Page 20 of Bad Wolf's Nanny

Dane came up beside her, hands in his jacket pockets, relaxed and easy-going. “Nah. Too cold for squirrels. Besides, they don’t scowl at me nearly as prettily.”

She gave him a sidelong look. He was smirking at her, his eyes heated with desire blatant enough that even she recognized it. She turned to him squarely. “I’m not flirting with you.”

“Sure. You just save your best material for me.”

“Only because you bring out the worst in people.”

His grin didn’t falter. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, love.”

Lola huffed and started walking, boots clacking noisily against the cobbles. He didn’t follow, but she could feel his gaze on her back the whole way home.

And despite her best efforts…

She smiled.

Just a little.

Chapter 6 - Dane

Dane woke up with a mouth like sandpaper and a headache that felt like someone had taken a crowbar to his skull.

He groaned, rolling onto his side, sheets twisted around his legs, and blinked blearily at the gray light filtering through the blinds. Everything ached. His throat. His back.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered, dragging a hand over his face.

He hadn’t even drunk that much last night. It was Rick’s idea to crack out the whiskey that had done him in. They’d had such a good day training, and both were in high spirits. Plus, Dane had half hoped Lola might appear at the late-night party.

She hadn’t, of course. She was the morning coffee type,notthe late-night drinking games type.

He was decidedly not a morning coffee male. He wasn’t built for polite niceties and Earl Grey and gentle gossip. And hesure as hellwasn’t built for Lola Devereaux. especially not when she’d looked so annoyingly sweet curled up in that armchair, sipping tea and pretending not to notice him.

She had noticed him, though. He knew it.

He could still hear her voice, sharp and dry as bone.“I like to keep my IQ above room temperature.”

The woman was going to be the death of him.

He sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. His muscles protested. He hadn’t slept well; dreams had twisted around him, uncomfortable things full of old memories and strange shadows. Maybe it was the guilt.

He shouldn’t have flirted like that. Not with someone like her. It had been stupid, juvenile…trying to needle her just to see her blush.

And yet...

He hadn’t wanted to stop.

Dane grunted and swung his legs off the bed, padding barefoot across the creaky floor. He needed coffee. Maybe aspirin. Maybe a reset on his whole goddamn personality.

He was halfway to the kitchen when there was a knock at the door.

He frowned.

Another knock. Harder this time.

Dane rubbed his eyes. “If that’s Felix checking on me like some overbearing mother hen…”

He yanked open the door.

And froze.