Animal Prints: Sweet Small Town Contemporary Romance (Michigan Moonlight Book 1) (14 page)

“They look very happy to be outside,” Colette commented. “We took Orsino out earlier today. I wish you could have seen him.”

“Here. I’ve got pictures.” Ian moved away from the counter where he leaned talking to Lexy and took his smaller camera from around Colette’s neck, giving her a wink as he did. Quickly, he scrolled back through the photos. When he found the ones he was looking for, he held the camera so the girl could see and slowly flicked through the images of Colette and Orsino.

“I didn’t realize you took so many.” Colette felt the warmth rise in her cheeks at the quantity of photographs he had taken.

“This one is already my favorite,” Ian said to Melissa when he showed her the one with Orsino gazing up at Colette. “I’ll bring you a print of it.”

“Let me see.” Lexy moved around the counter to look at the small LCD screen. “Nice, very nice.” She raised her eyebrow at Colette, then hustled over to the oven when the kitchen timer sounded.

“It’s easy to take good pictures when the subjects are so beautiful.” Now, it was Ian’s turn to catch Colette’s eye, but he didn’t send a question in her direction. Instead, it was a steady, calm gaze of…Of what? Admiration? Respect? Something more? Colette groped around in her mind for some way to respond to him. Before she had the chance, her niece saved her.

“Will you show me how to use your camera?” Melissa gave Ian an appealing look.

“Melissa, that’s a very expensive camera. I’m sure Mr. Kroft doesn’t want kids touching it,” Lexy objected.

“I’ve taught my niece and nephew how to use this one. It’s pretty kid-friendly.”

“How old are your niece and nephew?”

“Seven. They’re twins.”

“More twins? Must run in your family,” Colette commented. “Ian has a twin brother.” She explained to Lexy and Melissa.

“I can’t imagine two at a time. Oh, the long nights, the bottles, the diapers.” She waved a spatula in the air as she spoke. “Two to potty train, to teach to ride a bike, to start kindergarten. Heavens.” Sliding little puffs of cheese and ham off a baking sheet, Lexy continued mumbling to herself.
 

“Where are those margaritas?” Colette moved past her sister and reached into a cabinet for the glasses.

“In the fridge.” Lexy looked up from her task. “Where’d Melissa and your man go?” Colette pointed out the door at Ian, showing Melissa the settings on the camera out on the deck. “Pour me one, would you?”

Colette put a full margarita glass in front of her sister. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Lexy raised the glass to her lips.

“What do you think of him?”

“Good looking, maybe even handsome. Seems nice.”

“Uh-huh. What else?” Colette took the first sip of her drink.

“He was in the café yesterday morning.”

“Ian? I don’t think so. He was in Boyne yesterday.”

“Sweetie, I’ve got a husband and three kids, but I’m not blind. A man who looks like that walks into my place and I notice.”

“Did he see you?” Colette downed half her drink this time.

“No, I was in the back. Gracie waited on him.”

“Maybe he just wanted a bite to eat.”

“Gracie said he asked a lot of questions.”

“What about?”

“About the town, the surrounding area, the tourist season.”

“So? Strangers always ask those questions.”

“He asked if Gracie knew you.”

“So, again?” Colette tipped up her glass to drain the last bits of salt and tequila. “I’m probably the only person he knows in Petoskey.”

“He asked where the clinic was, where your house was, and what it looked like.” Lexy emphasized every word as she spoke.

Colette reached for the pitcher of margaritas this time, feeling suddenly cold, and poured herself another. “Why would he ask about my house? That seems…” The liquid sloshed over the rim of the glass and coated Colette’s hand. “Please don’t say he’s another freeloader looking for a meal.” She sopped up the sweet drink with a napkin. “You’ve got better radar than I do. What do you think?”

“I only talked to him for five minutes just now, Collie. I don’t get a bad vibe and neither did Gracie. I just wanted you to know.”

“Okay.” She steeled herself with another swallow of margarita. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“He’s definitely fine. He’s more than fine in that way.” Lexy turned to look out the kitchen window where Ian and Melissa’s heads were bent over the camera. “And if I really thought he was a bum, he wouldn’t be standing that close to my eight-year-old.”
 

“Right.” The queasy sensation in her middle was probably because of the margaritas on an empty stomach. “Can I help you with anything?”

“No, I’m just waiting for the last of the appetizers to finish.” Lexy scrubbed down the counter and then reached in a cabinet for a stack of plates. “I searched his name today.”

“You didn’t!”
 

“Hell, yes, I did. I’m not having you get screwed over again.”

“You shouldn’t have done that. It’s an invasion of privacy or something.” Colette shoved a piece of bread slathered with brie in her mouth. “Did you find anything?”

“Just the usual. Facebook page, some army stuff, a nice professional-looking site promoting his web design business. Nothing incriminating.” Lexy shifted appetizers to a decorative platter while she spoke. “I’ll let you know what I think by the end of the evening.” She handed Colette the tray. “I’m going to get Connor up from his nap. You take these outside, stop worrying, and smile.”

Despite the half-empty margarita glass in one hand, Colette’s smile when she greeted him was a little tight around the edges. The tenseness was definitely back. What was she worried about now? Did her sister say something to make her nervous? He thought he’d made an okay impression on the woman.

“You don’t have anything to drink yet.” Colette held out the tray of appetizers to him. “Beer?”

“Sure, just let me finish here.” Ian returned his attention to Melissa, who was taking several pictures of her dad at the grill, and then Jamie dragging Peaches down from her perch on the railing. “Time to review what you’ve got.”
 

Ian slowly clicked through the images with Melissa, but kept a careful eye on Colette as she talked with Nate by the grill. Occasionally, she looked in his direction, but she seemed to be avoiding any eye contact with him.
 

Another child, this one smaller, came out of the house rubbing his face. When he saw Colette, he made a beeline for her, holding up his chubby arms for a hug. Colette knelt on the deck with her arms wrapped around him.

“Take a picture of your aunt with…” Ian gestured to the little boy.

“That’s Connor. He’s four and a pest.”

“But he looks good with your aunt so take the picture.” Ian made a quick adjustment on the camera and handed it back to Melissa. “Start shooting.” He didn’t know what the images would be like, shot by a child. If he were taking these, he’d adjust the camera to pick up the green of the boy’s t-shirt, Colette’s headband, and the fir tree behind them. He could already see the picture matted with a deep chestnut color in a rustic wood frame.
 

“Melissa, give Ian his camera back and come help me with the table,” Lexy called to her daughter from the patio door.
 

With a sigh and roll of her eyes, Melissa handed the camera to Ian and shuffled over to her mother. Ian had time to make a few quick changes on the camera and snap photos of Colette giving Connor a piggyback ride before she disappeared into the tree line with the child.

“I wouldn’t leave that in the open if I were you. Jamie’s on the loose,” Nate called from the grill when Ian put his camera on the railing.
 

“Thanks for the warning.” Ian found a high ledge for his camera and wandered over to the grill, where Nate handed him a beer. “I hear you’re the high school principal in town. That must be fun.”

“It’s the best job in the universe,” Nate flipped a piece of beef over, “in July.”

“I’ll bet.” Ian grinned, getting the feeling he was going to like this man.

“It has other advantages as well. Through experience, I’m an excellent judge of character in both adults and kids.” Nate gave Ian a look he must have used when a recalcitrant teenager entered his office. “I’m particularly good at first impressions.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ian took a deep draw from his bottle, the joy from a moment before evaporating. Though, what the hell? If they were going to be brutally honest, he was going to ask. “So what did you think of Tyler?”

Nate shot Ian a guarded look. “She told you about him. Interesting. I thought he was a conniving, shifty jackass from the first minute I met him, but nobody listened to me. Nobody but Adrien, Collie’s brother,” he explained. “If Tyler hadn’t hurt Colette so bad, I’d have enjoyed gloating over my correct judgment of him.”

“Least he’s doing time now. How long’s he in for?”

“Seven years. Not long enough if you ask me.”

“Never is.” Ian turned to look up at the house behind him. It was a rustic style sided with cedar shingles. The house was perfectly situated to give great views of the woods and the lake beyond them. “Quite the place you have here.”

“It took us five years to figure out the style and chose the exact location.”

“Where did you live before?”

“In the farmhouse. We built this when Colette came home to practice with her dad and she took over their grandparent’s place.”

“The sisters never squabbled about who got what chunk of land.”

“No, Colette paid us a third of the value of the farmhouse and barns. She’ll do the same when Adrien comes home to stay and builds his place.”

“He’ll come live here, too.” Ian knew his tone sounded incredulous. The last of any hope of buying the Peterson property died, and yet he let it go with nothing but a shrug. What held him more was an admiration for their sense of family. A longing, even.

“Yep.” Nate shuffled meat around on the grill.
 

“What’s he studying? Colette didn’t tell me.”

“Nate, are the steaks almost done?” Lexy called.

“Ready to take them off now.” Nate slid the steaks off the grill onto a tray, which he then handed to Ian. “Go put them on the table, would you? I have to secure the grill against Jamie.”

With his beer tucked under his arm, Ian headed for the outdoor table already spread with a variety of dishes. In the short time he’d been talking to Nate, Lexy must have been a whirl of activity to get the rest of the food prepared and the table set. Colette was nowhere to be seen. Ian glanced to the woods where he’d seen her disappear.

“Would you mind fetching Colette and Connor? They probably followed the path to the lookout point. Can’t miss it. Down the steps and through the woods.” Lexy took the tray and waved him away.
 

Ian followed the path through a small grove of trees. In a minute, he heard the high-pitched voice of a child and Colette’s laughter. The second sound slammed him right in the gut. It was a sound he wanted more of. He wanted to make her happy, to hear her bubble over with laughter, to be there to share it with her.
 

That had to be the craziest thought he’d ever had. After years of serving Uncle Sam, he was finally free to go anywhere. But Colette and this place felt so right to him. It didn’t make any sense. He’d only known her for a week.