…it was all putting the cart before the horse, she admitted to herself. There were a lot of hurdles to clear before she had to worry about who was going to live where. They turned down another side road, and finally into a cul-de-sac that Kayla didn't think she'd ever been in before. There were only four houses, identical in structure, but each painted a different vibrant tone, all with startlingly clashing doors. "Wow. I love it. This is like a Wes Anderson set, or something. Which one is yours?"
"Teal and red," Jordan said with a sideways smile. "When we first moved here the houses were all the same color and people would knock on the wrong doors, so Mom painted our place teal, and then the neighbors went for dark orange and that really intense blue, and it turned into this whole thing where theywere trying to one-up each other. I'm forever grateful that the Billinghams didn't actually go for lime green and purple, but the Parkers got to the purple first." He gestured at a yellow house with blindingly green trim, then at the final house, which was hot pink and purple.
"How did I not know there were all these adults back here in the corner of Virtue getting their house freak on?" Kayla asked in delight as they went inside. Barney stopped right on the interior doormat and danced around, trying to dry his feet as the humans took their shoes off. "This is great."
The interior was much less freaky than the exterior, but it still had a powerful personal style, bright-colored accent walls and macrame hangings over doors, with family photos, art, and sculptures along the walls—and that was just the foyer they'd entered. Stairs led up almost directly in front of them, a short hall beside them reaching toward the back of the house; what looked like a dining room lay on one side of the foyer, and an office of some kind on the other. Jordan gestured for Kayla to proceed him, and she went down the little hall into a large, warm living room with a big porch hanging off the back, then turned back to Jordan and smiled. "No wonder you wanted to come home. This place is wonderful."
"Do your parents still live here?"
An old, familiar pain stung Kayla and she shook her head with a sad little smile. "No, they both died pretty young. After I'd left home, but…Dad got sick, and I think Mom died of a broken heart, honestly. I didn't expect to ever come back, so I sold the house, and…" She shrugged a little.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"Thanks." Kayla sat on the edge of a couch, then laughed softly as Barney bounced in and leaned against her with big adoring eyes. "Aww, did you know I felt sad, boy? You're a good pup, aren't you. Even if you knocked me over yesterday.Although I guess that was fate," she added even more softly, glancing up at Jordan.
His cheeks were red from the cold, just like Kayla supposed her own were, and his hair stood up every which way from the hat he'd removed. His gaze was warm, though, and his smile sweet. "Fate, huh? I guess so. No other reason for me to be so lucky. Look, I know it's earlyish, but would you like to stay for dinner? I can cook," he promised. "I can even cook vegetarian if that's your thing. I know you're not vegan. You had hot chocolate with whipped cream."
Staying for dinner meant plenty of time to both get to know Jordan better, and to figure out how to tell him that not only was she a shifter, but the town he'd grown up in was full of them. "Dinner sounds wonderful," Kayla said. "I'm going to have to call the studio and let them know what's up with Cyril, but if you don't mind that, then there's really only one other important question to ask."
Jordan's dark blond eyebrows crinkled. "What's that?"
Kayla leaned forward, gazing up at him intently, and, as seriously as she could manage, said, "Is the dog allowed on the couch?"
Chapter 10
Jordan had no idea what he'd expected Kayla to ask, with those huge blue eyes suddenly so sharply focused on his, butthathadnotbeen it. He burst out laughing, taken totally off guard, and nodded. "Yes, he is. I thought you were going to ask something important!"
Kayla turned Barney's face toward him just a little, and, in injured tones, said, "Are you suggestingthis faceisn't important?"
Barney, whose expression was usually pretty lively and alert, immediately made sad puppy dog eyes, and Jordan laughed again. "Heaven forbid. Yeah, he's fine, but put down a blanket or make sure his feet are dry? What would you like for dinner?"
"I don't know. What do you have?"
Jordan rolled his eyes up like the answers were on the ceiling. "I can definitely do pasta anything. I could make pizzas. I have…no, that's still in the freezer, I can't thaw it in time. Roast chicken? A banana?"
Kayla gave a startled laugh. "Just a banana, huh? Not a banana split? Not bananas foster? Banana bread? Bananadaiquiri? Banana…those are all the foods I know that you make with bananas."
"First, I'm fascinated by the fact that you include a banana daiquiri under 'food,' but that aside, I'm pretty sure I could whip up a batch of banana bread. Of course, that's more of a breakfast thing than a dinner thing, so I guess it depends on whether you were planning to stay for breakfast." A furiously hot blush rushed over his face as the stupid words fell right out of his mouth.
Kayla's eyebrows rose slowly and elegantly, until, her eyes sparkling with amusement, she adopted a very convincing Southern accent. "Why, Mr. Rhodes, howforwardof you."
If he blushed any hotter, Jordan was fairly certain he would actually combust. He did, though, manage to say, "Wasit, though? This is a four bedroom house, there's plenty of room to put you up if you wanted to stay the night. I didn't say anything about spending it with me!"
Kayla's wonderful, loud laughter ran through the room again. "Okay, yes, that's a very fair point. How very forward of me, then!"
It was, and Jordan loved it. He hadn'tthoughtthe sparks were just on his side, but on the other hand, Kylie Quinn had grown up into a bonafide movie star, and he was certain she had sparks with everybody all the time. His blush fading, he said, "You're welcome to stay, of course. In whatever bedroom you prefer. Oh, God, no, that still sounds wrong."
"Roast chicken," Kayla said, grinning. "If that's still on the table."
"Thank you for rescuing me from myself. I appreciate it so much that I won't even say 'Don't be silly, the chicken is in the fridge right now.'"
"Thank goodness you didn't say that. I'd have to throw a couch pillow at you for being pedantic. Are you sure you don'thave a script writer around here somewhere?" Kayla made a show of looking under the cushions, then pulled a blanket onto the couch seat and patted it. Barney leaped up and leaned adoringly against her.
Jordan couldn't blame the dog one bit at all. "Roast chicken it is. Which…" He took his phone out to look at the time. "Which means this is just about the right time to go put that in the oven for dinner at a reasonable hour."
"I'll be in to keep you company in a minute," Kayla said. "I just need to call the studio about Cyril."
"Take your time. I'm sure watching me peel carrots isn't going to be the highlight of your day."
