Page 6 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Four

Winter

“ C ome on, Goliath, let’s go,” I said to my Great Dane as I headed to the door for our morning run.

I clicked my tongue, and the huge white and gray dog came right over to me.

After I snapped his leash to his harness, I opened the door, and we were off.

Goliath’s coloring reminded me a little of a dalmatian, except replace the black spots with gray.

His chest and front legs were all white, and the gray spots started past his shoulders.

Although, he had a few smaller spots on the back of his neck and face, including the one over his left eye.

We ran our usual route, and I had to hide a smirk when we turned onto Miles Curbelo’s street. I hadn’t realized I’d moved so close to him at first, but I couldn’t deny I was happy to find his house a couple of years ago.

I tried to pretend that wasn’t why I chose to run down this street every day, but that’d be a big fat lie.

Miles was kind of prickly at times, but he’d always been kind to me, and after seeing the business he’d opened, I knew he had a good heart. But he seemed kind of lonely.

In all my time living only a block away from him, I’d never seen anyone over at his house. Granted, I usually only came this way twice a day—once for my and Goliath’s morning run, then again in the evening for our nightly walk. But still, I’d never seen even one person there.

I had, however, noticed that he watched me run by every morning.

He thought he was sneaky—he wasn’t. Not at all.

I let him think I didn’t see him, I let him pretend he was hiding in the corner of his porch every day, but I’d never pointed it out. Probably because I didn’t want him to stop.

I saw him there today, and just like every time I saw him, I felt drawn to the man. I always had, even in high school. Sometimes I wished I would’ve listened to that pull back then and actually talked to the guy.

Then maybe he wouldn’t be so lonely now.

Maybe I wouldn’t be so lonely living in my house alone.

That pull was always there, but it felt different today, stronger.

It almost felt like I didn’t have a choice but to stop and talk to him.

I had no idea if that was simply the desire I’d always felt for the man, or if there was some kind of magic at play, but it was there, and it was powerful as hell.

I’d never had this strong of a pull before, and after another moment’s hesitation, I decided to listen to my gut.

Maybe if I did that more often, I wouldn’t have gotten into so much trouble in the past.

Goliath was confused when I slowed down in front of Miles's house, but when I bent down and pretended to be tying my shoe, he just sniffed at my face, gave me a slobbery kiss, and started sniffing Miles’s grass.

The man in question was sitting in the same spot as always with a giant mug of coffee in his gloved hands, staring at me.

Why did the man always wear gloves? He’d even worn them in high school—not that I’d noticed or anything.

It was so odd, but then there were a lot of oddities about Miles Curbelo.

That was probably why I was drawn to him.

So I decided to put on my big boy pants, stood, and said, “Hey, Miles.”

A choking sound came from the porch before he coughed and said, “Hey, Winter.” Whoops . I’d startled him. He really did think he’d been hiding back there, didn’t he?

I stepped closer, walking up his sidewalk with Goliath trotting happily in the grass. “How are you this morning?”

He was staring at me like he was scared of me. “Um, I’m fine. What about you?”

I sent him a smile. “I’m good. Got any plans this weekend?”

He stared at me for so long I started bouncing back and forth on my toes. Why was he staring at me like that? In what world did that question take that kind of consideration? Did he think I would judge him for whatever plans he had? Was there some glove convention in town or something?

Finally, he cleared his throat. “Actually, I’m working at one of those mansion houses in Bellscar. They’ve got the worst gnome infestation I’ve ever seen.”

“You’re working on the weekend? Isn’t it a holiday weekend? You don’t have a bunch of parties or whatever to go to?” I cringed inside. Hadn’t I just been thinking about how the guy seemed to have no social life? And now I was standing here pointing it out to him? Could I be any ruder?

He shrugged. “Definitely no parties. I usually work on Saturdays for at least half the day, then take Sundays off.”

I wrinkled my nose at that because people needed more downtime than that, but whatever. It was fine. It wasn’t my life, and I couldn’t tell him how to run his business. “Gotcha.”

“What about you? Got any plans?”

I shook my head. “Not really. I’m planning on relaxing and sleeping in, and I’ll probably take Goliath to the dog park on Sunday, but I’m not really planning anything.

Oh, my best friend invited me to their family cookout on Monday, so I might go to that, but I might also just stay home and hang out with Goliath.

” I shrugged since it was true. My friend Lyric was amazing, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to a cookout with them when it’d probably mostly just remind me how I no longer had a family.

Miles nodded, set his cup on a little table, then walked down his porch steps and sat there instead, his lips twitching like he wanted to smile at me but was holding back for some unknown reason.

Goliath rushed him, and I sputtered, trying to warn Miles about the incoming doggie slobber, but he just laughed and started petting my boy.

Miles laughed . Wow. That totally transformed his face and made him look younger and… and prettier.

He was a pretty guy anyway, not that I’d use that word to his face.

He’d probably punch me. But Miles was gorgeous.

He was fit, smaller than me in width and height, and his brown hair was blowing gently in the wind.

His hair was shaved on the sides, and normally, he had so much gel on top to make messy spikes that his hair didn’t move at all. It was rare to find him so… at ease.

For some reason, seeing him before he was all done up only made him more handsome to me. It made me want to reach out and run my fingers through his hair.

He was the perfect size for me to lift him in my arms and carry around… carry him to bed and throw him on it, then cover him with my body, and—

I cut those thoughts off. This was not the time, and the last thing I needed was for him to see my body react to those thoughts—and it would if I didn’t cut it out right this second.

Shaking myself out of it, I grabbed Goliath’s harness and pulled him back so he wasn’t tackling Miles to the ground. “I’m so sorry. I swear he usually has better manners than this.” Sometimes.

Miles laughed again, turning a bright smile my way. “I don’t mind. I love animals, and he’s a sweetie pie.”

Damn but he had a beautiful smile. That made me grin back. “He is. He thinks he’s the size of a lapdog, though, so beware or you’ll wind up with a hundred and twenty pounds of dog on your lap.”

He laughed again, petting Goliath as he stared at me for a long moment. Eventually, he asked, “Um, do you ever do side jobs?”

My brow furrowed at the abrupt change in topics. “What do you mean?”

“Like… if I offered you a job on Saturday, would you maybe be able to come?”

“This Saturday? As in tomorrow?”

He nodded. “The house really is a mansion, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to do the whole thing by myself. I’d pay you, obviously. Good money. It would just be for the day.”

I stared at him for a long time, contemplating things. Did I want to work on my Saturday off? Hell no. But did I want to spend the day with Miles? Um… hell yes. But working with him wasn’t the same as hanging out, so was it worth it?

Hmm… good question, brain.

“No pressure,” he said, looking uncomfortable. He grimaced. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. Don’t worry about it, Winter. I—”

“I’ll do it.”

He blinked at me. “You… will?”

With a small smile, I nodded. “Yeah, I will. It’ll be fun hanging out with you while we take care of gnomes.”

His face did something funny at the mention of gnomes, but it was gone before I could ask, and the handsome man held his hand out for a shake.

Of course he had his gloves on, so I didn’t get to touch his skin, but even getting a handshake felt… special. Miles wasn’t one to reach out to touch people—something I’d noticed in high school. In fact, he avoided touch like it burned him.

It made me think that maybe it did. Maybe he had a touch aversion.

I frowned, not wanting to make him uncomfortable, but he was the one who offered the handshake, so I supposed I should let him lead. So I reached for his hand and gave him a good shake with a grin.

He smiled back as he let go, saying, “I can pick you up in the morning. Is eight o’clock okay?”

There goes my sleeping in. Sigh. “Yep, that sounds great.”

“Awesome. Thank you, Winter. You’re a lifesaver.”

I smiled at that, gave him an awkward wave, then pulled Goliath along so we could finish our run. “See ya tomorrow, Miles.”

“See you, Winter.”

I was sweaty from my run, but just like every other time he’d said my name, I shivered. Mm . Maybe one day I’d get to hear the way my name sounded when he was in the throes—

I cut that thought off before my run could get really, really uncomfortable.