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Maggie cleared her throat, breaking the intense connection between my dream girl and me, and we both glanced over at our green friend.
“Isla, this is Cooper. Cooper, this is Isla. I think maybe you two have met?” There was amusement in her tone, and while I appreciated this situation might seem humorous to outsiders, I focused on the frightened expression on Isla’s face. Why would she be afraid of me?
Isla glanced behind me, and her body shifted minutely, as if she were preparing to dash away. I tensed in preparation because I wasn’t about to let her disappear again.
“Thank you,” I blurted.
Her eyebrows rose. “For what?”
I took another small step forward and was pleased when she didn’t run or even back up.
“You saved my life. The first time I saw you, I was delirious from hitting my head and the adrenaline from ejecting out of my plane.” I shook my head as I stared at her in awe and smiled. “With your wings and leather clothing, I wondered if you were a Valkyrie, coming to escort me to the underworld.” I expected her to at least crack a smile at my joke, but when she didn’t, I hurried on. “Then I thought perhaps I wasthe one. The hero in the story that you decided to let live.”
Maggie snorted. “I’d say that’s pretty accurate.”
Isla’s gaze darted toward her friend. “Don’t you have morning sickness or something?” she snapped. “You’re turning a little green.”
Maggie gasped with mock outrage. “Low blow, my friend. Low—”
I glanced over at Maggie just in time to see her mouth pinch as she put her hand over her stomach.
“Damn your power of suggestion, Valkyrie,” she fumed. She shoved a small bag in my direction and wheezed, “You’re welcome,” before dashing through a door to what I assumed was the back of the store.
I couldn’t help chuckling, and when Isla faced me again, I grinned. “Impressive,” I teased as I picked up the little bag and put it in my pocket.
One corner of Isla’s mouth tipped up, but she remained silent.
“I’m glad to find out I didn’t damage my brain in the crash. Although, I’m not sure anyone would believe me if I explained why,” I laughed.
Isla raised an elegant hand and tucked a few strands of long red hair that had escaped her bun behind her ear. “Well, now you’ve seen me and confirmed that monsters are real.” She lifted her chin and tried to brush past me.
She was so swift and graceful, I didn’t register what was happening right away and wasn’t able to throw an arm out to stop her. However, it only took me a second to spin around and stride to the door. I was at least a half foot taller than her, which meant I reached it first and blocked her exit.
“What are you doing?” she snapped, putting her hands on her hips and staring me down with a regal air that might have scared other men, but I instinctively knew was her defense mechanism.
“I’m not going to let you disappear again,” I declared, my chest tightening at the thought of losing her once more.
Isla’s brows snapped down, and she closed the distance between us. Her head fell back so she could look up into my face, but that didn’t make her less intimidating. Or at least she would’ve been to a lot of people. However, I just thought she looked sexy as fuck. I was willing to bet my plane that all that fierceness made her bold and wild in bed.
“I’m not a side show for you to study,” she seethed. Her expression wavered, and her voice trembled. Suddenly, her fear of me made a little more sense. She wasn’t scared of me. She expected me to reject her.
“That’s not what I meant,” I assured her with a soft smile. “I felt a connection with you since the moment I first saw you. There’s something between us, and I’ll be damned if I let you get away before we can explore it.”
I cupped her cheek, and some of the strain in my body eased when she ever so subtly leaned into my touch.
“All I want is to get to know you, baby. You don’t have to share anything that you don’t want to but give me a chance. Let me get to know the real you.”
6
ISLA
My pilot—and I was finally ready to admit, at least to myself, that I considered him mine—was saying all of the right things. But I still couldn’t believe he was in Screaming Woods, let alone Maggie’s shop. “What are you even doing here?”
Cooper jerked his chin toward the counter. “I bumped into Maggie and Eli in the woods, and she invited me to stop by her store.”
I let out a little huff over my friend’s sneakiness. Turning to frown at Juniper, I warned, “Although Maggie went running for the bathroom to puke, I wouldn’t count on all those cupcakes still being in the box when you finally get it. Jackie was eyeing them when she brought them in back for safekeeping.”
“That’s just mean,” she complained, tugging on Silas’s arm to lead him around the counter.
