Page 46 of Brazen

Swooning. Still swooning.

“Oh, now I see what’s going on,” Harper teased. “You really do know Sam.”

Shut up, Harper.

I wasn’t the blushing type, but I was pretty sure my face had grown warm.

Sam lifted JT off his shoulders and gently lowered him next to me. He touched my hips lightly, nudging me away from the table. “I’ll take over here.” He tipped his head toward the carnival. “Go have some fun.”

I stared at him, my brain fully scrambled.

Sam was acting just like a partner would. He seemed to understand my situation and smoothly solved the dilemma, even though he’d get the short end of the stick.

“Are you…” I wanted to ask him where his niece and nephews had gone. If he’d come to the fair for them or for me. How he intuited what I needed. If he’d known I was here the whole time. But he was already serving pizza with that megawatt smile, and Lord knew, the pizza line needed him, and JT needed me.

“Go on. Really. I’ve got this.” He spared me a wink, and I turned hot and gooey like warm syrup on pancakes.

“Thanks.” I leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Surprise lit his eyes, and I thought I heard a possessive growl before he turned his attention back to the little kids and their parents in front of him.

The flutters in my belly moved up to my chest. I liked Sam.

A lot.

Suddenly, the new stability I thought I’d find in Cooper Valley felt shaky. I felt shaky.

This felt dangerous.

And exhilarating.

But also, right.

Against my better judgement, I was letting Sam in.

I sure as hell hoped things didn’t blow up.

18

SAM

* * *

“Sam, I can’t believe you’re still working!” Clio exclaimed when I passed her, carrying a garbage can full to the brim.

She stood at the edge of the playground, talking to Joy, Remy’s human stepmom. She and Wes invited JT to spend the night, and they were working out the details. Wes and I were on the fair’s clean-up crew, tearing down the carnival booths and putting all the equipment in the school basement, where the PTA stored things. The event had ended, and this was the last load of trash to go out.

JT and Remy raced around the playground, playing tag with some human kids, hopped up on sugar and fresh air, but I knew they’d crash the second they were buckled into their car seats. I imagined it wasn’t going to be a challenging sleepover.

“It’s all to impress you, Sparks. Is it working?” I sent her a wink.

“That’s not true,” I overheard Joy say as I walked away. “He always pitches in at these events.”

I wondered if Wes told her Clio was my mate. Probably. She may be human, but she was marked and one of us now, which meant she’d understand, at least partly, how much I had riding on getting Clio to let me past those walls of hers.

I walked around the back of the school to throw the garbage in the dumpster then stopped in the bathroom to wash my hands. When I came out, Clio was leaning against the wall in the empty corridor.

Mine, my wolf snarled.