Page 27 of Bitter Sweet Love

He dropped his hands and straightened. “Maybe at the end of these seven days, you’ll still say no. That doesn’t mean it’s over. I’m in this for the long haul.”

Warmth bubbled up in my chest in response to his words. “What if I find someone else?”

His eyes narrowed. “I doubt that’s going to happen.”

“You never know.”

“Oh, I know.”

I rolled my eyes, but the grin I was fighting peeked through. “Just saying.”

“And I’m just saying that by the end of these seven days or maybe a week from then, or a month, you’ll say yes.” He cupped my cheek and leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine. “And I’ll be waiting. No matter how long it takes.”

As I closed my eyes, my breath caught at the way my stomach dipped and twisted. The question formed on the tip of my tongue. “Tell me why you really left, Dez. Please.”

He brushed my nose with his and then pulled back, sighing. “Jas, it’s not an easy—”

Bushes rattled behind us, the sound of something rustling around. We turned at the same time. A shiver of awareness snaked along my shoulders as the tiny leaves on a bush that was only a few feet tall shuddered.

Dez placed a hand on my arm and motioned for me to be quiet as we stood. We made no sound, but the spiky leaves stilled.

A thin branch, no wider than a pencil and shaped like a spear, parted the leaves. The spear swung left and then right and then stopped, pointing at where we stood.

“What the...?” I whispered.

The bushes shook as a small creature appeared between the leaves. I had no idea what the thing was. No taller than a foot, the thing’s skin was the color of aged leather, legs and arms thin and knobby. Some kind of loincloth had been fashioned out of leaves and its potbelly was covered with mud. The creature kind of resembled one of those heinous troll dolls that had been popular before my time. It didn’t have neon-pink or purple hair, but its dark brown hair did stick straight up in large clumps, twisting together at the end.

The small creature crouched down, pointing the spear at us as if daring one of us to make a move.

“Holy crap,” Dez said.

I clamped my hands together, under my chin. “What is it?”

Its big, round eyes narrowed at the sound of my voice, but it didn’t scamper off. Couldn’t picture the little guy running. Nope. It would scamper.

“It’s a pukwudgie.”

The thing’s oversize, floppy ears twitched at the sound of its name.

I looked at Dez slowly. “A what?”

“Earth demon,” he replied, brows knitted. “I’ve never seen one before. Thought they’d been eradicated years ago. Not much is known about them other than they caused a bit of mischief during their heyday. Usually they were only seen up north, near Massachusetts and places like that.”

“It’s kind of cute.” I grinned when his look turned dubious. “What? It’s so ugly it’s cute.”

Dez shook his head as the pukwudgie dropped its little spear and slunk forward, nearing the rocks. It disappeared behind them for a moment and then the tips of its ears and hair came into view. Finally, those big eyes and bulbous nose appeared as it peeked over a rock at us.

I giggled softly, and its mouth opened wide, revealing quite of bit of teeth in what I guessed was a smile in return.

“I think it likes me,” I said.

Dez’s hand grazed my back as he stepped away from the rocks. “Everything likes you, Jas.”

With surprising agility, the little guy hopped onto the farthest rock. It crouched again, watching us, and when neither of us moved, it inched closer, hopping the rocks until it was near the one we’d been sitting on.

I glanced at Dez, who shrugged and then started around the rocks, as if he planned to sneak up on it from behind. “What are you doing?”

He sent me a look. “What do you think?”

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