EUAN: Outback Shifters #3

by Chant, Zoe

  Oh! Right! Davy! That’s his name!

  “I – he’s a work friend, like I said,” Delilah repeated, feeling a little queasy at the lie. But it wasn’t like she could tell her sister how they’d really met. Jenny would have her committed – and it probably would’ve been fair enough, too. “I haven’t really known him all that long, he just – he just called and asked if I had plans for the weekend, I said I had a party to go to, and by the time I’d gotten around to telling him it was my niece’s sixth birthday party, I’d already kind of… asked him along.”

  Delilah had never been a very good liar – mainly because she hated to do it, and she almost never did. She could feel herself getting redder and redder with every false word that passed her lips. She was just waiting for Jenny to pin her with one of her best big sister looks and demand to know where Delilah really knew Euan from.

  “So, let me get this straight,” Jenny said, as she buttered a slice of bread perfectly evenly without even trying. “You’ve got the hots for this guy but you didn’t have the guts to tell him, and when he called you, you thought, Great! The perfect chance to invite him on a date that’s not a date! Have I got this right?”

  Delilah stared at her.

  “No – I – what? How could you – where are you getting that idea? Got – the hots? No! I don’t –”

  “Dela.”

  Oh right, and there’s the big sister look, right on cue, Delilah thought.

  “Come on. You’re turning into a beetroot right in front of me. You’re telling me you don’t like this guy?”

  Delilah bit her lip. Well, at least that’s one thing I won’t have to lie about…

  “Yeah, I guess I kind of do,” she said at last. “Just a bit.”

  “Well, if you want my advice, you should go for it,” Jenny said matter-of-factly as she tapped rainbow sprinkles onto her buttered slice of bread. “He’s clearly into you. He called you and asked what your plans were? And he didn’t find some way to back out when it turned out your party was a kids’ birthday party? He’s got it bad.”

  Delilah swallowed.

  But that’s not what it’s really like! she wanted to wail. Just for once, she wished Euan really was the run-of-the-mill guy from work she’d had to portray him as. Then Jenny’s advice might really have been true! Then she might have been able to ask Jenny for some honest advice in the first place!

  “I… maybe,” she ended up mumbling, furiously buttering a piece of bread. “I hope so, anyway.”

  “I just wish you’d told me about this before I got Davy’s hopes up,” Jenny sighed, arranging her perfectly even triangle of fairy bread on a plate with a bunch of equally perfect triangles of fairy bread.

  Delilah blinked. “Got his hopes up?”

  “Of course – telling him all about my gorgeous, talented younger sister, the amazing artist, follows the beat of her own drum, too cool for school – all that kind of stuff. I showed him a photo of you I had on my phone and he said you were, quote, super cute.”

  “He did not,” Delilah said, staring at Jenny.

  “He did so!” Jenny winked at her. “Don’t worry, I’ll let him down gently and make sure he doesn’t make things awkward. It’s too bad, though – you would’ve made a cute couple. But since you have Euan now…”

  “I don’t have Euan!” Delilah sputtered, trying not to drop the bag of sprinkles she was shaking over the piece of buttered bread.

  “Well, if you don’t, that’ll be entirely your own fault,” Jenny informed her loftily. “Because I know a man who has it bad when I see one, and Euan definitely has it bad for you. Maybe it’s because you look so nice today – where’d you get that dress from, anyway? Who’s the designer?”

  “I don’t know, I borrowed it,” Delilah muttered, looking down and biting her lip. She tried to disguise her flushed cheeks by pretending she was concentrating extremely hard on arranging her fairy bread slices just so on the pink and gold porcelain plate set.

  Perhaps Jenny, for once, decided to back off a little bit then, because the next thing she said was to do with the chocolate crackles they’d made yesterday, which were still chilling in the fridge. Delilah couldn’t really say she was paying all that much attention.

  Maybe he does like me, she thought, as she began carrying the plates of fairy bread and angel cakes out to the canopied tables that had been set up in the yard. The decorators were still putting the finishing touches here and there, but Delilah was feeling too out of it to pay them much mind.

  I mean, he did change his mind about being my bodyguard. And I did see the look on his face when I came out of the lift wearing this dress… though he did say he thought I looked good even before that…

  Delilah swallowed. Jenny’s words – that if she didn’t have Euan she’d only have herself to blame – flittered through her mind.

  Maybe she’s right, even if she doesn’t really know all the facts, Delilah thought. She glanced across at where Euan and Greg were beginning to make their way up the steps, the pony pen apparently finished. Delilah tried to discreetly gaze at Euan from beneath her lashes, but she knew she wasn’t doing a good job – open-mouthed gawking was really the only name for what she was doing.

  But who could blame me, really?

  Maybe someone especially pious – but Delilah honestly thought in this moment that even the nuns at the Catholic school she’d attended would be having something to confess at the end of the week, after looking at Euan now.

  Is it just me, or is he kind of… glistening?

  Euan somehow seemed to take up twice the amount of space Greg did – which wasn’t a knock on Greg, he was a nice guy, and Delilah knew Jenny always did have a thing for nerds. But Euan’s tall, broad-shouldered masculinity just made Delilah’s knees go weak. Plus, once she’d scratched the surface of his gruff exterior, she’d been surprised by how… funny he was. Sure, his humor was kind of low-key and easy to miss, but she was sure that had been a joke he’d made in the lift. He hadn’t looked at her weirdly after she’d made her own lame James Bond joke, either. And he’d made her breakfast! A huge breakfast! These were not things to be sneezed at!

  Okay, Delilah told herself, before she forced herself to stop staring at Euan and turned to head back to the kitchen. It’s decided. I’m gonna go for it.

  She bit her lip.

  Just as soon as we’ve figured out what the hell is going on with everything else in my life right now.

  Chapter 8

  Euan had to admit, he’d never been to a kids’ party quite like this one.

  Despite everything he’d seen during his time with the Agency, he’d been a little taken aback at the scale of Delilah’s sister’s house – but then, he hadn’t been lying when he’d told Delilah that he wasn’t the kind of agent who got assigned missions going undercover as a high roller, or anything fancy like that. He’d never have been able to fit in. He’d usually been sent to rough and ready places, where the likelihood of a fight was high, and someone who could hold their own against macho tough guys who liked to throw their weight around was needed.

  That kind of thing had been his specialty – dealing with drug runners, arms dealers, and mercenaries who’d built their reputations and businesses on being the worst of the worst. The reason he’d had training as a bodyguard was so he could protect people who were trying to leave that life.

  It’d been tough, and a lot of times he’d questioned whether he’d made the right choice. His job had often shown him the worst of humanity. But it had been satisfying knowing that he was doing something about it, even on some of his toughest assignments.

  He’d never in a thousand years thought that, maybe, his toughest assignment would be – would be –

  “Hey, mister, do you know where the toilet is?”

  Euan looked down at the small boy in front of him, blond and freckled, his face absolutely covered in melted chocolate and multi-colored sprinkles.

  “Um. No. I’m afraid I don’t,” Euan said. He looke
d around desperately for Delilah. He’d been keeping a close eye on her, of course, but in the moment between watching her carrying a massive platter of what looked to be honey joys to a table of excitedly screaming kids, and then feeling a sticky tug on his fingers and looking down to see this little boy staring up at him, she’d somehow slipped out of sight.

  “Can you take me to where the toilets are?”

  Apparently Euan telling the little boy he didn’t know where they were hadn’t had any effect.

  And I have to find Delilah.

  He looked up, scanning the crowd of parents and children.

  She has to be here somewhere –

  There was a swirl of yellow in the breeze and then he found her again, laughing as she handed out honey joys to the kids who were surrounding her. Perhaps feeling his gaze on her, Delilah looked up and caught his eye. Her laughter didn’t falter for a second, but she gave him a quick nod, as if to signal I’m okay. Everything’s okay.

  Euan felt his shoulders relax slightly – at least until he felt another tug of small, sticky fingers against his own.

  “Hey, mister –”

  “Okay,” Euan said quickly, pre-empting the boy’s request. “Uh, sure. Let’s go find the toilets.”

  The boy seemed pretty happy with that, smiling messily up at him, and resolutely not letting go of his hand.

  Euan wasn’t very good with kids – well, no, actually, that wasn’t quite right. He’d never been around kids to know if he was any good with them, but he’d never imagined that he was. He’d seen the way Hector was with Ruby, his adopted daughter, and he’d never quite been able to see himself in the same way, as a doting, caring father.

  But then, I’d never imagined Hector in that way either, until I’d seen it.

  In any case, this kid was just asking him to take him to the toilets, not adopt him. Euan was pretty sure he could handle that, at least.

  “What’s your name?” he asked, in order to break the silence a little as he led the boy by the hand across the expansive, immaculate lawn.

  “Jack,” the boy replied. “I know Emma from school.”

  “I see,” Euan said. “Are you good friends?”

  “Yeah.” Jack nodded. “She’s cool.”

  Euan wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. He didn’t feel he was in any position to judge whether a six-year-old was cool.

  If he’d been invited to a party like this when he’d been a kid, though, he would have undoubtedly thought whoever was holding it was cool.

  He didn’t really recall his own birthday parties – his father hadn’t been one for making very much of birthdays. The most important date of his adolescence had been the first time he’d managed to shift – to let the lion inside him take over his mind, without ceding control to it and keeping a hold of his human side. After that, his father had patted him on the back – or slammed him on the back, more like – and took away the hunting knife he’d given him when he was twelve, saying he’d need to rely only on his own claws from now on. Chocolate crackles and fairy bread had not really featured.

  Thankfully, Jenny was just as competent at party hosting as she seemed, and Euan saw a colorful sign reading ‘TOILETS THIS WAY!’ as soon as they approached the house.

  “You want me to wait for you?” Euan asked awkwardly when they reached the door – it seemed like there was a mum there corralling the kids who needed to go.

  Jack shook his head. “No. It’s cool. Thanks, mister.”

  Euan let out a long breath as he watched Jack make his way over to the other kids. Well, that hadn’t gone too badly, had it? He turned away, looking back to where he’d last seen Delilah.

  She, at least, was clearly in her element. Euan was tempted just to stand back and fade into the scenery and watch as she chatted easily with the kids who surrounded her, booping some on their noses and making them giggle, asking some a question and pretending to consider their answer before she gave them a honey joy, or ruffling their hair as they jumped around her.

  She’s so good with them, Euan thought, feeling his heart clench within him. It was obvious why she had such a close relationship with her nieces – she clearly cared a great deal about kids, and was wonderful at showing it.

  Delilah looked up again and saw him watching her. Her eyes flashed briefly, and then she bit her lip, before waving him over. Euan found himself automatically obeying the gesture – not that he wouldn’t have come over to her anyway – and made his way over to her side.

  “What’s up? Everything all right?”

  Delilah nodded. “Yeah – nothing, uh, nothing to report. I just wanted to introduce you to someone. Once the kids started arriving things got hectic, so I didn’t have the chance before.”

  Euan blinked, but realized after a moment that Delilah could really only mean one person.

  “Hey, Rosie – do you wanna meet, uh – well, he’s my – friend, Euan,” Delilah said uncertainly, glancing up at Euan with a slightly pained expression on her face.

  Euan didn’t have much time to wonder what that might mean though, since in the next moment a face was peering up at him from around Delilah’s side, eyes inspecting him critically.

  Delilah had told him that Rosie was her niece, but Euan could see the resemblance between her and Delilah very clearly. Both of them had thick black hair cut into a chunky fringe that flopped down over their eyes, in contrast to Jenny’s immaculately sculpted beachy waves, dyed a sun-kissed brown. The intelligence that shone clearly in Delilah’s eyes was just the same in Rosie’s, as was the thoughtful way she pursed her lips as she put together her opinion of him.

  “Aunty Dela, if he’s your boyfriend you should just say so,” Rosie informed Delilah, turning her gaze from Euan to her aunt. “I’m not a kid. You don’t have to pretend about these things.”

  Delilah made a noise that sounded a bit like a blocked hose coming unblocked.

  “Rosie…!”

  Euan blinked, swallowing. Well, he had to admit he hadn’t been expecting that, and nor was he certain how to respond.

  Rosie looked down, a faint glower crossing her face. “Fine, I guess I’ll mind my own business then,” she muttered.

  “Yes, that would be appreciated,” Delilah said, but there was no anger or force behind the words. Instead, she simply sounded a little fondly exasperated. “Honestly Rosie, at least say hello before you start pouting, hey?”

  Rosie glanced up, and Euan thought he saw a little contrition in her expression. “I’m sorry. Hi, Euan.” She waved at him a little.

  “Hi, Rosie,” Euan replied. He paused, wondering what to say next. Whatever it was, he wanted to get it right. He already knew Rosie meant the world to Delilah. “Enjoying the party? There’s a lot of little kids here, but no one really your age.”

  Rosie blinked at him. “It’s pretty fun,” she said after a moment. “I really like the ponies – I got to feed them some hay and carrots before. And the kids aren’t bad, but they’re kind of loud.”

  “Seems like you’ve been helping out your aunt and mum a lot,” Euan said, nodding to the plates of food. “Are you on crowd control?”

  Now, the ghost of a smile was tugging at Rosie’s mouth. “A little bit. But I just helped Mum put out some food. I kind of liked making the honey joys, but I didn’t get to do very much. Mum let me stir the honey and butter together.” She paused. “Do you like them?”

  “I haven’t had one yet,” Euan admitted. He wasn’t much of a sweet tooth, to be honest – but the party food did look pretty good. It was like something out of a magazine. And he realized that if he was going to win Rosie over, the best way would definitely be to eat a honey joy.

  Reaching down to the pink plate rimmed with gold, he selected one from the pile and peeled back the pattypan, biting into it.

  The cornflakes crackled beneath his teeth, and his tongue was immediately flooded with a sweet, gooey, buttery taste – and it was amazing.

  Euan chewed slowly, savoring the revelation of th
e honey joy in his mouth – he’d thought he wasn’t a sweet tooth, but he’d clearly been missing out.

  “That’s amazing,” he said, and he really meant it. “You really made these?”

  Rosie’s face flushed with pleasure. “A little bit,” she said. “Like, I just stirred the honey and stuff.”

  “They’re really good,” Euan said, before taking another bite. All these years and he’d never really thought much about food – it was fuel for the body, after all, and while he could appreciate a good meal, it wasn’t something he considered a treat or anything like that. “Maybe I should get the recipe from you.”

  Rosie’s smile widened a little. “It’s just honey joys, but I can tell you if you like. I can write it down.”

  “Sure. I’d like that.” To his mild surprise, Euan found himself genuinely smiling. Rosie seemed like a quiet, serious kid, not well suited to the rambunctious partygoers she was surrounded by, which probably explained a little of her mood at first. But it was clear that once he’d taken even a moment to talk to her, she was easily drawn out of it.

  “I’ll go do it now. I kind of need a break from all the kids anyway.” She stood up, and then paused, looking up at Delilah. “D’you think Mum would mind? I wasn’t really in the mood for the party, but she said I needed to be here.”

  “If she comes looking for you, I’ll just tell her you needed a little break and you’ll be back soon,” Delilah told her. “No biggie. I’m sure it’ll be fine, Rosie-posy.”

  Rosie stiffened a little, biting her lip, and Euan wondered if it was because she thought the nickname was undoing her efforts to appear grown up. Though he could still tell that, almost despite herself, she was pleased.

  Rosie nodded, before wandering her way around the kids playing in the yard, eating party food, and yelling about going to go on a pony ride or get their faces painted.