idea. But right now we have to go.”
Silver threw herself on the ground in an all-out tantrum, the likes of which Anderson hadn’t seen since his daughter had been a three-year-old. “You promised,” she wailed. “And Miss Lexi would teach me, but you’re too busy trying to pretend like you don’t have a crush on her to let me study with her.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Anderson saw Sawyer’s eyebrow shoot up. Great, just great. Now, not only was Sawyer going to be giving parenting advice, he was probably going to start doling out dating advice, too.
“I do not have a crush on her, Silver,” Anderson said, sounding defensive and hating himself for it.
“Then what’s the problem? Why don’t you let me take more classes with her?”
Anderson normally prided himself on being a patient parent. Even when his daughter had been in the throes of the tantrum-prone toddler years, it had been rare for him to lose his cool. But, right now, Anderson was getting close to losing it. Silver was getting under his skin, but he knew it was only because she was right. He had no idea how she knew that he had romantic feelings for Lexi, but she did. Was he that obvious? He’d tried to keep things very friendly.
After all, even after he admitted to himself that he had probably been wrong about Lexi’s partying ways, he still had to face the reality of how different they were. He was a shifter, and Lexi was human. Sure, shifter-human love matches could work. Sawyer and Amanda were proof of that. But the odds were always against it, and, somehow, Anderson didn’t think the odds were in favor of things working out between Lexi and him.
“Silver, get up off the ground,” Anderson said, his voice rising in frustration. Sawyer had arrived just a few minutes earlier to pick them up and take them back to Frost Peak, and Silver had been acting normally until it was time to board the airplane. Anderson felt embarrassed and frustrated over his daughter’s antics. Sure, Sawyer had seen Silver tantruming before—after all, Sawyer had known Silver since the day she was born, so he had lived through her toddler years. But it had been a long time since Sawyer had seen Silver acting this way, and Anderson was already imagining the well-meant but misguided parenting advice that Sawyer was going to give. Sawyer’s know-it-all attitude had been getting on Anderson’s nerves lately. Apparently, having a newborn made him an expert on all things parenting. Anderson didn’t want to begrudge Sawyer his excitement over his newfound role as a father, but Sawyer had a lot to learn about raising a little girl. To Anderson’s surprise, however, Sawyer didn’t make any comments on Silver’s behavior. Rather, Sawyer brought up something that Anderson had never seen coming.
“So,” Sawyer said. “Have you seen the latest edition of In the Know ?”
“ In the Know ?” Anderson asked, trying to place where he had heard that title before. Then it hit him: it was a celebrity gossip magazine. “No, why?”
Anderson’s voice sounded guarded and he knew it. But when Sawyer brought up a celebrity gossip magazine, Anderson’s stomach had dropped. Sawyer wasn’t in the habit of reading celebrity rags, so there had to be a reason for his asking. Anderson had a pretty good idea that the reason was Lexi. Had more pictures surfaced of her drinking or partying? Had her ex-boyfriend fed more lies to the paparazzi about Lexi’s extracurricular activities? Anderson knew for a fact that any mentions of Lexi partying in recent days would be completely fabricated. Lexi had been busy wrapping up the dance program for the kids, and then dragging bags of dirt around for her garden. And, of course, taking a break to have dinner with him. Then it hit him.
Oh, shit. It wasn’t possible, was it…? Before he could ask the question, Sawyer spoke up and confirmed Anderson’s worst fear.
“Yeah, well, you might want to check it out,” Sawyer said. “You
Dr. Christiane Northrup
C. Alexander London
Regina Doman
Melody Carlson
John R. Maxim
Marv Wolfman
Annie Reed
M.D. Kevin Fong
Scarlet Hyacinth
Vivian Arend