7. Chapter 7
“ T his is silly,” Zephyr said as she pouted. Neil released her hand, and they walked side by side instead. She ignored how nice his jacket smelled, refusing to name the scent. It would be something ridiculous, like sawdust mixed with pine trees mixed with manliness.
“You wouldn’t let Tawny walk home alone,” Neil returned. “Why don’t you deserve the same care?”
“Ouch.” She cringed. “When did you get so intuitive?”
“About the same time my sister came home crying about some guy,” Neil said grumpily. “I’m new to it, so don’t expect much.”
“Noted,” she said. “But you’re in for a hike tonight. There’s a reason I fly everywhere. I live in the sticks.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I’m sure you do,” she quipped. “But don’t worry. I won’t let your sacrifice go unrewarded. I’ll mail you one of my calendars, like we talked about.”
“I’ll file a complaint with the Postmaster General if you dare,” he threatened.
“You protest a bit too much,” she teased.
Despite all the weirdness that had happened between them after their kiss, Zephyr already considered going for it again.
She imagined how her blood would warm and race through her veins when he kissed her.
But something held her back. She knew too much about him now.
If they hooked up, it wouldn’t be simple.
The way he talked about his sister and niece was too endearing.
The bridge of his nose was flushed, and Zephyr doubted the man could blame the cold weather for it.
She could take all the emotion out of sex when he was bossy, stoic, and a stranger. But when he was being cute ? Considerate? When she was wearing his damn coat? That made things real , and though she had once been engaged, she wasn’t sure she had ever been ready for something like that.
Leaves crunched underfoot. She thought about forcing him to take back his jacket, but then a gust of wind would hit her smack in the face and take her stubbornness away with it.
“Woah,” Neil said as he stopped before the white gravel driveway that led up to her family home.
Her house looked like a lookout tower—a strange architectural decision of her late great-grandmother.
The two-story cabin hung over a cliff, thick wooden support logs keeping the structure from falling into the deep valley below.
“It’s unique,” she agreed. She walked to the front door, fighting to get her keys out of her leggings, and Neil brushed past her to explore the porch. Though the intrusion irked her, she knew she would have done the same.
The porch wrapped all around the cabin. On one side, it leaned out over the ridge. That drew Neil’s attention. He tested the wooden railing before resting against it, enjoying the view. Keys in hand, Zephyr joined him.
The ridge dropped nearly fifty feet into an autumnal forest. As a child, Zephyr had loved leaping from the porch on her broomstick, free-falling, before launching herself back into the sky just before her feet touched the tops of the trees.
The idea of attempting that now made her stomach turn over.
“I forget you aren’t actually a city girl. You have an amazing view of the Hollow,” Neil remarked. He looked over his shoulder and eyed the white metal table and chairs in one corner of the porch. “And the sunrise. I’d love to have breakfast here.”
Zephyr’s laughter came out strangled.
Neil’s eyes widened, and he flushed. “Wait, I didn’t mean—”
She always left a window open, usually the one that overlooked the kitchen sink, for Dale to come and go as he pleased.
Her familiar used the window now, flying out in an angry flutter and screeching.
Dale aimed straight for Neil, launching a harmless, though aggressive, attack on Neil’s auburn hair.
Neil batted the air. “Alright! I got the hint!” He ducked as he stumbled off the porch. Dale returned to Zephyr’s shoulder the instant Neil crossed over the property line. The bird chirped sweetly and nuzzled into her hair. “You have a jealous familiar,” Neil shouted back at her. “And violent.”
Zephyr only smiled, watching as Neil walked away, waving a hand behind him until he vanished around a cluster of trees.
He would never guess it, but Zephyr knew Neil could win Dale over.
Dale had already climbed inside Neil’s pocket, which the bird had never done before to anyone other than Zephyr.
Dale had just needed to make a show of force as the “man” of the house.
If Dale didn’t like Neil, he would have treated him the same as he had Zephyr’s ex-fiancé when they first met.
Dale would have gone for the eyes.