Free The Accidental Werewolf 2: Something About Harry (Accidentally Paranormal Novel) by dakota cassidy Page A

worth so they wouldn’t suddenly disappear without warning.
    Mara got it. She’d done the same with her dog, Archimedes. He’d been her constant companion while the illogical fear everyone around her was going to die at any moment passed.
    Mara gave Harry a knowing nod, then scooted around the island and sat down on the floor, crossing her legs over each other so she’d be eye to eye with Mimi. “Hey, I have an idea. What if you took a can of cat food to your room? Do you think Coconut would stay in there with you then?”
    Her Kewpie doll lips pursed. “Who are you?” she asked with a tone that read more like, “Who do you think you are?”
    Mara grinned at her. “I’m Mara Flaherty. I work with your Uncle Harry. We had some work stuff to talk about, and that’s why I’m here. It’s nice to meet you, Mimi, and Coconut, too.” She ran a hand over the cat’s back, scratching its ears.
    “You have really pretty hair.” Mimi reached up and wound a strand of it around her chubby finger. “It’s soft and straight and really long. Mine’s curly and ugly.”
    Mara took a strand of Mimi’s dark hair and gave it a gentle tug. “I don’t think so. I think it’s beautiful. Do you have any idea how much I’d like to get my hair to curl like that? But it doesn’t. So maybe, if you agree, of course, we can take Coconut to your room, and if you get into bed, I’ll tell you all about how much I hate my straight hair, and you can tell me how much you hate your curly hair. Whaddya say?”
    Mimi’s eyes, large and round, glimmered with far more suspicion than any five-year-old’s should. Everything was new and strange in her world as of late. Mara was only making it stranger. “I don’t like my bedroom here. It’s not like my old bedroom.”
    Harry’s shoulders slumped. The disapproval of a five-year-old was enough to leave him looking crushed. Big, easygoing, calm, rational Harry had just had his knees chopped out from under him by a wee sprite of a girl.
    His eyes fixed on Mara’s again with an apology in them. “I’m trying. I really am. I just can’t get it right,” he muttered in low defeat.
    Her heart churned in her chest again. She turned back to Mimi and smiled a grin full of mischief. “Well, I’d like to see this room you don’t like. So if you won’t come with me, I’ll just have to go it alone. But I think it’d be way more fun with a friend,” Mara said, her tone light and easy. Rising to her feet to back out of the kitchen, she instinctively knew Mimi’s curiosity would coerce her to follow with Coconut in tow.
    She made her way down the hall, guessing at which room was Mimi’s. She didn’t have to have a light to guide her, the glow from it was so distinct. She flipped the light switch on and winced. It was pink—so pink it hurt her eyes.
    Mimi strolled in behind her, dropping a squirming Coconut on the matching pink carpet. “See what I mean? I don’t like pink. In my old house, I had a purple room. Purple is my favorite color.”
    Harry was behind her; she felt the heat of his poor, hormone-riddled body against her spine—a spine quickly becoming buttery from his presence—and fought the urge to rub up against him like a cat.
    He leaned down, his lips but an inch from her ear. “I painted it before I brought them here, just after I found out Donna and her husband . . . well, you know. I thought pink would be perfect. But I haven’t had time to repaint it, with work and their school schedules.”
    Mara turned around to face him, finding herself at eye level with his wide chest. She took a deep breath and a step backward.
    While Mimi busied herself with a cluster of dolls in the corner of her very pink room, she whispered, “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Harry. It’s obvious you’re doing the best you can in a really difficult situation. I can see you love them. And the pink isn’t so awful—in a Pepto-Bismol kind of way.” She hoped her playful teasing