a life of their own, drawing swirls and curves across the lines. By the time she stopped, the sun was peeking out from behind the mountains, painting the landscape with the dazzling blues, purples, and pinks of peak sunrise.
“What’s that?”
She didn’t start at Krieger’s voice. No, she already knew he’d been behind her for a while now. Her hand and brain were just too focused on the task. “What do you think?” She held up the pad and turned to him.
He was leaning on the doorjamb, jeans over his hips but unbuttoned, arms crossed over his chest as his gorgeous blue eyes fixed on her. “Beautiful.”
A blush covered her from head to toe. “I mean the dress.” She stood up and thrust the yellow pad at him.
His brows wrinkled as he perused her sketch. “It’s uh, a nice dress.”
“It’s for Temperance. Her wedding dress,” she explained. “It just kind of came to me … and I had to get it down.” Temperance. She loved the name, and how it suited her nature. This dress too, with its trumpet silhouette and elegant lines, would show off the baker’s natural beauty, allow her to shine. “Do you think she’ll like it?”
He took a step forward and slipped his arms around her waist. “I think she’ll love it,” he said before his mouth descended on hers.
As she melted against him, her inner vixen, too, rejoiced. Oh, you smart creature, she said to her fox. It became clear to her now why it had hated him so. Krieger didn’t break her. No, he broke her animal’s trust. And, even when they had initially reconciled, it sensed that he wasn’t ready for the mating bond. The sly little fox knew that he was still keeping something from them, something so important that would have made them both miserable if it continued to fester and prevent the bond from forming. The vixen didn’t want only half of him—it wanted all of him, heart, mind, and soul—scars and all.
When he pulled away, he pressed his forehead to hers. “What are you thinking of, when you should only have one thing on your mind when I’m kissing you?”
She chuckled. “Make me breakfast and I’ll tell you.”
Epilogue
The Blackstone Rangers Headquarters’ outdoor cafeteria hall was dressed to the nines in full fall regalia. Maple leaf-shaped streamers hung across the ceiling, crisscrossed with orange, red, and yellow fairy lights. Scarecrows were propped up in every corner, and pumpkins and gourds of all kinds, along with branches of maple leaves, sunflowers, and cornstalks were used as centerpieces on the tables that were pushed together to stretch across the room. A banner on the far wall greeted anyone who came in with Happy Thanksgiving.
Of course, the best feature of the place was the backdrop featuring the mountains. Though the leaves had mostly turned yellow and brown as the trees were preparing for the winter, it was still a stunning sight.
“Did you need more pine cones?” Dutchy asked Krieger as they sat at one of the tables, finishing the decorations. Beside them, Anna Victoria, Damon, Gabriel, and Temperance formed a kind of assembly line to finish up more decorative wreaths.
“Nah, all good,” he said. His job was to glue the pine cones at the bottom of the wreath, a job that was mercifully idiot-proof because he had zero artistic talent.
“Thank you again for doing this, Dutchy,” Damon said. He was at the end of the line, as he was assigned to put hooks on the backs of the wreaths. The Chief had even less artistic inclination than Krieger, if that were possible.
“You’re welcome, Damon,” Dutchy said. “Happy to do it.”
Dutchy had volunteered to decorate the cafeteria for the Thanksgiving celebration. Actually, it wasn’t the actual day, but the day before. However, it was tradition for the rangers to throw a Thanksgiving celebration for the employees and their families before everyone went off for the holiday. Krieger had never attended the party—nor had he been to any kind of holiday get-together in years. This year, though, he and Dutchy were flying out tonight on the red eye to Minnesota to spend the long weekend with his family.
His mother and grandmother had practically been in tears when he called home to tell everyone about Dutchy and that they’d be coming home for the holidays. Of course, when he asked if he could have the family ring as he was going to ask Dutchy to marry him when they got there, the two women cried buckets and