Chapter Five
Jane walked over to the two males huddled deep in conversation in front of the claw machine. They’d been there for the last fifteen minutes, and the only time they’d left was for Bo to go back to refill Liam’s game card. “You guys okay?”
They both gave her identical looks of frustration and sadness, and she stopped herself from laughing. They looked so mournful and pitiful. Like one of those commercials with a father and a son at a losing baseball game. Dang it. She shook her head and cleared the thought. Bo was a great guy, and obviously her son was smitten with him. But that didn’t make him father material. Heck, he could be Billy Ray Cyrus, but he still didn’t have the skills or natural breeding to handle having Liam for a son. She winced at her shallowness. No, it wasn’t shallow, it was truth. A human male, no matter how gorgeous, big, and strong, could not handle a shifter son. What if Liam shifted and tried to take a bite out of Bo? He could kill him. She placed a hold on the heavy thoughts and forced herself to pay attention to the current moment. She’d sort out the rest later. But, for now, she just wanted to enjoy the time with these two. “What are you trying to get, big boy?”
Liam furrowed his brow, released a slow breath, and put his hands on his head, mimicking Bo’s same movement. Adorable. But not now. “The doggy. I want...the...dog.”
Okay, if it meant that much to him. Besides, their pizza was getting cold, and Liam must be starving by now. She glanced at the machine and back to Bo and Liam. “You need to get the unicorn out of the way first, guys.”
A low chuff left Bo’s throat as he put his arms around his beefy chest. “We don’t want...the unicorn.”
She laughed at the silliness of the big man and her little man—so horrified at the thought of holding onto a fluffy, sparkly white unicorn with golden stars on its horn. “You don’t have to get it. But at least drag it out of the way and drop it on the side.”
“Oh, yeah.” Bo cocked his head, and Liam followed suit. “I was too close to the situation. Want to try that?”
Liam nodded his head thoughtfully. “Mama’s always got good ideas. She says to amplify a situation and then calmly proceed.”
“Analyze,” she corrected, and Bo grinned at her.
“Yeah,” Liam said then redirected his gaze to Bo thoughtfully. “You know what you call a big thing for hammering on and it can see you?”
“What?”
“Anvyl-eyes.”
Bo laughed. “I see what you did there.”
Liam was just getting going. “Guess how many kidneys you have.”
Bo pretended to be deep in thought. “Hmmm. Two?”
“Nope. I got two. You have adult knees.”
Bo chuckled and leaned in close. “What do you call cheese that’s not yours?”
Liam shook his head.
“Nacho cheese.”
Liam giggled and looked at Jane with a twinkle in his eyes. “Here’s my mom’s favorite.”
Good Lord.
“What’s invisible and smells like carrots?”
“What?”
“Bunny farts.”
Jane felt the heat rise to her neck and into her cheeks.
Bo busted out laughing so hard, that some of the children next to them stopped playing and looked up at them, wide-eyed.
“On that note, I’ll leave you guys to it. I’m going to, um, go eat cold pizza,” Jane mumbled, as she headed back to their table. She couldn’t think of a single joke that didn’t involve biological functioning.
Bo and Liam were still howling with laughter as she made her way back. She held her head high. So, she liked stupid gas jokes and shows with kids who saved the world, and the cartoon shows about superhero teenagers. She laughed and settled back in with a new game. Life seemed real right now. As she watched her son and her date carefully grip the unicorn and place it into the winner’s chute, she basked in the moment. Life was good. The only thing standing in the way of her son’s main goal right now was a horned stuffed animal, and that was great.
A tear came to her eyes when she finally heard the loud squeal of delight followed by Bo’s bellowed booyah. They’d gotten their prize. And she had gotten hers. An evening out with her son, great memories, and an amazing man who was starting to wake up something that had died in her a very long time ago.
She turned to see their excited football dance and flushed gazes and smiled. The way Bo’s perfect white teeth shone in the overhead lights, his joyful exuberance lighting the pools of his deep-brown eyes—all because of a child’s prize. He walked over to her, his arms filled with both the unicorn and the wolf dog.
“Here. Liam wants me to give these to you.” He placed them on the table.
Liam gave her a quick wave and bounced off to the tunnels and slide.
“Thanks. They cost a ton. Sorry.”
“It was worth it to see both your faces.” Bo leaned in and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Your whole face lights up when you smile.” He took her hand in his and gave it a slow kiss, sending tingles throughout her body.
“I like your teeth, too.” She winced. “I mean, your teeth are white and beautiful like your eyes. Dang it.” She buried her head in her hands, moaning.
“Hey, I’m out of practice, too. Why do you think I’ve been patrolling the area and playing with Liam so much?” He exhaled a deep frustrated breath. “That sounded bad. I mean, I like hanging out with kids. Liam’s fun. But I was also hiding from you, so we wouldn’t have to have an awkward conversation.”
She giggled. “You mean like this?”
“I don’t know. Could it get any more awkward?” The look on his face was pure embarrassment, and she decided to put him out of his misery.
“It’s fine. Awkward conversation is my middle name.”
“Really?”
“No, it’s actually Jane. I just prefer to go by my middle name.”
“I like it. It’s pure and gorgeous, just like you.”
She basked in his compliment. Was he just trying to get into her pants? Not that she had that much experience with men, but wasn’t that what guys did? Give you stuffed animals—not necessarily from a claw machine—buy dinner—probably somewhere fancier than Ralph E Pizza—and tell you you’re beautiful? “Are you trying to have sex with me?”
His eyebrows surged to his hairline, and he choked on the soda he had just sipped.
“Not here, but in general?” she said quickly as he dried himself off with a thin napkin. “Here. Take mine.” She handed him a few more and helped blot the table.
“Jane, I’ll be honest,” he said after he got dried off. “A part of me wants nothing more than to drop Liam off at the sitter. Take you back to my place to make love to you all night. Make you scream my name over and over until you’re hoarse.” He leaned in and spoke more quietly. “But I’m not going to rush you. If you decide you want to have…” he whispered, “sex with me…” He spoke normally again, “You’re going to have to make the first move and let me know. I’m not taking any chances of spooking you.”
She relaxed. He was honest. She’d give him that much. “I’m not necessarily saying no, just not right now.”
“How’d we get from pizza and unicorns to sex, anyway?” He winked at her.
“Sorry. I was overthinking.”
He kissed her other hand and stood up. “Never apologize for doing what you need to do to feel safe. We can continue that conversation another time.”
“Are you rushing off to avoid any more awkwardness?”
He grinned. “Fifty percent true. The other fifty wants to make sure the little guy is okay in those tunnel slides.”
Honest, kind, good to her son, and hot as heck. She watched his backside as he sauntered off in search of Liam. Boy, her heart was in for a wild ride.
~.~
Bo rushed off for another game with Liam. After the initial weirdness wore off from the conversation about sex, Jane had opened up a bit more. They’d spent the last forty-five minutes taking turns playing games with Liam—and keeping an eye on him—then sitting and chatting easily over cold pizza and soda. Bo had never felt such a connection to a woman, and it unnerved him. His bear was going crazy, demanding he take her home and make her theirs, but that wasn’t going to happen. She was too skittish. The way she constantly watched the people around them, how her whole body tensed when someone walked into her peripheral… He liked her, as in really liked her, but Jane wasn’t ready for all of him. Bo cursed his rudeness. He shouldn’t even be thinking of trying to get her alone. She was a young, single mother at her wit’s end with a son who was about to shift. Jane didn’t need any more hassle in her life. But Bo felt like his heart might stop beating if she dropped out of his life completely. Was this what it felt like when you met the one? The mate made specifically for you, and you for her? No. The fates wouldn’t do that to him, right? She was curvy and large in all the right places, perfect in every way, but he could hurt her if he went too hard with her. Humans and shifters—especially grizzly bears—were not meant to be. So that let her out as a mate. His soul deflated within him even as he watched Jane and Liam laugh while bonking plastic groundhogs on the head.
Jane turned and met his gaze. Her eyes warm and bright, her cheeks flushed with happiness. She waved at him. His bear rose again. The woman he felt most connected to, had just sought him out in the busy restaurant. She was happy and at peace, yet she sought out his gaze. Pride filled his chest and his whole body heated. He waved back.
“Come play with us, Bo,” she shouted over the chaos of the other parents and children. He could have heard her melodic voice from a hundred miles away through a thousand people. Her voice was a symphony, and it beckoned him forward.
He made it to their game and smiled down at them.
“You try it with me,” Jane said as Liam scampered off to another game.
“Okay.” He hit and missed.
She laughed and leaned in closer, her shoulders rubbing against his chest as she shimmied in front of him. “You gotta be faster than that, big guy. Pretend you’re a bear, and just smack it with your paw.”
That should be easy. He rolled his eyes. If he smacked it with his paw, the whole game would smash into pieces.
“Like this.” She placed her hand on top of his. Electricity scorched through every part of his body when she touched him. He took a deep breath and reined in his bear. He would do anything to keep her touching him. She pushed his palm down onto the creepy, little thing they were supposed to smack. They missed, barely, and tried again when she grabbed his wrist in her delicate fingers and moved him over the next spot she anticipated. After smacking that one and receiving a delightfully charged energy as her megawatt smile brightened, he placed his left hand on top of hers.
He topped her left, and she topped his right, a fun exercise that reminded him of that old pat your stomach and rub your head game. Or was that backward? He couldn’t think straight around this woman. Her whole body shook with her laughter as they tried and missed each and every time. But he loved it. The game ended with a loud buzz, but all he heard was her fast breaths. Bo turned her around, breathless at the vision of beauty in front of him. Your eyes are like the purest air on a snow-capped mountain. Your lips the radiant red of the ripest strawberry. Your hair, gold spun from the finest threads. He opened his mouth to tell her all of it, to tell her he would do anything to make her his. “You’ve got a huge mountain and golden berries.”
Her eyes widened. She glanced down at her breasts, looked back up at him and howled with laughter.
Damn, that’s not what his mouth was supposed to say. He flushed as his obvious mating ineptness reared its ugly head. He was better at hanging out with the kid and telling inappropriate jokes. Great.
“Hey, big guy, it’s okay.” She gave him a small hug, and he relaxed. Jane had a way of settling him more than anyone in his life.
“Sorry. I suck at this stuff.”
She giggled again. “So, you don’t say that to all the girls you take out on a date to a kid’s pizza place?”
“I can honestly say you’re the first.” He half growled, half smiled sheepishly.
“Good, then my mountains feel special.” She grinned and tugged his hand back toward the table. “Come on, let’s eat some more pizza, and you can laugh at my lack of table manners.”
Twenty minutes later, he carried an exhausted Liam out to the car and buckled him in before accepting the keys from Jane. It had been the best date of his entire life. Maybe a little unorthodox and awkward at times, but definitely the best. If only he could make her his mate, raise Liam together. But the mother goddess wouldn’t do that to him, right? Then again, she had set up his sister with a wolf. Zach and Nissa hadn’t seen that coming. Maybe there was hope for him and Jane yet. As tiny as it was, he’d take it. As they drove back into town he wondered how his sister and new mate were doing on their trip to Zach’s home.