“I love them!”
She reaches in, touching a horn here, a chin there. The piggies drink up the attention, jumping and pawing like a pack of puppies.
“Can I go in with them?” she asks me.
Pane slams his door shut and I turn to him. “She wants to go in with them.”
He nods, brooding, and I open the gate. Natalie walks in and sinks to her knees. Piggies climb into her lap, lick her chin, wag their happy little tails at the attention. Meanwhile, Natalie laughs and laughs, loving it.
I sidle up next to Pane. Dark, annoyed energy is wafting off him in big, thick chunks.
“You know, I should be charging you for this.”
He looks over and one side of his mouth ticks up half an inch. For as relieved as he is that Natalie’s been found, he’s pissed off that she pulled the stunt that she did, and rightly so.
He folds his arms. “How much would you charge?”
“Oh, I don’t know. How much do you think Princess Pain-in-the-Butt would like to rake in?”
He points at me. “I can explain.”
“Can you? I would love to hear all about her. I’m especially intrigued about the part where your sister peggedmefor this princess. It makes me think that you have a nickname for me.”
“First of all, it was originally Princess Pain-in-the-Neck, but somewhere along the line, Nat changed it. It’s a story that I made up.” He rubs a hand down his tired face. “I tell her a story every night before bedtime, you know that. When I arrived here, everything was so last minute that I didn’t have a book ready. Or I did, but my phone was confiscated by my mother. So I made one up.”
“Uh-huh,” I reply, doing my best to sound ticked.
“Secondly”—he leans a hand on the truck’s hood—“when I first showed up, you have to admit ... you were a real pain the ass.”
“And you have to admit that you were more than just slightly arrogant. In fact, if someone had asked me to describe you, I probably would’ve named you Prince Arrogant Ass.”
He tips his head back and laughs. When his gaze drops back down to mine, his eyes brim with mirth. “I suppose I deserve that.”
“You sure do.”
He extends his hand, palm up. “I think we’ve come a long way, don’t you?”
I slide my hand over his, shivering through the sparks that ignite on my flesh when we touch. “I guess we’ve come a long way.”
“Youguess?” he teases.
I shrug. “I mean, maybe.”
His hand tightens on mine. “I think it’s more than amaybe.”
“Maybe.”
“Iknowit’s more than maybe.”
A nearby tree extends a branch and shoves me toward Pane. It does the same to him, closing the space between us.
Our gazes snap tight, and thoughts of Pane being worried for his sister seize hold of me. The worry, the love he has for her—all of it clouds my brain. I’ve never seen him so emotional, and it’s ... it’s moved me.
“Are you two going to kiss?”
I jump back. Natalie’s standing inside the fence, holding a pig to her chest as the others paw at her legs, vying for attention.
Pane takes a step away, and with him, all the mystical energy dissolves. “Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for bed.”
“Wait.” I grab his arm. “There’s something we should do first.”
“What’s that?” Natalie asks.
I quirk a brow. “Have you ever made a light angel?”
