Jack

 

On the doorstep, Riley hugs her grandmother goodbye and wishes her a hearty bon voyage to Bedrock. The old lady waves until we close the fence gate and take the shadowed path to Glitter Hollow. This time, the birds sing happily again as we pass under the trees. I missed their chirping when we came here earlier. The forest is always quieter when the Wolf is out.

Infected by the lighthearted mood at lunch and the merry sounds of the woods now, I cheerfully bump Riley’s shoulder. “I didn’t know you could cook so well.”

She throws a saucy grin back at me. “And I didn’t know you were so deeply in love with your tail.”

Yeah, that was clear. It had to come out now that it’s just the two of us again. I roll my eyes and pull the hood of her cloak over her head, snorting, “I don’t normally chase my own tail. You know that, Red Riding Hood.”

She peeks at me from under the fabric. Her eyes sparkle with a smile, and the sight suddenly holds a beauty I can barely grasp. She’s always been pretty to me when she looks at me so shyly in the tale. But we aren’t following a storyline here, acting something out. This is different. It’s sincere. The real Riley I haven’t seen before.

“Pity I had no camera with me,” she teases. “You were the cutest pup in the world.”

“I had drugs pumped into me,” I mutter through clenched teeth. But the smile is hard to keep away from my face. “Next time, someone should knock you out with Jekyll’s serum.” Throwing an arm around her, I tickle her side and pull her closer.

“Jack!” she squeals and almost trips. Pushing away from me, she bats her lashes rapidly in sweet innocence. “Will you sit with me all through the night and rub behind my ear, too?”

A deep growl rolls in my throat. Riley interprets it perfectly and takes a wary step backward even though her eyes gleam excitedly, and the corners of her mouth twitch. Heck, after last night, scaring this girl has probably become a whole lot harder. It doesn’t mean I can’t chase her to the other side of the forest, though. My lips curve up.

She doesn’t need more warning than that. Her giggles echo through the woods as she whirls about and dashes away. Three seconds of a head start is what she gets, and then I bolt after her.

The woods are her home. Too easily, she finds her way out of the forest and sprints through Duckburg right down to the Swan Lake. The giant chestnut tree by the lakefront not only provides a shadowy shelter to a small group of frogs there, but it obviously looks like a good shield to Riley, as well. She slips behind the trunk and peeks out to check which side I’m coming from. “Give up! You’ll never get me, Jack!” she shouts.

Slowing to a prowling gait, I lower my chin, fixing her with a predatory gaze. “Oh, how wrong you are, Red Riding Hood.”

For a second, she disappears behind the tree, only to peer out from the other side, giggling. “And what will you do if you catch me? Blow me down like the first little pig’s house?”

Hmm, she gives me an idea here. My chest swells with a mighty breath, and the exhale hits her like a squall. This is something all Fairyland wolves have down pat. Squeezing her eyes shut, she ducks her head and grips the tree for support. Her cloak flaps until the button at her throat pops, and the red satin scatters in the wind along with a handful of frogs before the whole lot lands in the grass near the water.

When the blast ebbs off, she looks at me with new awe in her eyes. The cheeky smile, however, I couldn’t wipe off her face. “Is that all you can do, big, bad puppy dog?”

I cock my head. “Do you really think it wise to tease a wolf? One blow and your cloak vanished.” As I stalk closer, the left side of my mouth lifts into a sneer. “Another…and you’ll stand in front of me butt-naked.”

Her cute mouth shapes into a perfectly round O. “You wouldn’t!”

Ever so slowly strolling closer, I fix her with a challenging stare. “You want to try me?” Oh, I hope she does because right now, there are so many things I’d like to do with her.

“No!” Riley squirms away and hides behind the tree. I guess it doesn’t matter anymore which side I come to attack her from. I go for the opposite one from where she just disappeared, hoping that she’ll run right into my arms. Well, she doesn’t, and I have to chase her around the chestnut, which I don’t mind doing because her pony-like snicker is the sweetest thing I’ve heard today.

We switch directions every so often, but the little weasel is too quick, always grinning back at me…just out of reach. This will go on until sunset unless I change my strategy soon. So, when Riley slides around the trunk again, I take the chance and jump, grabbing onto a thick branch above my head. Swiftly, I hoist myself up, crouch there, and wait.

Two seconds later, she peeks around the tree, hands braced against the trunk. I hold back my chuckle and quietly watch her as she goes looking for me.

“Jack?” Her voice is soft, teasing, and full of cockiness. “Where are you?” Soon enough, it dawns on her that she won’t find me behind the tree, and she steps away, scanning the area around her. Because she’s right beneath my branch, I tighten my grip and lower myself soundlessly to the grass behind her.

Leaning in just a little bit to get closer to her ear, I whisper. “Miss me already, honeydrop?”

Riley shrieks, and I swear she jumps three feet into the air. My intent was to catch her in an embrace before she made another dash for escape, but I can’t because I’m laughing so hard that I need to grab on to the tree for support.

“Ha. Ha,” she snorts, staking me with a scowl. “You’re so funny.”

“No, you are.” Still laughing, I take her hand and drag her with me to the lakeshore where her red cloak enjoys a sunbath. Instead of picking it up, Riley lowers onto the grass, and so do I. She plucks a blade and jams it between her thumbs, cupping her hands around it as she lifts it to her mouth. The creaking sound when she blows into her makeshift instrument tortures my eardrums, and not just because of my supersensitive hearing. Even the swans paddle away across the lake to escape, and the frogs nearby simply dip underwater.

“Stop it, woman!” I whine, pressing my hands to my ears. “Please.”

The painful sound isn’t lost on her, either, because she winces and, with a sheepish grin, throws the blade of grass away. Then she starts tossing pebbles into the crystal-clear water. That’s a sound I don’t mind.

For a long while, I watch her, quietly drinking in her unobtrusive beauty. Her amber eyes and snowy face. Her entire bearing. She appears happy, frisky, and thoughtful all at once. I suddenly realize that I just can’t look away, wondering what’s on her mind.

The answer to that question is given when she plucks a daisy from next to her feet and starts to pull out the little white petals one by one.

“He loves me… He loves me not… He loves me…” I taunt her, going along as she works the flower.

Riley doesn’t look at me, but a smile puffs out her reddened cheeks.

The realization that she’ll soon break with our tale brings a whiff of sadness once again. Even if her initial plan with Cupid’s arrow didn’t work out the way she hoped, plan B is already in progress. Funny, it’s my best friend of all people who’s going to aid Riley in her endeavor. Then again, Phil never can say no when his golden-locked love flutters her eyelashes at him. Sebastian and I have had discussions about it with him for ages.

Crossing my legs and bracing my forearms on my knees, I breathe in deeply and turn my head to Riley. “So…a royal ball, huh?”

Her shy gaze is the only thing that briefly moves to me. Lips compressed and gaze focused back on the flower, she nods. “Mm-hmm.”

“Well—” I straighten, bracing myself on my hands behind me in the grass as I try to swallow the uncomfortable feeling in my chest without her noticing. “You’ve got it all covered then, don’t you?”

“What do you mean?” This time, she looks at me for a bit longer. The daisy is only a stem with a yellow cup in her fingers now. I don’t know the outcome of her game.

“The prince hunt. Plan A was the arrow. It failed.” My right shoulder jerks in a casual shrug. “Plan B is the ball?”

She giggles, throwing stones into the water again while the bravest of the frogs climb back on land, and even a couple of swans return. “You know what, Jack? It’s probably for the best that my arrow missed King Arthur. I mean, I don’t know him at all, do I?” She tilts her head to me, her forehead creasing helplessly. “What if he’s weird? He would have been eternally in love with me without an out-clause.” She shudders and shakes her head. “It could have been quite exhausting.”

I picture it for a moment and, frankly, I don’t like the image. If she’s going to get stuck with someone that she’s not happy with for the rest of her life, we might as well stay Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

“Better to get to know the prince before binding him to me, right?” she asks. “Like Briar-Rose and Phillip did. And all my other friends.” And then she adds in a much lower, softer voice, sounding almost insecure, “Who knows, maybe there’s even someone who really likes me. Not because of a spelled arrow but simply for who I am.”

“Any guy who doesn’t notice the beauty in you is an idiot.” The words fly out of my mouth before I even realize what I’m saying.

Riley eyes me in wonder for a second. “That’s sweet of you to say,” she whispers before she drops to her back and dreamily sighs as she studies the blue sky. “Maybe that special prince will even like hunting as much as I do. And reading. And jumping from roofs into haystacks. And raspberry cake.” Her head tilts to my side. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

My eyebrows lift in amazement. “You jump into haystacks?” I haven’t done that since I moved from a farm into my apartment above Geppetto’s workshop years ago. Boy, do I miss it sometimes.

“Whenever I see one,” she tells me gleefully. The skin around her eyes crinkles slightly as she gives me a secretive smile. “There’s one right behind the old mill by the Timeless Brook in the forest.”

I laugh and lay back beside her. “Ah, you better not let any prince see you do that. You know, it’s very unprincesslike.”

“But that’s the whole point.” Riley smacks me on the shoulder, then she rolls to her front, braces herself on her elbows, and excitedly peers down into my eyes. A silky lock lands across my face and tickles my upper lip. “My perfect prince wouldn’t be stiff, wearing funny robes and sticking to etiquette twenty-four hours a day.”

I blow the lock away. “He wouldn’t?”

“No. He’d be funny and adventurous—”

“Not to mention extremely wealthy if he owns his own castle,” I add flatly.

She giggles, but soon, her face straightens again. “He’d be friendly, too. And considerate. And very handsome, of course. Tall and muscular. His eyes would sparkle like sapphires, and his hair would be a perfect shade of gold…” Her gaze trails off toward the sky as her thoughts obviously do in her mind.

“Hey!” Playfully, I push against her shoulder just hard enough so she tips to the side and comes down from her castle in the air. “Would you please stop slobbering over Prince If-Only-You-Were-Real in front of me? You’re doing a fine job of castrating my ego here.”

Riley rips a handful of grass out of the ground and tosses it at my head, laughing hard. “As if that’s even possible!”

I catch her wrist and pull her back to me. She lands on my chest, her nose touching mine. It coaxes a soft gasp from her, which sounds really cute. I wrap my arms around her and drawl, “Maybe I should keep you locked up in Rapunzel’s tower until you drop the idea of this pimped version of a happily ever after.”

For an extended moment, Riley lets me gaze into her stunned honey-hued eyes before her expression softens to something that almost looks like pleading. “But you’re supposed to help me find it. Don’t you want to anymore?”

This particular look reminds me a lot of Briar-Rose and Phillip.

Fuck.

I expel a deep breath and help her off me. As we both sit upright again, I run my knuckles across her cheekbone, skimming a few wisps of hair back and tucking them behind her ear. “Only joking. Of course, I’m going to help you.”

Slowly, she blinks a couple of times, tilting her head slightly to one side. And there it is—the smile no guy in this world can say no to. “So, will you come with me to the ball and help me look for a prince?”

“No!”

Her perfectly wing-shaped eyebrows crinkle into a dumbfounded V as she pulls her head back. “Why not?”

We can stop playing our tale if it makes her happy, but hell if I’m going to stand back and watch her replace me with some royal douche. That’s why! “I’m not a prince.”

“And I’m no princess. But that’s the whole point.” Her gaze keeps me captured. “You could find a princess there.”

“I don’t want a princess. Anyway, I’ve got other plans for Friday night.”

“Really? What?” Her disappointment vanishes, and an impish waggle of her eyebrows takes over. “Do you have a date?”

Lips compressed, I let a frustrated snort out through my nose as I hang my head and slide a scowl her way.

“What?”

“I think you need to stop going to the regular princess meetings. They must be adding something to the tea there. Completely clouding your brain with too much romance.”

Riley sticks out her tongue at me and then grabs her cloak, loosely draping it around her shoulders because the button at the collar is now gone. She smirks. “You’re just jealous because I’m going to find my prince on Friday, and you probably have something like laundry to do.”

Irritated, I pull the hood up over her head again, but deeper over her face this time. It’s easier to stay angry with her when those cute eyes and smile are covered. Or…maybe not. “I’ll do the laundry tonight to be free for an adventure on Friday.”

She brushes the hood back so she can turn her bright gaze on me again. “A masked ball could be an adventure.”

“Nope.”

“Oh, come on. You need to go, too. It’ll be fun.”

“Maybe for you.”

“There’ll be a band. Good music and nice food.”

“I’ll have a cheeseburger down at the pub.”

“We could dance.”

“I don’t dance,” I growl with an intense look into her eyes.

Riley gasps, covering her mouth with her hand. “Is that it? You don’t want to go because you can’t dance?”

Rolling my eyes, I can barely hold back a laugh. “Yes, Red Riding Hood. That’s exactly the reason.”

“Hey!” She shoves my shoulder, making a mean face—and terribly shipwrecks it. “Don’t use your sarcasm on me.”

I lean close to her ear and drawl, “Sorry, there’s no one else but you here. Bear it.” The scent of morning dew and wood strawberries catches me unaware, momentarily dazzling my mind. It wipes the grin off my face. With my lips so close to her neck, I want to press them gently against her skin, run my tongue over it, and find out if she only smells of this addictive odor or tastes of it, too. Instinctively, I jerk back, taking a second to shake myself out of the crazy stupor that has overtaken me.

Riley, searching my face with narrowed eyes, doesn’t miss my discomfort. “Are you all right?”

“Mm-hmm.” A sigh wants out, but I don’t let it. “Your hair just tickled my nose. I thought I needed to sneeze.” Yep, king of excuses. She should marry me.

A group of frogs climbs out of the water. The little green guys plant themselves in the sun next to our feet to warm up. My mind still racing with thoughts that will get me into trouble, they just might be the right distraction. I fight to get my shit together and playfully tug at one of Riley’s soft locks. “You know what? Maybe you should squeeze plan F in between A and B.”

Her look of concern gives way to a curious frown. “What is F for?”

“Frogs.” I grin, grab one, and hold it right under her nose. “Maybe your super prince hides inside one of these?”

Instead of grimacing and pushing away like I expected, she just folds her arms and cocks a daring eyebrow. “What? You think I won’t kiss it?”

I think I would throw up if I had to put my lips on one of these little slimebags. Since she’s so eager to meet her royal ever after, I push the frog forward a little.

Riley tucks her legs under her bottom and takes the toxic-green amphibian from me. Almost tenderly, she holds it up to her face. In a tick-tock rhythm, her gaze switches from the animal to me and back.

“Scared?” I taunt her, unsure if she really has the guts to go through with this.

Determined, she presses her lips together then puckers them and closes her eyes. Good Grimm, she can’t really—

No!

My face contorts with disgust when the smack sounds out, and Riley leans back with a content expression. That, however, morphs quickly into a sullen frown. “What? You don’t turn into a prince?” She presses another kiss on the amphibian’s head. And another. When her efforts remain fruitless, she tosses the frog aside and grabs the next.

In a rapid mania, she kisses her way through at least seventeen of the slimy fellas. I need to duck to escape getting hit square in the face by her discards.

“Ugh, Riley.”

My grunt breaks her mission. “What?”

“You’re like a steamroller on love drugs.”

A deep sigh escapes her. Still holding the latest frog in her petite hand, she drops her arm, and her face scrunches in disappointment. “What’s wrong with them? Why won’t they turn into gorgeous princes?”

“I don’t know.” I try, but I can’t hold back a chuckle at her cute expression. At least it doesn’t explode out as full-on laughter. “Maybe you’re going for the wrong kind?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, everybody can kiss pretty frogs, right?”

“You think a real prince would hide in an ugly toad?”

“The ugliest.” Luckily, we have one right there on a rock. I pick up the warty thing and offer it to my gallant prince huntress. Her cheeks turn pale, and her eyes pop wide as she takes the toad and nearly gags.

Okay, total fail. I’m rolling on the ground, laughing.

“Oh, man, why can’t princes hide behind pretty animals? Like birds,” she whines. “I wouldn’t mind kissing a robin.”

Bravely, she puckers her lips once more but, no matter how hard she tries, she can’t bring herself to kiss the toad. Every attempt ends with her face contorting, and her body shaking in revulsion. I have to wipe tears from my eyes.

“You’re doing this because I stuffed the wooden spoon down your throat, right?” she murmurs.

Revenge? “Maybe…” Being forced to choke up an old woman—and a cat—was one of my less pleasant experiences this week. She deserves to be taunted a little for it. In the end, I take pity on my girl, though, and release the toad from her death-grip. “Let it go, honeydrop. There was only ever one prince that turned green, and that frog is already taken.”

“But…” Her shoulders slump, and her eyebrows follow suit.

I put the toad back on the rock, take Riley’s hand, and pull her up with me. As we take a shortcut home, I drape an arm around her and kid with a smirk, “If you’re really so desperate to find a royal lover, you’ll have to dig a hole and wait until some unlucky bastard falls into it.”

Riley stops so quickly that my hand drops from her shoulders. Her suddenly exhilarated gaze locks with mine. “Say that again!”

Uh-oh. “It was a joke.”

Clasping the front of my t-shirt in her small fists, she beams right up at my face. “No, Jack, you’re brilliant!”

I’m not exactly sure I would call myself that right now. “You don’t really want to catch a prince in a burrow, do you?”

“Of course not, silly. That would be a stupid idea.” Releasing my shirt, she grabs my hand and enigmatically pulls me along the path through the trees. “How long is Geppetto’s workshop open today?”

“I don’t know.” But from the excitement in her whole bearing, perhaps I should hope it’s already closed when we get there.