her into an embrace. “It seems we have a quite a bit to talk about, Ms. MacBain.”
“It seems we have quite an audience, Mr. Wolfe.”
“Then I hope they enjoy what they’re about to see.” Grinning, he bent down and kissed her exactly as the woman of his dreams deserved to be kissed. She might be the strongest, wildest, most stubborn and surprising creature he’d ever met, but he wondered if she’d mind very much if he fell in love with her anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Are you sure you don’t mind waiting back at the house, Aunt May?”
From the back of the truck’s cab, Katy watched Gunnar’s aunt turn and give him a seriously perturbed look. She bit her lip, wondering if and when they’d tell him they’d already met and that his Aunt May, better known as Mayme, was very likely the reason they had any future at all.
“Who, exactly, do you think you’re talking to, Gunny? Is this a show for your girl?”
Gunnar grinned. “I’m just trying to be a good host.”
“A good host? Does a good host take his guest to a rescue call? Does a good host leave his guest in the truck while he traipses through the woods for hours? Does a good host let his guest wait alone at his house while he sees his girl back to her house?”
Anxiety edged up the back of Katy’s throat. This was not the kind of impression she wanted to make on Gunnar’s only real family, especially as an encore to her emotional meltdown on the sidewalk the other day. She knew it was a bad idea to let him drive her home. She should have just gone back to the station with the team and slept there.
But he’d been so persistent, and Aunt May hadn’t seemed nearly so annoyed when they decided on the plan. In fact, she’d had a twinkle in her eye that made it seem like the whole thing was her idea. Katy decided she needed to do some sort of damage control and fast.
“I am so sorry, Aunt May. This visit must be off to a terrible start for you. Gunnar, you just drop me off and take your aunt home. She needs to put her feet up while you cook her a good meal.”
Practically in unison, Gunnar and Aunt May burst into snorting laughter. “Oh, she’ll do just fine, Gunny. This one’s a keeper. I guess searching for her wasn’t a wild-goose chase after all.”
Katy’s mouth fell open. Jokes didn’t sneak up on her often. And what was that about searching for her? She stared at Gunnar, then caught his eyes searching for hers in the rearview mirror. Though laugh lines flanked them, she saw a nervous flicker in their depths. “Welcome to the clan,” he said. “Nobody gets in without passing the Aunt May test.”
Or the Mayme test, apparently. Katy sat back with a deep sigh, eventually succumbing to May’s musical laughter. “Wow, I was shaking back here. You were very convincing.”
“Never hurts to remind the young folks who’s in charge,” May chuckled. “But, on a serious note, I want you both to know what a pleasure it was to watch you in action today. I know you said to stay in the truck, Gunny, but how could I not get out and help search for those kids? When you radioed to say you’d found them, I felt like I helped save the world. And then when that eagle appeared and literally led the whole bunch of us to you two . . . well, that was a kind of magic I didn’t know existed before today.”
Katy’s whole body warmed. They had witnessed something special today, and that was saying a lot, since magic basically defined the whole of Spellbound Falls.
“I think you might be reading a bit too much into the eagle’s role, Aunt May, but I am pretty happy about the outcome.”
“Oh, you weren’t there, Gunny. I heard that eagle screech and screech until he was sure we were paying attention. He just kept sweeping back and forth between the searchers, almost like he was herding us from the sky. And then, all of sudden, we saw you all at the bottom of that hill. You can say what you will, but I know that bird had a plan.”
“I’m going to vote with Aunt May on this one,” Katy said. “Of course, I’m the one who told you about Telos in the first place.”