As Anandur walked out of the war room, he thought about ways to speed up the process of Wonder getting used to the idea of him as her boyfriend.

Funny how one little moan had turned the tables on him.

Two days ago, he’d been concerned about doing as little as possible to encourage Wonder’s interest in him, while at the same time still being her friend. Now, when suddenly she might have become unavailable to him, he was concerned with doing as much as possible to make her his.

Served him right.

Taking stock of his arsenal of wooing weapons, Anandur considered his charm and his humor as his best. Other than that he had his rugged good looks, as Wonder had called them, and his position on the Guardian force, particularly as Kian’s personal bodyguard.

He also had a substantial amount in his bank account, and his stock portfolio was quite impressive thanks to Kian’s advice, but Anandur didn’t consider his wealth as a wooing tool.

Then there were Brundar and Callie. As someone who was all alone in the world, Wonder appreciated family. She might view him more favorably if he made an even greater effort to share his with her.

It was time for another dinner at Callie and Brundar’s, and he had no qualms about inviting himself and Wonder over.

Callie wouldn’t mind. In fact, he was sure she would be overjoyed.

Pulling out his phone he shot her a quick text. Are you up to having Wonder and me for dinner tonight?

Her reply was almost instantaneous. Yay!!! Be here at eight.

Smiling, he sent her his thanks and then shot another text to Wonder. We are invited to Brundar and Callie’s for dinner at eight. I’ll pick you up ten minutes earlier.

So what if he was being presumptuous. Phrased like that, it would be hard for Wonder to say no.

He waited for what seemed like a long time before her return message came in.

Okay, was her short answer.

Wonder wasn’t one for talking. She preferred listening to his stories.

Damn, he really loved the girl. Not only was she a beauty and a sweetheart, but she laughed at his jokes even when they fell flat.

In short, she was perfect.

It only took him getting hit over the head with the emotional equivalent of a sledgehammer to realize that.

As he got to the house, he was greeted by Magnus’s loud snoring. No great surprise since they hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Interestingly enough, Anandur didn’t feel tired at all, even though he’d had even less sleep in the last forty-eight hours than Magnus.

Apparently, the sense of purpose and urgency hiked up his adrenaline production more than last night’s mission.

The purpose part was understandable, but why the urgency?

Wonder wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was he. And yet, he felt as if at any moment he could lose his window of opportunity with her. He felt a compulsive need to make up for lost time and rush his wooing agenda.

Maybe it had something to do with his voluntary abstinence.

Anandur hadn’t gone so many days without sex since he’d hit puberty. That in itself should have been a city-block-sized red flag that Wonder was the one for him. He hadn’t wanted anyone else since he’d met her.

Stepping into the shower, Anandur shook his head. He was such a thickheaded idiot.

When he was done scrubbing and shampooing and conditioning, he toweled himself dry and then used the towel to wipe the condensation off the mirror. He could’ve used a trim, but regrettably there was no time for that. Instead, he splashed himself with his best cologne and went looking for something nice to wear.

His closet didn’t have much to offer. Other than stacks of folded jeans and T-shirts, the one garment hanging in his closet was the tuxedo he’d worn to all the recent weddings.

Damn. He had nothing nice to wear.

Magnus, the clothes whore, should have plenty of fancy stuff, except the guy was shorter and slimmer than Anandur. Besides, he was sleeping, and Anandur wasn’t going to rummage through the guy’s closet without asking permission first.

There were two other guys his size in the village, Yamanu and Dalhu. Yamanu was a closer friend, but his taste in clothes wasn’t much better than Anandur’s. Neither was Dalhu’s, but the dude had Amanda, the queen of fashion, to do the shopping for him.

Amanda owed Anandur more than one favor.

He considered just walking over to their place, but then discarded the idea. What if they had guests? What if they were busy doing other things?

Instead, he chose the least intrusive approach and texted Amanda. I need a nice shirt. Can I borrow one of Dalhu’s?

Are you going on a date?

Sort of.

With Wonder?

Yes.

I’ll be right over.

Hopefully, she wasn’t going to take too long. He only had an hour until it was time to pick up Wonder.

He should've known better. The knock on the door came five minutes later.

Holding a travel bag almost as big as herself, Amanda sauntered inside. “Where can I work?”

Work? What is she planning to do?

“Thanks for coming over so quickly.” He closed the door behind her. “But what the hell did you bring, and what do you mean by work?”

Striking a pose with one leg forward and a hand on her hip, she pursed her lips and gave him a thorough once-over. “I’ve been waiting to do this for ages.”

“What?”

“Give you a makeover.” She waved a hand at his head. “You need to trim that messy bush you call a beard, and your hair needs some styling too. I brought my shears.” She mimicked cutting with her fingers.

He glanced at the bag. “What else do you have in there?”

“Catch.” She threw the bag at him.

It was heavier than he’d expected, but it seemed to be filled mostly with clothes.

“It’s filled with brand new stuff that Dalhu never wears. I keep buying him nice things, but since he spends most of his time painting, he never gets to wear them. I think he still uses the hand-me downs you gave him when he first got here.”

“Really? I’d forgotten about it.”

Amanda walked up to him and kissed his cheek. “But Dalhu never forgot your kindness. You were the only one who treated him like a person and not like a despised enemy.”

It hadn’t been a big deal. Amanda was making it out to be more than it was. “He’s a clean dude. It was one of the first things I noticed about him. That’s why I treated him as well as the circumstances allowed. After all, he was a prisoner.”

She kissed his cheek again. “Just take the compliment and shut up. Now, where can I get to work on your beard and that thing you call a mustache?”