stress coming off the guy! “Yeah, she’ll be over pretty quick—she’s talking to the firemen.”
Caro held up her pad.FireFIGHTERS. There’s women too.
“Sure, sure,” he replied. “How about you?” he asked Lila, stepping forward. He reached out as if he was going to touch her but settled for raking her up and down with his gaze. “Are you okay? You didn’t get singed? Or worse?”
“Don’t be a doof,” she said but didn’t put any venom in it. She wasn’t sure if she was flattered or alarmed by his intensity. “I was never in the house.”You know that. You saw me run over there. Or are you wondering how I am after all those wildlife sightings?
“You weren’t, but you certainly came over quick enough. At least, that’s what Mama Mac told me when she called,” Garsea said. “And you brought ladders.”
“Andwet rags,” Devoss added.
“Why are you all staring at me likeI’mthe weirdo? What should I have brought? Fireworks?”
“Damn.” Devoss wiped away his milk moustache. “Now I’m kinda bummed you didn’t bring fireworks.”
“C’mere,” Ox said. His hand closed over her elbow and Lila entertained a brief vision of breaking his wrist before shrugging it off and letting him haul her outside. The newly repaired screen door thwacked against the house, then rebounded as he pulled her further into the yard.
“I can appreciate wanting distance for a private chat, but your family’s only eight feet away. Pretty sure they can still hear us.”
“Theyaremy family,” he replied absently, sounding pleased, which was strange. “Are yousureyou’re okay?”
She began prying his fingers off her wrist. “Honestly, you seem a lot more rattled than I am.”
“Rattled. Yeah. And you’re…not.”
“Not what? Rattled?”
No response.
“Um. This is really close for a conversation.”
Ox had let go of her wrist only to take her gently by the shoulders and was peering at her like a farsighted dentist looking for cavities. “I don’t know who you are. Or why you are. But I really, really want to find out. I know I fucked everything up. I know I betrayed your trust. Have dinner with me tomorrow anyway. Please.”
“You mean tonight,” she corrected, because none of these people ever knew what time it was. “And I can’t. I have to put up all new booby traps for Garsea to trip when she comes snooping while we’re on our fake date.”
From inside: “Obviously I won’t repeat the behavior.”
From right in front of her: “I’m so, so sorry. But that wasn’t a fake date. Not entirely. I really did want to spend time with you. Not a business lunch, not on behalf of IPA. Just you.”
She grabbed his wrists with every intention of wrenching them away but then just stood there like a dolt and stared back into his green eyes. She could smell him, and it wasn’t at all objectionable: grass, smoke, and something that was just Ox.
“Pretty skeevy trick,” she pointed out.
“It was. No excuse. Let me make it up to you.”
“Why?”
