~

 

“You just have to leave them in the sink — that’s what the dishwasher is for,” Donna chuckled as she looked at the man up to his elbows in bubbles, washing the breakfast things at the kitchen sink.

Malachi shot a look at his mate. He was resigned to the fact that she wasn’t exactly housewife of the year material, but that was okay — he’d been taking care of himself and his house for years, and he wasn’t too proud to get his hands dirty with chores.

“This takes five minutes, the dishwasher takes forever, and you need to wait for a whole load of dirty dishes to pile up,” Malachi shrugged his broad shoulders.

“I have a mental image of you in an apron,” she chuckled at the thought. Malachi shot her a scathing look, and a low grumbled growl of disapproval. “Maybe I should get you a pair of fluffy slippers for Christmas with reindeer heads on them.” She chuckled harder and gave him a teasing look.

“Reindeer head slippers on a bear shifter?”

“Maybe a couple of little elves — Santa’s little helpers,” she grinned.

“The only good elf is one that’s buried up to his neck in…” The sound of his mobile going off in his back pocket made him groan inwardly. He wasn’t expecting a call and assumed that the vampire was being annoying again.

Malachi dried his hands and reached for the phone. The name that flashed up somewhat surprised him, and he held up his index finger to Donna as he swiped the screen and took the call.

Malachi headed for the front door, and Donna eyed the plates in the sink with suspicion.

“Lucky timing — I think not,” Donna muttered as she walked to the sink to finish off the plates. “Man timing.”

 

~

~

~

 

“Where are they…?” Donna was chucking sofa cushions over her shoulder like a madwoman as she searched for her keys.

Malachi was more than amused to watch his mate in a state of panic. It wasn’t like she didn’t have enough time to scour the cabin from side to side, room to room, find her car keys, and still, make it to Stacey’s school in time to pick her up.

Not to mention the fact that he was there and he knew where his keys were. But would she listen? Hell no, she was female and panicking.

Malachi ducked a flying cushion and snatched another out of the air in front of him. He had to wonder if she was actually aiming at his head.

“Well don’t just stand there…” Donna said, exasperated by the man’s lack of action. She lifted her hand and motioned around the room.

“I have my keys,” Malachi grinned from ear to ear and gave a low, deep chuckle that only exasperated her more.

“Well, you get a gold star,” she playfully sneered back.

“You have plenty of time — I’m not sure how many ways I need to tell you that,” Malachi chuckled.

“Not the point,” Donna said.

Then she turned on her heels and thrust her hands down the back of the sofa cushions. She stood up, placed her hands on her hips, and blew a few stray strands of hair from her face. Her shoulders rose as she took in a deep breath, and then they fell as she blew it out again.

“You’re one of those — laid back — nothing fazes you — kind of guys, aren’t you?” She eyed him with a big dollop of suspicion.

“You mean I don’t panic if I lose my car keys?” Malachi folded his large arms across his chest and grinned from ear to ear.

“I mean — there you are…” She held out her hand and motioned to him. “All Mr. Calm and collected, letting me do all the hard work…”

“You’re searching for your keys and tossing cushions around the room — how hard can it be?” Malachi teased.

Donna’s nose wrinkled as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling and considered a dark word or two in response.

“That’s not the point…” She brought her gaze back to his and wagged her index finger at him as if he was a naughty child.

“So, you want me to throw sofa cushions around the room?” Malachi teased.

“Do you want me to hit you upside the head with a lamp?” Donna shot back.

“I didn’t realize you were so violent — I should have guessed from the first time that you opened the door holding a baseball bat,” Malachi was teasing and playful, and she kind of liked it.

“I have a dark side,” Donna tried not to grin, but she couldn’t help it. He was grinning — it was contagious. At least, that was what she was telling herself.

“Most women do,” Malachi chuckled. He chuckled harder when she screwed up her face and looked at him as if he’d just grown another head.

“Seriously?”

“You don’t think so?”

“I think I am reconsidering hitting you with that lamp,” Donna said and then immediately held up her hand in a eureka moment. “Shopping bags!” She set off for the kitchen counter. It was the last place that she could remember having her keys.

“They’re not there,” Malachi said, but Donna scoured the counter anyway. Then she turned her attention to the area around the counter and inevitably the floor.

“Says you,” Donna muttered.

“And I’m right.”

“And how would you know you’re right if you didn’t know where they…” Donna slowly turned towards him. She had something of a death glare aimed in his direction.

Malachi grinned from ear to ear as he held up his fist, opened his large hand, and the bunch of keys jangling against his palm with the keyring hooked over his middle finger.

“I don’t believe you did that!” Donna rushed towards him. She needed to feel those keys in the palm of her hand – just to know that she had them.

“Payback’s a…” he started, but when Donna tried to snatch the keys from him, and almost broke his finger in the process, he bit down on the pain. “Could I keep my finger?”

“You should have thought about that before you stole my keys and made me search for them,” Donna chuckled. She still had the keys in her hand, and she was letting go.

Malachi wasn’t about to let go either because he couldn’t. The key ring was stuck.

“Stop pulling,” Malachi grumbled a growl.

“Then let go,” Donna bit out.

“I can’t let go — it’s stuck around my finger,” Malachi offered back, but he could see that his mate had something of a deranged look in her eye. Perhaps teasing her with the keys wasn’t such a good idea.

“Well, that’s the breaks — and by break,” she grinned.

“You’d break my finger to get the keys?”

“Well, I need the keys to drive the car,” she offered with an innocent little shrug of her shoulders. “Your finger isn’t necessary.”

“Harsh,” Malachi grumbled another playful growl.

“Mess with the bull and – you know the rest,” Donna wiggled her eyebrows at him.

Malachi liked that look on her. It was sexy.

Mine…

Malachi reached out with his other hand and wrapped his arm around her waist. He yanked her forward, and with one hand still on the keys, she was thrown off balance and couldn’t save herself from crashing into his chest.

As a belated thought, her other hand pressed against the hard muscles of his chest, and she had the urge to curl her fingers and test their strength. The growl that rolled through his chest vibrated against her fingers, and her gaze snapped up to his.

“You might have the keys, and my finger, but I have you,” Malachi growled.

His wide grin became a lot more serious as his eyes darkened and his beast pushed against the cage that he had him locked in.

Donna swallowed down the excitement that rolled through her body in waves — unending — with the internal combustion engine that was throwing out heat through her body and making her feel fevered.

Of course, her heart had tried to escape her ribs to get to him. Her fingers still wanted to curl against his muscles, and boy, was her mind flashing some very rude thoughts?

Malachi closed his large hand around the keys and her hand. He took her arm down and around behind her back, as he leaned in and brought his lips down on hers.

Mine…

Her lips were soft, and he couldn’t resist tasting them. When Donna instinctively opened for him, he deepened the kiss.

Malachi was in heaven. He hadn’t yet wooed his mate, and he needed to remember that.

Mine…

His mind, his body, and his soul wanted to go full steam ahead — not to mention his beast — but that couldn’t be for many reasons.

One of those reasons was that they needed to pick Stacey up from school.

Malachi was happy at that moment just to have the connection with her. He could wait for the rest.

Mating – bonding, however long it took to win her as his, was just fine with him.

She was his mate and nothing, and no one was going to get between them.