Lost Library: An Urban Fantasy Romance (32 page)

             
He was looking a little frustrated at this point. “Lizzie? Are you being intentionally difficult? Because this is hard enough as it is.” 

             
“Oh. Oh! You mean meet them as your…as your special friend?” Awkward. Why didn’t he say the G word first? Girlfriend. It wasn’t a difficult word.
Men.

“More as my… mate
—kind of like a girlfriend.” Was he blushing?

“I’d love to.”
She smiled broadly and cuddled up next to him.

She had a boyfriend. She wanted to giggle like a little girl. It seemed so silly. She knew she had feelings for him
and that he reciprocated, but speaking about it, naming it, made their relationship seem more real.

Lizzie thought back to
the Idaho fiasco, when he’d claimed she was his lover. So what was the difference? Girlfriend, lover, mate—the terminology was confusing. Before her giddy brain could dwell too terribly long on that question, she remembered that she was supposed to make a decision about joining the pack

She asked, “So how do I go about joining the pack? I think I told you hell would freeze over first. Obviously, I’ve reevaluated since then. I still have a few questions about how it works
, but I think I’m ready. If I want to formalize it, how would I join?”

He cleared his throat. “That won’t be a problem. What questions do you have?”

Home for slightly more
than twenty-four hours, Lizzie was just starting to feel a little more like her old self again. She’d slept and slept. Then she and John had
not
slept—a small blush bloomed at
those
thoughts. And she’d eaten. Her appetite had returned and then some. She hadn’t realized how little she’d been eating over the last several days. She’d dropped around ten pounds, during the “Lizzie Kidnapped” episode of her life.

She’d warned John not to get too used to the svelte her, because she had every intention of eating like a normal person again. He’d just looked at her like she’d grown an extra head, and hopped out of bed to go make breakfast.

“Eggs and bacon good?” he asked as he made his way into the kitchen.

“
Sounds lovely,” she’d replied to his retreating back.
Smart man.

John was well out of earshot
, she thought—she still wasn’t completely clear on the super hearing thing—when her phone rang, She’d been avoiding most calls since she got home. But eventually, she’d have to return to the reality of her boring, normal life. She pulled on her robe, debating whether or not to answer.

She could hear John letting the dogs out in the yard as she picked up her phone.
He really was a keeper. He’d run by Kenna’s mom’s house to pick them up as soon as they’d arrived back in Austin. Weirdly, they’d been fine with him after lots of sniffing and curious looks.

She glanced at the
caller ID screen before she answered…Idaho? “Yes?”
Wow, she must still be tired.

“Lizzie?”
a male voice inquired.

“Who is this?”
Would her manners ever recover from this adventure?

“Lizzie Braxton? It’s Clark, Grant Clark.
Calling to congratulate you on your union with Braxton.” Clark waited until the silence was almost awkward, and when he continued his tone was cautious.

“On behalf of Idaho, I’d like to extend official congratulations. It is our hope you’ll accept a token of our good will and look to the future, not the past, in building a relationship with Idaho.”

The doorbell rang. She was already on her way to answer it, when her good manners kicked in and she replied to Clark, “Thank you, Mr. Clark. I’m afraid now isn’t a good time, but I appreciate your call.” Click.
Appreciate, my ass.
Her thoughts were sinking well into the depths of profanity when she answered the door to a UPS deliveryman and a florist delivery driver. “Lizzie Braxton?” the florist inquired, politely.

In the silence, the UPS man
shifted from foot to foot, clearly in a rush, and asked, “I need a signature. Can you sign for Ms. Braxton?”

She shut the door on them both, and…

“JOHN!!!” She couldn’t remember a time she’d yelled so loud. But if ever there was a time to start, it was now.

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