Freezing with realization, she looked again at what she was holding in her hand. Glancing up, she met his gaze, taking in the nervousness in his muddy gold eyes. She searched his eyes for a moment, and then dropped her gaze to the leopard in her palm again. Her fingers started trembling, and her breath was hitching, though she was trying hard to appear normal. But she understood the significance of his gift.
Even though he wasn’t coming out and telling her the truth of what he was, he was giving her a hint, a piece of himself. He was a leopard. She was holding in her hand a whittled statue of his animal. She bet it was accurate, and this was exactly what he looked like in animal form, down to the placement of the spots.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said softly, gazing into his increasingly lightening eyes, willing him to hear the truth in her voice. “I love it. Leopards are my favorite.”
Also a truth. Although, if she were asked an hour ago, the answer might have been different. Relief filled his golden eyes, and he exhaled with a smile.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said softly, stepping in close to kiss her.
She returned his kiss, and when he pulled back, she immediately looked at the leopard in her palm again, running her fingers over the smooth surface in a soft caress.
“Later tonight, I want you to touch me with that same kind of reverence,” he said huskily, eyes filling with heat.
Answering heat filled her, but she smiled impishly at him. “I’ll pet you any time you want.”
“I have the perfect spot for you to pet,” he replied with a wink.
She tried to keep a sultry look on her face, but it wasn’t long before she was laughing. Feeling more at ease, she gently put the leopard on the dresser, and took a breath as she turned to face him. “Ready to go back downstairs? I can cook dinner if you show me where everything is.”
Taking her hand, he laced their fingers together as they went downstairs. “Cammie left us a casserole, so all we need to do is put it in the oven. Don’t look so disappointed. I’ll gladly let you cook for me tomorrow.”
He had a point there, but she’d been hoping to get a head start on impressing his friends by cooking a delicious dinner. Though, to be honest, there hadn’t been many opportunities to cook in her life, so the amount of meals she knew how to cook was astonishingly small.
After putting the casserole, which looked about a hundred times better than anything she could make, in the oven, they went to the porch. Ian was in a rocking chair, watching a small girl play on the tire swing, and Jax was in a chair, ballcap pulled low as he plucked at the strings of his guitar. She greeted them, sitting down in the chair Seth pointed out, enjoying the moment.
The notes of the song Jax was playing registered, and she paused, frowning as she tried to place it. It was something she’d heard on the radio, but she couldn’t remember the name.
Snapping her fingers as it came to her, she turned to Jax. “Is that Fire in My Blood? It sounds like it. I’ve heard it a lot on the radio since I’ve been here.”
Jax nodded. “It is.”
“You play it really well,” she said, enjoying it. Frowning, she glanced to Ian and Seth as they chuckled in unison. “What’s so funny? What am I missing?”
“He should play it well. He wrote it,” Ian replied, still chuckling.
Eyebrows high, she looked at Jax. “You wrote that? It’s really good, and I swear the radio stations play it every five minutes.”
Shrugging, Jax continued to play as he muttered, “Thanks, but it’s no big deal. I have a lot of songs on the radio.”
Amelia couldn’t help staring at him, surprised by the flippant answer, and the way he just continued to play, like it truly wasn’t a big deal to him. “Well, now I have to get your autograph, so I can say I met someone famous.”
Over the sound of Seth’s laughter, she heard him reply, “Hardly famous.”
Shaking her head, she turned to watch the little girl playing on the swing. “That’s your daughter, Ian? Shelby, I think Seth said?”
Expression softening, Ian looked at his daughter and nodded. “Yeah, Shelby. She’s eight, and is finally starting to be a handful.”
Puzzled once again, she looked at him in confusion. “You say that like you’re proud.”
Exhaling, he nodded once, never taking his eyes off Shelby. “I am. Her mother, and her mother’s family, weren’t kind to her, and it made her timid. I finally got custody of her a few months ago, but the damage had been done. She’s finally starting to come out of it little by little now.”
Heart clenching at the tender look on Ian’s face as he watched his daughter, she just nodded, not saying more. She would have given anything for her father to look at her like that, and Shelby was a very lucky girl to have a father who loved her so much.
Clearing his throat, Ian pulled his gaze back to the occupants of the porch. “What kind of casserole did Cammie drop off?”
“Chicken, broccoli, and cheese,” Seth answered, all but licking his lips.
“That’s one of her best,” Ian answered, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “Any dessert?”