Before they left, Josh and Brooke were saying their goodbyes, while the bachelor males appeared to be staying a while longer.

  “I wonder if any of them will outlast the others,” Sierra said to Adam as she drove them to her favorite ice cream parlor.

  “None of them will leave until she kicks them all out,” Adam said. “You know, I had planned to take you out to dinner tonight and tomorrow night. We won’t get to do either now.”

  “I know, but we had fun anyway. Getting to know each other isn’t all about just being together at a restaurant but how we interact with others and each other at work and play. I love seeing the way you joke back and forth with the guys. I didn’t think we would ever get that last picture hung because you and the others were making Josh and Ethan move it so many times.”

  “They’re good sports. I’ll be on the hot seat next time. We take turns.”

  “I haven’t checked the weather for boating tomorrow. What does it say?”

  Adam looked up the ten-day forecast on his phone. “Sunshine, only ten percent chance of rain that day.”

  “Okay, good, then it will be a beautiful day. What about Josh? Did you check with him to see if they were coming?” She pulled into the parking lot of her favorite ice cream store.

  Adam was texting on his phone when she left the car, and he hurried to join her. “They said they would definitely come with us on the boat trip.”

  “Oh, great.” Then she got a call from Brad and put it on speakerphone. “Hi, Brad. Adam and I are going into the ice cream shop for dessert. What’s up?”

  “Mom and Dad wanted to do something with us tomorrow morning, but we are already going boating with you. Would it be all right if they come with us on the boat?”

  Adam said, “Yeah, sure. Josh and Brooke are coming too, and we have plenty of room.”

  It looked like this was going to be a family excursion, plus Josh and Brooke who were like family. She hoped Adam didn’t feel obligated to take her parents with them too.

  “We’ll see you all tomorrow then,” she said, and they ended the call. “Since my parents are coming, did you want to ask your parents to come along for the ride?”

  “Yeah, they love to boat.”

  “Okay, invite them then.”

  “You know what this is going to sound like,” Adam warned.

  “A welcoming committee for my parents. They’re the same age as your parents, so hopefully they’ll become fast friends.”

  “All right. I’ll ask them.” Adam called his parents and said, “Yeah, Dad, we’re boating tomorrow, and Sierra’s parents are coming. Would you and Mom like to join us so they’ll feel welcomed to the pack?” Adam smiled. “Yeah, of course Sierra’s coming. All right. See you in the morning.”

  Sierra and Adam walked inside the ice cream shop and were greeted with a fifties-era nostalgic look: a black-and-white-checkered floor, red-vinyl-topped chrome stools at the counter, red booths, little café tables and chairs, and fifties music playing overhead. Pictures of fifties stars hung on the wall behind the aqua counter, and vintage-style Coca-Cola lamps hung over the booths. A red replica vintage gas pump was filled with cold sodas. She loved the atmosphere here, but she especially loved their sundaes. She couldn’t think of a better place to have dessert on a date.

  She and Adam were soon ordering their sundae treats to die for. Hers: brownie waffle sundae topped with chocolate-chip mint ice cream, hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, colorful sprinkles, and two cherries on top. And his: a Black Forest sundae with Oreo cookies, vanilla ice cream, and cherry pie filling, topped with whipped cream, walnuts, and a couple of cherries.

  With sundaes in hand, they took their seats in a booth.

  Adam asked her, “So what do you think about kids?”

  She had just taken a spoonful of ice cream, and she swallowed it before she answered the question. She was surprised he would ask that of her so out of the blue. It sounded to her like he was getting really serious. “I like kids.” Most wolves did. It was something innate to their wolf halves—the love of all little wolves and taking care of them in a pack. “I love to teach art to the ones at the ranch.”

  “I mean, about having your own.”

  She smiled. She figured that was what he was getting at, but he hadn’t wanted to just come out and say it. “You mean about…?” Her job? Raising kids? Mated wolves wanted to have offspring, if they could, to continue their species. It didn’t mean they could always have kids. But sure, she wanted some. She continued, “Working while raising them?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “You mean having kids with you.”

  He smiled, his ears tingeing red.

  “You have been at your job as long as Josh has, and he retired.” She didn’t want to assume Adam wouldn’t want the role of stay-at-home daddy. Maybe he did. Maybe he was tired of all the running around, trying to catch the bad guys, especially since Josh had retired.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Or I have my retirement income from the military, and I could take care of the kids while you continue to be a detective.”

  He let out his breath and looked relieved. “Yeah.”

  She laughed. She wasn’t really surprised. With Josh, it was different. He wanted to help Brooke with her business. “Don’t worry. If we mate and have kids, I want to stay home with them. I can still teach art to the kids at the ranch. Someone will surely look after the little ones when I teach the others. As to being a sketch artist? That’s a toss-up.”

  “You could do it on the days I’m off and I could watch the kids.”

  She smiled. She wanted to laugh, but he was being so serious, as if they had already agreed to a mating, that she didn’t want to make light of the situation.

  “What about money?” she asked. If they were going to talk about being a couple and the issues that came with that, money was often a top concern.

  “I save a good portion of my income every month, spend what I need, splurge when I feel the urge, and I shop around for the best deal I can get on major purchases. What about you?”

  “That sounds like me.” She ate some more of her ice cream. “What about the house situation?”

  He smiled, looking pleased they were having this discussion. “We can sell one or rent it, or sell or rent both and buy a new one. If you were to stay home with the kids, then you should have the biggest say in that since you’ll be living there more than I would be.”

  “Until you retire.”

  “Yeah, someday. I like what I do for now, though I won’t be able to do it forever.”

  That was one problem with their longevity. The humans aged faster than the wolves.

  “Okay. And”—she reached over and stroked his hand—“we can’t drift apart in the intimacy arena.”

  He chuckled wolfishly. “You can count on that not happening.”

  She laughed, already feeling all tingly with need. “Communication. We have to tell each other what’s going on if something’s bothering us. That means not telling Tori that we’re upset over something to do with the other but instead you and I talk it out with each other.”

  “I agree with you there. My parents are great with talking to each other about issues. Most of the time, one of them didn’t realize how the other felt about something, and once they cleared the air, everything was fine.”

  “Okay, good. My parents are good about talking to each other too.”

  “That’s good.” He finished his ice cream. “That hit the spot.”

  “Lots of energy for what comes next, right?”

  “You better believe it.”

  Chapter 23

  Adam was thinking about a million things, trying to stay focused on the pretty little she-wolf sitting across from him, licking every bit of hot fudge syrup off her spoon, instead of the things he was mentally noting he needed to take care of. He needed to meet with Sierra’s parents and have a heart-to-heart talk to let them know he would do everything in his power to make Sierra happy if he mated her.

  “Hey,” Sierra said, reaching over to grab Adam’s hand. “Ready to return to the house?”

  “Yeah, I sure am.” Forget about anything else; it was time to go home.

  “What were you thinking about when you were zoned out back there?” Sierra asked, driving them home.

  He chuckled. “What did I miss?”

  “Me confirming our dinner date with my family tomorrow. Brad is asking your parents to come over too, since we’re going to all be on the boat the rest of the day. You’re invited, of course.”

  He laughed. “Yes. That sounds good.”

  “What were you thinking about? Dover? The case?”

  “No. I was thinking of your family, mine, us.”

  “Oh, good,” she said. “I mean, if you were thinking about how you were going to take down these guys who have been causing us trouble, that would have been good too. But I like knowing you were thinking along the same lines as me.”

  “For sure,” Adam said.

  She glanced at him. “You’re good for it, right? We’re not jumping the gun on us getting together with them, are we?”

  Smiling, he shook his head. “I absolutely want to do this, and if you must know, I wanted to talk to your parents about my interest in you.”

  “Really? You’re so sweet.”

  But what came next was hot and sexy, nothing sweet about it.

  * * *

  After making love again Sunday morning, Sierra and Adam hurried to dress and headed out to the marina to meet with her brother and sister-in-law and their parents and Adam’s. Brooke and Josh were hurrying to catch up to them. The morning was cool, the sun rising, reflecting off the rippling water in the fussy breeze. Seagulls were flying overhead, fish splashing in the water, ducks floating on the surface. They used a cart to wheel their bags of sunscreen and beach towels and other essential items for a day out boating and ice chests full of beverages and containers of potato salad, coleslaw, and fixings for sandwiches.

  Sierra was excited about seeing Adam’s boat and hoped it wouldn’t be too crowded. She hoped his boat was at least as nice as some of the ones her father had owned, just because she wanted him to impress her father, even though she shouldn’t have been worried about that. She should just be glad Adam had a boat, period, to enjoy when they could. Otherwise, trying to rent one at this late date for the summer probably would have been impossible. They would all be booked up.

  She kept thinking about Adam and how good he was to her and how much she enjoyed his company when her mom met up with her. Sierra knew she would want to talk to her about Adam.

  The guys were hauling most of the stuff, passing covered boat slip after slip as Janice, Brooke, and Adam’s mom, Beverly Holmes, were talking about something on the walkway way ahead of them.

  Sierra’s mom said to Sierra, “It was all your dad’s idea to come along. We both wanted to do this, but I thought you two might have needed the time alone together. Your dad has dreamed of getting another boat since we sold ours when Brad and you moved away.”

  “We’re glad you could join us. If things go well with Adam and me, we’ll take you out again when you move here.”

  “Yeah, but that’s why you need the time to be alone together. Not with all the parents being here. You need the time to get to know each other.”

  Smiling, Sierra hugged her mom. “We’ve known each other since I moved here.”

  “As in dating?”

  “Well, no, but Adam has always brought me my favorite coffee when I’m at work.”

  “The hazelnut and chocolate caramel?”

  “Yep. He’s always been a bright spot in my day, and he seems to feel that way about me too. Adam wants more from life like I do. Anyway, this doesn’t mean we’re mating, but we are definitely dating. And now—so that he keeps me safe from Dover’s minions—we’re spending the evenings together. And we’re quite alone.”

  Her mother’s expression brightened. “Oh. Oh, that’s good.”

  Sierra chuckled. “Yeah, it is.”

  Then her mother frowned. “You don’t think it’s too soon after breaking up with Richard, do you?”

  “You broke up with a wolf you were dating, and how long did you wait to date Dad?”

  “Two days.”

  Sierra smiled. “Well, I’ve known Adam for longer than that. We always chatted during pack social events. I didn’t go with him to them, but I always met up with him there because of our connection on the job.”

  “And he got you that job. I like him.”

  Sierra was glad. She loved her parents, and if she did mate Adam, she wanted them to welcome him like a son. Adam’s parents had been reservedly friendly, and she suspected that was because they knew Adam had cared for her all along, but she hadn’t been available and maybe they were afraid she would break his heart. She was glad they had come too, but she didn’t want everyone to believe this was a done deal between her and Adam in case it wasn’t and then they’d be disappointed.

  “Well, you take your time, dear. You have all the time in the world to decide on a mating.”

  “Like you and Dad did?”

  Her mom smiled. “When the love bug bit, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.”

  That was how Sierra was feeling about Adam. She kept telling herself she should wait and date him longer, but she realized she couldn’t.

  She watched as her dad talked animatedly to Adam and his dad and Brad as if they were one big happy family already.

  “Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to,” Sierra said to her mother, and then she and her mom caught up with the other ladies.

  “We were talking about gardening,” Janice said.

  “I can’t wait to build our home on the ranch so I can begin to grow flowers again,” Sierra’s mom said.

  Sierra saw the yacht the guys were loading the stuff into. It was beautiful.

  “It’s a West Bay Sonship West,” her dad said with pride, as if it was his boat. “Three state rooms, two heads, washer and dryer even, kitchen, dinette table with booth, tons of seating on the covered deck and lots more inside. It’s just beautiful.”

  Sierra gave her dad a hug. “Remember you’re with Mom.”

  Her mom laughed. “Kirk’s first love has always been a boat.”

  “Aww, but he always named them after you,” Sierra said, loving her dad for that.

  The guys had already carried all the supplies onto the boat, and Adam had given her dad the grand tour. Everyone else had been on the boat before, so once Sierra and her mom climbed aboard, her dad gave them a tour of the boat.

  She loved the boat, from the spacious kitchen to the equally spacious living area. This was big enough to be a real party boat. Everything was decorated in blues and greens, her favorite colors—the upholstered seating for the dinette in the salon and the same kind of upholstered covering on the seating in the living area. She eyed the queen-size berth covered in a blue bedspread in the captain’s stateroom and had the sudden urge to pull the captain away from his duties and make wild and passionate love as the boat began to move out of its mooring. If they did that, their activity would be the talk of the pack for sure!

  Now she wished she’d come boating with Adam before this. She had been so protective of her relationship with Richard when she could have just started over and enjoyed herself to the fullest. Like now.

  The other staterooms were nice, the one with a double-size berth, covered in a green and blue floral bedspread, and the smallest stateroom with a double-decker twin-bed set. Six people could sleep comfortably in the staterooms, and actually, more could sleep on the bench-style seating in the living area.

  She loved the seating at the stern of the boat too.

  Sierra joined the rest of the “crew” up on deck. She saw cedar waxwings flying back and forth across the river catching flying insects, a bright-yellow band around their tails helping her to identify them. And closer to the water, a variety of swallows were zooming in to catch their own prey.

  As they continued along the river while Adam captained the vessel, Sierra saw ducks and geese, seagulls, and then a hawk flying off in the distance. She was having so much fun watching fish jumping out of the water and the birds overhead and the wake the boat churned up and seeing other boaters at the early morning hour. She envisioned coming out here and watching the sunrise or the sunset someday.

  Her dad joined her on the foredeck. “This is nice, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, Dad. I understood why you got rid of the boat. It was too much upkeep and trouble for just the two of you after we left home, but don’t you love it? Getting out on the water again?” She breathed in the fresh air.

  “Yeah. You can’t let this one get away, honey.”

  She laughed. “The boat or the wolf?”

  He smiled down at her. “Both.”

  “Can you pilot the boat without a boater education card?”

  “Yeah. Adam has one, and so do both his parents and Josh. As long as one of them supervises us, we’re good.”

  The air was cooler on the river, and some of them were wearing windbreakers as they motored toward the falls.

  Brooke called out that she was serving pastries, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate in the galley. Sierra gave her dad a hug and then they made their way to the companionway to join the others in having a fun breakfast.

  Josh had taken over piloting the boat, and Adam joined Sierra to grab some coffee and a chocolate-covered doughnut. Sierra smiled when she saw that Adam had gotten her favorite special coffee: hazelnut and chocolate caramel. He smiled and kissed her.

  “I can’t believe I said no to going with you on a boat ride before.”

  “I know. I can’t believe it either.”