The Golden Retriever in the yard barked just as he spoke, and Nina didn\u2019t quite catch it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zackery pinched the bridge of his nose, his well\u2013defined hand like a piece of unpolished jade.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He gave the Golden a threatening look. Frightened by his sharp gaze, the dog whimpered and lay on the ground, ex- posing its belly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina nodded, then chuckled when she saw the Golden on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s its name?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMoon.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMoon,\u201d Nina murmured, and the Golden on the ground immediately rolled over and lay down at her feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zackery smiled at the sight, a gentle glimmer in his eyes, making him look very tender. \u201cIt really likes you. Moon is- n\u2019t usually affectionate with anyone but me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must be fate.\u201d Nina crouched down to pet Moon, her expression gentle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If the little dog she had saved back then was still around, it would be this big by now. She wondered how its current owner was taking care of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watching her, the tenderness in Zackery\u2019s eyes was about to overflow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After all these years, his wait for her was finally over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bronner elders were all very kind and gave Nina large gifts when they saw her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emma Bronner took Nina\u2019s hand, studying her closely. \u201cNina, you\u2019re truly stunning. No wonder our Zackery has been thinking about you for so many years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Helen Bronner said with a smile, placing a bowl of fruit in front of her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina didn\u2019t quite understand what they meant. She waved her hands. \u201cEmma, Mrs. Bronner, you\u2019ve misunderstood. Zackery and I didn\u2019t know each other before.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But maybe because of Emma\u2019s teasing, Nina felt a strange sense of shyness when she said Zackery\u2019s name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She looked down at the fruit bowl in front of her and was surprised to see it was filled with all her favorite fruits. It\u2019s probably just a coincidence, Nina thought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
0.0 %\u00a0<\/p>\n
22:56\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 16\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zackery, sitting beside her, quickly said, \u201cMom, Auntie, don\u2019t scare her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
288 Vouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing him being so protective made the elders smile so wide they couldn\u2019t stop. \u201cAlright, alright, Mom won\u2019t say an- other word.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Helen slipped a bracelet off her wrist and put it on Nina\u2019s before she could refuse. \u201cNina, dear, this was part of my dowry when I got married. When Zackery was little, he loved this bracelet and made a deal with me to give it to his future wife one day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She could almost picture a miniature version of the boy, clutching his mother\u2019s bracelet and negotiating with her like a little adult. Nina couldn\u2019t help but smile, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Zackery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tips of Zackery\u2019s ears turned a little red, and he turned his head away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nina actually looked at him!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, Nina had no idea what he was thinking. She saw the red tips of Zackery\u2019s ears and thought he was just hot. \u201cIs it that hot in here?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zackery didn\u2019t understand, but Helen knew exactly what was going on. She knew her son well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing her son\u2019s hopeless look, Helen laughed without holding back and called him out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not hot, you just made him shy. Our Nina is so beautiful, anyone would get shy if you looked at them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zackery, exposed by his mother, wasn\u2019t annoyed at all, but the tips of his ears grew even redder. He made an excuse to go check on Moon and then walked out the door.\u00a0<\/p>\n
56.7%\u00a0<\/p>\n
22:56\u00a0<\/p>\n
C\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland\u2019s breathtaking cold.<\/p>\n
Loomwood Galleries Framed Pilgrim Murals by Iris Vaughn 16 The Golden Retriever in the yard barked just as he spoke, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-girl-in-the-shadows-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}