60

“No, no! Nothing like that. It’s just that you just kinda give off this reliable, kind vibe, you know? And the way you jumped up that day to help Mabel clean up just confirmed that for me. You’re just sorta…different from anyone else I’ve met.”

“Well, what’s so intimidating about that?”

He chuckled again, though his cheeks were bright pink. “You know, now that I’m saying it out loud, I don’t know what I’m talking about either. You can ignore me.”

“I don’t think I want to do that.” I smiled. “You’re too nice.”

His blush deepened. “Ah—well, I think I’m going to check on Hallie and Vince to make sure they don’t need help with setting up the grill. I’ll be back with some food, okay?”

“Sure.” I watched him hop to his feet and jog over to where Hallie and a male wolf with short blond hair were setting up the pot.

I smiled to myself, tilting my head. From the way Jasper’s body had turned toward me during our conversation, I knew it had been going quite well. Given the way his eyes focused on