“Do you need us to come get you?” Mom said, the worry growing in her voice.
Before I could answer, Axel’s voice rumbled from behind me. “No. I’ll make sure she gets to the garage in one piece.”
There was a pause. Then, from the background, my brother’s voice cut through, loud and clearly suspicious. “Who the hell is that?”
I closed my eyes and groaned under my breath. Here we go.
“Nobody,” I said way too fast, voice pitched higher than I liked. “Anyway, I need to call the garage now. I gotta go. Bye!”
I hung up before my brothers could start barking orders or demand I pass the phone to Axel so they could interrogate him.
“Sorry,” I muttered, turning back toward him. “My brothers are a handful.”
His brows lifted, his arms still crossed over that broad chest. “Are you embarrassed that you stayed the night here?”
There was something in his voice that made me pause. Was that disappointment flickering in his eyes?
“What? No!” I stepped closer, reaching out to touch his arm. “It’s just… my brothers can get intense. They’re protective, and they don’t know when to back off, especially after the mess with my ex. And Mom’s the opposite. She’s going to take one look at you and start planning the wedding.”
“I can handle them.”
“Are you sure about that? What if Mom started asking when we’re giving her grandbabies even though you’re just dropping me off?”
He laughed. “I think our kids would be adorable.”
I rolled my eyes at the ridiculousness of our conversation.
His voice dropped. “You’re coming back after for that date, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am.” Was that what he’d been worried about? That I’d just ghost him after the amazing evening and the even better morning we’d just shared?
He stepped forward, closing the space between us, and slid his arms around my waist. His body was warm, solid, and the look in his eyes made my knees go soft.
“Then I’ll have to deal with your family eventually,” he said.
“You say that like you think we’ll be a thing for the long term.”
He swallowed hard, and I could tell that there was something he wasn’t telling me. “I’d like us to be,” he finally said.
“I don’t even really know who you are. And you don’t know me either. I didn’t even realize you were a forest ranger until the phone call.”
He passed a massive hand over his hair. “Actually, I’m not that type of ranger. I mean, I do similar work, but I’m not working for the state. I work for the EA, in their Natural Resources division.”
I gawked at him. The EA was short for Secret Enforcement Agency—they’d dropped the secret when The Wall fell—which, from what I knew, kept monsters and magical folk in line.
“Does that make you something like a cop?”
He laughed. “No. Those are enforcers. I’ve made arrests before, but as I said, I do similar work to a normal park ranger, just for the EA.”
“I didn’t know.”
“To your credit, my car wasn’t marked; I was on a personal trip to town to grab supplies. And I didn’t have my badge. And in my experience, telling someone I’m an EA ranger without either of those things usually just gets them even more suspicious, and you were already skittish.”
“Okay, that’s fair.”
He cupped my cheek. “But about the whole relationship thing, I understand if you’re not ready for anything serious yet. We’ll take it slow.”
“Thank you.”
