Chapter Fifteen
Joe awoke on the couch, stiff and sore. But no amount of soreness could take away the gratification of the night before. He’d given Nikki everything he had to give and then some. Christ, it would be a miracle if either one of them could walk.
Sitting up, he stretched much like his lion would and then reached for his shirt. Some sense of propriety had prompted him to put his jeans back on last night. The last thing he needed was for Sarah to wander out to watch cartoons and see his bare ass peeking out from beneath the covers.
He heard clanking come from the kitchen, combined with the smell of coffee, and knew his mate was already getting ready for the day. Glancing at the clock on the cable box, he cringed. He needed to get motivated too. He only had a couple of hours before he had to report in as Santa at the mall.
Not that he wanted to go. Joe lay back on the couch and stared at the Christmas tree, the lights now turned off. He wanted to spend the day here with his mate and Sarah. He could just imagine the small cub bouncing around the living room as she talked about the ornaments again. The cub was a gift all in herself, and combined with Nikki, the two of them were the best gift he had ever received in his life.
The thought brought him back to the gift Nikki had given him last night. She had been both sweet and sassy as they made love. No, love wasn’t the word for what they had done. Fucked. Good, hard animalistic sex. The best of his life. Both he and his lion had never been as satisfied as he was right now. The only thing that would be better was when he would make love to her and give her his mate bite. Making her his for always.
There was one small problem with last night now that he thought of it though. He had come inside of her bare. Joe would need to make sure she wasn’t fertile before he did that again. Not that he didn’t want to see his mate’s belly swell with their cubs, he thought it might be best to give it some time before they did that. Sarah needed to adjust to what the new normal of a family was going to be.
A family that included him.
His thoughts didn’t get much further than that before the smell of bacon drifted to him. Hell yes, he wanted some of that! Getting off the couch, he made his way to the kitchen and took in the delectable sight of Nikki standing at the stove in a nightshirt, bare legged and cooking breakfast. He started to get hard all over again and had to remind himself now wasn’t the time for that. Little Sarah was bound to come out of her room at any moment.
Willing his cock to go down, he sidled up behind Nikki and kissed her on the neck. “I smell something delicious,” he muttered into her ear.
Nikki laughed and elbowed him in the gut. “Of course you do. I’m cooking.”
Joe nuzzled her neck again and then gave her a playful little bite that had her hitching her breath in surprise. “I was talking about you, babe. You smell so damn good I could just eat you up.”
The smell of Nikki’s arousal teased his nose and Joe smiled into her skin. Who knew teasing your mate could be so much fun?
She giggled. “You did that last night.”
“You can never have too much of a good thing,” he whispered hotly.
“Does that mean you don’t want the bacon I made?” she asked, somewhat breathlessly.
Grabbing her around the waist, he carefully turned her so that she wouldn’t burn herself on the stove. Once she faced him, he gave her a mock growl. “Am I a man? Hell yes, I want the bacon, woman.”
As if on cue, Joe’s stomach rumbled loud enough for them both to hear it. Nikki laughed, and it was at that moment that a tiny pair of arms wrapped around one of his legs. Looking down, Joe smiled at Sarah. “Good morning, sweetling.”
“Joe, you spent the night!” she howled in delight.
He felt Nikki tense in his arms and then smelled her unease. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what his mate was thinking. Were they moving too fast?
Not fast enough in his opinion.
That didn’t mean that Joe didn’t realize he had to tread carefully when it came to answering the little girl.
Tightening his hold on Nikki so she couldn’t get away from him, he answered Sarah, “I did. Is that okay with you?”
The cub nodded enthusiastically. “I want you to sleepover every night! Forever and ever and ever and ev—”
Nikki reached down and placed a hand over Sarah’s mouth. “We get it, stinker. You like Joe spending the night. Now how about some breakfast?”
Not exactly the way he had hoped his mate would respond to Sarah’s enthusiastic answer, but not exactly the worst either. He let her change the subject, though, and stepped away so she could serve Sarah breakfast. Watching Nikki, he could tell she still had some reservations, even after last night, but Joe didn’t let that dishearten him. He still had one day left to prove to Nikki that they could make this mating work and he had no intention of failing.
He watched as Nikki walked over to the small dining room table with Sarah’s plate and helped her settle into her seat. After grabbing a couple of plates off the counter, Joe then filled them up with the rest of the food and brought them both over to the table. Nikki looked up at him in surprise. He gave her a wink. “I’m a big boy, sweetheart. I can help too, you know. Have a seat and eat. You’re going to need your strength later on tonight.”
Nikki turned an adorable shade of pink at his insinuation and shot him a look before glancing down at Sarah to see if she was listening. The three-year-old could care less what they were talking about. She was happily chewing her food and looking at the Christmas tree.
Sitting down, Joe waved for Nikki to do the same, and then dug into the food she’d cooked. When he was done chewing a mouthful of food, he looked to Nikki and asked, “What are you girls doing today?”
Nikki swallowed her bite and then answered. “Since it’s Christmas Eve, the owner closes the bar to be with his family and I have the day off. But I still have a few more gifts to get so we’ll be at the mall at some point.”
“Bring the munchkin over and the elf and I will watch her while you take care of it,” he said, and then whispered, “I’m assuming she’s not supposed to see these things?”
Nikki laughed. “She’s good. These are gifts for friends. We do an After Christmas party. Mostly gag gifts and a lot of booze, but it’s fun.”
“Sounds like a good time,” Joe agreed. A dozen jealous questions burned inside him. Were there other men there? Men she’d dated? That was part of being a shifter, being possessive and protective. But asking those questions would only create problems between them, so he tamped them down for the moment.
“What time do you have to be at work?” Nikki asked.
Sighing, he got up. “Ten. And I know it’s early still, but I have to go. I just realized that I left the suit at Sam’s last night. I have to go all the way back up the mountain to get it.”
Nikki frowned at him. “Be careful. The roads are slick. The snow didn’t amount to much but there’s plenty of ice out there.”
Joe grinned at her and leaned in for a quick kiss, which had Sarah squealing in delight. “I like that you worry about me.”
“I worry about everybody. Don’t take it personally,” she groused.
Joe turned and swept Sarah up into his arms, swinging her around until she was in fits of giggles. When he stopped, breathless, she snuggled against his chest and an ache bloomed inside him. God, he wanted it. He wanted mornings with Nikki and Sarah. He wanted more cubs of their own.
Choking up, he set the little girl down. “Be good today, munchkin. The big guy is still watching!”