Chapter Two
Cullen MacAvoy forced himself to walk away from his vehicle, from the delectable woman in the backseat, when his bear would happily have him sit next to her all the damn day long. Her brown eyes were dark, almost black, and she had curves. Real, honest-to-God curves a bear could wrap his paws around without worrying about getting gauged in a sensitive place by protruding bones.
Round, full breasts above a tapered waist and wide, flaring hips. And that face… Fuck, but that was a face that could start wars. Heart shaped with an uptilted nose and full, courtesan lips. Lips that would wrap around his…
He immediately went hard. Damn it. He had to get his mind on the job or he’d be walking bowlegged the rest of the day. He adjusted his erection as discretely as possible as he went up to the flat bed tow truck, lifting a hand to the driver when the young man climbed down from the cab. “Ronnie,” Cullen called in greeting.
“Hey there, Cullen.” The driver strode back toward the disabled vehicle and winced. “Dang.” He gave a whistle. “No wonder this thing stopped runnin’. Lookit all that radiator fluid.”
Cullen followed Ronnie’s pointing finger and saw the orange puddle of antifreeze under the front of Ivy’s…Miss Fitzhugh’s…car. “Can you top it off so she can be on her way?”
His bear flexed at that, not happy with the idea he wouldn’t get to know the pretty little brunette. But she was just passing through, and Cullen wouldn’t use the authority of his position to waylay her just so his inner beast could get his flirt on.
“I don’t carry antifreeze with me, chief.” Ronnie went to the hydraulic controls of the flat bed and pushed the button. The end of the steel bed began lowering toward the ground.
Cullen heard the door of his SUV open. He glanced back to see Ivy…Miss Fitzhugh…hop out of the SUV and lean in to gather her daughter into her arms. She slammed the door and walked toward them, the little girl on her hip. “What’s the verdict?” she asked in a loud voice, talking over the whine of the hydraulics as she drew near.
The bed reached its position and Ronnie released the button. “Well, ma’am,” he said, scratching his chin. “For starters, you’ve got a leaky radiator. Won’t know more ’til I can get a better look at the shop.”
She pressed her lips together. “And if it needs more than just some antifreeze?”
“We’ll have to order parts, most likely. We don’t keep a lot on stock.” He shrugged. “No room to store ’em.”
This was clearly news she didn’t want to hear. No one would, he supposed, but she especially seemed hard hit by it. He had a feeling she didn’t have more than a couple of nickels to rub together. Probably couldn’t afford much more than getting antifreeze added to the radiator. His protective instincts roared to the surface, his inner bear poking at him to move things along.
“Listen, we’ve got a bed and breakfast on the other side of town.” Cullen tipped his chin at Ronnie and walked over to Miss Fitzhugh. He gently took her arm and turned her back toward his SUV. “Let’s get you and the little one checked in, you can get lunch and some rest, and Ronnie can give you the full bad news tomorrow. Okay?”
She nodded, rubbing one hand up and down the little girl’s back. She paused at her car and snagged a diaper bag from the front seat before continuing to his vehicle. The whole time, she spoke quietly to the child in her arms, murmuring soothing nothings and praising the little one for being so good.
Cullen wondered what their story was, why this lovely woman was on her own with a cub and no mate in sight, but it wasn’t his place to ask. Not yet, at any rate. If she ended up staying in Grayslake longer than overnight, she’d have to check in with the Itan, and he’d be the one to ask for details. For now, Cullen didn’t sense she meant to cause trouble for Grayslake or its citizens, whether they were shifter or human.
“You wanna give me the keys to your car? I’ll get your luggage and turn the keys over to Ronnie.”
“They’re still in the ignition,” she said softly, leaning her cheek against her daughter’s tousled head, where it rested against her shoulder. She swayed side to side, rocking the little girl in her arms. “We need the car seat, too.”
“Gotcha.” He walked back retrieved her keys, flipped open the trunk and grabbed two suitcases, one large and one medium sized, and set them on the ground. With a couple of grunts, he unfastened the car seat and removed it, balancing it on top of the luggage. He took the keys to Ronnie, who had finished attaching safety chains to the car. “You call me first with any news on her car, got it?”
Ronnie waggled his eyebrows and snickered. “Yeah, I got it, chief.”
Cullen scowled. “I want to know the damages so I know if she’ll need help or not. Nothin’ more.”
“Oh.” Ronnie seemed disappointed. Probably, with all the shifters finding their mates lately, he wanted to be able to say he’d seen it happen firsthand for Cullen.
Cullen shot him another frown then grabbed the car seat, picked up the smaller suitcase and put it under his arm, and lifted the large suitcase with his other hand. Back at the SUV, he stowed the luggage in the rear compartment behind the last bench seat. He opened the backdoor opposite of where Miss Fitzhugh was sitting. In a matter of moments, he had the car seat installed and helped the cute little miss into it. She grinned at him as he got her buckled up. “There you go, sweetie,” he told her with a smile.
“Tank oo,” she chirped.
“You’re welcome.” He bopped her lightly on the nose with the tip of his index finger before closing the door and walking around to the driver’s side. Climbing behind the wheel, he glanced in the rearview mirror. “Ready?”
Miss Fitzhugh nodded. She reached over and stroked the back of her fingers down her daughter’s peaches-and-cream cheek. “Yeah, we’re ready, aren’t we, baby?”
The little girl babbled away, none of it making sense until he caught the word “cookie” and a few words later “milk.” Then he heard another word, one that sounded like “ee-ee.”
Miss Fitzhugh froze, just a second, before she laughed and tousled her daughter’s hair. “Yes, you little sweet fiend. We’ll find some cookies and milk for you.”
Cullen started up the SUV, staring at the license plate on the disabled vehicle, committing it to memory, before making a U-turn to head toward the bed and breakfast. He didn’t sense any malfeasance coming from her, but there was something going on with them, something that made fear roll from her in waves before she got it under control. He for damn sure was going to find out why.
He wasn’t going to let anyone fuck up his town, his friends. No matter how pretty and endearing she seemed to be. Not while he had breath left in his body.