He was an exceedingly attractive human…and that could not be good if she was to live in his house for a few days.
“So you’re Alex’s…?” Leti entered the room, allowing her question to dangle.
How would Alex wish her to answer? “Friend,” Theda finally said.
The puppy that had entered along with Leti sniffed at Theda’s feet. He stared up at her and sat on her foot. He wanted her to pet him, so she sank to her knees and petted his back as he leaned up against her. He was a small puppy, his tiny frame only taking up the length of her fitted boot.
“Lucho, leave Theda alone,” Leti said, and shifted the baby in her arms.
“It’s okay.” Theda rubbed behind the puppy’s ears. “I love animals.”
“Tony gave him to me after I had the baby. Like I need a puppy to take care of along with a newborn.” Leti smiled and shook her head. “My husband is all heart, but he doesn’t think things through sometimes. Alex is the total opposite.” She peered at Theda as though waiting for her to agree or disagree, but Theda hardly knew Alex.
When she didn’t say anything, Leti glanced down at the dog with a frown. “Lucho is a sweet beagle when he’s not chewing apart my shoes.”
Theda lifted the puppy’s chin. “Lucho, why are you chewing Leti’s shoes?” The dog whimpered and dug his muzzle into her lap. “No more shoe chewing.” She paused a moment, listening to the puppy—more in images than words, but she understood. “Just because Leti leaves at times, it doesn’t mean you can destroy her things. People need shoes to protect their feet.” The puppy huffed out a sigh.
“If only dogs could understand us, right?” Leti said with a shaky smile.
Theda stood. “Yes, if only.” But Lucho understood. He would not chew any more shoes.
The baby started bobbing in Leti’s arms and making da da sounds. “Well, look,” Leti said. “I don’t know what you’re doing right now, but you could come over to my place and see what I have in my closet. It’s full of clothes I can’t wear.” Her mouth twisted. “Still haven’t lost those last few pounds of baby weight. You’re welcome to borrow anything you like, and we can go shopping later.” She bit the side of her lip. “I’m a lot shorter than you…but you’re really thin.” She nodded. “My jeans might work as capris. What do you think?”
“I would appreciate that.” Theda looked at the table of dirty dishes and remembered how Alex had cleaned and put them away last night. Their breakfast had been interrupted, and then he’d left for work.
She’d never cleaned dishes before…but Alex didn’t have a maid. He’d have to do them when he came home, and it felt wrong to leave them when she was capable of doing it. “Do you mind if I wash the dishes first?”
Leti shook her head. “Not at all. I’ll help.” She set the baby on the floor, and he promptly crawled to the dog and started petting his head and patting his back a little too roughly.
Lucho took it good-naturedly. He licked the baby’s face and the baby squealed in a high pitch, rocking back and forth on his round little bottom.
Theda carried the dishes to the sink and turned on the water, searching for the bottle she’d seen Alex pour soap from last night.
“I’ve got it,” Leti said, and inserted a rubber stopper. She grabbed a dark green bottle from a cabinet beneath the sink and poured soap over the dishes. “I’ll wash, you dry, and we’ll be done in no time.”
With Leti’s help, washing the dishes and showing Theda where they went, they got the kitchen cleaned up quickly.
They made their way over to Leti’s house—mother, baby, puppy, and Fae—and Theda tilted her face toward the sun. With a roof over her head and kind humans helping her, she breathed in the crisp scent of freedom for the first time in her life.
6
After leaving Theda with his sister-in-law, Alex stepped out onto the porch—and ran into Old Bob, whose neck was craned as he peered in through the front window just as Leti had moments before.
“Who ya got in there? She’s not living with you, is she?” Alex hesitated a second too long. Old Bob frowned. “Can’t let someone move in just because she has the looks of an angel. She needs a rental application. I need to see her credit report. Could be a devil of a girl hiding beneath all them blond, pretty looks.”
Alex mentally rolled his eyes. This was the reason he and his father had taken over running the estate these last ten years. As he’d aged, Old Bob lost some of his sanity and had grown too paranoid. Over everything. But the man meant well and had been extremely good to Alex and his family.
How was he supposed to explain Theda to him? She wasn’t his girlfriend or his wife…
But she could be. For simplicity’s sake. “She’s—my girlfriend. I’m paying the rent, but Theda’s living with me.”
Alex had never lived with a woman, and it had been a while since he’d had a girlfriend, but he couldn’t kick Theda out. This seemed like the best solution. She didn’t want people to know where she came from, and Old Bob wouldn’t understand someone living with him who wasn’t one of three things: a roommate, a girlfriend, or a wife. If Alex said she was a roommate, Old Bob would insist on a background check. He couldn’t say she was his wife, because of the whole life commitment issue, so that left him one option. Of course, he needed to convince Theda that pretending to be his girlfriend was a good idea.
How had one innocent trip to his tool shed resulted in this?
His family depended on him, and he had a plan: take over his father’s responsibilities on the farm and become Old Bob’s right-hand man, securing his family’s lodging and a place for his father to retire. He would also be able to make sure his brother had steady income, since Tony was a bit of a wild card, and their father would be secure with the small pension Old Bob promised to provide.
“Your girlfriend?” Old Bob said disbelievingly. “Since when do you have a girlfriend?”
Alex frowned. It had been two years since his last girlfriend, but he’d been busy holding down the farm. “Point is, I’ve got one now. I need to meet up with one of the foremen; there’s a shipment coming in. Are we good here, or do you want to meet Theda?” Please say no, please say no…
Old Bob kicked the porch railing with the heel of his boot, as though testing its strength. “Maybe some other time. I gotta get going too. Just came by to tell you that I spoke to your father. This summer would be a good time to transfer over his last responsibilities to you.” Old Bob’s gaze grew wary as he peered once more into the living room. “You think you’re up to it? Don’t have anything burdening you that would prevent you from running the farm?”
“No, sir. I’m ready to take over. Thank you.”
“Good, well”—he held out his hand—“congratulations. Just make sure you stay on the straight and narrow. I don’t mind your brother working for me, but I don’t trust him to run the place.” Tony’s reputation preceded him. “Wouldn’t want to see you doing some of the stupid stuff that kid has done over the years.”
“Tony has changed since he married Leti and had a son. He’s a responsible family man now.” When he isn’t dragging me to bars.
Old Bob frowned with the side of his mouth. “Right, well, see that he is. I better be off.” He turned and hobbled down the steps, taking them slow with his bowed legs. Though once he hit the dirt drive, he kicked it up a notch, his pace faster than you’d think for an old guy.
Everything would be fine. Theda could pretend to be his girlfriend until she got back on her feet, and it would all work out.
How much trouble could one girl be?
Alex returned home exhausted from working a ten-hour day, but anxious to see how Theda was doing. He found her sitting quietly on the couch and looking oddly right in his home. He toed off his work boots. “How was your day?”
She stood and twisted her hands together, though her chin remained tilted up. “Leti gave me clothes.”
He took in what she was wearing for the first time since he’d walked in. She wore slim
jeans that narrowed to the middle of her calves and a simple navy T-shirt that highlighted the paleness of her hair, pulled from its braid and spilling over her shoulder.
He swallowed. Hard. Theda was stunning. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to call her his girlfriend. They’d need to look like a couple to everyone on the outside. Which meant spending time together. Touching. “You look great,” he said, his voice deep and scratchy from his throat having gone dry.
Her cheeks pinkened and she glanced toward the kitchen. “Leti also showed me where to put the dishes.”
Alex had been in such a rush to get away from Leti and her questions this morning that he’d left breakfast on the table. “Thanks. I’ll make us something for dinner. Pizza okay?”
She blinked, her face blank.
For a moment, he got the feeling she didn’t know what pizza was, but that was crazy. “Feel free to turn on the TV while I get it ready.”
He moved into the kitchen and grabbed a frozen cheese pizza from the freezer. He added extra cheese, sausage, and bell peppers while the oven heated. After a minute, he glanced up and saw Theda staring at the dark TV, biting her lip.
“Let me get that for you. There are a couple of different remotes. I should have shown you how to use them.”
Alex walked over and grabbed the two remotes. He turned on the television and flipped through channels. What would a girl like Theda watch? Not that he knew what kind of person she was, since she wouldn’t share anything about herself. He sighed. Sports weren’t typically high on most women’s lists, which was what he’d normally select. Instead, he chose a popular reality dating show. Not something he’d watch, but the women on the farm were always talking about the latest episode.
He handed the remotes to Theda and went to check on the pizza. When he turned around, she had taken a seat on the couch. Alex joined her and sat beside her—but not too close. No need to act like a couple when no one was around.
She stared at the screen. “What are those men doing with that woman?”
Alex squirmed in his seat. “Uhh, dating her? This is that show where a bunch of guys vie for the attention of one girl. She picks the men she likes, and gets rid of the rest.”
“She is with…all of them?”
He chuckled. Theda really hadn’t seen this show? She must have been living under a rock. “Not all of them. Well, maybe for a while. She dates several of them, letting one or more go home at the end of each episode, until only one man is left. Then they decide if they want to get married.”
Theda held up her hand. “The woman decides whom she marries?”
Alex stared at the side of her face. The look she held was serious. “Yeah…that’s usually how it’s done, reality show or not.” He was beginning to truly worry about where she came from and how they’d treated her.
She glanced down and fidgeted with her new top. “Oh yes. Of course. I’ve just never watched this one before.”
Of course. But Alex didn’t believe it.
The buzzer for the pizza went off, preventing him from asking the probing questions he wanted to. He pulled the pan from the oven with a towel and cut the pizza into slices, still thinking about Theda and what she might have been through—what might have forced a girl to leave her home and sleep in a shed.
He loaded two plates with pizza and grabbed a couple of beers, then set the food and drinks on the coffee table.
She smiled. “Thank you.”
They watched the dating show and drank their beers in relative silence, Alex only moving to grab another beer.
“Why would the woman choose that man?” she said indignantly.
He shook his head and chuckled. The guy the girl had chosen was a douche. “Who knows? His sculpted pecs?” he said. Theda’s eyes dropped to Alex’s chest and his smile died.
Her cheeks went rosy as her gaze moved from his chest to his shoulders and arms.
He took a deep swig of his beer. Theda shouldn’t look at him like that. She really, really shouldn’t. What was she trying to do? Get him to kiss her? Because it was working. He wanted to kiss her. And she appeared completely unaware of the response her heated looks had on him.
He stood and grabbed their plates, finishing off his beer at the sink while he attempted to get his body to cool down. He wasn’t the aggressive caveman type. But right now, he felt like one… “Theda, it’s getting late. I don’t mean to make you move, but you’re sort of sitting on my bed.”
“Oh.” She stood quickly. “I’m sorry. I’ll return to the bedroom. Thank you for the pizza and the dating show.”
And now he felt like an ass. She was sweet. He needed to stop thinking about kissing her. It was that damn conversation with Old Bob this morning about how long it had been since he’d dated anyone. Which reminded him…
“One more thing before you head back. I—uh—sort of told my landlord that you’re my girlfriend. He wouldn’t understand why someone was living with me unless I came up with a good reason. He’d start asking questions about where you came from, and I know you’re not comfortable talking about that right now. I hope that was okay?”
“Yes, but what is—that is to say—what do you mean, your girlfriend?”
“Oh, not what you’re thinking.” He held up his hands. “Think of it like the dating show. We might need to go on dates, or hold hands sometimes when people are around. That sort of thing.”
Her brow furrowed.
Shit. He felt as sleazy as the douche on the show. “I’m sorry. It’s the only way, unless you want to have my landlord run a background check on where you came from—”
She quickly shook her head before he could finish.
“Okay, so you’re my girlfriend. But only for pretend.”
“A girl that is your friend,” she said slowly. “Yes, that will be fine.”
“Also, we might want to tell my family that you’re my girlfriend too. Could be the safest explanation all around. Tony’s halfway to believing you are anyway, after we found you in the shed. And my brother has a big mouth. I wouldn’t put it past him to let the truth slip.”
Alex had dodged his brother all day to avoid talking about Theda, and it hadn’t been easy.
“I understand. I am your girlfriend and you will hold my hand around the others.”
He nodded, his gaze landing on her mouth. Even if it was just handholding, the thought of touching her had his mind going in the wrong direction, his body heating.
“Good night,” she said.
“Good night,” he answered after the door had already closed.
This was a bad idea. But he’d committed to helping her, and he’d keep his word.
7
The girlfriend ruse Alex had made up sounded like a precursor to the kind of union from which she’d escaped. Regardless, Theda had no reputation to uphold in this land. And literally speaking, she was a girl who was a friend—albeit a new friend—so it wasn’t a lie. And unlike in Tirnan, she could date as many men as she wanted, just as the woman did on the show she and Alex had watched hours ago. But Theda didn’t think she’d enjoy kissing multiple men. Only one man piqued her interest, and she was already his unofficial girlfriend.
Did she truly find herself attracted to a human? Her pulse raced just from thinking about spending time with Alex as his girlfriend—sitting next to him, touching him. She thought of his lips and what it would be like to kiss him and her face grew warm, her belly tightening.
It seemed she did.
There was no one here to stop her from enjoying intimacies with a man. She was her own woman in the Earth realm, and she could kiss whom she pleased. Even the handsome human she was living with. What harm could it do? If anything, it would give her some perspective from the water-serpent kisses Adelmar had subjected her to.
She rose from the bed with the moon still up, unable to sleep. It had been hours since she returned to the bedroom. Alex was surely asleep. There was no need to worry he’d see her in only the white shirt he’d lent her if she
snuck out to use the bathroom.
She opened the door quietly, careful not to wake him.
No sound or movement came from the direction of the living room, so she quickly stepped across the hall and leaned into the closed bathroom door, her hand on the knob, ready to rush inside—when the door swung open.
She stumbled forward and crashed—into Alex.
Her hands gripped the thick muscles of his bared arms as she tried to straighten. Alex wore nothing over his chest. He was all smooth skin and freshly showered male—and then the scent of soap and clean man hit her. She stared at the muscles that rippled down his chest, creating defined ridges and valleys. Her stomach hitched in the odd way it had earlier when she’d thought of kissing him, and her breathing came out short and gasping.
Theda had once glimpsed a Fae soldier bared to his waist. A portal had been breached, and the man had been wounded in the abdomen. Alex’s chest and arms were more defined than those of the soldier whose job it had been to fight and protect her.
How did a human man grow so muscular?
She straightened and forced her eyes up. “I was going to get water.”
Alex’s eyes lingered on her bare legs, his hand still supporting her lower back, where it had landed when she’d fallen into him. He seemed to shake his head lightly. “Of course.” He slowly lowered his hand and stepped aside—wider than he needed to—as though he was afraid to touch her again.
He stood just outside in the hall and stared at her in a strange way.
Did she look that terrible in the middle of the night? Was her hair a fright?
Probably.
She walked into the bathroom and closed the door, sinking her back against it. She’d wanted to lean forward and press her lips to his bare chest. What was wrong with her? She’d made a fool of herself, leaving her room without wearing her day clothes.
Grabbing one of the small paper cups stacked neatly on the sink, she quickly filled it with water and stared at her reflection in the mirror.
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