Chapter 13 #2
He turns to fully face me, focusing with a bearish intensity I find wickedly sexy. “And? How was it?”
“I told him I’ve decided to wait and explore my options. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear, and I don’t know if it’s what you love hearing, either, but—”
I link my fingers together awkwardly.
“Nile, it’s not about me. You know that,” he says. “I’m surprised you shut him down. It’s a good thing, though. You have to do you.”
“Well, it wasn’t easy. I had to go with my conscience—and yeah, I guess I had Gramps whispering in my ear.”
He nods.
“I’m glad you did. I’ll make peace with sticking around a little longer.” He rests his elbows behind him, against the railings, the wind ruffling his hair.
My art brain switches on.
He’s so effortlessly interesting, begging to be immortalized.
I wince. “I’m sorry about that. Kit, too. She must miss you like crazy. I hate that I’m keeping you here.”
Actually, part of me isn’t sorry at all. If I’m stuck with a giant, at least it’s one who cooks and looks this good.
A girl has eyes.
And this girl enjoys what she sees every time his eyes flash sternly.
“She’ll survive.” Holden smiles. A real one. “That was always part of the deal. I knew what I was getting into when I accepted.”
“You were pissed about the terms and conditions,” I point out.
“I still agreed to the lawyer’s fine print, didn’t I.” He hesitates, frowning and glancing back over the rocky shore. His throat moves, but he doesn’t speak.
I can practically sense him holding back what he really wants to say.
“Go ahead. Tell me.” I rest my shoulders against the edge of the sliding door, folding my arms.
“What?”
“You obviously have something brewing. So say it.”
He snorts, but he relaxes again. “Kit won’t like hearing it’s an open-ended commitment. When I’d travel with your grandfather, he was rarely away for more than a week. This is longer than anything she’s used to.”
I wait as he pauses, chewing his lip, piecing together what he wants to say.
Yes, we’ve changed, opened up a bit, but not everything. There’s still plenty about his home life he hasn’t mentioned.
Kit’s a huge part of that, I know, and with an active little mind beyond her years buzzing away, I wonder what other trouble she gets into.
“Can’t say I love leaving her with my parents for too long,” he says finally. He runs his fingers over his short beard before he looks at me again. “Look, Clee. I have a big ask. I wouldn’t bother if this wasn’t an extended job, but—”
“You want her to stay with us?”
He meets my gaze hesitantly.
“If it works for you. Even if it’s just for a little while to give my folks a break.”
I don’t remember deciding to throw my arms around his neck before I’m plastered against him again.
After a shocked second, his hands find my waist.
I draw back, grinning up at him. “Bring her. She can stay as long as she likes. As long as it takes, really.”
His gaze flicks over my face like a soft caress as he searches my eyes for doubt. He’s not holding my waist anymore, but I can still feel the hot pressure of his palms.
“Thank you,” he says.
I beam at him, trying to hide the pounding of my heart as I take another step back.
Sweet distance.
Distance is good, even if every part of me screams closer.
“You’re welcome, Holden. I’ll help you keep her entertained. It’s the least I can do to pay you back for… well, everything.”
Kit doesn’t arrive until later that evening, and when she shows up, she’s wearing the biggest smile.
“This place is so cool,” she gushes.
“You’ve been here before, plenty of times.” Holden rolls his eyes, but I see him smile. The only way a father can who’s grateful to see his little girl.
“Just once recently,” she says. “Then you guys took me down to your secret lair with the Hera Egg.” She’s almost bouncing on her heels when she says it.
Heartwarming.
Also, I get it. This place was pure wonder when I was her age, and now she’s hooked on the secrets in the walls of this old house.
“I can’t believe you didn’t bring her around more often when Gramps was alive,” I say, one hand on my hip as I look at Holden. “He must’ve loved her energy. Seems kind of mean to keep her away.”
“Yeah, Dad,” she says. “Mr. Blackthorn was cool. Remember that time he gave us a nice copy of The Odyssey? That thing was a collectible. I had to talk you down from throwing it up on eBay.”
He grins sheepishly.
“Yeah, and you remember I don’t like mixing business and my personal life. It’s unprofessional.” He raises both hands while she glares at him and sighs.
“Did Gramps ever give you a tour?”
She shakes her head.
“Long overdue. Come on,” I offer. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, too.”
“Oh my God, yes! Are there secret passages? I bet there are!”
“I’ve never found any, sad to say.” I lead her through the front door into the hallway. “The library’s pretty sweet, though. It’s my favorite room of the house, actually.”
“Hmm.” Her mouth twists to one side as she thinks, and her ponytail swings behind her as she takes everything in. “A secret wing?”
“Not that I know of. But hey, maybe we’ll find one.” I lead her to the sprawling staircase. “What do you think?”
“Amazing, amazing. It even smells old in here. Reminds me of the castle in Beauty and the Beast.”
“Pretty close.” I tilt my head, trying to see PopPop’s world through young eyes again. It’s not quite a real castle, but that iconic scene where Belle floats down the stairs in her yellow dress?
I can totally see it here.
“So is this your house now?”
“I wish. Some other folks in the family will be selling it off sooner or later. We’re just staying here for a little while to take care of some business.” I really shouldn’t say too much about the true reason we’re here, as tempting as it is.
She’s only ten. Kids like to talk, no matter how mature they seem, and grown-ups love to listen. The last thing we need are rumors about a rare lost Blackthorn treasure flying around Portland.
“And Dad too?”
“He is. We’re hanging out until we find a good home for the mother of all Easter eggs.” I decide to treat her like an adult as much as I can, the way I would’ve wanted to be treated when I was her age. “It’s a tough decision, with a lot of research and interviews involved.”
“Couldn’t you just keep it?”
I smile.
“I could, but there are a lot of risks attached. Inspections, security, special cleaning. I can’t see myself living anywhere fancy enough to have a sprinkler system in case there was a fire. I’d probably have to keep your dad on payroll just to guard it. And he’s way too expensive for my blood.”
“Aw, yeah. He’s really sharp.” She bites her lip, mulling it over. “But still. You’d get to tell people you’ve got the Hera Egg. Everyone would be jealous.”
“Oh, no doubt. But some people might get so jealous they’d try to take it away, too.”
Her forehead wrinkles, an expression that looks too serious for her young face. “People would do that?”
“Unfortunately. Some people suck,” I say heavily.
“Yeah, they do!” She points past the stairs to the library. “I remember this place from last time. That nice lawyer lady was here.”
“This is where I’d spend most of my time with my granddad. He’d work and I’d draw, whenever I wasn’t piling in with my cousins for story time.”
“You draw?”
I nod.
She spins around in place once we’re inside, taking in the huge fireplace and the big heavy desk that’ll be mine once this is all said and done.
“I love reading so much,” she says. “Movies too, but mostly documentaries.”
“I liked anime when I was your age.”
“You don’t now?”
I shrug. “Not enough time to keep up. The fandom’s like ten times bigger and there are so many series.”
Losing interest, she takes the lead in exploring the rest of the house. I trail along behind her. I love how she’s having the best time, feeding her imagination.
The more house she sees, the more convinced she is that it nails Beauty and the Beast vibes. I can’t say she’s wrong.
And my brain can’t stop going to obvious places it shouldn’t.
If I’m Belle, what does that make Holden?
I don’t know how much I mind it, either.
With how grumpy and short-fused he is… he’s just slightly less hairy from the real deal.
After we’ve walked the whole house to make sure there are no cupboards leading to Narnia, secret doors, or slowly decaying roses, we head back down to find her father. He’s in the study, working on his laptop.
The man never stops.
“There’s a monster loose in the west wing,” I inform him blandly as we enter the room. “Big, bad-tempered, and prone to locking helpless ladies up until they start to like him.”
His eyes narrow at me as Kit giggles.
“Do I even want to know?”
“Beauty and the Beast,” I tell him. “Uncultured swine.”
He just grunts and looks back at his screen, but his lips turn up. “I take it you girls had a good time wandering around?”
“Yes. This place is huge. It doesn’t even need any secret passages to be all mysterious. You’re so lucky you get to work here, Dad.” Kit climbs into one of the leather chairs on the other side of the desk. “But Cleo said she couldn’t show me the egg without your permission.”
Holden glances back up at me quickly. “It’s not there for you to gawk at, Kit.”
“Yeah, but this is, like, historically significant. Culturally significant. You shouldn’t keep it from the masses. That’s what Miss Cleo said she wants to do with it.”
“Once we’ve found a museum, I promise I’ll get you a VIP pass.” I shake my head at her fondly.
“Anyway, I’m starving. Couldn’t finish the grilled cheese Grammy made for lunch. She burned it really bad,” she says.
“Soon. Give me a minute,” he grumbles, closing his laptop.
“Don’t pretend like you didn’t see that coming,” I say. “It’s definitely dinnertime.”
“Not you, too? When I brought my daughter, I didn’t expect you’d both gang up on me so fast.”
I grin. “Then I guess you better stop working and feed us.”
“Women,” he mutters, leaving the room as Kit and I laugh.