I don't know if we should.
If there's someone she's waving to, wouldn't Finn and Ara like to know? The lass could do with a friend.
Her dragon was right. So Cat rose slowly and did her best to walk as quietly as possible to the window.
Aimee was so engrossed in watching whatever was happening, she didn't acknowledge Cat at all.
Interesting. Usually the female reacted to everything.
Cat finally reached the side of the window and peeked out, just in time to see her brother Connor doing some sort of somersault.
She glanced over and barely stopped herself from gasping—the lass smiled. It was small and almost hesitant, but she smiled.
Because of Cat's brother.
Her dragon spoke up. Now that is interesting.
Not wanting to take away the small bit of joy from Aimee, Cat slowly moved back to her chair and sat down. Aimee asked us about the time. Does he do this every day?
If not every day, then semi-regularly.
She watched as the female stayed at the window a few minutes longer before she waved again and headed back to the table, careful to avoid Cat's eyes.
Maybe she should drop it. After all, the lass had made tremendous progress since first setting foot on Lochguard, and Cat didn't want to ruin it.
But she couldn't let it go. She'd never seen Aimee smile. Never. Not until today, at any rate.
Aimee had picked up her paintbrush when Cat asked softly, "Are you friends with my brother?"
The female's hand stilled a beat before she dipped the brush into some white paint. "I've only seen him through the window and for a second when he barged into that one session we had. I don't even know his name."
"It's Connor. Connor MacAllister, my younger brother."
Aimee nodded and went back to painting a cloud in the sky.
Cat had a feeling that was all the female would say on the topic.
It took everything she had not to drum her fingers on the table until their session was over. She wanted to find out more right away, corner Connor, and get some answers. However, she had more lessons and a meeting with Lachlan before she could do that.
However, once she finished her appointments, she didn't care if Connor was dead tired at the end of his shift at the restaurant, she was going to take him aside and get to the bottom of it.
As Connor MacAllister finished serving up his latest order, he moved on to the next.
His other siblings all hated working at his mother's restaurant, but he loved it.
He loved the bustle, the chaos, and how a good meal could make someone smile or improve their day.
He'd tried explaining it to his brothers before, but they'd said it was too monotonous, too boring, too “insert excuse here.” His brother Ian had tried to lay out how finding out a new way into a computer security system or designing some new program, was so much more interesting.
But he had no desire to sit in front of a computer all day. He'd go mad.
No, Connor preferred keeping busy, moving, doing something.
And as one of the head cooks—humans used some fancy term he didn't remember, but dragons liked things simple—he was usually too busy to think about much else but getting his next meal finished quickly.
However, as he chopped some onions on autopilot, he took a second to try to think of a new way to make Aimee King smile.
The whole thing with the female had started out by chance, of course. On his way to work, when he'd seen her staring from her window, he'd had the cheek to wave, and she'd run away.
He'd walked the same way to work the next few days until he saw her again, and for reasons he couldn't comprehend, Connor had suddenly done a backflip.
She'd stayed to watch him do a few more.
Which had made him want to try even harder the next time. Maybe it was because he hated the thought of anyone being so sad all the time. Or maybe it was just that all the Lochguard females were used to his antics, and it'd been a long time since he'd made someone smile instead of roll their eyes.
But regardless, Connor had this driving need to come up with new routines to one day make her laugh.
His dragon yawned inside his mind. Are you done with your shift yet?
His beast had no interest in food beyond eating it. No, just prepping some ingredients.
And yet, you were thinking about her again. You should just go say hello. It's strange for you to be shy.
Shy was probably the last word Connor would use to describe himself. His family would say the same.
He replied, Maybe when she's ready.
And when will that be? When she finally opens the window, tosses down a rope ladder, and shouts for you to come on up?
Don't be ridiculous, dragon. But she almost never leaves her home. So I'll wait until she can at least handle that.
His dragon huffed. Fine. You know I can't tell she's ours or not until we meet her in person and talk with her. The few seconds when we barged in on her session with Cat wasn't enough.
Meaning there was a wee chance Aimee King was his true mate.
Which would be wrong on so many levels. Not the least of which was the fact her dragon was silent, and it would be cruel to subject her to a mate-claim frenzy. If she ever grew strong enough for one, that was. We're young still, so there's no need to rush and find our true mate.
Unless someone else snatches her away first.
He didn't like the thought of another male making Aimee King smile, but he quickly pushed aside the thought as he added vegetables to the hot oil on the cooker. We'll talk about this later. I have to focus on my job.
His beast curled up and went back to sleep.
Somehow Connor managed to get through the rest of his shift without thinking about Aimee again. However, as soon as he washed up, changed clothes, and went to the back exit to start thinking of a few new tricks, he came face-to-face with his sister Cat.
And she had that look—furrowed brows and a stare.
Meaning she wanted some answers.
He sighed. "Now what did I do?"
She took his arm and moved until they were a fair distance away from the restaurant. "What is going on between you and Aimee?"
He blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play coy with me, Connor Archibald. I was with Aimee today when you stopped in front of her window and did some tricks."
He nearly blurted that it wasn't the right day for Aimee's art therapy, but he held his tongue. It was best to be as vague as possible with his sister. He loved her, but she could be like a dog with a bone when the mood struck her.
And he liked to think that what went on between him and Aimee was theirs and no one else's.
He shrugged. "I walk that way to work. I noticed her staring from the window and decided to make it interesting. That's not a crime."
She searched his gaze, but he didn't squirm in the least.
Finally, Cat sighed. "Just be careful, aye? She's delicate."
He murmured, "I know."
She nodded. "Aye, well, you can walk me home and update me about Mum. She keeps saying she's fine, but I sense she's not."
At the mention of their mother, his irritation faded. "She has more energy than before, but she's far too quiet, even for her."
Cat nodded and glanced to the side. She usually only did that when she was hiding something. "I noticed that too."