Chapter 2
Rick stared at the stunning woman before him.
She was close to his age, he could tell, but her eyes still held a spark of humor and livelihood.
Her long, colorful skirt and matching blouse made her look feminine, and in the firelight, he could imagine that both of them were far younger.
His wolf roiled inside of him, stirring up even more feelings.
Could that be right? Surely not. It’d been a long day, and he was tired. That was all.
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Carol stammered after a moment, her voice light and crisp like a bell. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”
“I can say the same,” Rick replied. Holly had told him about Carol, but the thing he’d been most concerned about was the fact that humans were living right next to the clan. They were safe, though, and that was the most important part. No one had told him how attractive Carol was, though.
“You know, it’s such a beautiful night.” Stacey, who had her arm looped through her mother’s, pulled them both back down into their seats near the fire. “We’re fortunate to have such good weather out here. Pierce, Rick, you should join us.”
“I suppose we can for a minute,” Rick hedged. He hadn’t meant to stay at all. In fact, he hadn’t even planned to go for a run that evening. Right now, though, his wolf demanded he take Stacey up on her offer.
“Actually, though, I can’t stay.” Stacey popped back up from her seat. “I’ve got to round up the kids and get them to bed. We have…something with the school in the morning. And Pierce, I believe Holly said she wanted you back home to help with Ruby.”
“Is everything okay—oh.” He startled and glanced at his father and Carol. “Yeah. I guess she did say something about that.”
“Rick, you can have my chair,” Stacey offered generously, waving at it as though it were the grand prize on a game show.
Considering that it was next to a woman like Carol, perhaps it really was the grand prize. He paused as he watched Stacey and Pierce hurry off, their heads bent together conspiratorially. “Not exactly subtle, are they?” he said as he went ahead and took the offered chair.
“It’s kind of funny, really,” Carol remarked, tucking a strand of her steely gray hair behind her ear.
“Stacey was in marketing for years and was well up there on the corporate ladder. You’d think she’d know a bit more about how to influence people without them knowing about it.
I guess all this time out here in the salty air has gotten to her head. ”
“Well, it’s not like Pierce is any better,” Rick admitted with a smile.
“He didn’t say much just now, but you should hear him behind the scenes.
‘Dad, don’t you think it’s time you started dating again?
Dad, wouldn’t it be great if you met someone?
’ Either he genuinely believes it, or he’s just trying to get rid of me. ”
“I’m sure it’s the former, and I’d like to think the same of Stacey.
” Carol smiled and leaned back in her chair.
She’d been stiff and silent for a moment when the introductions had first been made, but now she appeared to be relaxing again.
“I’m not sure about their methods, though.
I think they’ve thrown us together just because we’re similar in age. Like a play date for children.”
Rick reveled in the happy look on her face.
It stirred something inside him, something that made him want to just sit there and stare at her in the firelight.
Carol had high cheekbones and a generous smile.
She’d taken care of herself; that much was obvious even without bright lights.
“If Pierce is tired of me, then it’s his own fault.
He and Holly were the ones who asked me to come out here to live with them and suggested that I join the fire department. ”
“They can’t complain about us being in their hair too much, considering they were always in our hair while they were growing up!” Carol laughed. “It’s only what they deserve, you know.”
“It’s worth putting up with it to have so much time with Ruby.
My grandkids are just amazing, although I know any grandparent would say as much.
” Rick realized he was smiling. Not just smiling, but grinning.
And it wasn’t simply because he’d thought about Ruby, although the sweet baby girl was certainly the center of his life most days.
No, it was because of Carol. It was the way her easy laugh came out of her throat, well-practiced and used often.
It was the way she’d leaned back a bit as she’d done so, clapping her hands lightly.
She’d only known him for a few minutes, but she could be herself.
Carol nodded. “They would, and I’m one of them. Vivian and Elijah are my greatest blessings. You know, though, a grandmother has more of a right to be enchanted by her grandkids than a grandfather does.”
“Why is that?” he challenged.
“Because we grandmothers know just how hard it is to bring those kids into the world, but this time, we didn’t have to go through it!” She laughed again, her fingers brushing against his forearm. “It’s true, but I’m also just giving you a hard time. Don’t mind me. I can’t help myself.”
Rick shook his head. “You get to a point in your life when you don’t hold back as much anymore.” In fact, plenty of interesting notions were currently boiling up inside him. It was too soon to speak of them. Hell, it was too soon to even be thinking of them. And yet…
“So you’ve decided to spend your retirement doing the same thing you did while you were working?” Carol asked, arching a brow.
“I do,” he admitted. “I tell myself that it’s just something to keep me busy, although I often end up working more hours than what Pierce and I had originally talked about. That’s my fault, not his.”
“And today was a particularly rough one?” she prompted. It was an innocent enough question, one that anyone could’ve asked as a matter of routine small talk.
To Rick, though, it felt like much more.
She actually wanted to know more about him, and his wolf surged once again.
He tamped it down, assuring himself that it was only so active because it’d been out recently.
“It was. Anyone who works in emergency services will tell you that it’s the full moon or the time of year or some other such thing, but in my experience, you can’t predict it. Some days are just hell.”
“And so you run when you get off work?” she prompted, gesturing vaguely toward the beach where he and Pierce had been out just before they’d arrived.
“Some days. Most days,” he amended. Today hadn’t been a day when he’d felt like it.
The heavy PPE had weighed him down more than usual.
The back-to-back calls had him questioning whether he should still be working in this field.
When he’d clocked out for the day, there was nothing he wanted to do more than go home and cuddle with Ruby.
Pierce had encouraged him, though. “Aw, c’mon, Dad. You know how good you feel afterward. You’re the one who got me started on it, so it’s only fair that you come along. It’ll be good for you.”
Rick had clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, amused that their roles had seemed to be reversed at that moment, but he’d gone along for that run.
Even Pierce couldn’t have imagined just how good it’d turned out for Rick, now that he was talking with Carol.
“I could say that the exercise keeps me young, but I don’t think I’d be fooling anyone. ”
“I don’t know.” Carol tipped her head away from him and squinted. “I’d say you're old enough to sell life insurance on late-night television, but not old enough to sell adult diapers on Sunday mornings.”
The two of them exploded with laughter. Several of the Brigham clan members were still hanging around, and a few glanced in their direction.
Rick wiped a hand over his mouth. There wasn’t a thing wrong with having a wonderful conversation with a gorgeous woman, but he felt that if anyone looked too closely, they might see right through him and know what he was thinking.
“I never was much of an actor, so I’ll stick with firefighting for the moment. What about you? Are you retired?”
“Not anymore,” she said with a shake of her head.
“I’m not sure that I really ever was, to be honest. I mostly just did some secretarial work to get the bills paid when I was younger.
Once the grandkids came along, I spent most of my time with them.
Even moving out here wasn’t really like I was retiring because I was helping Stacey and the kids.
Things just don’t stay the same forever, though, and I decided it was finally time for me to work on a passion project, something that I’d always wanted to explore. ”
“Which is?” He was captivated by her. Every word that came out of her mouth held either a tinge of excitement or an undercurrent of humor.
Rick had sat with her and talked to be polite, but he knew the conversation had moved past that now.
He wasn’t paying attention to the bonfire in front of them other than to study the way the light played on her face.
He’d nearly forgotten about the idea of going home and resting, thinking that perhaps he could just stay out there in this camping chair all night.
Carol held up her hands as though she was envisioning her name in lights on Broadway. “The Biscuit Box Dog Bakery!” she laughed.
“A dog bakery? I didn’t know dogs were in the habit of ordering doughnuts for the office or fancy cakes for a wedding.”
She let out another trill of laughter, and Rick’s heart soared toward the stars on it. “Oh, yes. They’re very picky about it, too. I have to tell you, poodles make the worst clientele. So snobby!”