Page 24 of One Whopper of a Love Story

“Feels better than I expected.” That wasn’t a lie. I normally avoided anything that even resembled commitment, but now I was scheduling my life around Layla’s free time and hiding frogs for her to find. “Is it that obvious?”

Dag pressed a hand to his heart, then opened and closed his eyes, making a horrible attempt at fluttering his lashes.

Layla looped her arm around mine and leaned against me. “I’ve enjoyed every minute, but I need to be up early to serve doughnuts.”

“Your carriage awaits.” I smiled as she slid her hand down my arm and interlocked our fingers. “Night, y’all.”

“My little cousin has a girlfriend.” Dag laughed.

Goldie smiled as she swatted his arm. “Bye. It was nice to meet you, Layla.”

After helping Layla into the truck and climbing into my seat, I pulled out of the lot. “I had fun. Maybe, if you want, we could go fishing one afternoon. Or whenever you’re free.”

“Will I have to put worms on the hook?”

“I can handle that.”

“And if I catch something, could you take it off the hook?”

“Sure.”

“Then, yes. I’d love to go fishing with you.” She adjusted her seatbelt as she turned to face me. “I love the frogs. Some are still at the shop because I hadn’t figured it out yet and thought maybe a kid had dropped them. But I know right where they are, and I can’t wait to have the collection all lined up on my dresser. And when I get home tonight, I’m going to hunt for the one you hid while I was talking to Lettie, so don’t tell me where it is.”

“I won’t tell you.” I kissed her fingers. “Since you like kissing frogs and are on the hunt for a charming prince, I thought I’d help that process along.”

“Did you know that in the original fairy tale, the Grimm one, that she didn’t kiss the frog?”

“I didn’t. How did she get him to turn into a prince?”

“In the original, he asked to sleep in her bed, and she threw him against a wall.”

“Can’t really blame her for that.”

“Right? Anyway, when he hit the wall, he changed into a prince.”

I laughed. “Ouch. That really changes the whole story, doesn’t it?”

“Just a bit.” She giggled. “It’s a shame too.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t think I could throw you even an inch.” Grinning, she turned and stared out the window.

Yep, I was hooked. And thanks to a little help from Lettie, my frog had jumped from where I’d left it on the mantel onto Layla’s pillow. In light of my newfound fairy tale knowledge, I highly anticipated her reaction.

Chapter 13

Layla

Wearing my favorite frog jammies, I curled up in bed and stared at the little frog on my pillow. Lettie had to have helped Nico get it here because surely I would have noticed a man his size sneaking down the hall behind me, but it didn’t matter. The biggest surprise was that he’d ask her to put it there before I’d told him about the original fairy tale.

I snapped a picture of the plastic toy sitting on my pillow and texted it to Nico.

He replied right away.You didn’t throw it against the wall?

It’s possible I may have already found my prince. That was the stupidest, most impulsive thing to say after a first date, but that didn’t stop me from hitting send.

I stared at the phone, waiting for a reply. One minute stretched into two, then three. “Good job, Layla. You did it again.” Rushing into things was my specialty. The stars in my eyes often blinded me to reality. Nico felt different, but apparently, he wasn’t.

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