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Riley laughed. “This is a six-month-old starting solid foods. Luckily, he seems to like it, even if he’s not totally sure what to do with it yet. Want to help me feed him?”
“How about I watch and learn first?” I didn’t want to let Riley know that for once in my life, I was terrified, afraid to get things wrong.
He smiled knowingly. “I’ll let you off the hook this time, since you’re brand new. I also have to give you credit for showing up in the first place.”
“Right?” I sat back in the chair, interlacing my fingers behind my head and letting a cocky smile show through. “I should get brownie points for that.”
“Don’t go getting carried away.” Riley wagged a finger at me, before spooning another tiny bit of cereal between Petey’s tiny lips. “This is only day one. We need you here a lot more than this, and we need you to be consistent.”
I held my hands up like I was getting robbed. “Yes, sir.”
“Look at you, already knowing who the boss is.” Petey banged his hands on the space in front of him and yelled for more cereal. Riley jerked his head toward the demanding baby. “It’s Petey.” We both shared a laugh.
A touch of nervousness mixed with excitement swam through me. We were flirting, that was for sure. My kitchen staff had taken notice, and were either trying to eavesdrop or cover up their smiles. It felt like everybody was in this with me together, and it wasn’t weird or something to be judged for. Outside of my household, I wasn't so sure, but what did I care? I became so successful so I could do what I wanted, and if that included falling for my accidental manny, that’s what I was going to do.
Falling for him.I should have been thinking about how it was too soon to say those words. However, I had been ready for a long time. I had never expected the possible love of my life to come in the form of my nephew’s caretaker as opposed to, say, a model or another businessperson, but I didn’t care. Riley was exactly what I needed. Moments like these, with him and the kids.
Holden shifted into his squirrel form and leapt onto Riley’s knee, chittering excitedly, zipping all around the place. To my surprise, he hopped onto my hand, then back off, then back on. He chittered some more, then ran up my sleeve and back down again, hopping on Riley’s lap and hiding behind his arm, peeking out at me.
Riley gave me a sheepish look. “He gets a lot braver in squirrel form. He wants to play tag.”
“Does he?” I was shocked, what with the way he seemed to want nothing to do with me before.
Riley held out a hand, laying it on my arm as if to calm me down. “You don’t have to. He was having fun by himself.” I tried not to let his touch rattle me.
I shrugged a shoulder. “How could I say no? Nothing’s cuter than a baby squirrel who wants to play tag.”
“I have to agree.” He looked at Holden with pride. “Thank you.”
“Happy to do it. After all, we’re one big happy family now.”
Riley’s expression was dreamy. “Yeah. One big happy family.”
I took off my suit coat and threw it on the back of my chair. I sprouted my bear ears and tufts of fur, extending myself to my full grizzly height.
“Rawr,” I said in a gentle roar, holding my arms up. A real one would have shaken the whole house. Holden squeaked in delight and took off again, bouncing to the floor and around the island, peeking out to make sure I was following him. With a dramatic growl I followed and he jetted away. Unsurprisingly, he was lightning fast, but for every turn I took around the island, he was peeking out, waiting for me to get just close enough to tease me, then taking off again. At one point, he blew past me in the other direction, reversing our course, and we started all over again.
I was in good shape, so I kept up with him for a while, but his youth soon got the best of me. He wasn’t done playing, though.
I looked at Riley, desperate for help.
He giggled. “Kids can play for days. They have all the energy in the world and nothing better to do with it. They also love to repeat things. He’ll have you running around that island all day if you let him.”
“I can’t keep up, Holden. I haven’t even tagged you once. Looks like you win. Phew.” Again being overly dramatic, a laid down on the kitchen floor, spreading my arms out like I was making snow angels. Holden made triumphant little squeaks and jumped on my chest, racing around in little circles. “Yes, you’re the champion at tag, okay? You win.”
Holden raced all around, climbing into my fur, chirping and squeaking proudly. “Yeah, you beat up the old bear, okay?” The words “beat up” seemed to reanimate him, and soon he was bouncing on my chest and belly with intent. “I see. You really want to try to beat me up, huh? Let’s go!” As a bear, rolling around in one place I could do. I took a second to imagine how ridiculous I looked, a half-shifted grizzly rolling around on the floor with a baby squirrel. News outlets would have a field day. So would all my buddies in my club. That was the magic of it though, wasn’t it? I felt like a regular person for once.
At some point, Holden shifted into a giggling, laughing toddler. Riley gave up on trying to feed Petey any more cereal. Petey was too busy being entertained by the show put on in front of him, and let out several happy shrieks at all the commotion.
One of my sous chefs cleared their throat behind me. “So sorry to interrupt sir, but breakfast is ready.”
“I better get off the floor then.” I patted Holden on the head and sat up, shifting back to my fully-human form and dusting myself off. “Looks like we’ll have to restart this WWF match another time, okay? You sure are strong, though. Gave me a run for my money.”
“And you have a lot of it,” Riley said with a laugh as he picked Holden up to set him in a booster char. Since when did we have that? Was it one of the things Riley bought that he needed? There was a lot I needed to catch up on.
My private chefs laid out a three-course breakfast, starting with a fruit platter that included poached pears with cinnamon and a caramel drizzle, freshly whipped cream and chocolate for dipping, and house-made apple crumble with a side of boysenberry jam.
“Oh,” Riley said, shocked and dismayed when the food appeared in front of him. “I’m still not used to this.”
