Panther's Passion (Veteran Shifters 3)

Eva considered. “I mean, sometimes. Hard to make friends. But most of the towns we lived in were so small that there weren’t any other nerds to be friends with, anyway.”

Nate had to smile at the way she unselfconsciously called herself a nerd. “Sounds rough.”

Eva nodded. “I think if we’d stayed in one place too long, it would’ve been hard in a different way. There were some schools that were so full of airhead jerks...I have no idea how I would’ve survived years and years with them. And I have plenty of Internet friends, and it doesn’t matter where I live for that.”

“Internet...friends.” Nate wondered if he should be concerned about that.

Of course, Eva wasn’t his daughter, so it wasn’t his place to be concerned. But...still.

Eva nodded vigorously. “Oh, yeah. Like, Doctor Who fandom? It’s huge. I have online watch parties with a couple of people every week, and there’s all these great people on Tumblr who do fanart and fanfiction and have all these cool creative ideas...”

“I don’t know what half of those words mean,” Nate said, half-laughing. “Fanart? Fanfiction?”

“Where you write stories about characters in books or movies or TV shows that you like,” Eva said earnestly. “Or draw pictures or comics about them. Like, what if these sci-fi characters all worked at a coffee shop? Or what if characters from one show met the characters from a different show?”

Well, that wasn’t the sort of thing he’d been concerned about at all. “These are people your age who do all this?” he tried.

Eva rolled her eyes. “What, you think the Internet is full of creepy old guys? I mean—it is, I guess, but this isn’t the nineties. There’s plenty of Internet for everyone.”

She said the nineties as though it was basically the Bronze Age. Nate had to admit that the Internet wasn’t really his area of expertise. He had a couple of computer security guys working for him, and they handled anything virtual.

And Eva seemed like a smart kid, with plenty of self-assurance. He’d trust her to know what she was talking about.

Not that it was any of his business. Because Eva was Stella’s daughter, not his.

Right.

&

nbsp; ***

Stella

The run did a lot to make Stella feel better. The run, and the nap...and that conversation with Nate. He was so—so unlike any guy she’d ever known. Strong and kind, in a way that she hadn’t known could go together.

She’d always had the impression that either a guy was manly and strong, which meant that he was kind of a jerk sometimes, or he was sweet and kind, which meant that he was also sort of a wuss.

So even though Nate was only here for a little while, and he was going to go on back to run his security company and travel the world protecting people, she could still be grateful he’d been here at all, to teach her that.

Because a new resolve was rising in her: Stella wasn’t going to date any more jerks. Or any more wusses, because often they turned out to be jerks in their own way. Their own, whiny way.

Nope. The next boyfriend she had was going to have real strength of character. And if she didn’t meet any guys like that, well, she wasn’t going to have any more boyfriends.

It was funny. Once upon a time, that idea would’ve thrown her into a panic. But now...it made her sad, but she wasn’t freaking out at the thought of missing out on the finest men the state of Montana had to offer. Those fish could stay in the sea, because Stella had more important things to worry about right here at home.

And Nate was making her question the whole idea of what a boyfriend was for, anyway, so she might as well stay single until she figured it out.

Or just get with Nate.

Stella shook that thought off impatiently. Sure, he was strong, thoughtful, kind, smart, interesting, and so hot she felt like she should warn passing kids not to get too close in case they burned their fingers—but—

But he was working. This was all a job for him, nothing more. And when he was done, he’d go back home, and Stella didn’t need to embarrass them both by hurling herself at him, crying, Take me with you! when he left.

Besides, she needed to stay here, at her job, and keep working to get money for Eva to go to college.

You always do this, she told herself severely. You fall for any handsome man who crosses your path. Don’t do it again, not with this man. He’s too good for your serial monogamy.

She pushed down the inner voice that was shouting, But this is different! She knew herself better than that.