Page 26 of Fire Dancer
“We already have. Twice. And Nash says it’s really important.”
Ha. Birds of a feather, those two agents. Okay, former agent, in Nash’s case — one who’d finally settled down into a quieter, happier life.
If only Ingo had it in him to do the same.
And as for important… I didn’t doubt it. Law enforcement was a crucial and often thankless job, and I was grateful to the people who did it. I just preferred that not to be the man I loved. I knew all too well what that meant, having a firefighter father.
All those nights I’d spent as a kid, praying he and his crew would make it home safely after another raging forest fire. All the holidays interrupted by sirens signaling the next big emergency my father had to rush away to, often for days at a time…
I loved that my father was a hero. But that didn’t mean I wanted to spend the rest of my life with another one.
I sighed. Selfish, I know. But at least I was honest.
“Please, Pippa,” Erin pleaded. “I could help you in the shop later this week to make up for it.”
I snorted. Erin had helped me once, and I had the shattered glass to show for it. Little known fact: even a badass balloon pilot/dragon shifter/wind whisperer did not necessarily make a useful assistant in a glass shop.
“That’s almost worse than being in a Jeep with Ingo,” I muttered.
“Hey! I did my best…”
Still, I stuck to my guns. “Really, it’s not a good idea for me to take Ingo.”
Spending time with him wasn’t just a threat to my heart. It risked my secrets too.
Erin, Abby, and I had decided to keep our little…um…vortexexperienceto ourselves. Even with Nash, we downplayed it. No one needed to know exactly what had happened the day we’d channeled the power of our ranch’s secret vortex to repel a warlock’s attack.
Hell, Iwasn’t sure what had happened — or why I’d felt a little different since then.
As a wolf shifter, Ingo knew all about the supernatural. He also knew that I possessed very minor magic abilities, despite having two powerful supernatural parents.
But that was all he knew, and I was happy to keep it that way. Especially if we weren’t going to spend the rest of our lives together and thus shareallour secrets.
My chest squeezed.
“Besides, Ingo is hot.” Erin’s voice dropped. “And you two have crazy chemistry.”
Exactly the problem. Could she not understand that?
“I’ve seen you look at him…” she continued.
Oh, I’d done a lot more than look, once upon a time. The point was, I had to move on. We both did.
I gulped away the lump in my throat. “Enough, Erin.”
“Okay, okay. Not my business. But I’d really appreciate your help. Just this once…”
My head saidno. My heart saidyes— to Ingo and to helping Erin. Did that count as two against one?
Claire came downstairs and twirled around, showing off her pink pegasus shirt and purple tutu. “How does this look, Mommy?”
Abby, to her credit, bit back her skepticism. The apple had fallen about as far from the tree as possible, at least when it came to fashion choices.
“Very colorful,” Abby said. “And I love the pegasus.”
I gave Claire a thumbs-up while Erin’s broken record skipped again and again.
“Please…”