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Holly continued, her tone turning indignant: “When I started grad school, they were all worried that me getting an advanced degree would scare off men.” She shrugged. “Maybe they’re right.”
“You’re not scaring me off,” Ice informed her. He added silently, Is it wrong of me to be happy I don’t have serious competition?
Holly gave him a sharp look, as if she thought he might be joking. He met her gaze squarely, then reached out to take her hand in his.
Color rose in her face, but he got a tentative smile.
“Anyway,” she continued. “The last couple of years, they’ve decided that the reason I haven’t snagged a man yet is because I need to lose weight.” She heaved a sigh. “Cue a constant stream of forwarded email articles about hot new diets. Last year, they commented on everything I ate. Like, they were literally judging every bite I took. ‘Are you sure you want stuffing, mashed potatoes, and a roll, Holls? All those carbs!’” Holly mimicked another woman’s voice.
“Those assholes!” Ice said, outraged.
“Yeah, then Aunt Lucy flipped out when I served myself slices of apple pie and pumpkin pie. She told me in front of everyone else that I’d end up fat and alone if I didn’t control my appetite and exercise more.” Now Holly looked mad. “I lost it. I told her I regularly do fifteen-mile hikes at eight thousand foot elevations while wearing a heavy pack. And to stop lecturing me on fitness until she could beat that.”
Ice laughed out loud. “Bet that showed her!”
“You’d think so,” Holly replied glumly. “But, no. Everyone got mad at me for being so mean to poor Aunt Lucy, who was only trying to be helpful.” She grimaced. “Even Dad thought I should have stayed quiet and not made a fuss. So, I decided the best way to avoid ‘making a fuss’ would be to absent myself. And enjoy the peace and quiet of Bearpaw Springs in the off-season.”
Anger surged through Ice at the way Holly’s family had treated her. He squeezed the hand he still held. “Well, fuck them all for not realizing that you’re perfect just the way you are!”
A deep red blush rose from Holly’s neck and washed over her face. She squeezed back. “That’s really sweet of you, but I know I’m not perfect. I mean, I really could lose a few pounds—”
“Stop right there,” he ordered. “Are you telling me I’m wrong?”
“No, but—” she began.
“You’re pretty and you’re smokin’ hot,” he interrupted. “I adore curvy women, and nothing you say is gonna change my mind about that.”
Holly looked away. Her face was flaming red now. “Well, enough about me,” she said briskly. “How did you come to live out here all by yourself?”
“It’s a long story,” he said, not wanting to relive his biggest failure.
She gave him a sharp look. He could tell she wasn’t fooled. “Oh yeah? I told you about last year’s Thanksgiving dinner ‘Dessertgate.’ So, spill,” she ordered.
Ice heaved a sigh. “All right. A couple of years after our parents died, I got kicked out of our old sabertooth pride down in LA.”
He paused, and Holly immediately asked, “What happened?”
“My sister Becca turned sixteen. She’s real pretty, and the guys in our pride were always saying that she looked older, and asking her out. Anyhow, our leader Augustino—he was a real asshole—tried to force her to marry this old guy in a neighboring pride, who had his eye on her. I mean, arranged marriages are a thing among sabertooth shifters, but only if both parties agree to the match. Becca didn’t want to get married so young, so I asked Tino to call it off. He refused, and I got mad. I ended up challenging him to a duel.”
“A duel? Like, pistols at dawn? That kind of duel?” Holly asked.
“More like fangs and claws at dawn,” Ice said. “But yeah.” He shook his head at the memory of his youthful stupidity and overconfidence. “I thought I was a real badass.”
“What happened? Did you win?”
Ice laughed bitterly. “Hell, no, I didn’t win. I was nineteen and way out of my weight class against someone like Tino, who’d fought his way to the top of our pride. He handed me my ass, then he kicked me out of the pride. I was lucky he didn’t kill me.”
Holly’s gaze flicked to his cheek. Ice reflexively touched the long ridge of old scar tissue. “Yeah. I’m lucky I didn’t lose my eye.”
“What happened then?”
“I sneaked back a couple of days later, after I’d healed up some,” Ice said, “and grabbed Becca. Then we hightailed it outta LA.”
“And came here?” Holly appeared completely engrossed in his story.
“Eventually. The two of us spent a few years traveling around, picking up jobs wherever we could. Last winter, when Becca and me were working down in Twin Falls, we heard about a new sabertooth pride in this area. Rumor was that they were breaking traditions and creating a different kind of pride, and that they were looking for new members.” He shrugged. “So, we came up here one weekend to check it out, and liked what we saw. They invited us to stay, and Chef Daniel offered us jobs at his restaurant in the Bearpaw Springs Resort hotel.”
“No way!” Holly exclaimed. “You work at Calidus? Your boss is Daniel Langlais?”
