Grumpy Old Softie #2
“Are you feeling alright lately? Or maybe, did you start day-drinking?” Her laughter was too damn adorable, and I went silent for a second to keep from saying so. “I realize we haven’t been together long, but you’ve been acting a bit too out of character lately and I’m starting to get worried.”
“I can’t be concerned about you?”
The flush in her cheeks made my hand twitch, desperate to touch her in a way I definitely shouldn’t.
“I never said that. It’s just a bit weird with you being so considerate. I’m not sure how to respond to it when you genuinely ask me stuff like this.”
“My heart isn’t made of ice. Your Rose’s precious granddaughter and my new partner. It’s in my best interest to keep you happy,” I lied lamely.
Why is it that I turn into some kind of blubbering teenage boy around her?
Seemingly satisfied, she nodded. “Guess that makes sense.”
She brushed back her auburn hair and took out her phone, the emotion in her eyes back from earlier.
“That thing you asked the other day, if I felt strongly enough for Nigel to not be able to leave,” her eyes lifted from the device, glimmering, “I couldn’t argue that I wouldn’t be able to walk away.
” Her soft smile faded. “And Nigel doesn’t deserve that.
He deserves someone who couldn’t leave with time. Not if his life is on the line.”
I truly admired her strength and candor. It was few and far between who had it these days. And yet, I still wanted to comfort her in a way that went directly against my own interests.
“It’s true you should rethink the relationship with Nigel, but you don’t have to cut him off entirely. He’s still a friend, yes?”
As if she hadn’t thought about it, her eyes jerked up to mine. “Friend?”
“If his pack agreed, then nothing says he can’t join us.
It’s less likely to get back to his kind if his own people are on board.
Granted, it wouldn’t be ideal to move with that many people, but I could schmooze a few of the upper crust to permit their presence under the guise of a necessary collaboration. ”
I cradled my chin contemplatively.
“The Shadow Goblins are a big undertaking. Taking down an entire group of them would take all the help we can get. It wouldn’t seem unreasonable to ask a local pack to help.
After that, I’d use the connection to employ them more than once.
It wouldn’t look suspicious that way. The Organization has worked with different kinds of creatures to achieve certain ends, and with my endorsement, it’s not likely to be questioned. ”
She seemed genuinely surprised I’d offer. “You’d do that for me?”
“If that’s what you want,” I said, keeping the bitterness from tainting my voice. Her entire mood changed the minute it was about that wolf, and the envy burned my throat like acid. “It may appease him to some degree and thwart reckless behavior.”
If left the way he was, the wolf would chase her.
I was sure of it. I’d seen too many like him who abandoned themselves, their duties, their everything just to chase someone they loved.
I got the feeling if she agreed to a friendship and collaboration, he’d be appeased enough not to act senselessly and get himself killed.
Because foremost, I wanted to avoid the heartbreak in her expression.
I’d do whatever it took to redeem myself in her eyes.
Her lips moved and she glanced at the door, a curious action I took note of. But before I could really ponder her perplexing actions, she had her arms wrapped around me and her cheek against my chest.
It was ridiculous how rigid and confused I became in an instant.
Me, a Hunter who’d lived longer than anyone in the business.
Who most creatures with any amount of intelligence feared.
Who never let anyone come close enough to touch.
Who not once had been caught so completely off guard I visibly reacted to a shameful degree.
“Thank you, Phil. You might be a grumpy old man, but you’re a real softie sometimes. And I’d be the first to say I was wrong about you.”
I couldn’t even be angry when her heat was merged with mine, her small body a perfect fit inside my arms, which I brazenly wrapped around her.
“I hate to point out something when you’re being friendly, but it was you who worried about others seeing us.
This is definitely going to send the wrong message. ”
Blushing a vibrant red, she fled the embrace, and I instantly regretted saying anything at all. “I’m so sorry. I just—”
“Lost your mind for a bit? It happens.”
Her glare was unfortunately just as cute as her blushing. “Forgot where we were for a second, but you’re right. Lost my head for a minute. Why else would I hug an asshole?”
Chuckling, I motioned for the door. “Not the first time a woman’s forgotten herself around me.”
Her palpable disgust made me smile. “You’re seriously the worst. Maybe that’s why you hate Edward so much. He’s a gentleman.”
“Not the way I’d put it. He stalked her, and then up and left for months.”
The spritely Hunter’s happy grin put heat into my loins. “For someone who says he doesn’t like the movies, you remember a lot of details and specifics.”
I internally cursed how clever the girl was. “Just walk. You don’t want to make the wolf wait.”
“The wolf?”
Schiesse.
I cleared my throat, not one to mindlessly say something. “Nigel awaits.”
Her laughing eyes stayed on me for a second before she shrugged. “I’m a little nervous now.”
“And you weren’t before?”
“Not like this. I get to tell him to stay,” she said, her voice feather-light and joyful.
And while it was exactly the reason I told her I could help, the way she talked about Nigel made my throat constrict. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to keep her away from the Shifter.
But I couldn’t. Not when it’d steal her smile.
“Happy to help,” I finally responded, ignoring the way it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
We left separately and met up outside the school so I could drive her to where the wolf waited.
The unvoiced conflict churned in my head.
I drove the smiling teen to a guy who both didn’t deserve her and would very likely endanger her, and it put me in a bad mood. Even with her captivating smile next to me, the fact that it wasn’t for me was a new kind of torture.
When I parked, she didn’t move. “Do you think he’ll be satisfied with just being friends?”
He’d be as stupid as they got if he weren’t.
“You don’t owe anyone anything, not even him. People’s feelings change all the time. I thought you’d know that by now with all those sappy romances you watch.”
Her eyes narrowed on me, clearly not amused. “It’s not that simple when you’re in it. Haven’t you ever been in love before?”
Once.
I kept the forgotten pain from my expression and smirked at the nervous Hunter beside me. “Thought you said it wasn’t love.”
Her eyes rolled, and I smiled against my will. “It’s not. You know what I mean. I definitely like him enough to want to kiss him.” She quieted, obviously embarrassed, and my mood worsened. “Not that we ever did,” she corrected for some reason.
“Well, you don’t like me and we did.”
I knew exactly what I was doing, and it was completely childish. But it got the response I was looking for. She instantly flushed, bit her lower lip, and desperately tried to look anywhere but at me.
“Can you forget about that? Besides, you said it was to activate my blood.”
I did say that.
As much as I wanted to continue to tease her, I worried about the repercussions if I pushed too hard too soon. “I’ll stay here like you requested.”
The young Hunter’s hazel eyes slid over to me, a look on her face I didn’t quite recognize.
Hope? Desperation? Pleading?
“If you’re okay with it, can you come along?”
Genuinely surprised, I tightened my hands around the steering wheel. “You want me there now?”
“I’d feel better if you were,” she admitted in a soft, whispery voice.
Her uncharacteristically sheepish behavior, the way she felt safer with me by her side, very quickly put me in a better mood.
Beaming a smile at her, I caught sight of her widened eyes and blushing cheeks. “I’d be honored.”
Laughing, she opened the door and shook her head. “Just do me a favor, stay quiet. You tend to anger the people around you with the things you say.”
Lips tilted, I smirked at the brazen girl. “Not my fault people tend to take what I say wrong.”
Her amused laughter was music to my ears. “It’s easy to misinterpret what you say when you say it to get that sort of reaction, I suppose.”
In only a couple weeks, the teen figured me out quicker than most highly trained adult Hunters did in years.
Her intuition and cleverness went beyond my expectations, but I shouldn’t have expected anything less from the kin of Rose.
The woman knew I was trouble when she first met me, and she hadn’t been wrong.
Still, I couldn’t pretend I wasn’t eager to make a different impression with V. I wanted to let my guard down and show sides I’d kept locked away for almost two centuries. I wanted V to see the real me, not the fabricated persona I lived so long that it became who I was.
Just like I had with her.
Giselle.
She got out of the car and motioned for me to do the same. “Come on, you jerk. Let’s get this over with.”