Page 35 of Furever Loyal
His eyebrow dropped heavily, turning into a frown. “That was a low blow.”
She smiled. “So was acting like you can’t afford a five-dollar dessert.”
“We never said I was paying. What is this, a date? Are we going back to my house after?”
Haley started to shake her head, slowed, then stopped outright, staring at him. “This isnota date Kincaid, so wipe that look off your face.”
But he barely heard her. That wasn’t what he was thinking about at all. A date with Haley was an outrageous idea certainly, he knew that. “No, not that.”
Haley had taken up her drink, pausing with the straw in her mouth. “Well, what then? Spit it out. You look like you’ve had an epiphany.”
Strategically he paused a second or so before replying. “We’re going back to my house.”
Cola spewed across the table as Haley momentarily choked on her drink. “What? Don’t you think that’s a little fast?”
He smiled, handing a napkin to her as she wiped up the mess. “So, is that a no?”
“Damn straight it’s a no.”
“Too bad,” he said, pulling his wallet out and throwing enough cash on the table to cover whatever the bill might come out to. “We’re doing it anyway. Let’s go.”
Haley protested—thankfully quietly—following as he headed for the door. “What kind of woman do you take me for? I’m not going to your house just like that.”
“Oh, relax, will you? This isn’t about some sort of pseudo-sexual conquest. Besides, you’ve been to my house before.”
“Right. That wasbeforeI knew your secret.”
“Good. Great. Now you can look around and appreciate it for how beautiful it really is. You can understand all the history it encompasses.”
“And see people getting naked and changing into giant bears all the time too,” she whispered.
Kincaid snorted. “I have two things to say about that. First and foremost, if my memory of your eyes is correct, you had no objections to the nakedness when you saw it happen this morning, and two, we don’t just get naked and shift willy-nilly.”
Haley tried to protest, but the bright red flush of her cheeks made it a pointless endeavor and she soon gave it up entirely. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Yes, it is. It’s fine, don’t worry. You’ll have lots of questions, I’m sure. This will give you the chance to look around, understand the truth behind it all, and then you can ask them as well.” He unlocked the SUV as they approached. “The more you know and understand, the easier it will be to keep our secret.”
Haley walked around to her door and slid in, buckling up as he fired up the engine. “Kincaid,” she said, and for the first time, he heard uncertainty in her voice.
“Yes?”
“How much trouble am I in now I know the truth?”
Frowning, he stayed silent, guiding the SUV into the street and making a beeline for the edge of town. “For knowing? Not much,” he admitted. “I’m honestly somewhat surprised you hadn’t already been informed, considering how close you work with us. It would probably have made doing your job easier. I would hazard a guess that’s the work of our former King. He was a very secretive sort.”
“Why do I feel like I’m still in some danger?” Haley was looking over at him, concern writ all over her face and into her eyes.
“We don’t take well to people sharing details of our true nature,” he said, picking each word carefully.
“Why Kincaid, that sounds like a politely-worded death threat. Either that or I’ve watched too many thriller movies.”
She giggled, but he remained silent, and slowly the laughter faded.
“I wouldn’t tell anyone if I were you,” he said heavily, trying to put as much weight into his words as possible without making them too harsh.
“I’m not an idiot,” she snapped. “Just because I’m only an accountant doesn’t mean I haven’t thought through the consequences of your secret getting out, or of all the people out there that would want to get their hands on your DNA—to copy it, to take advantage of it. If just one wrong person…” she trailed off. “Sorry, you probably know all this and have to think about it on a daily basis. I…I didn’t mean to bring it up like that.”
“It’s fine,” he said dismissively. “You get sort of inured to it after a certain amount of time to worry about being discovered. The truth is, most of the world doesn’twantto know about us. There are videos online, of rash members being caught. Not many, and not great videos. But everyone always brushes them off. A hoax, they say. Like Bigfoot. Or these days they call it CGI.”
