“Oh, no, I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Diana stuttered out after a moment of staring at him.
“It’s really no trouble, I promise – well, less trouble than rearranging your entire car would be,” Calvin assured her.
“Well… if you’re really sure, we actually don’t live far from here at all,” Diana said slowly, still looking at him as if she couldn’t quite tell if he was being for real. “The only reason I took the car is because we had so much to carry. You could walk to our house in under ten minutes.” She hesitated. “If you’d like to, that is.”
He could almost see her thoughts:Does he not want to come back with me? Am I making it too awkward for him to turn down my offer?
That decided it. He wasn’t about to miss out on getting to know his mate better because the two of them were both too concerned about stepping on the other one’s toes.
He smiled.
“If you’d both like to have me around, I would love nothing more than to come visit.”
Diana visibly relaxed, her shoulders sagging a little as a smile broke out over her face. Ash nodded slightly. Bella gave his hand a slobbery lick.
“That settles that, then,” Diana said briskly, falling back into her earlier no-nonsense attitude. “It’s really easy – just follow the sidewalk until you get to the house with the yellow fence and the long driveway. You’ll probably only get there a couple of minutes after we do.”
Calvin nodded and gave them all a brief wave as they piled into the car.
On the outside, he looked like the picture of calm – or, at least, he hoped he did.
On the inside, his heart was beating at about a million miles per minute.
My mate. I’ve found her. I’m going to go spend time with her.
The day had suddenly gotten awholelot better.
Chapter 4
Oh God. Oh God. Where do I begin?!
Diana stood inside the doorway of her stiflingly hot house, frozen in indecision.
Should she bring everything in from the car? Have the world’s quickest shower, so she wasn’t a horrible, sweaty mess when the incredibly kind, handsome andtallman showed up? Attempt to tidy the house? Prepare refreshments?
Ash walked calmly past her and turned on the A/C, and okay, she was glad that at least one of them was thinking rationally. The first hints of cool air began to drift out of the vents, and she sighed in relief.
“Thanks, Ash,” she said, closing her eyes under the cool gusts of air that flowed over her. “I needed that.”
The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention, and her head whipped around.
Looking out the front window, she saw…
Calvin? Is he here already?
And yep, there he was, just starting to make his way down the steep driveway. Clearly those gorgeously defined calves weren’t just for show – he’d made record time.
She glanced around frantically, attempting to identify and eliminate anything potentially embarrassing.
Aaaaand possibly the drying rack which is currently housing all of my oldest, tattiest underwear would qualify as ‘embarrassing’.
Her stomach dropped down around her ankles in horror.
The ominous crunch of footsteps on gravel grew ever closer as Diana feverishly grabbed at the bras and panties, trying and failing to pull them off as a bra strap became hopelessly entangled with the rack.
The doorbell rang its deathly knell, and Diana froze for a moment, fistful of garments in hand, before she noticed Ash making his way to the door.
“Ash! Stall him!” she hissed. Ash stared at her for a moment, with an expression on his face that told her that if he wasn’t quite so polite a child, he’d be wondering if she was out of her mind.
