Within a few seconds, the entire herd had disappeared over the low hill, and Karl was left alone in the pasture, trying to absorb what had just happened.
Although really, on the surface, it was very simple. He had been rescued by a bunny rabbit.
Karl was fairly certain that phrase had never before been uttered in the history of humankind.
Well, it would be foolish to waste a bunny rabbit rescue. He hitched his backpack up, and hurried across the pasture and back onto the relative safety of public land.
* * *
Once the cowissue was resolved, Karl made good time to Virtue, walking in along a road that turned to a street with well-kept sidewalks. There was a gastro pub on one corner of the street, with such good smells coming out of it that Karl considered going in and offering to work there for free, just to be allowed to breathe in there. He could wash dishes with the best of 'em.
They'd probably be more willing to let him wash dishes if he looked like he'd washedhimselfat any time in the past month, though, so he forged on. The street led to the most astoundingly enormous town square he'd ever seen. Large cities would have considered the acreage a selling point to bring people to live there. That a town of a few thousand sported it suggested Virtue might be full of hidden secrets.
The square was done up for Easter weekend. Karl hadn't actually remembered Easter was on the horizon, but there were giant painted eggs and baskets and an entire Easter-themed playground set up next to a genuinely huge gazebo that looked like it could hold most of the town's population at once. Karl trailed to a stop at the edge of the square, smiling at the decorations, at the wide streets, at the people making their way from one business to another, or stopping to chat with one another. This was not what he'd expected. It was so much better. He checked for, and found, town-sponsored wifi, and looked up places to stay in Virtue.
It turned out Virtue had virtually—hah! He saw what he'd done there!—no online presence. He couldn't find anything about hostels, but glancing around the square brought a beautiful colonial house proclaiming itself a bed and breakfast to his attention. Karl looked it up by name, and found a handful of reviews, all glowing:easy to find, excellent food, half a block from the doughnut shop,super comfortable beds.
The last one sold him. A super comfortable bed sounded amazing right now. The only thing that sounded better was a steaming hot shower with incredible water pressure. He brushed at his shirt a couple of times, as if that would make a week's worth of grime disappear and turn him presentable. It didn't, so he squared his shoulders and went into the B&B anyway, catching a glimpse of a pretty woman just stepping away from the desk. She was short, pink-cheeked, and round, with thick brown hair swaying down her back and a lovely alto voice as she called, "Just a second!" over her shoulder as she disappeared.
Karl called, "Okay!" back and went up to the desk, looking around the building as he waited. It felt cozy, like the kind of place you could really call home for a night or a week, however long you wanted to stay. It felt like the kind of place you'd want to stay forever in. He hadn't had that feeling in a long time.
"Back!" the woman carolled as she returned, smiling. "What can I, oh." For some reason her enormous brown eyes widened and Karl swore she looked star-struck. He glanced toward the door to see if someone more impressive than he was had come in, because he really hadn't showered in a week and nobody would look at him like that in these circumstances.
He desperately hoped she was looking at him like that, though, because she wasn't pretty. Or rather, she was, but something about her seized his heart and let him know that she was actually adorable, delightful, charming, sweet, and probably in all ways perfect. She came up to about the middle of his chest, but she walked like she was wearing heels, so she was probably even shorter than that. She had a round face and delightful dimples and the most flawless rosebud lips he'd ever seen. She had a round body, too, so soft and delicious that Karl wanted to bite his knuckle and whimper.
"Sorry!" The woman—she was probably about his age, although she had milk-white, unlined skin that had apparently never seen the sun—shook herself. "Sorry, sorry. What can I do for you? I'm Emilia Jones. Emmy. My family owns the B&B."
"Hi, Emmy. I'm, uh." Karl smiled at her, and kept smiling, and after a while, realized he hadn't said his name. He couldn't think of his name. He probably had one. "Hiking! I was hiking. Now I'm not. I'm here now. I'm looking for a room!"
Emmy didn't even try to fight off a smile of her own. In fact, she grinned at him. "Hi, Hiking. You're in the right place, then. There are rooms here. How long will you be staying?"
Karl, who had a plan, a goal, adestination, looked into Emmy's eyes, and thought the only possible answer to that question was'for the rest of my life.'
CHAPTER3
The customer, AKA the guy who rescued her, AKA The Man Of Her Dreams, AKA ‘Hiking,’ did not appear to be able to answer simple questions, like,what’s your name?, and,how long will you be staying?Emmy had always imagined her fated mate as multi-syllabic, but she was willing to downshift in light of his water-clear blue eyes and the truly stunned expression in them.
She knew how fated mates were supposed to work. True love, hitting like a sledgehammer.
Better thancarrots,her rabbit whispered in awe.
Emmy, temporarily derailed, pointed out to the rabbit that she did not particularly care for carrots, unless they’d been made into cake.
“Ooh,” she said out loud, “carrot cake.”
Hiking’s stomach rumbled so loudly they both heard it. He turned a genuinely astonishing shade of red and put a hand over his belly. “Sorry. I’ve mostly been on trail rations since Seattle, and carrot cake sounds delicious.”
“Tell you what. Let’s get you checked out I mean checkedin,” Emmy half-shouted in dismay, “and I’ll take you for carrot cake at the cafe across the square.”
Yes. That was good. The way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Although really, back to the how fated mates thing worked, Emmy had always been a little skeptical that a human couldknowthe way a shifter did. Shifters had their animals to help them understand and be certain that someone was their forever person. Humans just had themselves to rely on.
Despite that, Hiking looked rather like a man who’d been hit by a sledgehammer, himself. Emmy liked that look. She liked it alot.
More than carrots,her rabbit agreed.
Emmy closed her eyes, sighed, and agreed,More than carrots.
“Yes please!” Hiking blurted it like he was afraid he’d made a terrible mistake. Emmy blinked her eyes open again to find an expression of genuine worry wrinkling his tanned forehead. “Please, yes, I would like to go eat carrot cake with you please, if you did not mind. Oh my God, I sound like a robot. I know how to use contractions. I just wanted to be clear. That that sounds nice. Great. Amazing. Yes please? Oh.” His face fell. Even that was attractive. “I need a shower first.”
