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But he also couldn’t ignore the pull he had toward the beautiful, red-haired fairy lass and her energetic boy. He’d fallen for them in wolf form and his human form was beginning to feel the same way.
“Steak cooked how you like it, Reardon?” Parker asked.
“Aye.” Reardon held up his fork with a piece of pinkish steak speared onto it. “A little wriggling still. Exactly how I prefer it.”
Brandy scrunched up her nose. The movement put the most adorable expression on her perfect face. “Ugh. Pink stinks. I like mine cooked all the way.”
“You like yours until it’s tough enough to use as a spare tire.” Parker shook his head. “I always feel as if I’m completely ruining a perfectly good steak when I cook yours.”
Brandy stuck her tongue out at Parker and he waved his knife at her, slicing his index finger across his neck in a threatening gesture. She laughed so Reardon tamped down the urge to take Parker outside and give him a lesson on how a man treated a lady. Brandy and Parker teased each other. That was their relationship, but it took a little time for Reardon to understand that. He’d never had a female friend. He wasn’t sure how a man could simply be friends with a lass like Brandy.
Doesn’t Parker have eyes?From where Reardon sat, Brandy was a million times more attractive than Chella and had the personality to go with those incredible physical features. So far, what he’d seen of Chella put her in the lacking category.
“What are you going to do about a car now?” Chella asked Brandy.
“I’ll borrow Mom’s until I can work out the details with the insurance company. Then I guess I’ll be shopping for some new wheels.” Brandy didn’t look too happy about having to do that.
Reardon had no idea what kind of experience purchasing one of those vehicles was, but if it was anything like securing a ship, he understood why she wasn’t happy.
“Can we get a venom red Dodge Viper?” Dylan asked, his mouth full of steak.
“Because that’s a practical car for Vermont.” Meredith reached over and rubbed Dylan’s head. “Next, he’ll be wanting a motorcycle.”
Dylan’s eyes brightened. “Yeah!”
“No,” Brandy, Meredith, and Parker said in unison.
Dylan leaned toward Reardon. “They always say that.”
“They care about you. That’s a good thing, no?” Reardon wouldn’t mind having some people care about him that way. He had his men—well, he used to have his men. Before he betrayed them all in the name of fame, glory, and riches. He gritted his teeth over the memory of his selfishness.
“It’s good.” Dylan shrugged. “I don’t want a motorcycle anyway. I want my own snowmobile.”
“And someday you will get one.” Brandy handed him a napkin and pointed to his chin where some rogue barbecue sauce rested.
“Someday after I’ve given you a million snowmobiling lessons,” Parker said, winking at the boy.
Reardon knew Parker had been a part of this group for a great deal of time, but he couldn’t help feeling jealous of that fact. He wished he could manipulate time—like Flidae had—and get to the day where Brandy knew all about him and accepted and cared for him.
All of him.
“Are you here in Vermont to stay?” Chella asked.
“I hope so,” Reardon said. “It’s beautiful here.”
“Where are you from?” She took a sip of her wine, licking her lips in a way that told Reardon he’d bought a suitable kind. The choices had been many. Not at all like in his time and place.
“Ireland.” Short answers would get him through this night. He had to believe that. It was the only plan he had.
That and somehow getting his hands on Brandy later tonight.
“Who leaves Ireland to comehere?” Chella frowned, her face becoming even less pleasing.
“Apparently, he does.” Meredith arrowed a thumb toward Reardon. “Sometimes a man needs a tranquility only the woods of good old Vermont can provide, right?”
“Aye. There is a certain peace here.” And he’d never been one to surround himself with peace. Just the opposite in fact.
“Except when you’re running into the street to save us,” Dylan said.
