Page 78 of Hero for the Holidays

She’d already weaseled him into letting her stay the night so maybe...well, maybe they could talk about the balance of things now.

When it was time for her to head back to Landry’s—and Gort the gecko—Fia packed everything into the car, and they drove over together.

When she walked in, Landry was standing at the stove with a dish towel thrown over his shoulder. He was literally wearing an apron. And he could not have looked hotter.

Was she really no better than this? She had made all that commentary about women needing to be complex. About maturity and all of that.

And here she was. Drooling over him like she had back then.

Like she was the same. When she needed to be different.

Because if she was the same, then maybe she wasn’t up to any of this.

She needed to be better and different. It was important. Very important. She had to keep Lila’s needs elevated above her own. She had lived on the same ranching land as Landry all this time, and she had managed not to fixate. She had managed to not check him out, she had managed to not be a slave to her baser desires.

So, like, what the hell, man?

“Hey,” he said. “Glad you’re back. Will you stay for dinner, Fia?”

“Yeah, Fia,” said Lila, fixing her with her intense teenage stare.

“Sure,” she said. “I’d love to.”

Even though she needed distance. She couldn’t deny Lila. Lila wanted to spend time with her. And that was sweet. It was lovely. She knew more about what Lila wanted and thought about them than Landry, though, as far as she knew.

She was caught sometimes between keeping Lila’s confidence on that, and talking to Landry.

If they were a couple, she would’ve had to tell him. They weren’t, though, so she had kept it a secret like Lila had asked her to.

“What are you making?”

“Well, it’s no topless chicken pie,” he said. “I’m just pan-frying a couple of steaks.”

“You ever have your cholesterol checked, Landry?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Cream and beef does a body good.”

Well, it certainly did his body good, though she didn’t want to say that. She shouldn’t have even thought it.

“I worry for him,” said Lila.

“Fia probably doesn’t. She probably wishes I’d drop dead.”

Lila went white-faced.

“Sorry,” said Landry. “I’m sorry.”

Lila shook her head. “It’s okay.”

He moved away from the stove and went over to hug her. The tender gesture made Fia shiver.

“Sorry that he’s so insensitive,” said Fia.

Lila laughed. “He is, though. Though he did tell me that a bobcat probably wouldn’t eat me. Only a bear would. He thought that was pretty tender parenting.”

“I’m just being honest,” he said. “And I think that living in the wilderness hinges on honesty when it comes to animal-related injuries and devourings. You don’t need to worry about being eaten by a bobcat. At least not in your entirety. Bears, cougars, I would worry a little bit more.”

“Wolves?” Fia asked.

---