The Things We Water

I was going to blame Sienna for why I was so distracted a few nights later.

Sienna: You met any cute guys yet?

Sienna: Any future Mr. Popoca’s?

I had not, in fact, met a single cute guy at the ranch… not any that counted. I wouldn’t refer to Henri as a mere “guy,” and my feelings toward Randall unfortunately didn’t run in that direction at all. None of the dads I’d met at the nursery made the list either—they were all mated.

So, I hadn’t needed to type more than two letters back at her.

Me: No

Sienna: What are you waiting for then?

And it was that question I had on my mind when a short whistle had me spinning around on our way to dinner.

What was I waiting for?

I didn’t have any more time to think about it though when I found Henri coming down the stairs, looking fresh out of the shower in dark jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt that said Lobo Springs on it. The man, who had stayed and watched not 1 but 2 movies with us the other night, looked great.

Like always.

Lifting my chin, I gave him a smile. “Hi, Fluff. Just got off work?”

“Hey.” He nodded before glancing down and smiling a little. “Hi, Duncan.”

The tip of my donut’s tail twitched.

“Just got home a few minutes ago,” he explained warily, telling me everything I needed to know about how his shift had gone. “Where are you going?”

I hooked my thumb down the hall. “I was going to fix something for dinner.”

“I was headed that way too,” he said, brushing my shoulder.

I guess we were going together, I thought, as we headed in the direction of the kitchen.

“Agnes is eating dinner with Ema and her family tonight,” he told me, his nostrils suddenly widening, a frown coming over his face as he seemed to smell… something.

Ema was one of the elders, I remembered. Silver-Blue Hair lady.

I slowed down right when we were beside the door to Franklin’s bedroom. Were those voices coming from the kitchen or was I imagining it? No, I could sense a concentration of magic coming from across the house.

Werewolves, a lot of them, if I was right.

I peeked at Henri to see what he thought, but his expression was more confused than concerned, so it couldn’t be anything or anyone bad. It was probably the elders. They hadn’t approached me about the gnomes after all, and I’d kind of been waiting to get bombarded any time.

Which made me think about the other things I had been waiting around for.

I scratched behind my ear. “Do you know if Randall is eating dinner here tonight?”

He glanced down, his bone structure stunning in the overhead light. “Yeah. Why?”

“I wanted to talk to him about something.”

People thought cats were curious. They had nothing on werewolves. “You can talk to me.”

How could he make my life so complicated without even knowing it?

I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye… and he caught me, a suspicious expression already shaping his features. There is nothing to feel guilty over. “I was going to ask if he could help me meet potential mates here, since they’re all lining up to get to know me.” I snickered. “Get it? Since the only people I know are the kids and their parents?”

Henri literally slowed down. His eyebrows went up along his lightly lined forehead. He looked… he looked….

I squinted. “What?”

“You want to meet…” His cheek did that thing it did when it flexed. “Men?”

I might as well have named some demonic creature.

“Yeah?” I answered. Why did I want to start fidgeting? Why did I feel guilty? I wasn’t doing anything wrong, and yet…. “Sienna just got into my head, and it hit me that I’m kind of on a time crunch. It’s been over a month since we got here, already. A year will go by like nothing. I need to find a way for us to stay. I know some people think we might flake, but we aren’t, and if it takes me being the forward one, then”—I lifted my arms—“I’m game.”

If I’d thought I had ever heard his voice come out funny before, it was nothing compared to how it sounded next. Like he’d sucked on something sour. “What does that mean?”

Had he said that awful slow too or was I imagining it?

And there went the guilt again. I didn’t want to clarify. I also didn’t want to look at him when I answered, so I focused on the wall ahead. “You know what that means.”

“I don’t,” he argued.

How could I feel so uncomfortable so fast? I was doing what I had to. What their guidelines, or bylaws or whatever they were called, asked for. Was I being weird because I found Henri so attractive… and liked him more than a little… and he was the person I was asking for help?

Possibly. But… it had to be done.

It was one thing for me to recognize that Henri liked me as a friend and maybe didn’t hate looking at me, but it was something else to expect him to marry me.

Especially after the way he’d reacted, literally not responding, when I’d told him what Matti had suggested.

There had been that peck on the temple the other night, but that had been it.

And if I thought that was a shame, then it was on me.

I shoved the urge to fidget as deep inside of me as I could. “You know. I need to put myself out there. Maybe I need to go buy a push-up bra or walk around in a bikini or… do something to stir up some interest.” I dropped my voice and my shoulders. “I need to meet people.”

My best friend’s cousin stared down at me.

Was the vein by his temple throbbing or was it an optical illusion?

But really, what did he expect? I was the one on a schedule. I was the one riding a whole lot of hope into this whole ordeal. I meant what I said. This had to work, and I was going to do whatever was necessary to make it happen. I could put it off a little while, but the sooner I met someone, the sooner I could get to know them, that was a fact.

Why did I want to squirm justifying that?

Henri’s jaw worked from side to side very subtly.

I blinked.

“Do not walk around in a bathing suit,” he said through clenched teeth.

I couldn’t help myself when his cheek muscle started throbbing. I’d used up all my self-restraint for the month on Dominic. “But go buy a push-up bra?”

Somehow he managed to clench his jaw even harder, so I poked him in the forearm.

“I’m kidding, Henri.” I beamed at him. “I just won’t wear one.”

His eyes flicked up to the ceiling, and I laughed.

“I’m kidding!” I poked him again, because why not?

He scrubbed his hand down his face without lowering his chin. “You’re not going to ask Randall how to meet potential partners then?” he asked in a voice I swore made him sound like he was being strangled.

“No, I’m not kidding about that. I was kidding about the bra and the bikini… and the braless thing. I want someone to like me for me, not because of my skin suit.”

That got me his attention, narrowed eyes and all. “Skin suit?”

I nodded. My chest wasn’t small enough or big enough to fall into a fetish category. “I know my strengths are my sense of humor, that I’m willing to have kids, and I like taking care of people.” I ticked each off with my fingers.

The way those bright eyes trailed from my face, dipped to my collarbone area, and went back up made something funny happen to my chest. “You think thoseare your strengths?”

“I don’t know how I feel about your tone of voice right now, Fluff,” I deadpanned.

His hand started to rise toward his face again before he dropped it, but his flaring nostrils gave him away.

Someone was irritated.

“I gotta do what I gotta do.” I tried to ignore the unsettled sensation in my stomach. I bent down and picked up Duncan, who had settled at our feet at some point, with a grunt. He was heavy.His red eyes were aimed at our werewolf neighbor. “C’mon, Dunky, we need to find you a stepdaddy,” I mock-whispered.

The “yes”he sent me was strong and clear. At least we were on the same page. He really was my ride or die.

But a hand on my forearm stopped me before we got anywhere.

Henri’s warm palm skimmed up my arm, stopping right below my elbow. His voice was low. “I get why you think you need to do something”—he squeezed the words through his teeth—“but there’s no need to rush into anything. You’ve got time.”

I was ready to argue, but his hand slid down to my wrist and back, and my brain kind of short-circuited while he did it. “I just…” Get it together. I tilted my head toward Duncan, who was watching us. “I want to stay, Fluff. The longer I have to get to know someone, the better, right?”

Those incredible eyes narrowed again, and that muscle in his cheek started popping all over again. “Listen to me.”

He had a nice voice, and that wasn’t a hardship, so I nodded up at him.

“No one is kicking you out of here,” was his big speech.

“But—”

His hand gave me a light squeeze right before his thumb grazed the inside of my elbow where my veins were. “No one, Cricket,” Henri insisted quietly. “You’re going to be fine. Duncan is going to be fine. Wait your three months.”

The urge to disagree was so strong. I got what he was saying, and I was grateful that he was reassuring me, but my plan made sense too. The fact was, time wasn’t on my side, and I didn’t want to wait around to get my life started.

But I felt so freaking guilty for some reason, like I was cheating on… someone… just thinking about dating faceless people.

Maybe I needed to get over this and get to a better mental state so I could meet someone and not compare them to… other people.

I was going to have to think about it some more. Another week or two of weighing pros and cons wouldn’t kill me, I guessed. As long as another woman didn’t show up wanting to marry in, that was. I could freak out then, if it happened.

I nodded and watched Henri dip his chin right back, like the matter was settled.

For now at least.noveldrama

Turning back toward the kitchen, I asked over my shoulder, “You coming?”

“Against my better judgment,” Henri muttered, following behind me so close, it was hard to ignore the heat from his body and the potency of the magic that radiated from him.

I was going to think about it, and if it came down to it, I’d ask Randall for his opinion.

Henri meant a lot to me. He was a tie to my past, to one of my favorite people in the whole world, and he was… a shield here, even if I thought I was almost bulletproof.

He was my friend.

My very attractive, very mature, caring, steady, and responsible friend.

And why that idea made my shoulders want to slump wasn’t something I was going to pick at, I decided, as the voices coming from the kitchen got louder with every step.

I stopped walking and felt Henri’s arm brush mine when he did the same. His expression was concerned. “What is it?”

“Why are there a bunch of people in the kitchen?”

His eyebrows drew together. “I’ve been wondering that.”

“But you have an idea?”

He shrugged, but his face didn’t come across all that casual.

I held Duncan a little tighter. “No one’s here to try and tell me to leave, are they?”

His focus went over my head. “I doubt it.”

Dang it.

Weight landed on the back of my neck, and Henri tipped his head close, so close I could see the dark ring between his pupil and much lighter iris. “What did I tell you already? I’m not going to let anyone mess with you. Either of you.” The hand on my neck slid down to land between my shoulder blades. “Are we clear?”

I nodded.

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” he reminded me, apparently knowing I needed to hear that.

I nodded again, turning my attention back toward the kitchen doorway; the pressure on my shoulders got a little heavier.

“Nina, look at me.”

I did.

Did he have to be this intensely good-looking? Some people won the genetic lottery, and Henri had somehow scored a record-breaking Powerball that I didn’t exactly struggle to pay attention to.

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” he insisted, lowering his face just a little more.

I knew that, but did everyone else?

Henri looked at me for another minute before he blew out a slow, minty breath and touched my forearm. “Let’s see what’s happening in there. Together.”

When his hand didn’t fall away, I let the presence of it soothe me as we made it to the kitchen. Duncan’s nose started twitching, and I could hear him smelling the air. His tail went so, so still but the color didn’t change.

There were men. A lot of them. A couple were seated at one of the islands, two more leaned against cabinets, and three were in the process of cooking, Randall being one of them. On second glance, I realized one of the two at the island was Dom.

And they were all focused in our direction.

I hadn’t even realized I was backing up until I stepped on Henri’s toes, and whispered, “Save the baby.”

“What?” He got even closer to me. I could’ve sworn I felt his lip graze the shell.

“Take Duncan,” I repeated, tilting my head to look at him.

I wasn’t joking, but he must’ve thought I was when he got squinty. Before I could insist I was being serious, he eyed the room over my head, and then asked in a huskier voice than normal, “What’s all this?”

A chorus of “hey” and “hello” answered us, but I didn’t miss how some of the men stirred as they glanced between each other.

Did they seem uncomfortable all of a sudden or was it my imagination?

“We’re here for dinner,” a man with tan skin answered, smiling so wide and excessively welcoming, I scooched even closer to Henri, until I was basically tucking myself under his armpit.

A noise that sounded an awful lot like a growl vibrated through the chest beside my ear.

At the range, Randall held up his hands. “I told them to go home.”

I should have been pleased that people—men—were finally being polite enough to come visit instead of being nonexistent before this, but I couldn’t. No, sir, I could not. This was way too convenient.

Why now?

But if there were negative feelings in the room, Henri would’ve been able to sense them, and so would Duncan. My donut wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary, just resting in my arms, casually taking in the room. Nothing bad seemed to be setting his radar off.

And since they’d all been polite and greeted us… I lifted my hand. “Hi,” I called out.

More “hi” and “hellos” echoed around the room in a range of deep voices, but it was Dominic who stood up and called out my name like we were old friends. “Nina?”

This asshole had been in my face not too long ago. He’d also punched Henri, the kids had nothing but terrible things to say about him, and he was basically not going to be on my Christmas list in this lifetime or the next. But I also didn’t want to start crap, so I said, “Yes…?”

“You and your answers that sound like questions…,” Henri muttered under his breath. I would’ve glanced at him, but I had my eyes on our mutual enemy across the room. Agnes’s biological dad.

“I’ve decided I like that you didn’t back down from me,” Dom proclaimed, smoothing his thumb and index finger along the sides of his mouth.

I stared at him. What did he want me to do? Thank him?

But then Dom said what really made me choke. What had Henri making a hoarse sound in his throat and palming my lower back. The man who had stood nose to nose with me nights ago—and not in a good way—said, “I’ll mate with you.”

“You all good?”

I didn’t need my eyes to know it was Henri talking. I’d heard the front door open and close. Sensed the bright flame of his magic. On top of that, I’d caught Agnes’s smile when she’d done all those things too.

So far, there was only one person worthy enough of that reaction from her, and I’d seen her get picked up by almost every parent with a child at the nursery. She didn’t growl at them or anything, but there had definitely never been elation on her face. Not anything close to the kind of expressions she made for Henri every time she saw him.

Plus, there was no hiding the sound of his weight crunching over grass, pine needles, and tiny twigs… unless he’d wanted to. But Henri hadn’t been attempting to be stealthy as he made his way to where the three of us were lying. We’d just finished our popsicles, and we were on our backs, staring at the stars, soaking up the sounds of all the life surrounding us. The magic in the air wasn’t as strong as it could get, but it still felt like a gift to the senses.

It had been easy to cast aside the real-life TV show that had gone down in the kitchen hours ago.

It almost made me want to laugh, if I wasn’t still in shock, which I figured was exactly what Henri was asking about.

“I’m all right,” I answered him… and then I finally freaking broke. I propped my elbow under me to sit up and found him directly to my right. “What was that in there?” I gasped, cracking up.

A part of me expected him to smile, but he seemed about as amused as he’d been earlier, which wasn’t amused at all. If anything, he was cranky, from the way his jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were all flat and sober. Even his reply bordered on monotone. “A bunch of fucking idiots being idiots.”

He’d been quieter than normal during dinner. Twice, his phone had rung, and he’d peered at the screen with a scowl, then shoved it back into his pocket, which was something I’d never seen him do before. I’d heard all about him not answering Matti’s calls and taking forever to text him back, but I figured it wasn’t him because of the time of day. He usually only had time to talk around lunch time or midnight unless he was traveling.

Before that, Henri had stood in the kitchen after Dominic had made his unhinged declaration, which had surprised the hell out of me and made the men start talking over each other, and said in that commanding werewolf voice, “No.”

No. That was all that came out of his mouth. No.

His palm had then cupped the back of my neck, and when none of the strangers moved an inch, he’d raised his voice, “Everyone other than Randall needs to go home.”

I had stood there and taken in the tension in the room, those men I’d never seen before all exhaled deeply before, one after the other, they drifted out of the kitchen almost immediately. The only person who said anything else was Dominic, who on the way out, had one last thing to suggest, “Think about it,” before he’d disappeared.

Fortunately, being raised around werewolves had taught me they were all nuts. Every single one of them. It didn’t matter how reasonable or wonderful they were, or could be, they were, at their baser nature, nuts, and they followed their instincts more than anyone else I’d ever met. And once they got mad? Forget about reason.

And I needed to marry one of them. At least chances were, that’s who it would be. I was fairly certain every man that had been in the kitchen tonight was some kind of wolf.

After they’d left, there had been an awkward tension in the room as we helped Randall cook. Only when we’d sat down did he tell Henri that he’d spoken to Franklin and that the elder was on his way home. All the while, I’d sat there, half listening and halfway trying to remember what the men who had come into the kitchen looked like.

As sneakily as I could, I’d taken my phone out and jotted down some notes while I was at it, feeling like I was doing something illegal.

I wasn’t dumb. It hadn’t taken me long to figure out why they had shown up. Did I know for sure? No. But I could put most of the puzzle pieces together, especially after Dominic’s super-romantic offer.

Henri had said it best—werewolves admired strength.

And these crazy bastards would take me standing up for myself as an attractive trait.

I hadn’t cowered in front of a member of their community who was known to be a pain in the ass, and they admired me for it. It was annoying, but also a little funny. Talking crap to a Jenny Greenteeth and Spencer hadn’t been impressive enough, I guessed. That said a whole lot about Dominic though.

I snickered, casting a look at Duncan, who was on my left, his focus on the man on my right. His tail was down. I wasn’t sure if Henri noticed that or not, but I did.

“I was so confused,” I told Henri, shaking my head with disbelief.

He looked about as serious as a heart attack. All narrowed eyes, his mouth a hard line. “You understand why they were there?”

“Dominic offered to mate with me because I didn’t pee my pants or back down when he got confrontational with me. Now, there’s a bunch of werewolf men who show up for dinner? C’mon, Fluffy, I’m a werewolf in everything but magic and DNA.” And the nuts part. I paused as I thought about it. “Unless I’m wrong, and I should go ahead and feel like the biggest dummy on the planet.”

There was a short, steady hum in his throat. “You’re not wrong.”

Whew.

“I figured word would get around fast, but I didn’t expect it to be that fast.” That muscle in his cheek clearly popped over and over again, like it was spasming. “I bet it’ll be worse tomorrow.”

To an extent, I was horrified. Being the center of attention went against the way I’d been living my life since hitting puberty. Blending in had been my motto almost from the moment I’d learned how different I was from everyone around me—the magical and the non-magical. It was better to not bring too much attention to yourself, which came easily to me. I wasn’t very tall or short, very thin or curvy. At a quick glance, no one would do a double take if I walked by.

But now these crazy asses were interested.

All I could do was laugh. This wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted, but at the same time, it was exactly what I’d been ready to question Randall over before—how to meet people.

Be careful what you ask for. I wondered if whoever had come up with that saying was a magical being.

I laid back down and followed the line for the Milky Way splashed across the deep blue sky. I sighed. “Henri?”

“Yeah?”

My hand was clammy while I formed a fist. “Are any of those men from the kitchen decent guys?”

There was a clear pause before he replied, stretching the short word out. “Why?”

“Because.” There was no reason for me to feel bad. Uncomfortable, possibly. But this was for Duncan.“I’m going to wait like we talked about, but there’s no harm in doing background checks on some of those men.” I reached over and sank my fingers into my donut’s coat instead. The softness and the heat of his body was just the reminder I needed of why I was in this situation in the first place. “I don’t want to end up with a closet butthole.”

Henri sucked in a sharp breath.

“I don’t need an answer tonight, but think about it, would you?” I asked. “Please?”

He didn’t reply, but I knew in my heart that hewas a decent enough man that he would keep an eye out for me regardless of whether he wanted to or not.

Maybe I could sneak in the suggestion to Matti, so he could pass it along the grapevine for me. I doubted he could really guilt-trip Henri into anything, but maybe his influence would do something. At least a wink or a thumbs-down. That wouldn’t take too much effort.

Or… I snickered.

“What?” Henri pulled that word apart by the syllables too.

“I was just thinking….” I tilted my head so I could get a good look at him. His attention was up on the sky, but I could see his cheek still glitching. Maybe I’d talk to him about having a magnesium deficiency one day. “My life would be way less complicated if you wanted to marry me, Fluffy.”

Henri didn’t even blink. There was almost no reaction on his face of any kind. It was only his cheek that stopped its shenanigans.

I wilted a little.

“Or not.” I only let my feelings hurt for a second before I laid back down so I could stargaze more. And maybe so he’d have a harder time finding any disappointment on my face. If it was there. “I’m messing with you.”

I’d been joking.

Hadn’t I?

So that my feelings wouldn’t project anything they had no business sharing, I focused on the way Duncan’s chest rose and fell under my fingers and told myself that I wasn’t embarrassed.

I wasn’t going to bring it up again, him marrying me. Not even playing around. Not ever. Period. I promised myself that right then and there.

This was going to be the last time I talked about mating with Henri.

My face burned, and I tried my best to ignore it.

But in the way Henri seemed to like throwing surprises around when they were the least expected, after a long stretch of slightly awkward silence, he cleared his throat. Then he said my name. “Nina.”

He was going with Nina. That meant business.

Fortunately, I excelled at customer retention even when I was frustrated with a grumpy customer and answered in a way that didn’t sound like I would’ve buried myself under leaves if I had the chance. “Henri?” I sounded so nonchalant, I would’ve given myself an award for my acting skills if I could have.

“I promised Matti when you were younger that I would always keep an eye on you,” was what his cool, neutral voice decided to share.

“Why?” I fought the urge to roll over and look at him. He was trying to make me feel better about shooting me down, I knew it.

“You remember the summer he went to stay with his uncles in Idaho?”

“No.” I remembered his uncles from Idaho—they were so nice and fun—but him going to visit them? Never.

“You were about seven. He went to stay with them… it doesn’t matter. He was worried about leaving you alone for two weeks. He asked me to take care of you.”

I made a sound in my throat that I would never be able to describe, but it was pure love and emotion, and I suddenly wanted to hug my friend more than anything. That was the most Matti thing ever. Even back then, he’d been the best best friend.

“He wouldn’t drop it until I agreed,” Henri went on, his own voice very casual. “I did, eventually.”

I tried to side-eye him without moving my head. “Is that why you were nice-ish to me?”

The man did a crunch to look over. “Nice-ish?”

My laugh caught me off guard. But I wasn’t really the grudge-holding type. And what was I going to do? Be mad because he didn’t want to marry me? At least he hadn’t laughed when I brought it up. I could take that as a win.

I did a crunch too and met his eyes. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I mean, you didn’t baby me or treat me like a princess or anything, Henri. You were never mean. If I fell down and no one else was around, you’d tell me to wash my cut off and hand me a paper towel. You didn’t put a Band-Aid on me and kiss my boo-boos. You were always polite. Patient. Nice-ish.”

There was another long pause of loaded silence. We stared at each other, and I would’ve given a day of my life to know what was going through his head while we did. But all he said was “I see” in a really weirdly tight voice.

It didn’t sound like he saw anything to me.

“It’s okay. You’ve always been a reliable person. I knew that if I really needed something, I could have asked you.” He’d been close to the bottom of the list, after my neighbor across the street, but what did I get admitting that out loud? “That was a big ask, so thank you for agreeing to keep an eye on me.”

He hadn’t committed his life and sword to my honor, but it was more than something. More than most people would have. Especially from a teenage boy.

I could have sworn he mumbled under his breath, and it made me smile up at the stars when I laid back down. “What are you grumbling over?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, purposely trying not to focus on our awkward marriage conversation a minute ago.

“Nice-ish. I was saying nice-ish under my breath.”

Someone was testy. “Are you mad?”

“No. I see your point now that you mention it.”

I lifted my head again to find him flat on his back, fingers knitted together and resting on his flat stomach.

But the expression on his features….

There I went feeling guilty again. “I’m not talking crap or being unappreciative. I know that you were nicer to me than you were to Matti⁠—”

Henri Blackrock literally grunted. “Not helping.”

I grimaced. “I’m making it worse, huh?” I could’ve sworn the side of his mouth curved up. “What I’m trying to say is that… yeah, wow, every way I try and word it, it still sounds like an insult. How is that possible?”

He grunted again like he agreed.

I’d dug myself into that one, even if it was true, and I didn’t mean anything that negative about it. I tried to think of something nice, and then winced right after it came out of my mouth. “You were like… the big brother I never had,” my freaking mouth offered.

Of all the things I could have said….

That got him to do another crunch. His eyebrows were basically a unibrow, they were so furrowed. His jaw so defined, I could see the striations of muscle beneath his skin as he snapped, “I’m not your big brother, Nina.”

Ouch. “I said like my big brother. Back then.” But ouch again. The good thing was, my little crush secret got to live another day.

Even though he had more than likely always known about it back then.

I wasn’t going to worry about it.

Stretching my arm out, I reached for him and touched the top of his hand, noting that his fingers were long and thick. “I was messing with you, Henri. Thank you for telling me that about Matti. I meant what I said about always knowing I could count on you if I needed you. I still think that way now.”

He didn’t say a word, and I winced.

There went my big mouth again. “If it makes you feel better, when the gnomes showed up the first time, I was ready to run with the puppies and leave you with them because I knew you’d protect us.”

His blink made me snicker, and the reappearance of Teasing Henri soothed what was left of the hurt from his polite way of shooting me down. “Thanks for making me your sacrifice?” he muttered, but there was a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth while he did.

“You’re welcome,” I told him sweetly, relieved we’d worked our way back to this point.

His lips twitched a little more. “You’re a real brat, you know that?”

“Only around you, I guess.”

He huffed, and it made me smile.

Not two seconds later, the familiar sound of his phone ringing filled the night. His “Blackrock” was sharp.

That was my sign to sit up. I was brushing off my back when Duncan climbed into my lap as Henri spoke to whoever was on the other line, the frustration on his face evident when I peeked over.

I poked Duncan, who looked up at me with those brilliant red eyes, and I tipped my head toward the man on the phone. Hunching over him, I cupped his ear and whispered, “Tell him he’s it.” We had already played, the three of us, but another quick game wouldn’t hurt.

My donut’s red eyes were bright. “Yes,”he confirmed.

I smiled and pet a long line down his back, noticing that he hadn’t just gotten taller but there was definitely more spine to touch now too.

Henri said something sharp, rolling up into a sitting position. He ran a hand through his hair aggressively, meeting my gaze quickly. Reaching out, I set my palm over his trapezius and kneaded the muscle there for a second before pulling back.

If he ever made a face at my affection… I’d keep my hands to myself at that point.

His gaze stayed on me as he wrapped up his call, then slid his phone back into his pocket.

“You okay? Do you need to go to work?”

“It’s all good.” His nostrils flared softly. “Just an administrative call that could’ve waited until tomorrow.”

I nodded and discreetly poked at Duncan. My brilliant genius didn’t miss a beat. He stood up, stretched his front legs out, going into downward dog, and real casual-like, trotted over to Henri.

The normally serious man watched him closely, even smiling a little when the puppy stopped right beside his knee.

I got my legs under me, and I caught Agnes getting up slowly too. She must have recognized the signs. Or eavesdropped.

Duncan stared up at Henri for a moment, that incredible tail a candle in the darkness.

Very gently, my donut set a single paw on the man’s kneecap. His head was high, his tail as straight as any pointer’s. Everything after that happened really quickly. Dunky barked, sharp and sudden, and in the next blink, he took off running.

Agnes sprinted in the opposite direction.

And I crouched there, smiled at His Royal Fluffiness and said, “That was him tagging you, if you didn’t get that.”

He blinked, and I watched his smile start at one corner of his mouth and stretch to the other side. “I got that,” he confirmed.

I hopped up. “Just making sure.” I grinned at him before walking off in another direction from where the kids had gone. We both knew he wasn’t going to go after me first.

I’d only managed to make it a few feet when I heard “You’re still a brat” over my shoulder.

I might be a brat, and he might not be interested in me enough to marry me, but at least I’d helped make him smile.

That was something.

And it would have to be enough.