The Quiet One

44

The day they packed up their things to send back with Julie and Michael, Regal was eager to move them to their new hotel. They would spend one night at the biggest theme park in Florida and he wanted to take her to her favorite of the parks.

"Let me know if you and Julie encounter any issues. I think Joseph King will leave you two alone now that he knows you don't have the book he is looking for. When you get home, please get in touch with Anders or Hunter. I need them to know about anything you experience on the way home," he instructed Michael. Micheal nodded and clapped Regal on the shoulder.

"I will protect Julie and all the books. Julie is my mate, and this bookshop is her livelihood. I won't let anything happen," Michael promised.

"Glad to hear we agree." Regal clapped the bear shifter on his shoulder, waving him and Julie off. Harper stood next to him, wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Ready for a day in the park?" he asked looking down at his beautiful mate. Harper beamed at him, nodding her excitement. He'd packed their bags first thing in the morning, then gone over to help put everything in the truck for Julie and Micheal. Now his turn had come to spoil his mate.

"Let's go." Taking her hand, he helped her into the car they'd rented and climbed into the driver's seat. It took them about thirty minutes to get to the new hotel and checked in before heading to the park on one of their shuttle busses.

"Regal I cannot wait! I've always wanted to go to this park. My parents couldn't afford for us to go since there were four girls all close in age." Harper squeezed his hand, sharing part of her childhood with him.

"My parents took me all over. Every summer we went somewhere new. One year we spent a month in Italy traveling all over," he explained, and she frowned.

"I am jealous. The furthest we went on our trips was as far as we could drive and afford. My dad liked to camp, so we went camping a lot." Her tone hinted at her dislike of camping.

"Not a camper?"

"Well no, but it was hard to enjoy it when your sisters all complained. Hannah is the one who likes to be outside. She is a nature photographer," Harper shared, Regal remembered his encounter with her younger sister and gave her a surprised look.

"She does?"

"I know, she doesn't come across as an outside person, but she enjoys it. Her last assignment was shooting outdoor clothing for a large company," Harper answered, pulling him toward the enormous castle.

"Can you get a picture of us?" she asked, handing him her phone. Using his long arm, he pointed the phone to get the two of them and the castle in the background.

"Smile," he told her and clicked the picture button several times hoping he took a wonderful one.

"I want to go there," she said pointing to a spinning teacup ride.

"Do you think that is safe with the baby?" he asked worried she'd get sick.

"We don't have to spin the middle piece, we can enjoy the ride without it," she countered, not taking no for an answer. Regal laughed and let her have her way. Today he would spoil her rotten.

Harper took him on every ride they could find a decent wait on, she didn't enjoy waiting too long for a ride.

"I want to go on the haunted house ride." Regal pointed to a ride off to the side with a fake graveyard around it. The wait was only twenty minutes.

"Okay," she replied, taking his hand and walking to the queue. Regal took that time to take pictures of her without her noticing. Her excitement fed into his energy. The sun set as they waited in line. The queue interacted with the people waiting.