Page 37 of Finding Little Fiera
Her eyes widened immediately. “Is it edible?”
He barked a laugh. “Lord help me.”
He held out a soft, braided leather band with tiny silver beads worked into the pattern. At the ends were loops.
“Oh, wow! I love it!” She blinked and looked at the band again. “Um, what is it?”
He grinned. She loved it when he did that. Those deep dimples did explosive things to her blood pressure.
“For your sunglasses.” He pulled the pair he’d given her the day before from his pocket and slipped the loops over the arms. “This way, when you’re runnin’ around like a colt with a burr under its saddle, they won’t go flyin’ off your face.”
She couldn’t get past the word choice. “I do not run like a colt with a burr.”
He raised a brow.
She huffed.
He leaned forward and gently placed the sunglasses on her face, adjusting them with careful fingers. The leather band rested under her hair at the back of her neck.
“There,” he murmured. “I made it last night after you fell asleep.”
Her breath caught. “You made it?”
“Mm-hmm.”
While she’d been curled in the bed under the covers he’d tucked around her, he’d stayed awake and made something just for her. Something to make her day better. Her heart did a strange, expanding thing that made it hard to breathe.
“For me?”
“For you, firefly.”
She launched at him without thinking. Her arms wrapped around his neck, coffee sloshing dangerously in her other hand. He caught her automatically, one hand firm at her waist, the other steadying the mug before disaster struck.
“Easy, firefly.”
“I love it,” she whispered into his shoulder. “It’s perfect.”
He squeezed her once. “Figured it’d match that stubborn streak.”
She pulled back just enough to look at him. “I am not stubborn.”
“You are absolutely stubborn.”
“I am determined.”
He grinned. “There it is. Stubborn.”
Giving up, she hugged him again, tighter. His chin rested briefly on top of her head. For a second, the world shrank down to blankets tucked around her, caramel in her coffee, and the steady beat of his heart under her cheek. Temporary didn’t feel so loud right now.
He leaned back, brushing her white forelock from her eyes. “Finish your coffee. Then we’ll head down and see what kind of trouble you can get into in the cafeteria.”
“I do not get into trouble.”
“Firefly.”
“Fine… sometimes I do. Always accidentally, though.”
His laughter rolled across the porch, warm and deep. She settled back onto his lap, sunglasses now secure, leather band snug and safe. They could wait a few more minutes to get ready.
