Free Bite This! by Tasha Black Page A

There’s something in your ear,” he told Luke.
    From behind the boy’s ear, he made a rose appear, the petals red as blood in the firelight. He’d nicked it from the overgrown garden earlier, and had been holding onto to it, waiting for the right time.
    This was the part kids always loved. After the fun they’d had, he expected Luke to howl with the same laughter that had echoed through the woods all day.
    But Luke surprised him by scooting away from Finn, and sidling into Darcy.
    “Oh. Wow. I’m sorry, man. It’s just a magic trick, nothing to be afraid of,” Finn said, offering the rose to Darcy.
    She tucked it right into her hair without comment and he noticed how good it looked against her dark tresses.
    Time for a different approach, then.
    “Hey, want to hear a story?” he asked Luke gamely, hoping to make him feel better.
    They ate bread and cheese and roasted marshmallows while Finn told Luke a few of the stories his grandfather used to tell him, leaving out the off-color bits, and using the flashlight to accent his face during the exciting parts.
    Darcy laughed and roasted marshmallows one after the other, giving the perfectly toasted ones to the boy and eating the ones she accidentally set on fire.
    At last Luke was leaning against her, drifting, a look of peace on his sticky face.
    “I’m going to tuck him in,” she whispered to Finn. “Come on, little one, let’s get some shut-eye,” she said to the child in a sing-song way.
    He allowed her to carry him inside. Finn was impressed at her strength. She was so small and curvy and the kid so long and lanky. But she picked him up like he was weightless.
    Because she was a wolf. Of course, it made sense now. So many things made sense.
    He allowed himself to get lost in the fire again.
    He knew what she was. She knew what he wasn’t. There was real trouble with the boy, trouble that might be bigger than all of them.
    This was a scene the Fantastic Finn would have left in the rear view mirror from the word go.
    So why was he still here?
    I’m here because I would risk certain death for just one more hour of playing house with Darcy Harkness.
    His heart was leading him. Dammit. Why couldn’t he have fallen for one of the assistants?
    Because this woman makes me into my best self.
    So. How far was he willing to go?
    He wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to that question.
    The crackling of the dying fire provided no answers.
    He decided to call it a night instead of feeding it another log.
    But the door opened, and he turned to see Darcy returning with a smile and a bottle of Scotch.

16
    F inn watched Darcy navigate the deck toward him, sure-footed, even in the darkness.
    “Thought maybe we could use a little of this,” she said, holding up the bottle. “I don’t know much about this stuff, but if my brother bought it, it’s probably pretty good.”
    Finn nodded and put another log on the fire.
    Darcy seated herself on the deck floor next to him. When he was finished with the fire, she handed him a small mason jar and poured a few fingers of the scotch in it. Single malt. Looked expensive.
    “May we always get what we want, but never get what we deserve,” Finn offered in toast, trying not to notice the seductive warmth emanating from her. She was sitting just inches away. He could practically touch her.
    He watched the firelight caress her neck as she threw back her head to drink.
    Christ she was beautiful.
    He downed his own glass.
    The scotch was amazing. It warmed his inside as the fire warmed his outside.
    For a while, they said nothing.
    It was something he’d always admired about Darcy. She seemed to have no need to fill the air with small talk the way his sisters and assistants always did.
    The silence grew rich with words unspoken.
    Finn longed to tell her that he was with her. That he would back her play.
    But who the hell was he? She might not even want his help.
    She’d told him her secrets, but he hadn’t told her his. And he had