Page 15 of Wrong Number, Right Lion

“Yeah, he already told me to back off. Not in those words, but yeah.”

“You mean my cousin? Cousin Stephen?” Arlo grabbed the back of his neck. “He was just here, I heard you arguing.”

“Oh. I guess I did mean your cousin.” I wish he hadn’t heard us fighting but was thrilled to discover he was family.

“He’s always so protective, like I’m a little baby lamb surrounded by lions and he is the only one who can save me.”

Only one lion, and while I may want to eat him, he was in absolutely no danger from my beast. That hit a little close.

“I’m gonna ask again. Are you helping me because you’re interested… in me?” He rubbed the back of his head with the heel of his hand. “Maybe answer it this time.”

I hesitated. He was right. My mate deserved a real answer.

“I’d have helped you regardless, but yes… I like you.”

He let out a long breath. “Good, because I like you too and not just because you are fixing my house.”

“Just to clarify, when I said I liked you, I mean that I’m interested… that I’d like to see… maybe…”

I brushed some hair out of his face before realizing I hadn’t cleaned my hands. Whoops. I pulled it right back.

“Same. I like you too and want to see where it goes.” Knowing full well I already had visions of the two of us growing old together.

“I thought… I thought a lot of things,” I confessed, “but one of them was that you were already taken. And I’m not that kind of alpha. I’d never step on anyone’s toes or try and get with their omega.”

“No problem with that here. I don’t have an alpha. I do have a cousin, though.”

“I’m kind of okay with a cousin who doesn’t like me.” He’d either grow to like me or not. He was being protective, so my guess was that with time he might not want me dead?

“Don’t take it personally.” He rolled his eyes. “Stephen is Stephen. But he means well, and he cares for me. And honestly?Not having a contract in place with absolute money values? That is a red flag.”

“Okay, fair. But I wasn’t meaning it to be. I just didn’t want to have you stress over it.” Which worked out not at all.

“Which made me stress more.” I loved that his timidness from when I walked in had fallen away and he was sharing more freely.

“Also fair. But how about this? I honestly think the insurance is going to pay far more money than I need. So let’s not worry about it.”

“And if they don’t?” Great. He was still worried.

“I’ll fight for you until they do.”

“Okay.” He didn’t sound enthused by the idea, but the reality was, with me doing most of the labor, they were going to pay out plenty.

“So now what?” He shoved his hands into his front pockets.

“I was thinking maybe we could go on a date?” Less thinking about it and more that it popped into my head. People were still big into dates. At least that’s how it was on the television. Most of my experience with humans was at the college, and college kids were not a decent sample set for how most humans acted.

“I’d like that.”

“Excellent. When did you want to go? This is my break, so I’m pretty open.” The storm couldn’t have come at a more perfect time in that respect.

“I’m free tonight.”

My lion puffed up.

Mine.

Ours.

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