Chapter Fifteen
The sun was low on the horizon when they emerged from Rory’s apartment. Descending the stairs that led into the butchery, Rhetta spotted Rory’s assistant. The woman’s owl-like eyes beaded at the sight of Rhetta who was wearing a Rory shawl around her shoulders.
Rhetta rolled her eyes. In addition to Rory’s diet, and the paint on the walls of his apartment, along with some new furniture, there would be some other changes being made.
Rory pinched her ass as they came down the last step and entered the fresh air. She jumped and giggled. “Stop that, people will see.”
“Good,” he growled. “It’ll save me from having to shout from the rooftops that you’re mine.”
Standing in the closed doorway of his shop, Rhetta opened to him. She opened up and let every ounce of fear she had out. She faced the fact that this man who had once chose another was now claiming her as his one and only true mate. It made her dizzy.
Before she could stumble, Rory pulled her into his arms. He held her close, favoring his good leg to offer her support. He did that a lot she noted. Put himself in harm’s way for a moment with her, a taste of her. Rhetta wanted him to know that he didn’t have to be the strong one all the time. She had strength, too, and she would happily share.
She was grinning so hard that it started to hurt her face. Could this all be real? Could it last?
Rory leaned in. She expected him to take her lips with wild abandon. Instead, Rory planted the softest of kisses on her mouth. So delicate, so consuming, so devastating that she clung to him.
She laid her cheek on his chest and listened to his heart beating. She felt her own heart falling in line to match the beat of his. Her gaze fell on the scene outside of the glass storefront door.
Looking around, she saw the stares of people passing by on the street. She recognized many faces and knew that they were passing judgment on her, likely for having seen her with Jordan for the last year. And now she was wrapped up in his brother’s arms.
“Rory?”
“Hmm?” His nose was buried in her hair. He inhaled repeatedly, seeming to revel in her scent. His deep purr sent a shiver down her spine.
“We should probably date for a while.”
“Date?” he asked. “You say that like it’s a verb.”
“It is a verb. It’s what a man who is courting a woman does to gain her favor.”
“Gain her favor?” His laugh was a bellow. He pulled back and looked down at her, eyes glistening with moonglow. “I gained enough of your favor last night. And yesterday. And the night before that.”
“I’m serious.” Rhetta stepped out of his embrace and crossed her arms over her chest. Her ass bumped against the door, and the closed sign shifted. “What will people think?”
“That you’re mine, as in a noun. Pretty soon, it will be a proper noun.”
Rory wrapped a huge paw around her waist. He didn’t pull her to him. He ran his thumb across her abdomen in a hypnotic fashion. She felt her core throbbing in time to the motion.
Rhetta swallowed at the intensity in his gaze. No one had ever looked at her that way, as though they possessed her. And she realized Rory did possess her—body and soul.
She wished she wasn’t scared, but she was. She’d never thought anything like this would happen to her. To her. Rhetta Veracruz. The girl people always overlooked. The woman nobody even noticed.
“How about this,” Rory purred. “I’ll make dinner tonight, as long as you bring dessert.”
“I’ll come over, but I’ll cook for you.”
That was the way she was going to keep him. She’d show him just how good of a cook she was. She’d get him addicted to her food. Then she’d give him her body again. That would make him stay.
Rory nipped at her neck, right over the place where he’d marked her again and again. “No, you’re going to sit your pretty ass down while I cook for you. I’m not entirely useless, pet.”
Rhetta pulled away from him. “I don’t think you’re useless at all.”
They stared at each other for a moment, as though seeing one another anew. They both were wounded animals, reaching out tentatively for affection, hoping that this time they wouldn’t get caught in someone else’s trap.
“I could kill my brother. He’s never taken proper care of you.”
In all honesty, Rhetta had never given Jordan the opportunity to. She did everything for him so that he would find her services, her company, her very being invaluable.
“You’ve never had anyone spoil you?” asked Rory.
Rhetta shook her head. As far back as she could remember, she had always been the one to lend a hand.
“That ends this moment,” he said. “Go to your mother’s house and get your things. Then you’ll come back home and let your man take care of you the way you should be treated.”
It should’ve rankled. Rhetta was a capable woman. She didn’t need a man to do anything for her. But she pressed her lips to Rory’s and then dove out of the door of the shop on quick feet.
Rory let her go. His deep laughter put wind under her feet. His call of “That’s my pet,” made her want to kick up her heels.
Rhetta found her car and put it in gear. Ignoring the speed limit, she hurried home. She could still hear Rory’s chuckling laughter and endearment as she pulled into her mother’s driveway. She couldn’t wait to get back to him, back beneath him, back to everything with him.
Love was happening to her. It was scary and terrifying. But it was also heady and invigorating. She’d take it, the joy and the fear, as long as she got to keep Rory in the process.
Gloria came from the fields as Rhetta got out of the car. It was one of the rare times that her mother was actually clothed walking in the fields.
“You just missed Jordan,” said Gloria.
It took Rhetta a moment to place the name. Oh, crap. Right. Her fiancé. She’d have to deal with him sooner rather than later.
“Did he go home?” Rhetta asked.
“No, he went to see his brother.”
That was even worse. Rory wouldn’t hesitate to rub their relationship in Jordan’s face. Rhetta felt confident that Rory’s feelings for her were real, but she also knew that his ire for his brother was still very much alive. She’d need to get back over there quickly.
“Jordan had a woman with him,” her mother was saying. “Rosey, I think her name was.”
Rhetta froze. The mild nausea that had been plaguing her the last couple of days roiled in her stomach. Bile filled her throat. She had to swallow it down before she could speak.
“Rosalind?”
“Yeah,” said Gloria. “That’s it. Said he was taking her to Rory’s to end the feud between him and his brother.”
Rhetta’s first instinct was to slink into the house and give up. She couldn’t compete with a wolf’s first love. She was going to lose him the moment Rosalind wrapped her fingers around him.
It was just her luck. Damn it.
But then a curious thing happened. With a will of its own, her hand reached out and grabbed the handle of the car door. She yanked it open and her feet inched closer and closer heading back inside.
She wasn’t about to give up. Not for Rory. Not without a fight.
She had one foot inside the car before something pulled her back. It was Gloria’s hand on Rhetta’s arm. Rhetta turned to see her mother glaring at her.
“You ungrateful child,” said Gloria.
“Mama?”
“I was just getting used to the idea of being a grandma. Now, I’ll have two cubs scratching up my carpets? And possibly three if you turn out to have twins because you know it’s in the Veracruz genes.”
“What are you talking about?”
But Gloria crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “That Rory didn’t waste any time, did he?”
Rhetta’s head was swimming. Her mother’s words were slowly forming an unbelievable idea in Rhetta’s mind. Something she’d known deep down but had been avoiding giving credence to. Something even scarier than being in love.
“Well, at least I’ll be the hottest grandmother in Senora,” Gloria sniffed, the indignation rolled off her as quickly as it came. But that was the way of her mother. “And both of my girls bagged alpha wolves. No one else can claim that. All right, fine, I approve your pregnancy.”
Another wave of nausea rolled over Rhetta. Now that the idea was given a voice, she couldn’t deny it any longer. She placed her hand on her belly.
“Oh, Goddess.”