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“I want that fucking notebook, Nolan,” Declan interjected. There was no way he’d get Nolan to give up the notebook. I’d done a test run with Nolan’s forever reader, and Declan’s mouth was a gold mine—though, I wanted to scrub my eyes with holy water after every post because of the mouth on that man. I didn’t need to know that the man I called brother said those things to the woman who’d become my sister. I also pretended I didn’t see the bite marks he left on her either—all things Nolan was casually just writing into his books.
“I’m not giving you the notebook.”
“If I have to—” His words were cut off by Holly’s barking.
“Oh, does my pretty girl need to go potty?” Raven crooned. I bit back a laugh. For a woman afraid of dogs, she was absolutely taken by Holly. “Pull over, baby. I think she needs to pee.”
Their truck eased to the side of the road, and we pulled up behind them, ending the call. I watched as Declan carried a frantically wiggling Holly away from the road. Raven was right behind him with treats in hand.
“And you say I’m owned by my cats,” Nolan teased.
“Nolan, you are owned by your cats,” I said. Resting my chin on my fist, I batted my lashes at him playfully. “Why were we fifty minutes late getting on the road?”
“Because… things happened.”
“What things happened, Nolan?” I pressed, smiling wider.
“Look,” he began in a stern voice, “it’s not my fault that Barry and Sir Reginald were having troubles this morning. I’m not leaving my boys when they’re having trouble. Don’t… don’t look at me like that. I know how I sound, Ginny!”
I didn’t have to say a word. I only teased him, sure, but it was adorable. The man had the biggest heart out of anyone I knew. I just loved that about him. More people needed hearts like Nolan’s.
“You can’t make me feel guilty for loving my cats,” he told me. “They need someone to love them, Ginny.”
“And you do a wonderful job,” I said. “But you have no room to tease Raven about Holly. Declan and Buttercup on the other hand… that’s funny.”
Raven had renamed the kitten Buttercup, but that kitten lasted being Raven’s for a single night. It took one night of being around Declan before Buttercup abandoned her ship and became Declan’s shadow. Watching him pretend it wasn’t a thing was even funnier.
“Stick to teasing Declan, got it.” Nolan nodded. “We have another few hours before we hit the motel. Do you want to drive, or would you mind if I dictated to you for a while? I need to work on Kat and Miles’ story.”
“Can I offer insight?”
“Always,”
“Dictate it is.” I bent over the middle console to dig out my tablet.
“You know I appreciate you, right?” he said as I flopped back in my seat, ready to help him write another book. Those midnight eyes were intense as he watched me.
“I know, Nolan. I appreciate you too,” I replied.
“I’m serious, Ginny,” he insisted. “I couldn’t do this without you.”
“Yes, you could,” I scoffed. Heck, he’d built most of it without me around.
“Okay, well, I wouldn’t want to,” Nolan told me. He glanced out the front window to watch as Declan and Raven got ready to leave again. “I love our friendship. I hope you know that.”
“You’re being weird, Nolan.” Sweet but weird. Nolan wasn’t exactly a words-of-affirmation guy.
“I’m just making sure you know I’m here for you if you need anything. And that I love you.”
Why was he talking like this? It was odd for him. An uncomfortable feeling ebbed its way into the pit of my stomach.
“Are you dying?” I demanded.
“What?” Nolan scoffed. “No! I’m not dying. I’m just making sure you know those things, okay?”
“Okay!”
“Okay, good!” He laughed as if it was nothing, but my gut told me it wasn’t. I didn’t like it. But as he started prattling on about Kat and Miles with their whirlwind billionaire, reverse age gap, wolf shifter romance, I got lost in his world. That was much easier than worrying about something I didn’t know about.
