The group gathered, and Leo stood by her side, a warm comfort next to her.
“Alpha Adam texted Leo about a B&B, run by pack members, in the town that butts up against Thorn Hollow.There are plenty of rooms available.He suggested you could stay there for a while so we could visit.Since it’s the last night of the festival, I wasn’t sure if you were planning to stick around or follow Velastra, and I wanted to let you know there was an option.”
Her dad’s brows rose.“Would you stay with Leo?”
“Yes,” Mira said.
He nodded.“Permanently?”
“We haven’t figured all the details out yet,” Leo said.“We just met yesterday, after all.So if you’d stick around for a while, we could all get to know each other better and then Mira and I would have time to make the right decision.”
“Then I think we should stay in the B&B,” her mom said with a smile.“I don’t want you rushing into such an important decision, and we could use a break from being on the road.”
“Hear!Hear!”Lark said.
With that settled, she and Leo got to work with the others, helping to restock the booth and greeting people who walked by.It was surprisingly easy to fall into the rhythm of her family’s work with Leo at her side.He talked easily with Nash, her dad, and Hollis, chatted up customers, and made even the simple act of carrying boxes look sexy.
She and Leo were midway through restocking a table with trinkets for sale when her dad called out, “Mira!Leo!There’s a problem with the van.”
Leo’s brows lifted in curiosity.She followed him behind the booth to the waiting vehicles, where her dad stood, frowning at the open driver’s door.“It won’t start.It was fine this morning, but now it just clicks.”
Leo leaned in, twisted the key, and listened, then popped the hood and moved to the front, propping it open.
He inspected the engine, scanning the wires and parts as if they were a map of a familiar place.“Sweetheart, would you hand me a wrench?”
She passed it to him, their fingers brushing.
“You couldn’t possibly be sexier than you are right now,” she whispered.
He looked over his shoulder at her with a salacious grin.
He worked for a while and eventually coaxed the old engine back to life.He shut the lid with a bang and nodded at her dad.“If it acts up again, I can take a closer look at the garage in Delta Park.”
“Thanks, Leo,” he said.
“Happy to help.”
She and Leo returned to the booth where they finished their tasks and then talked to customers who walked by.They even took a stroll around the festival and had corndogs and funnel cakes for dinner.At a booth, Leo found a necklace for sale that had a wolf charm hanging from a delicate silver chain.When he paid for it, he put it on Mira’s neck and said, “This way you’ll always have a wolf close to you.”
She pressed her fingers to the charm as she smiled up at him.“Thank you.You’re just the sweetest guy on the planet.”
“Only for you.”
By the time the last customer had trickled past, and she and Leo had helped to pack up the booth into the waiting vehicles, the security escort from the pack had returned to drive back with them.
Mira hugged her mom and then her dad as they said goodbye.“I’ll text you after we get checked into the B&B,” her mom said.
“Sounds good, I’ll come visit tomorrow,” Mira said.
“Keep my daughter safe,” her dad said, shaking Leo’s hand.
“Always,” Leo promised.
As they parted ways, the psychic house heading to Delta Park and her, Leo, and their escort heading to Thorn Hollow, Mira couldn’t help but feel the electric charge in the air between her and Leo.Every bump in the road brought their legs into contact, each brush of their arms sparking low in her belly.
When they pulled up to his house, the quaint three-bedroom ranch looked practically magical in the moonlight, like a haven away from the hustle of the world.He came around to her side and opened her door, offering her his hand as she stepped down.The crickets were chirping in the trees, the rustle of the leaves in the summer breeze lending a rhythm to the night melody.
“It was a long day,” he said as he shut the door and looked down at her.
