The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(19)

“Yeah, don’t let that face fool you. She’s just on a break between bouts of destruction.”

Suddenly Mini jumped up, snapping her jaw at thin air.

“Sky raisin,” Eli said.

“What?”

He lifted a shoulder. “She loves flies, thinks they’re a delicacy.”

Brynn gave a shudder. “That’s gross.”

“Agreed. That’s why we call them sky raisins—not as disgusting sounding. Also, FYI, she’s allergic to the jalape?o sky raisins, so we have to keep an eye on her when she’s outside.”

“Jalape?o sky raisins?”

“Bees and wasps.”

She laughed as Mini moved to Eli, the clear love of her life, leaning against him, knocking him back a step. With a laugh, he crouched low and gave her a hug. Mini melted to the ground, a puddle of love, where Eli obliged her with a full belly rub before looking up at Brynn. “Welcome home, by the way.”

She bit her lower lip. “I still have reservations.” Not the least of which were her conflicting emotions about the man now straightening back up to his full height and, at just over six feet, also looking like the sexiest welcoming committee she’d ever seen.

“I get it,” he said, and for a moment Brynn freaked, thinking she’d spoken out loud. “Your reservations are founded,” he said quietly, “but I hope you’ll be happy here. Come on in. Max is home. Kinsey’s on a date.”

“She dates?”

Eli laughed. “She wouldn’t call it a date. But the guy she’s with, Deck, absolutely would. They’ve been doing their thing for nearly a year now, and no one, not even Deck, has got the balls to tell Kinsey she’s in a relationship.”

“Huh,” she said, processing something else, something she hadn’t really thought she needed to know until right that minute. “So you two really aren’t a thing.”

Their eyes met and held. “Nope.”

And again her mouth disconnected from her brain and acted independently. “Do you date?”

“Other than my dog?” He shrugged. “When the stars align. You?”

“Same,” she said softly.

He smiled. “What’s an ideal date for you?”

Someone who doesn’t con me out of my things and my self-esteem . . . “Anything that involves food, real food, and hopefully dessert, where my date’s impressed by my ability to eat an entire cake and not at all disgusted.”

He laughed, and Mini barked in excitement. Then, from a house down the street, a woman and a little girl came out. The little girl went skipping down the sidewalk and Mini froze, whined, and then leapt right into Eli’s arms.

“Aw, I’ve got you,” he murmured. “You’re okay.”

“I thought you’re supposed to tell her ‘down.’”

“She’s scared. Today at the dog park, another little girl—and I mean tiny, like she was maybe two years old—chased her, and now she wants to be carried whenever she sees a little kid.”

“But the girl’s not even looking this way.”

“Tell that to Mini.”

Brynn looked into the most devastatingly sweet brown eyes she’d ever seen and stepped closer. “Aw, it’s okay,” she whispered, cupping that incredibly expressive face in her hands. “I’m scared of little kids too.”

“Aren’t you a kindergarten teacher?” Eli asked, sounding amused.

“Yeah. And your point?” Smiling, she lifted her head and froze, because she hadn’t realized how close to him she’d moved. They were toe to toe, and if he dipped his head, they’d be nose to nose.

He didn’t look perturbed by the nearness in the slightest. Just smiled, bent to kiss his dog on the top of her head, and then set her down. “Listen up,” he told Mini as he led them into the house. “Brynn’s one of us now, so if you could refrain from eating her food, making yourself at home on her bed, or farting when she’s in the room, that’d be great.”

“Does she do all those things?”

From the vicinity of Mini’s hindquarters came an unmistakable sound.

Brynn laughed.

“I assume that answers your question,” Eli said, fanning the air. “Just don’t feed her any human food. Hard to believe, but it gets worse when you do.”

The room she’d rented had a window that looked out onto a side yard. Lots of wild grass, but beyond that she could see the cliffs and the ocean. She’d have stayed here for the view alone, but then Eli dropped her duffel bag onto the bed and pointed to the attached bathroom, which held a big, fat, porcelain self-standing tub between the shower and the sink.

“Oh my God,” she whispered reverently, and moved closer, running her fingers along the edge. “I just fell in love.”

“That was easy.”

She slid him a look. “With your tub.”

He grinned, and gestured to the closed door at the other end of the tub. “That leads to another bedroom.”

Her eyes went to the door. Oh, boy. “Kinsey’s, I presume.”

“She loves baths too.” Eli rubbed a hand over his scruffy jaw. “Maybe we should write up a schedule.”

“We’re grown-ups,” Brynn heard herself say. “I’m sure we can figure it out.” But actually, she wasn’t really sure at all.