“Are you all right?” he asked her in that same low voice, as if he was constantly afraid of being overheard.
Maggie nodded to him. “I think so. Just a few minor claw marks. Thank you for stepping in.”
“No problem,” he replied, giving her an unexpectedly gorgeous smile. He really was handsome, but Keith was correct about one thing; this man was at least in his late forties. Maggie was not an ageist or anything, but she was not looking for anything with an older man. Although that might make Tony doubly offended.
She really needed to stop giving a shit what Tony thought.
“I’m Maggie,” she introduced herself, offering him her hand.
He took it and gave it a gentle shake. Her hand was tiny in his giant paws. Is there such a thing as a giant shifter? Maggie scolded herself for being so judgmental.
“Nice to meet you,” the giant silver fox said. “I’m Luke.”
Smiling then, she gestured for him to join her at her table. Why the hell not? The least she could do was buy him a drink. He graciously sat down with her, taking a seat across from her instead of uncomfortably close. Already, this guy was a few notches above her last date.
“What can I get you, Luke?” she asked him. “I insist.”
He smiled at her again. “Um, nothing fancy. How about a scotch on the rocks?”
Maggie nodded. “You got it.” She went up to the bar and asked for his requested drink. When she brought it back to him, she was careful to place the little napkin under it. She was pretty sure that he could knock this tiny drink back faster than Keith had with his beer.
She wasn’t wrong.
Smirking at him, she decided that it would not be so bad to get to know this guy. “What brings you here? Please tell me your life story and save me the humiliation of being here alone now.”
Luke gave her a sympathetic look. “I don’t usually come here. Drinking in bars is not really my thing… I run a construction company.”
Aww, he’s shy. Maggie found that all kinds of adorable, especially because he was like a mammoth but with the personality of a kitten.
“What do you do?” he asked her, turning the conversation back on her.
She was amused. Small talk was hard for him, but of course it was. “I used to work for a corporation that sold toys. It was soul-sucking, so I quit. Now, I don’t know what I will do… Something fun, dammit.” Maggie smiled up at him.
“It’s kind of sad that working for a toy company was not fun,” Luke remarked, smiling slightly.
Maggie sucked up the last of her mojito. The evening was winding down, and she found herself disappointed. She hadn’t expected it to be some amazing, life-altering thing, but she had hoped to go home and fuck someone. That had been the whole point.
“I’m going to use the restroom,” he said. “But I’ll be right back.” He looked at her as though he was deeply worried for her, like he wanted to make sure that she knew he was there for her.
She appreciated it more than he knew. “Actually, I need to use the restroom, too. So perfect timing.”
They walked together to the restrooms and went their separate ways for the time being. Maggie did in fact have to use the facilities now, so she did so before washing her hands and taking her cell phone out of her bag.
She called Trish. It had to be about ten by now, so her friend would be available.
“Hello?” Trish said. “Oh my god, Mags, where are you? I came home and couldn’t find you, and I was like, ‘that’s cool, she’s an adult.’ But it’s been hours.”
“I know,” Maggie said, noticing how her voice bounced around the bathroom and made her sound louder and more important. “I’m sorry. It’s pretty stupid. I joined this dating app and went off to meet the first guy I met. He turned out to be dick, but then I was rescued by this guy who I’m pretty sure is a former bodybuilder or something.”
Trish chuckled. “Rebound?”
“Yup,” Maggie replied. “Total rebound… There’s something else, too. These guys are shifters. I’m in a shifter club at this very moment.”
“Dude, what? You can’t just casually toss that in there. Don’t get murdered or anything, all right? God, maybe I am your mom now.”
Maggie laughed. “I won’t, Mom. Thanks. I’ll call you later again, all right? I just wanted to make sure you did not think I had been abducted. I’m pretty sure this guy is a legit nice guy.”
“Yeah, get that nice hot shifter!”
Cackling, Maggie ended the call and tossed her phone back into her purse.
When she exited the ladies’ room, she saw that Luke was standing right there, leaning against the wall opposite the doorway. He looked handsome in his jeans and his button-up that was open to reveal the white T-shirt underneath. He dressed casually, clearly not trying to show off like any of the shifters who were there to meet dates.
Maggie felt a tad overdressed now. Her black crop top sent all kinds of messages about her. She had been trying to show off, and now she felt pretty dumb.
“Hey,” she said, wondering if Luke had overheard her phone call. The bathroom certainly made it feel as though everyone would be able to hear her.
Just then, she noticed that her phone’s notification light was flashing. She wondered if Trish was having second thoughts about where she was. But when she pulled her phone back out and turned her screen on, she realized it was a message from Keith on the app.
You can run but you can’t hide, bitch. The big, bad wolf will find you. I know where you live now.
Maggie’s eyes widened. She could not go back home. She couldn’t do that to Trish; she would be endangering both of them now.
“What is it?” Luke asked her, giving her that look of sincere concern again.
She did not know what to do, so she showed her phone’s screen to him. His mouth fell open a bit. Then he looked at her, and he clenched his jaw for a moment.
“Come home with me,” he said, pleadingly. “That’s not a come-on, I promise. I just can’t let you go home alone now... Please?”
Maggie bit her bottom lip for a moment, thinking it over. It did not take her long to make up her mind. She nodded. “Okay.”
CHAPTER THREE
Bearing It All
Luke took Maggie to his home in his red pickup truck. The thrill of hooking up with a shifter had dwindled. Now she had a werewolf after her, and it was everything that Tony had warned her about. How could I have been so stupid?
But it wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t had any warning signs about Keith before she met him. His profile had just seemed hot… She didn’t want to think about him anymore. She turned and looked over at the strong and silent man who was driving her back to his place, so calm. So caring even though she was a stranger.
Finally, they arrived at a house that Maggie assumed was his. Luke got out of the truck without a word and closed his door, coming around to help her out, too. She unbuckled her seatbelt and gratefully took his offered hand so she would not trip getting out of the tall truck.
Luke’s house was a standard two-level, square home, brick with blue-painted shutters. It suggested ‘family,’ though he very clearly lived there alone. The mantle over the fireplace in the living room – he even had a goddamn fireplace – seemed like it was meant for pictures. He kept it bare.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked her, closing the front door. “A drink or a snack, or both?”
At least he was hospitable.
Maggie gave him a small, unsure smile. “Maybe both? What do you have?”
Luke went into the kitchen and she followed him in. He opened up the refrigerator. “I have milk, orange juice, some beer… Coke.”
She normally preferred Diet, but beggars could not be choosers. “Coke, please,” she said. She watched as he carefully pulled out the two-liter of soda and poured her a glass. His glasses were all cartoon movie themed, like he had received all of his kitchenware from Happy Meals.
As she took a sip from her Tom and Jerry glass, Luke opened up his pantry and placed several different types of snack on the counter. Fruit Roll-ups, Ritz-Bits and Teddy Grahams. Maggie was impressed, as well as slightly confused. “Your pantry seems like a day care center’s,” she observed.
He chuckled a little. “My sister brings her son over a lot,” he explained. “Also, I’ve gotten pretty addicted to the stuff myself.”
Maggie smiled, glad that someone else liked to indulge in such silly snacks. She took the box of peanut butter Ritz-Bits and then followed him out to the living room. Luke brought a bottle of beer with him.
They sat next to each other on the couch, keeping one cushion between them. It was a pale tan leather couch, showing the wear and tear of use and years and consequently very comfortable.
“So, do you build houses with your construction company? I ask because I am in the market. I actually have been having the worst luck lately.” She chuckled a little, even though the thought mostly made her bitter. She sipped her Coke and ate some crackers to try and distract herself from her thoughts.
Luke looked at her as though that was no laughing matter, and she stopped chuckling. “I mostly repair houses, or do add-ons. Things like that. But I’ve built a house or two before. Where are you currently living?”
“With my friend,” she said. “Which is not so bad, but still… I think the situation is less than ideal for her, even though she won’t admit it. I was engaged until recently. It’s a long, complicated and frustrating story, but I broke it off and moved out.”
“And walked straight into another bad relationship,” Luke mused, nodding a little. “I may be biased, but wolves do not make good rebounds.”
Maggie laughed softly. “You could say that again.” She looked at him and the curiosity was too much for her to keep inside anymore. “I assume that you’re a shifter, too, though obviously not a werewolf.”
Luke chuckled, shaking his head. “Not a werewolf,” he replied as if the label were a massive insult. “I’m a werebear.”
That interested her, and it explained why he was so huge. She did not know much about werebears, because the shifters she had always been warned about were the wolves… Did that mean that she could trust Luke more? Were werebears known for being more relaxed, like bears were until they were threatened?
“How old are you?” she asked him. “And don’t worry about asking me. I’ll tell you right now, I’m twenty-five.” She smiled at him. He struck her as the sort of guy who would be wary about asking her age, not only because he was obviously older than her but also because it was impolite to ask a lady her age.
Luke did not respond at first, and she wondered if it was also impolite to ask a man his age, particularly an older man. But then she realized that he was just shy about it, because she had just told him she was basically a baby. Blushing a little, he looked down at his chest. “I’m forty-seven,” he said.
Twenty years older than Tony. Something about that made her feel oddly… safe.
Setting her glass down on the coffee table, Maggie tensed a little as Luke suddenly moved closer to her, shortening the space between them. He placed his bottle of beer onto the table as well, and then moved her into his lap, making her straddle him. He kissed her deeply, hungrily. Maggie forgot to feel so tense and kissed him back, enjoying the closeness between them now. She did not have to be afraid of Luke. He was her friend, at least.
Maggie removed his open button-up and let it fall to the floor. He worked on removing his jeans before slowly and gently pushing her backward onto the couch. Her head nestled against the cool leather arm rest. Luke removed his white T-shirt, meanwhile Maggie fondled the front of his boxers, getting his hard-on nice and worked up.
He undid her pants and she leaned forward, pulling his cock out of his boxers and taking it into her mouth.
“Ohhh,” Luke moaned, closing his eyes. “That’s good…”
She sucked his cock for a few minutes, distracting him from doing anything else. Then, with a light tap on her back, he signaled for her to stop so he could continue removing her clothing. Luke took her tight pants off and then pulled the crop top off of her with ease. It was, after all, held onto her with thin string.
Maggie pulled the boxers off of him and he climbed on top of her, kissing her deeply, using his tongue sparingly until she pulled his tongue into her mouth and explored all over it. She broke the kiss and they were both breathing heavily, almost in unison. “Do you have a condom?” she asked him.
Luke looked at her, his eyes now much less gentle than all the times he had looked at her before. “Yeah,” he said quietly. He got off of her and quickly went into the nearest bathroom, bringing back a condom in the wrapper.
He unwrapped it and together they worked to get it onto him. “Wow,” Maggie said with wide eyes. “You’re almost too big for this.”
“Don’t be so surprised,” he said with a smirk.
Once the condom was on him, he got back onto her, kissing her as he thrust his cock inside her. She moaned deep in her throat. He was bigger than any man she had ever been with. Maggie worried momentarily that he might somehow break her, and then laughed a little, not caring so much if he did.
“Do you like this?” he whispered close to her mouth.
Maggie nodded, “Mmm, yes.”
He brought one of her legs up onto his shoulder and started to drive himself faster and deeper into her.
“Ohh, Luke, yes!” she gasped. Reaching up, she placed her hands on his chest, playing with his dark chest hair that was speckled very slightly with gray.
He licked his fingers then and brought a hand down to the warm wetness between Maggie’s legs. He found her clit immediately, without even looking, and slowly rubbed two fingers against it.
Maggie collapsed like a folding chair against his touch, making loud, guttural noises that she had never made before. She was too overwhelmed with feelings to be embarrassed. “Oh, oh, Luke! I’m coming! Yes! Yes!!”
“Yeah?” he growled back softly. “Come on,” he urged as though she was not already coming. He sped up his thrusting, holding her upper arms and pinning her down against the couch as he came thunderously inside of her.
Panting, they gazed at each other for a moment. Luke leaned over her and kissed her, then pulled out of her, carefully holding onto the condom so it would not pop off inside her.
“Shit,” he said, staring.
Maggie moved some of her red hair out of her face. “What?” She sat up on her elbows and looked down where he was looking.
The condom was broken practically in two.
After a few minutes of staring at it in shock, they looked at each other and shared a nervous laugh.
“I guess we were a little too eager,” Luke said softly, pulling off the remnants of latex.
Maggie was so dazzled by him that she refused to think about what the consequences of this might be. Condoms broke all the time. It was just one of those things that happened. It didn’t matter. That sex had been astounding.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” he said. “Please make yourself at home.”
She smiled at him and fell back on the couch, head still buzzing from the orgasms and the fact that all of this had happened to her. Maybe her bad luck was over now.
When she heard the water start up, she got off the couch and put her panties and crop top back on. She got her purse where she left it on the kitchen counter and pulled out her phone. She’d told Trish that she would call her later, but it was way too late for polite phone calls now.
Instead, she decided to text her an update.
Omggg you’ll never guess what the rest of this night has turned into. This guy is a major babe. He’s kind of out of my age group, but maybe that’s a good thing. Anyway text when you wake up. Xoxo
Smiling a satisfied smile, Maggie placed her phone on the counter and plugged it in there so it could charge overnight.
Suddenly, the door to the bathroom opened up and Luke stuck his head out. He grinned at her. “What are you doing?”
She smirked at him. “What do you mean?”
“Get over here and get in the shower with me!”
Well, she wasn’t going to say no. After all, he was the host.
Maggie slowly and blearily woke up the next morning. Her hair was all cow-licked in the front and in the back. Her head really hurt and it took her a few moments to remember where she was. Luke was lying in bed beside her, looking at her. He smiled when she opened her eyes and looked back at him.
“Good morning, sleepy head,” he said softly, petting her hair and her cheek, leaning in and kissing her. “Do you want some breakfast?”
Her enthusiasm for breakfast overrode her enthusiasm for sleep. She nodded her head and got out of bed. “Ugh, I feel like I slept with my head in a vise.”
Luke looked at her as if he knew something she didn’t. “There’s some aspirin if the bathroom if you need it. Top drawer on the right under the sink.”
She mumbled her thanks and went into the bathroom. Maggie looked at herself in the mirror and couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous her hair appeared now. She had been solidly asleep all night and wondered if it was one of the effects of being with a bear shifter. Had Luke’s hibernation skills wore off on her?
She found the aspirin where he told her it was and carefully swallowed down two of them with some water. She felt kind of queasy and didn’t know why. Sometimes, in the mornings, she just felt that way. There was one possibility, but Maggie quickly removed it from her mind. She did not want to get ahead of herself or work herself up. Things with Luke were so relaxed and easy-going. Like what being with a bear should be like. She did not want to complicate things…
As soon as she was done in the bathroom, Maggie headed back out to the kitchen to find Luke working on making waffles. He smiled at her, pressing the waffle iron down onto the batter. “Feel any better?” he asked her.
“Well, I don’t think it’s supposed to work that quickly,” she replied, chuckling softly. She sat on a stool at his little breakfast nook, resting her chin against the cool granite countertop. “I feel achy,” she complained.
“Let’s get some food in you and see if that helps.” Luke placed some waffles onto a plate and moved it over in front of her nose on the counter.
Maggie sat up, drawn in by the wonderful smell of waffles.
Luke grabbed some syrup from his pantry and set that in front of her too. “I didn’t know if you wanted something in them or not, so I went ahead and made chocolate chip waffles. Who can say no to chocolate chip?”
She smiled appreciatively and put some syrup on her short stack of the delicious-smelling breakfast. As soon as he was done making his, he placed them on another plate and brought them over so he could sit beside her in the nook versus at his small table.
“I hardly ever actually sit here,” he said. “It’s nice.”
“I imagine cleaning this is easier than cleaning a whole table,” she reasoned. God, the waffles tasted good. She continued to feel queasy, which made her feel bad. Grabbing her phone from her purse, she checked to see if she had any messages.
Girl, did you have sex with the bodybuilder guy?? Take all the time you need if that’s the case!
Maggie could always depend on Trish to be understanding.
As much as she liked the waffles, she had to stop eating them halfway through. She set her fork down, frowning. “I don’t feel so good,” she said. Carefully, she pushed herself away from the counter and walked to the bathroom. She felt like running, but knew that running would make it worse.
“I think I’m pregnant,” she said when she came out of the bathroom, her hair now tied back in a tiny ponytail in an effort to keep it out of the way in case she needed to barf again. “In fact, I most definitely am according to everything I’ve ever heard about it. But that’s ridiculous; I mean, we just had sex last night, so I couldn’t possibly be having the symptoms so soon.”
Luke was in the process of rinsing off the plates and putting them into the dishwasher. He looked up at her and it bothered her a little how unsurprised he seemed. “Well, things are somewhat different when you’re pregnant with a shifter child. The pregnancy progresses much quicker. Do you want to take a test and find out for sure?” he asked.
“Doesn’t this worry you?” she asked him, sitting back at the breakfast nook across from where he loaded the dishwasher. She could reach out and touch him if she wanted to, but right now she almost felt like recoiling from him. She wanted him to be upset that she was pregnant. She wanted him to show some shock, some concern, some ‘how are we going to handle this new situation?’
Instead, she got the calm reaction of someone who seemed to have seen it coming.
“It doesn’t worry me, Red. If you really are pregnant, I’ll be excited… Unless you don’t want it.”
Maggie pouted at him.
Luke looked at her. “What?”
“So you’ll just be supportive of me, no matter what?” she asked him. “You don’t even know me.”
“I’d like to get to know you.” He closed the dishwasher and turned it on.
The sound practically drowned out Maggie’s thoughts. It grated against her brain, and she brought her hands to her head. The aspirin was taking its sweet fucking time to go into effect.
Maggie did what every pained and possibly pregnant woman probably did… She started to cry.
Luke raised his eyebrows and rushed around the counter to her. He wrapped his arms around her and took her off the stool, carrying her over to the couch and setting her down, sitting beside her. At no point did he fully take his hands off of her; he kept one big hand on her thigh. He did not tell her to stop crying. He did not tell her that everything was going to be okay. But he sat with her and let her cry it out, and Maggie appreciated that.
As her tears slowly subsided, she leaned into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. “Do you feel any better now?” he asked her.
She nodded against him.
“Do you want me to go to the store and get you a pregnancy test?”
She nodded again.
Maggie wanted him to stay with her, but she also wanted to get this over with. At least if they knew she actually was pregnant, they could move from there. Luke got up from the couch and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be right back. Do not go anywhere.”
“Where else would I go?” she asked, smiling faintly at him.
He left and she got her phone again before collapsing back on the couch.
I think I’m pregnant.
She did not know what else to say to Trish. This guy was sweet and decent, but he was also a bear-shifting stranger. Was having his baby the right choice for her? Looking around his living room, she noticed the empty mantle meant for pictures again. Perhaps this was something he had been waiting a long time to find… Luke was such a shy guy, really. He had come to her rescue but hadn’t made any moves toward her until she’d made it clear it was okay.
Could she love this guy?
Hugging one of the couch’s throw pillows to her chest, she closed her eyes. The aspirin finally took effect. She felt like lounging in her pajamas all day. Surely a bear would be okay with that plan.
CHAPTER FOUR
Having A Cub
When Luke arrived back at home, he found Maggie sleeping on the couch. He smiled a little. That was a sure sign that the aspirin was working now and her upset stomach had at least calmed down. “Maggie?” he asked softly.
She sniffed and stirred, opening her eyes and craning her head back to look up at him. She’d been sleeping in a strange, almost fetal position, clutching the pillow to her belly and chest as though she was in pain. Maggie felt much better, especially now that Luke was home. “Did you bring the thingy?” she asked, still only partially awake.
He chuckled and sat beside her, clear white plastic bag in hand. “I did,” he said. “I didn’t know which brand was best, so I got three. I think it will help confirm things.” He dumped the contents of the bag onto the coffee table.
Three boxed-up pregnancy tests. What a fun afternoon this was going to be.
“I’ve gotta pee,” Maggie said. She stood up a bit wobbly and grabbed the first test.
Two hours and three used pregnancy tests later, Maggie and Luke knew that they were, in fact, expecting a baby. She held her hands over her mouth, staring down at the short row of pee sticks, amazed. All of them said the same thing, in three different ways. Two lines. A plus. Pregnant.
“I thought I might throw up when I found out, but I feel fine,” she said through her hands, tears in her eyes.
Luke put his arm around her and pulled her close. She was still in her pajamas, her hair still up in her little ponytail. It was so short that a lot of it had billowed out of the hair tie throughout this ordeal. She was beautiful to him.
“I guess this means I’m not moving back in with Trish,” she said.
He shook his head. “Absolutely not. You are living here with me. You’re not even going back there to get your stuff.”
He said it more gruffly than he intended. Maybe it was the papa bear instinct kicking in now. Luke was going to be protective of her. He already was, but it was going to be amplified now that Maggie was pregnant with his cub.
She nodded, smiling a little. “Okay, Mr. Bear, sir,” she said, giving him a small salute.
They cuddled on the couch for a moment. She hadn’t anticipated feeling happy after it was confirmed that she was pregnant. She thought that she would feel sick, upset, shocked, horrified even… Maybe even mad. But instead, she felt happy. This felt right, for some reason she could not put into words.
Sure, Luke was over ten years older than her. Sure, he was a stranger. But like he had said, strangers could get to know each other better. Strangers did not have to stay strangers. That was the beauty of them. He already knew her body well enough to rock it last night… Maggie wanted to fall for him. She knew it would be easy. And she was starting to let herself, now that she knew that he wanted that, too.
“I should shower,” Maggie said. “I smell. Don’t you dare say that I don’t.”
He laughed. “All right,” he said. Getting up from the couch, he helped her up and she made her way to the bathroom, removing her pajamas as she went. They left a trail on the floor. Luke felt a tightening in his pants as he watched her go. She was damn sexy. He did not know how he was going to get to work, but he was going to need to. He had two more mouths to feed now.
After taking a few pictures of the pregnancy tests, for posterity’s sake, he wrapped them back up in the bag and tossed them into his trash can. Then he cleaned the coffee table. He kept his home pretty clean, but he was going to need to keep it even cleaner now.
He was also going to need to do something about the empty rooms upstairs. He slept in the large bedroom on the main level, but one of the spare rooms was going to become a nursery someday soon. Luke loved a project.
When Maggie came out of the bathroom, dripping wet with one of his sea green towels around her, Luke looked her over with a smile.
“I need some clothes,” she said softly.
“What?”
“I need some new clothes,” she said louder. “I can’t go back to Trish’s to get my clothes, so I guess I’m going to need to go shopping.”
She didn’t say it with any remorse toward the clothing she had to give up. She said it in a matter-of-fact tone. Buying clothes was simply another step in the process of starting her life over. She had been starting over since she moved out of her apartment, and there was something thrilling about a whole new wardrobe. Not that she expected Luke to turn into a host of one of those outfit makeover shows or anything.
He stood up and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her middle. “You mean you don’t want to wear this towel all day?”
Maggie giggled slightly. “It’s a bit drafty.”
She went back to the bedroom and put on her tight black pants. Luke came with her and looked through his closet, pulling out a green button-up. “Here, you can wear this,” he said. “It’ll be bigger on you than what you’d normally wear, but at least it’s clean.”
Smiling at him appreciatively, she put the shirt on. It was subtly checkered shirt and reminded her of something a high school science teacher would wear. It smelled like Luke. “Thank you,” Maggie said.
They headed out to his truck and drove toward a shopping center. All of a sudden, Luke snapped his fingers. “There’s something else we should probably do, to make sure we have solid proof.”
Maggie arched her eyebrows at him, not entirely sure she knew any of what he was talking about.
“We should go to a clinic and have a doctor make sure you’re pregnant,” he said. “I mean, three false positives are probably not possible… especially for a werebear cub. But it doesn’t hurt to check, does it?”
“I guess not,” she said.
He turned the truck around and headed in a different direction. They went to a small clinic and Maggie filled out the form as a new patient. “I don’t have any insurance,” she said.
“That’s okay,” the receptionist said. “We will work something out.”
“I can pay for it, since it was my idea,” Luke said.
Maggie smiled at him. “You know, if you keep on spoiling me like this, I’m going to take advantage of it every time.”
He chuckled. “I want you to.”
When she went into the room to be examined, he stayed in the waiting area, reading through old issues of ladies’ magazines, smiling an amused sort of smirk. Maggie did not take long, and she was soon back at his side, sucking on a lollipop.
“Where did you get that?” he asked, laughing.
“They were in a cup in the exam room,” she said, keeping it in her mouth. Then she pulled it out in order to add, “I’m pregnant.”
Luke beamed at her and hugged her close. “I figured.”
“The doctor says I’m two months along,” she said. “You were right. Your… special enhancements make it faster?”
He laughed loudly at that. “You make it sound like I’m a souped-up car or something.”
Maggie grinned at him, lollipop stick hanging from her lips. “Aren’t you?”
They held hands as they went up to the counter together. He paid for the check-up out of pocket. At first, she worried that they would not let him, but since he was the father it made sense that he would be helping her out. She wanted to get another job so she was not leaching off of him, but he wouldn’t hear of it because she was pregnant and there was a chance that Keith might find her wherever she went on her own.
At the store, she tried on some new shirts and some new pairs of pants. He even bought her a pretty dark blue dress with white polka dots. “I could wear this to a job interview,” Maggie said with a smile, twirling as she admired herself in the store’s mirror.
“You could wear it on dates,” Luke corrected. “You don’t need a job. At least not for a while. I want to keep you safe.”
She pouted a little at that. Her assumption had been correct. Maggie did not mind having time to relax and not worry about things like jobs and paying rent. She was so used to being the responsible one that she wanted to enjoy being able to throw off all responsibilities… At least until the baby arrived, of course.
The only thing that concerned her was that she did not want Luke to come to resent her. She had resented Tony for taking advantage of her generosity and becoming a sloth, and she did not want to do the same thing that Tony had now that she was with Luke. She was not that person. She just needed to find a good medium place between accepting the things he allowed her to do and also maintaining some of her responsible, independent nature.
“I could work for you?” she suggested then, sitting beside him in the dress. “Would you like to see my resume?”
Luke laughed. “You’ve been in customer service before. You can work for me if you want, but you’re not obligated to.”
“It’ll keep me from being alone in case the wolves come for me.”
She had a point there.
“All right. You’re hired! You can be my personal secretary. I will pay you in niceties, not nepotism.”
Maggie beamed at him. “Niceties like this dress,” she said.
He nodded. “You better keep that on.”
It surprised her that she was able to leave the store with the dress on, but the sales associate did not think it was a big deal as long as she had access to the tag so she could scan it. The dress went okay with Maggie’s black heels. It would have been better if she had matching blue heels, but she was not going to go overboard.
Next on the agenda that Luke had apparently created in his head, they went for frozen yogurt. They shared one large container rather than each getting a medium one. She wanted all fruit toppings and mango frozen yogurt, instead of going for the chocolate flavor.
“I know the fruit flavors are still bad for you, but I feel healthier eating mango.”
He chuckled at her. “You can get whatever you want. I’m not going to guilt you one way or the other.”
Because of the cub growing inside of her – at least, she blamed it on the cub – Maggie ended up eating more of the frozen yogurt than Luke did.
She set the spoon down in the container, content, and admired Luke as he sat across from her. When Tony had cheated on her, Maggie set out to find not just a rebound but someone who would make her ex jealous. Someone who was the antithesis of Tony. She had no way of knowing that she would run into someone as kind and loving as Luke.
She had a feeling that Tony would be jealous of Luke, too. She had a feeling that he would claim that werebears were just as dangerous… But she did not care what Tony thought. She did not even care about getting back at him now.
It was a petty reason that had led her to Luke, but now that she had him she did not want to go back to the way she’d lived before. She did not want a fling. She wanted Luke, and nothing but Luke…
Trish hadn’t said anything in response to Maggie’s text. That worried her.
Then Maggie remembered that Keith said he knew where she lived. She had a pretty good feeling that wasn’t her old apartment. The phone location would most likely lead back to Trish’s apartment.
“Shit,” Maggie said under her breath.
“What?” Luke asked. She could tell that he worried it had something to do with the baby.
“It’s probably nothing,” she said, smiling weakly at him. “It’s just…” She sighed. “He said that he knew where I lived, but the place where I lived is at a friend’s apartment.”
He raised his eyebrows. “And you think…”
“I hope not, but yeah,” Maggie said with a half-nod. “I think he could possibly have shown up there. I haven’t heard from her since this morning. Usually she responds faster than that.”
She hoped that it was nothing. Maybe Trish was busy. But her friend was usually not so busy that she wouldn’t respond, especially to a text where Maggie claimed she was possibly pregnant.
“Okay,” Luke said. “Well, I am going to take you home first. There’s no way you’re going back there. You’ll be safe at home. I’ll see if your friend is at her place and, if she is, bring her back with me and we’ll sort it out from there. In the meantime, I guess you can try and text her again or call her.”
He walked with her quickly back to the car, as though just thinking about the threat of Keith meant that the werewolf was close by. As if thoughts of him went out into the ether like some kind of bat signal.
Maggie did not feel like running into him again either, but she was not sure that her giant boyfriend showing up unannounced at Trish’s place was going to do much in the way of making Trish feel safe. As Luke drove her back home, Maggie sent her another text to try and give her a fair bit of warning. She hoped that maybe Trish would see it and respond instead, which would call everything else off.
Hey, Trish, haven’t heard from you in a while. Just letting you know my boyfriend is going to stop by your place and make sure you’re okay. I’ll call you soon if I don’t hear from you. Xo
She did her best to not betray how worried she was. She really hoped this was nothing and Trish just had her phone off for some reason. Things happened…
She really hated herself for getting Trish involved in the first place.
Luke dropped her off at his house, walking with her inside as though he was a Secret Service bodyguard or something. Maggie chuckled a little. “Am I going to need to start wearing a bullet-proof vest now?” she teased.
He looked like he was considering it.
“You just wait right here. I have my cell phone with me, and I’ll let you know if I see her. In fact, I will bring her back here if I see her. Keep trying to get in touch with her. That’s all we can really do right now.”
He did not like that these two young women were in this situation. This was part of why he hated werewolves. Whenever one lived in town, everyone else had to be on their guard.
“Okay,” she said. “Thank you for all of your help.” Maggie gave him a kiss.
As soon as he was gone, she went into the kitchen to make herself a snack. The Ritz Bits were still there, but she was going to need something more substantial than that. She could not live on frozen yogurt and salty snacks all day, with this kind of anxiety going on. She rubbed her belly as she heated up some French fries that were in Luke’s freezer, wondering if her life was just always going to be this stressful now.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Bear Bodyguard
Luke returned home after about an hour. Alone.
“I knocked on the door and I waited, but I did not see her and she did not answer.”
Maggie raised her eyebrows, even more concerned now. She was sitting on the couch, hugging a pillow to her belly because it was comfortable and more relaxing to do so than to pace the room in despair, which is what her brain told her she should be doing.
Immediately, she took out her phone and called Trish.
It rang and rang, and eventually went to voicemail.
“Shit!” Maggie said, and then waited for the beep. “Hi, Trish, it’s Maggie. This is probably just me blowing things out of proportion. I’m assuming that you didn’t get my text. I’m pregnant, and so my hormones might be making me more worried about you than I actually should be… Anyway, the creepy guy from the club last night told me that he knows where I live and that is where you live, so I want to make sure you’re okay. Please give me a call when you get this. And, whatever you do, don’t go home. If you are home, leave. Call me back please. Bye.”
When she ended the call, she looked up at Luke. He was standing there, arms folded across his chest, looking like a concerned father. Maggie had almost been able to forget about how much older he was, until she saw him looking like that. Would he look like that when their child was home late on a school night? Would he look like that when their child got a boyfriend or girlfriend? Society said that she should have been bothered by his being so much older, but Maggie felt comforted knowing that he had the maturity that she still lacked.
She patted the couch next to her and he sat down. She moved so she was sitting against him now. He rested his arm around her shoulders and leaned his head so it was touching hers. “I guess now we wait,” he said.
The sun had set by the time Maggie’s phone started to buzz. She realized, chagrined, that she had turned it over to vibrate so that her nap on the couch wouldn’t be interrupted. How easy it was to do that…
As soon as she heard it buzzing, she leaned forward and scooped her phone up, pressing the call button. “Trish?! Oh, thank god.”
“I’m so sorry I missed your call and texts,” Trish replied. “I was playing mini golf with my family, which is probably the lamest excuse ever. First of all, wow! You’re pregnant? That was fast.”
Maggie laughed and then realized that she was crying a little, too. It was so good to hear from her best friend again. She did not even know how she had fallen asleep. The stress mixed with the pregnancy must have caused it. “It’s faster with were-people,” she said, and then she laughed a little again. “As if that’s not also a lame thing to say…”
Trish took a deep breath. “Right, so, and second of all, I listened to your voicemail while in the car with my parents and I’m so glad I did because I’m at their house now. You don’t have to worry about some werewolf loser showing up and trying to… eat me or whatever he would have done.”
Maggie closed her eyes. She did not want to imagine what Keith might have done to Trish, and thank goodness she did not have to. “Excellent,” she said. “Stay where you are then. I don’t know what our course of action is now, involving him, but as long as you’re safe that’s the main thing.”
Luke looked at her and his blue eyes lit up a little when he overheard the fact that Trish was safe. He seemed so relieved, and so ready to carry on with their happy lives.
“You got it, dude,” Trish said. “We should get together sometime soon and get me up to speed with everything.”
Maggie agreed and politely ended the call. She set the phone back down on the coffee table and let out a loud, overdramatic sigh. “I swear she is going to give me an ulcer.”
He chuckled and hugged her close. “Just wait until you’re a parent,” he said.
“Don’t remind me,” she said with a smile. “Especially not right now.”
Petting her hair, he looked into her eyes. “But you know, you are going to be a great mother. I can tell that already, by how much you care about people. Not everyone would have given a second thought to their friend as soon as they themselves were safe.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I guess that’s true.”
Before she knew it, he was making out with her. And she was not complaining. He dipped her back onto the couch as he had done the night before. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, kissing him back. Her heart was pounding.
“Can we do it on the bed this time?” she asked him. “The bed feels more like a couple thing, not a one-night stand, as soon as possible kind of thing.”
He chuckled. “Fair point.”
Carefully, he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to his bedroom. He pulled the dress off over her shoulders and kissed her as she lay there in her bra and panties. Her tummy was bigger than Maggie had ever seen it.
She wondered as she kissed Luke if their baby was going to be extra-large as well as extra fast at developing.
Luke’s cock was poking at his boxers intensely, and he started petting her pussy through her panties.
“You’re so delicate with me,” she murmured against his skin. “You don’t have to be. I’m a big girl.”
“A big girl who’s about to have my big cock inside of her,” he grunted.
“Yes, please.”
He whipped off his boxers and pulled off her panties, leaving her bra on as he plowed into her. Grabbing onto Maggie’s shoulders, he thrust into her so intensely she wondered if their baby could feel it.
“Oh, yeah,” he growled into her ear. “Maggie, you feel so good.”
She licked her lips and raised her legs so they formed a V that he was in the middle of. He was filling her up with his cock and nothing but good feelings. He was not wearing a condom this time.
To hell with it. A condom clearly cannot hold him off anyway.
He bit at her calf muscle and pressed up against her clit with his fingers, pressing her g-spot at the same time. Maggie came hard, her opening contracting around his large cock and catching him off guard, causing him to come inside her much sooner than he had been planning to.
Laughing a little, he fell against her. “Wow,” he said. “It’s a wonder what relief can do to a person.”
She kissed Luke, running her fingers through his slightly damp hair. “I hope relieved sex is something we keep having.”
“Well, I think completely relaxed sex is better,” he replied, giving her a wink.
Once he had regained his composure, Luke got off the bed and went into the bathroom to shower. Maggie understood why he did that now. Sex made him sweaty. …And she loved it.
She got out of bed and put her panties and bra back on. Not wanting to dirty her pretty new dress, she placed that in the washing machine and just put on some lavender sweatpants and a tank top that was also new.
It said Chicago Bears. Perhaps she was a bit lame, but it amused her anyway.
When Luke came out of the shower, he went back into the bedroom and got dressed. Maggie was on the couch, filling in the crossword puzzle. He came back out of the bedroom wearing dark jeans and a red T-shirt. He smiled when he saw her there, reclining and no longer tense with worry.
“I’m going to go to the store and get some things for a nursery,” he informed her. “Don’t worry; I’ll avoid blue or pink. I don’t really like those colors anyway.”
She looked up from the newspaper in her lap. “Want me to come with you?”
He shook his head. “Nah, you should stay here and relax. You’ve had an eventful day already. There’s frozen pizza in the fridge if you get hungry. I shouldn’t be gone more than an hour or two.”
“When should I worry?”
Luke thought about that. “If you don’t hear from me in two hours, call my cell.”
She smiled at him. “’Kay.”
He went over to her and gave her a kiss, mussing her short hair a little. He left his house, closing the door and locking it behind him. Maybe he would get more than just nursery things. He was thinking that it might be worthwhile to get some security cameras installed, at least outside of the house where a certain person might be lurking.
It turned out that there was no reason for Maggie to worry. Luke came back from the store about an hour later, carrying several bags. She smiled at him from her place at the breakfast bar, where she was eating a whole frozen pizza by herself. Hey. If I have to gain weight anyway, I might as well enjoy myself.
“That didn’t take long,” she said when her mouth wasn’t full.
He set the bags down and walked over to her, picking up the last slice of pizza and taking a bite.
Maggie cackled a bit. “Rude!” She looked down at the bags. It looked like he’d bought something from every section of the store. “Are you completely building a new room, or…?”
“My spare rooms are pretty sparse,” Luke answered. “I’ve only really inhabited the main floor of this place, but there are three bedrooms upstairs, including another master bedroom.”
She stared at him, surprised but also not really. She knew that his house was way bigger than one man needed. “Why did you build yourself such a big house?”
“I didn’t,” he replied. “My dad did. He wanted me to have a family, so he built me a house made for one. It’s a shame he did not live long enough to see me actually fill it with kids.”
“Aww, I’m sorry,” Maggie said, gently rubbing his arm. “But at least you are—wait, who said anything about kids plural?”
He smiled at her. “I won’t rush you.”
She picked up the pizza slice that he already bit a chunk out of. “You better not,” she said, eating it.
Chuckling, Luke picked up the bags again and headed up the stairs to work on organizing one of the spare rooms for the nursery. He wondered if it would be better for them to sleep upstairs close by, but then realized that they would probably sleep better if they were not directly next to the crying baby.
Maggie looked over at the clock and realized numbly that it was already ten o’clock. “Hey, don’t start hammering and sawing things now,” she called up to him. “We should go to bed if you have work tomorrow.”
He came back down the stairs a few moments later, smirking at her. “I just moved some stuff out of the room. I won’t paint or anything until tomorrow. And I don’t need to hammer or saw anything; the room is perfect.”
“I’ll take your word for it for now,” she said, finishing up the pizza and then standing to put the plate in the dishwasher and clean up the counters. “So should I start work tomorrow or do you expect me to just stay put every day until this baby is out of me?”
She said it jokingly, but she did worry about going stir crazy while Luke was at work. She had worked so hard to be an independent person, and now she had to let him do things for her.
Luke looked at Maggie, considering his options. “You can spend time with Trish if you want. Just make sure you both stay far away from her apartment. She might want to just go ahead and rent a new one.”
Maggie sighed a little. “I wish that I’d never gotten her involved. I should’ve just stayed at my old apartment. I kicked my ex out anyway…” She sighed again. As much as she had wanted to get away from Tony, she would’ve much preferred his continual presence in her life versus Keith’s. At least her ex was annoying and lazy; he would not physically bring harm to her or her friend.
“But I guess if I had stayed there, I might not have found you.” She gazed into Luke’s eyes. Coming over to him, she moved against him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. “I’m better off having you in my life. I know that.”
He brought his lips down to hers and they kissed.
It was too late to think about what might and what might not have happened had they never met. It was too late to regret spending a night with Trish. God, had it only been one night? Maggie supposed that all it took was one night before a whole life could change. Look at what was going on in her belly now. That was the real proof.
“Come on,” Luke said. “Let’s go to sleep now.”
He led her to the bedroom and she put on one of his large, button-up shirts. Even though Luke had taken her out shopping, Maggie was not keen to rush into buying a whole bunch of new outfits. Being pregnant meant that her body would be growing and changing. She did not want Luke to buy a bunch of clothes that she would not end up wearing. Sweatpants and tank tops would be the majority of her wardrobe for the time being… and his button-ups to sleep in.
As much as she liked the dress he got her, it had been a frivolous purchase. She decided that she would wear it as often as possible without feeling like a crazy person for doing so. After all, the baby was growing so quickly that Maggie doubted she would have the figure for such a dress for much longer.
Eyes closed and drifting off to sleep, she suddenly was entertained by a thought. Am I going to keep having normal cravings, or am I going to start craving salmon and honey soon?
CHAPTER SIX
Strange Cravings
Trish was all for hanging out with Maggie the following day, while Luke was at work. Despite his wanting them to just stay at his house together, the two friends met up and went into the city. Trish seemed as excited to get out of the house for a while as Maggie was.
“You need to tell me all about everything,” Trish said as soon as Maggie got into the car and shut the door. “How you came to be with this bear guy, who the fuck this dangerous dude is, and how the hell you’re pregnant.”
Maggie laughed. It was all such a long story.
“Also, where do you want to go?” Trish asked. “I just put gas in this puppy, so we can go anywhere as long as it’s fairly local.”
“Let’s do lunch,” Maggie said, making sure to say it in the poshest way possible. “Anywhere. It’s your choice, because I owe you.”
Trish smiled at that and hit the gas, heading north on the highway.
“When you went to work the other day – god, it really was only a few days ago… Anyway, you went to work and I downloaded this stupid dating app for shifters. Tony always hated shifters. And I can’t say I whole-heartedly blame him now. When I met up with the werewolf guy, I knew pretty quickly that I’d made a mistake.”
“Was he hot?”
Maggie rolled her eyes slightly. “Yeah, that’s part of the problem. I thought he was hot and it would be fun, but it turned out that he was threatening almost from the get-go. Anyway, when I refused to go home with him, he got really mad and was probably about to start hitting me when Luke stepped in.”
“I need to meet this Luke guy. He sounds like a saint.”
Smiling, Maggie nodded a little. “He is, kind of. He took me to his place in order to keep me safe. He gave me snacks and helped me feel better. And, you know… One thing led to another. He is handsome and gentle. You’d never know that he is a werebear, except that he is massive. I think he might be a grizzly bear.”
Trish’s eyes flashed mischievously. “Now I definitely have to meet him.”
“I never knew you had a thing for bears,” Maggie laughed.
“I didn’t either!”
It felt good to joke around again. Maggie was so tired of worrying and being scared. She wanted to be able to have fun and live again, like a normal person.
Well, a normal person who was dating a man who could turn into a bear.
They arrived at a little diner place that Maggie had never seen before, let alone eaten in. She was impressed with Trish. Her stomach was starting to growl. As she looked down at herself, she noticed that her stomach was really starting to show now. At least the side effects of pregnancy would not last as long, but they were likely to hit her all at once instead of little by little.
“I am craving everything,” Maggie said as she sat down and looked over the menu.
Trish smirked at her. “I can’t blame you. That little bear that you’re carrying must be starving.”
Maggie stuck her tongue out at her, but she was not wrong. At the rate the baby was growing, it was no wonder that she felt hungry just about all of the time now.
They watched the people pass by as they sat at the table on the diner’s sidewalk patio, waiting on their food. “I’m so sorry for getting you involved in all of this,” Maggie said. “I have to tell you, when you did not answer your phone, I was so afraid I had lost you.”
Shaking her head, Trish smiled at her. “Don’t be sorry. And don’t be so dramatic.”
All in all, it felt good to spend some time together. Maggie got Trish caught up with everything and Trish told her how she was doing at her parents’ place. Apparently, they appreciated any excuse to have her stay with them, which both annoyed Trish and made her happy. It was good to have that option.
Suddenly, while they were chatting over their paninis, a motorcycle revved its engine on the street nearby. Maggie looked over and, horror-stricken, realized who the bike belonged to.
Keith stared icily back at her. He made a whole show of revving his engine loudly, then he put on some sunglasses and sped away.
“Shit,” Maggie said. She was so panicked at the sight of him that she had remained completely still and silent while he was there. Now she turned to Trish. “That was Keith.”
Trish suddenly looked a lot more concerned than usual. Her usual joviality was gone and in its place was fear. “Should we go?”
Maggie nodded faintly. “I think so.”
They packaged up the remains of their sandwiches and Maggie paid for their lunch, since it was payback for everything Trish was now dealing with. Add a rush to get back home to the list, she thought gloomily.
Maggie was thankful that she was out with her friend and did not have to drive herself back to Luke’s place. She doubted very much that she would have been able to drive in a straight line, she was so scared of Keith. She did not even know why. He had been bossy and bordering on violent, she supposed, but he hadn’t actually done anything. She supposed that the threat of him maybe doing something was scary enough.
“Thank you,” she said when Trish dropped her off back at Luke’s place. “Now make sure that you drive fast but not crazy fast, and get home safely. Please text me as soon as you get in.”
Trish smiled at her. “Okay, Mom.”
With a slightly nervous but still amused laugh, Maggie closed her car door and rushed back into Luke’s house. As soon as she got inside and made sure the door was closed and locked, she sat on the couch and called him.
Alarmingly, the call went straight to voicemail. She knew that he was probably busy at his job, but she had expected that Luke would answer when she needed him.
“Hi, Luke, it’s Maggie,” she said after the tone. “I’m fine and at home now, but I went out to lunch with Trish, which was probably a stupid idea now, in hindsight. Keith showed up on his motorcycle and looked right at me. I don’t know if he knew that I was there or what, but he looked at me like he wanted to get me… So we rushed back and Trish dropped me off here. She is on her way home now. Please please call me back as soon as you get this. Bye.”
She hung up and set her phone aside, close to her so she could answer it as soon as possible. She glanced out the window and immediately found herself wishing that Luke’s place was not quite so big, with not quite so many windows. Maggie got up from the couch and paced around for a few moments, phone in hand, then she went to the refrigerator and poured herself a tall glass of juice. This stress couldn’t be good for the baby, and it was no picnic for her either.
Finally, her phone started to ring. She answered it halfway into the second ring.
“I just got your call and I’m on my way,” Luke said. “I’m in the car right now.”
“Please be careful,” Maggie implored him. “It wouldn’t be good if you got in an accident now.”
He chuckled softly. “I’ll be careful. Just stay right where you are, don’t open the door for anyone and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She nodded a little before realizing, with a smirk, that that was a wasted gesture. “I love you,” she said faintly.
It just came out of her. She could not take it back, even if she wanted to. Which she didn’t.
The words hung in the air for a moment. Then, just as faintly, Luke replied, “I love you.”
Once their call was ended, Maggie went back to the couch and just hugged her pillow. She did her best to lay low in case there was any chance that Keith had shown up and was watching her through the windows.
She closed her eyes and did her best to focus on breathing and slowing down her heart rate. She needed to relax, even though it was hard. Panicking would only make the next few hours worse.
Suddenly, her phone notified her that she had a new text.
Got home safely. No sign of that guy the whole way back. Hope you’re safe too. Keep me updated. xo
Luke got home about thirty minutes later. He parked his truck in the driveway and came inside the house, letting the door shut behind him. He rushed to the couch and hugged Maggie. She felt much better now that he was home with her.
“I never should have left the house,” she said. “I never should have done it. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said, kissing her and cupping her face in his hands. “You should be allowed to leave the house without some asshole threatening you.”
Just then, there was a bang on the door. Maggie jumped and tears welled up in her eyes. “This is all my fault!” she cried.
“Shh,” Luke cautioned her. “Go into the bedroom and close the door. Now.” He directed her without raising his voice, keeping his eyes on the front door the whole time in case the unknown intruder might barge in at any moment.
Maggie did not argue with him. She got off the couch and dashed down the hallway, closing the bedroom door as soon as she got inside, sitting up against it in an effort to keep it securely closed.
Luke went to the front door. “Who is it?” he called.
“I said I’d be back,” Keith’s familiar voice snarled.
Suddenly, the door slammed open with the weight of his foot against it. Once he had kicked the door in, the werewolf came into the house, smirking a little at the sight of the broken, useless wood as it now lay in a heap on the floor.
Maggie jumped, making sure to keep leaning against the door so no one could burst in. From the sound of it, however, her weight alone would not be enough to keep out Keith if he really wanted to come in. She looked around, trying to think if there was anything in the bedroom that would serve as a better barricade.
In the blink of an eye, Keith shifted into his werewolf form. Meanwhile, with a low growl, Luke’s eyes flickered from his gentle blue to the golden brown of a bear’s eyes as he shifted into his other – and possibly true – form of a grizzly bear.
There was so much growling and howling going on that Maggie could not help but open the door just a sliver so she could see what was going on. When she noticed that neither man-animal was actually paying the slightest attention to the bedroom door, she opened it a little wider, careful to keep it from squeaking or making any other sound.
Watching them, Maggie held her breath. She was so afraid that Luke was going to lose. He was so much older than Keith. He moved slower because of his size, but his movements were much more powerful. Whenever his swipes made contact with Keith’s small, wolf form, he ended up tossing him practically all the way across the room. She thought that perhaps his massive size would be key in defeating Keith, but she still worried that the swifter, more agile wolf would find some way of tricking or surprising Luke into a grave error.
She bit her lip, wishing that she could somehow join the fight but knowing that Luke would not have that. She needed to protect their baby, and the only way that she would be able to do that was by staying out of the way.
Keith suddenly brought his nose into the air, sniffing. “I can smell the girl,” he barked. “You can’t hide her from me forever.”
That was the challenge that Luke had been waiting for. He leapt at Keith, taking his small canine head into his mouth. Maggie looked away, hearing an unsettling crunch. Thankfully, Keith’s head was not entirely crushed and he was dropped back to the ground. Maggie did not know what she would have actually done if Luke had murdered someone for her sake. She supposed that that sort of thing happened all the time with shifters, but that did not mean that she liked or condoned it herself.
Keith was letting out all sorts of whines and yips now. His head was bleeding terribly and Maggie realized that his jaw had been the cause of the crunching sound. His mouth hung open as blood poured out of it. Luke pushed him along on the floor toward the gaping front door.
“Get out,” he snarled. “And never show your ugly face around here again, or so help me it will be your neck next time.”
When the wolf shakily got back to his feet, Maggie noticed with some small amount of triumph that she would feel bad about later that his tail was between his legs. Keith left the house, scampering away like any other animal might. It was unsafe to shift back now. There was a chance that he would never recover.
Good.
As soon as Keith was completely gone, Maggie opened the bedroom door the rest of the way. Luke was bloodied and clearly in pain as he slowly slipped back into his human form, but he was smiling at her. “Hi,” he said.
Wordlessly, Maggie fell into his arms. He held her there for a moment before, wincing, he had to pull away again.
“Are you hurt badly?” she asked him, a new kind of worried. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
He shook his head slightly. “I’ll be all right,” he said. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. She was obviously shaken up by what had happened, but his heroism was more than enough to make her feel better. “I was so worried about you, but you are so much bigger and stronger than him. He didn’t stand a chance.”
Luke smiled at her. “That’s because no one messes with Papa Bear.”
Maggie wanted to hug him again, but his wincing was starting to grow more frequent so instead of grabbing him and possibly injuring him further, she went into the kitchen and got some ice and wet rags for his wounds.
He had quite a few gashes on his arms and face, and one deep one on his lower abdomen. She wondered if there was a chance that he had broken something, like a rib maybe, and that was why it seemed to hurt him every time he breathed. Carefully she guided him to a chair at his dining room table.
Maggie pulled his shirt off of him and gasped when she saw the cuts and scratches. She went to work right away cleaning the wound on the side of his belly. He hissed at the feel of the warm rag on his sensitive, injured skin but he did not lash out at her.
“I owe you for a lot of things,” she said. “And now I owe you for my life.”
He looked into her eyes. “It’s a life worth saving.”
She blushed a little. Then, slowly and carefully so she would not hurt him more, she kissed his lips. Before she could stop him, he pulled her down onto his lap. He kissed her deeply, causing her to drop the rag and him to drop the makeshift ice pack that he had been holding to his arm. “I’m in a lot of pain right now,” he gasped out between passionate, earnest kisses. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to fuck you.”
He startled her by standing up, holding Maggie in his sore arms. He carried her to the breakfast bar, laying her atop of it and then getting on top of her. He kissed her lips, cheeks and all down her neck. Then, quickly, he removed her shirt, kissing the tops of her breasts and down her enlarged tummy. He took her panties into his hands and pulled them off of her, letting them fall to the floor and join the other discarded clothes. Then he kissed her inner thighs before bringing his tongue to her clit.
Maggie’s eyelashes fluttered a bit as she looked down at him, then she closed her eyes as the pleasure took over her body. She hadn’t imagined that they would be having sex so soon after the whole ordeal with Keith, and even less so did she imagine that they’d be doing it on the breakfast bar.
With one hand, Luke fumbled with his pants. He lowered them and climbed fully on top of her, careful not to move too fast for her. “You want this?” he asked her. “Huh?”
Licking her lips, she nodded eagerly. “Yes,” she said. Her voice came out at barely a whisper, which caused him to smile.
“Good,” he said then. “Because I want you to come for me. I want you to come for your hero bear.”
He thrust his big cock inside of her, focusing on the parts that he knew felt best, both to Maggie and to him. She clawed at the air, enjoying the combination of the cool, smooth granite countertop with the heat of their bodies joining together.
Because he was in pain and because their situation was rather precarious, he did not go quite as crazy as he otherwise might have. After a few blissful movements of moving against her g-spot and listening as Maggie moaned and shouted his name, Luke pulled out. “Turn around,” he commanded. “Carefully.”
She did as he bid her, feeling the coolness on her knees now. He plowed back into her and she could feel herself stretching to let him in. Leaning down, Luke kissed her back, fondling Maggie’s boobs as he felt himself getting ready to orgasm.
“Oh, baby, you feel so good,” he groaned against the skin of her back. Suddenly, he reached up and put a big hand over her mouth. He sped up his thrusts and came inside of her. “Ffffuck!” he bellowed. “Aaahhh.”
Maggie held tightly to the counter as Luke pulled out of her then and headed to the bathroom. She noticed that he limped a little. His back was probably killing him, especially now. She smiled, shaking her head.
“Take some aspirin,” she recommended.
She wondered if she was going to be the death of him. He probably would not complain if she was the reason for his suffering, especially if it was purely due to passionate sex.
After a few moments, she heard the shower start. Maggie was used to Luke’s post-sex habits by now. Slowly, she got herself down from the counter, using the stools as ladders back to the ground. The blood in his brain must have been otherwise occupied or surely he would have helped her down…
And that’s when she noticed the wide open front door.
Maggie did not feel shy. She mostly felt amused and perhaps a little remorseful for the neighbors. She was not a quiet lover by any means. She had been so taken up with the emotions and the passion of Luke that she had completely forgotten about their little door problem.
Thankfully, he was a handyman and he would be able to fix it.
Knowing Luke, he would be more concerned about the fact that someone could come in and hurt Maggie than about the neighbors being able to hear the amazing sex they were having.
She did her best to collect her clothing and snake along the counter so she was in the kitchen, hidden away from the wide doorway behind her. She drank some more juice and put her clothes back on.
Her stomach growled and for a moment she imagined that it was not hunger that called out to her, but the cub that was growing inside of her, just itching to get out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Tailpiece
Once Luke was thoroughly showered, he put on some clean clothes with zero blood stains on them and set to work fixing the door. Thankfully, though there was a lot of scrapes and dents in it now, the door was still in more or less one piece. He was able to put it back on its hinges and he and Maggie could feel secure again.
The next morning, he went to the store again and got the security cameras that he had been considering. He thought that it might be too late for them to prove useful, but it was better to be safe than sorry after what had happened. After all, there was no telling if Keith would decide to be stupid and show up again someday. They needed to be more on their guard.
Maggie’s pregnancy progressed, and she ended up being his assistant from home. She parked herself on the couch every morning with her laptop and fielded calls and emails that way. It was not ideal and she did get bored often, but it felt good to be back at work again. The work was simple, and she felt accomplished every day.
When she was the size of a house, Luke took his tools into the nursery and started building a crib and some shelves. He painted the room a pretty sea green color with yellow highlights. Maggie imagined that a little sailor or mermaid could live in there, and then she smirked a little. Naturally a bear would gravitate toward marine colors. She should imagine streams and rivers instead of oceans.
She had to have his help in order to go up the stairs, but it turned out to be well worth the effort. The nursery was lovely. He’d purchased a large white wooden toy box that matched the crib that he had crafted by hand. They, along with the shelves, were the only white parts of the room. The walls were sea green with a yellow wooden border all around the top by the ceiling and another yellow border on the bottom by the cream-colored carpet.
“You have really outdone yourself,” Maggie said, impressed and smiling at Luke while he put the finishing touches on some of the border paint.
He smiled back at her, another of his shy smiles even though he had absolutely nothing to ever be shy about with her. “You think so?” he asked, setting down his paintbrush and scratching the back of his scruffy head. “I mean, I know that he is not going to care about what his bedroom looks like for a long time probably, but I want it to be cozy.”
She smirked then.
“What?” he asked, eyebrows raised in concern.
She shook her head. “You are convinced it’s a boy, aren’t you?”
Luke’s blush deepened. “A girl would be nice, too.”
Maggie laughed. “Whatever our cub is, he or she will be awesome. Because his or her father is awesome.” She reached up and rubbed his strong back, kissing his cheek.
She was not laughing long afterward when she went into labor. As usual, she was sitting on Luke’s comfortable couch, reading a book. Suddenly, she felt a wetness in her sweatpants and a sharp pain in her lower belly.
“Owww, fuck!” she shouted. “Luke! I think it’s happening!”
He was doing what he usually did – obsessing over every last detail of the room he had created. When Luke heard Maggie’s yell, he rushed out of the room and down the stairs. “You think so?” he asked her, panting and excited.
“Well, I did not just pee myself,” Maggie said. Then she thought about it. She had been awfully close to peeing herself lately, but no. This was more than pee. She gestured to her crotch.
“Okay,” Luke replied. “Well, the first thing we’re going to do is get you out of those pants. Probably the shirt, too.”
“Now is not the time to strip me, you pervert,” she said, then smiled faintly. It had come out like she was angry, but she was not. She was just suddenly in a lot of ungodly pain.
Luke was surprised at first by her irked tone, but then he smiled back at her. Carefully, he took her sweatpants off of her, along with her demolished panties. Maggie removed her shirt but left her black bra on because she wanted some dignity, god dammit.
She wondered if there was time for them to go to the hospital and deliver the baby there, but then she realized that a normal, human hospital would likely not know how to handle a werebear baby. Also, she knew that if she stood up, she was going to want to rip someone’s head off. So she stayed there, nestled into the couch where they had conceived this impatient little cub.
While she lay there, waiting for the contractions to come closer together – joy – she got her phone and texted Trish.
You’re probably going to want to come over soon. But not currently because I am in labor and I might kill you, lol
Maggie set the phone back down and closed her eyes as another wave of contractions struck her. “Come on, baby, be nice to me. I’ve done really well for you so far.”
Luke gathered up a bunch of towels, a bucket full of warm water and some pillows for Maggie to lie on while they waited. It seemed like he had been preparing for this all of his life. With the size of his house and the mantle just asking to be filled with photographs, perhaps he had been. Maggie should have seen it as a sign.
The contractions started coming faster and stronger five and a half hours later. She was not sure if the labor had been sped up like the pregnancy itself had been, but she was glad she would not have to wait around in agony forever.
After a relatively smooth labor, Maggie held her baby son in her arms. She was crying happy tears and smiling down at him. Luke was sitting with them on the couch, happily sniffling along with her. He petted her hair. “See? I knew it would be a boy,” he said.
“I guess Papa Bear knows best,” she replied.
Their son had lots of dark brown hair and the gray-blue eyes of his father. Maggie hoped his eyes would stay that way. It was one of her favorite features of Luke’s, along with all of the rest of him.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you,” she responded.
Leaning down over her, Luke kissed her and then kissed the top of their son’s head.
For the next two days, Maggie and the baby slept. She could not even think about having guests over or doing any activities beyond relaxing, eating and feeding her cub. Also, she was having a difficult time figuring out a name for him. She had taken to calling him Cubbie, but that was not a name that was meant to last.
“What are some of the names you like?” she asked Luke.
Maggie wondered if that was really something that they should have talked about earlier on in their relationship. She had always thought it was such a cliché to meet a man and make lists of future baby names. Who did that? And now, here she was, wishing that she had such a list. All of her creativity for things like that seemed to have been drained out of her.
She thought about asking Trish for ideas, but she really wanted the baby to have a name before people started coming over to meet him. It would not be good if people asked her what his name was and she came up with nothing. As a matter of fact, Trish had already asked her and she just did not respond. New moms were too busy to answer texts…
That was a good excuse, right?
Luke looked pensive. In typical Luke fashion, he took her question very seriously, almost as if he was being interviewed on 60 Minutes or something. Maggie watched his expressions change as he kept thinking of the different possibilities that entered his mind.
Finally, with a grin, he was ready to answer.
“I really like the name Sebastian,” he said. “Not because of the crab; because of Shakespeare.”
Maggie chuckled. “Well, obviously. You’re too old to have any attachment to a Disney movie from 1989.”
“Watch it!” he laughed.
Smiling, she thought about Sebastian. She liked the sound of it, though she did always think of a little, red crab. She was not sure if it was because he had mentioned it or because that name was just attached to the image since her childhood. “I like it,” she said at last. “What if we called him Bastian for short, because of another ‘80s movie that I love?”
Luke kept on beaming at her. He nodded. “Sure. I’m glad you chose that and not Atreyu.”
“Hmmm,” she said, pretending to think about changing her mind.
Once she had rested up and gotten used to being a mother, she invited Trish to come over and meet Bastian. She was able to fit back into her jeans, though she still wore Luke’s button-up shirts because she was shy about her tummy. Maggie had lost weight since delivering the baby, of course, but there was still some excess that she had not had a chance to work on losing yet.
Again, that was largely just an excuse, but she would work on it.
Before her friend’s arrival, Maggie went around the house, tidying things up that she had not been able to get around to post were-battle and pre-Bastian’s birth. Luke helped her, of course, and he mainly handled the fun part, which was entertaining the baby so that he did not cry and fuss the whole time. Luckily, Luke lived for being the Daddy Distraction. She smiled as she brought out some glasses, a bottle of wine and some snacks. His silly voices and her baby’s laughter was her favorite soundtrack.
The doorbell rang and Luke went to answer it, holding little Sebastian in his arms. Maggie came over and took over the door-opening duties since it was her friend to greet.
“Sorry,” he said, moving out of the way but staying close. “Force of habit.”
She appreciated that he was always there, looking out for her. There was a peep hole in the door, though, so she used that and made sure it was Trish on the porch and not Keith or some other villainous axe murderer. Even the cameras showed Trish. “It’s okay. After everything that’s happened, it’s better to be overly cautious versus not caring.”
Luke smiled and bounced Bastian in his arms. “Overly cautious!” he shouted triumphantly
Maggie opened the door and hugged Trish, so glad to see her again after the last time they hurriedly said goodbye to each other. “How’s it going, Magpie?” Trish asked as they embraced. “You look great.”
“I’m tired, but also really happy,” Maggie replied. She invited her friend inside and introduced her to Bastian. “This is Bastian Shaw. And this, finally, is Luke. Also Shaw.” She smiled a bit, feeling silly.
Trish smiled a friendly smile at the baby and took his little foot, giving it a wiggle. “Hello, Bastian. I’m Patricia.”
“It’s so good to meet you at long last,” Luke said.
“You were probably starting to wonder if I was imaginary, huh?” she said with a laugh.
Even though Trish was speaking to Luke, she obviously could not take her eyes off of Bastian. Finally, she looked from Luke to Maggie and gave a sideways smirk. “So is he going to start turning into a bear soon? That’s going to be exciting for his babysitter.”
Luke wrapped an arm around Maggie and they all laughed together. Bastian even smiled a little, though he had no idea what was so funny. They all knew that Trish was going to be that babysitter.
Once a part of the craziness, always a part of the craziness.
THE END
ComeShift: Nicholas
That son of a bitch! After five long years of busting my hump for his stupid ad agency, he fired me with nothing more than a “good luck in all your future endeavors” letter. The walk of shame through the halls of the office was the most painful one I’ve ever had to make. I kept my head up, but I could feel every pair of eyes glued to me as I marched my way out the door with my chin in the air. Crying would have to be saved for later.
Getting fired was just the cherry on the shit sundae that was my week. I guess that’s what I get for telling my boss I didn’t want to be his undercover sex toy anymore. After nearly a year of secret rendezvous and lunch break trysts, I had grown to have feelings for the selfish bastard. I wanted commitment, he danced around the issue, and I pulled the plug.
Shortly after our commitment conversation, I had come to the realization that I had just enough dignity and self-respect left to understand that I needed and deserved better than some lecherous chubby-chaser. That was on Friday. Here it was, Monday, and I was no longer welcome at the ad agency of Johnson, Decker, and Fuller.
Deep down I knew that I was better off. Both the position and the man were painfully toxic, and had been corroding my sanity for years. I was going to take a week, decompress, and throw myself a pity party before launching into a job search that would hopefully, be very brief.
I lived in Chicago. You couldn’t throw a rock in this town without hitting an ad building or an exec glued to his phone. The market was competitive here, but I wasn’t afraid to slide down the ladder for a little while if it meant that I’d have bigger opportunities later.
I got halfway to the parking garage when my phone vibrated in my pocket. A photo of me and my best friend, Mia popped up on my screen. “Hello?”
“Nicole, tell me you don’t have plans tonight.”
“Seriously, I don’t have plans tonight. Why?”
“Get yourself sexied up because tonight because Bear Knuckle Brawlers is playing downtown, and I have an extra ticket.”
A night out with my favorite girl catching an amazing local band sounded tempting, but the warning signal went off in my head reminding me that I was now unemployed and shouldn’t be spending anything. “That sounds like so much fun, Mia, but I’m going to have to pass. I just got let go today, and I need to be careful with my money until I can find something else.”
“You got fired? I thought you just found out you were in line for a promotion.”
Way to rub salt in the wound. “I was. I blew it when I told Anthony I didn’t want to play anymore unless he committed. He saw my call, and raised me my salary. The best part of the whole thing is, he could have called to tell me over the weekend, but instead he waited until I already sat through our stupid Monday meeting to drop the ax.” Ugh, that thought depressed me even more.
“So come out anyway. You don’t have to buy a ticket and chances are, if you turn on the charm, you won’t have to buy your own drinks either. Please come out with me? Please, please, please?”
I could practically hear her pouting through the phone. She did have a point though. Even if I ended up buying myself one beer, going out with Mia tonight wouldn’t break me. “Okay. I’ll come along. What time is the show?”
“Yay! The doors open at eight, and the band goes on at nine. I think you’ll have a really good time tonight, and by the sound of your day today, you need to blow off some steam.”
“Boy do I! There’s a part of me that thought about suing for wrongful termination, but the agency is lawyered to the rafters. I wouldn’t stand a chance against them in court.”
“I’d still look into it. Even if you don’t personally get anything out of it, you could still get a lot of attention on the firm and the situation in general. Who knows, by speaking up you might help give other women in a similar situation the power to speak up and change a few things.”
Every now and then, Mia would find a point so profound that it would throw me completely for a loop. “You’re right. I’ll consider it. Thanks. See you around seven-thirty?”
“Yup. And don’t be tardy bitch! Later.”
And with that sign off, she went right back to normal.
After unlocking my car and tossing my box in the backseat, I sat behind the wheel staring off into outer space. I didn’t want to contemplate my next move, but I knew that I would have to. I had enough in savings to get me through the next five months; six if I committed myself to eating rice and beans for the entire time. That might not be such a bad idea. It’s not like I couldn’t stand to lose a few pounds.
With a sigh of frustration, I turned the key and backed out of my parking spot. For now I’d have to file all that away into the Scarlett O’Hara part of my brain that would handle it tomorrow.
“Nicole! I’m over here!” The only part of Mia I could see was her well-decorated hand waving around over everybody’s heads. The woman dressed like a gypsy when we went out, and tonight was no exception. Her wrists jingled from the stack of bangles she wore and she was wearing a hair accessory that was part headband and part chain that lay down the part of her straight black hair and around her head. She had a distinctive look and I had to admit, it suited her well. Of course she had that to-die-for olive complexion too.
When I caught up to her, Mia hugged me tight. “I am so sorry about your job. That prick had no right to fire you. You’re better than that.”
We broke apart before I answered. “Thank you. The blow still stings, but it’s nothing a cocktail can’t take care of.”
We chatted about nothing in particular as the line inched closer to the door, but Mia kept taking out her phone and texting while we talked. After a while, it got annoying. “Who are you talking to?”
“I’m sorry, Nicole. I’m just a little nervous. I have a guy coming to meet us here in a bit and he is molten lava hot. Like, the kind of hot that you thought only existed in Photoshop. I was keeping him updated on the line.”
“You met a guy? Where? And when did this happen?” Mia’s admission hurt a little. Not only did I think we were having a girls night, but we talked everyday, and she never once mentioned a man to me.
“I met him last month on this dating app called ComeShift. We’ve been out a few times and he’s very different than anyone else I’ve dated.”
He’s different. Sure. “Mia, you say that about every dude you meet and no offense, but they all were pretty much the same person.”
She stuck her tongue out at me. “I know I’ve said that very thing before, but I’m serious this time. He’s not quite human.”
“Not human? What does that mean?”
“I mean, he’s human, but he’s not human-human. You know?”
I blinked at her while I processed what she was saying. Human-human? What was he then, half duck? “No I don’t know. And please explain this to me as if you were talking to a five-year-old.”
“Fine. ComeShift is a dating app for those who want to meet shifters. You know, people who can change their form at will. Have you ever been with one, Nicole?”
I understood the words she was saying, but my brain still couldn’t rationalize the information. “Like a shapeshifter? I’m not sure. I never thought to ask because then I’d look like a crazy person!”
Mia grinned. “So says you. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, honey. Since the first time Jason and I boned I haven’t been able to keep my hands off of him. He’s the best I’ve ever had and I’ll never go back to a full-blooded human.”
“You’re fucking with me aren’t you?” She had to be. There was no such thing as shape shifters. She seemed so sure though and I couldn’t tell if maybe she did know something I didn’t.
Her face grew serious. “Nicole, I’m not kidding. There are people out there that look just like us, but have evolved so far beyond where we are that I’m not surprised you don’t believe. Jason will be here in about ten minutes and you’ll see for yourself. I think you should give the app a shot and see what happens. I promise you that you at least won’t be disappointed in the sack.”
Wow! So Mia was telling the truth. “Is Jason the first one you’ve been with?”
“Nope. I had a one-night stand with a bear shifter before I met Jason. The bear-shifter was the one that got me hooked on the supernatural.”
Okay, she convinced me to at least look into it. I whipped out my phone and downloaded the app right away. I was intrigued at the idea of meeting someone who was that different from me and I wondered if the extra ability would make them different in terms of personality too. All the straight up human men I’ve dated were assholes and users so what’s the worst that could happen?
Chapter 2
The bar was packed and the concert ended up being standing room only. After Mia’s little bombshell I couldn’t help but examine every single face I saw. Were any of these people shifters like Jason?
Jason looked perfectly normal. Granted, he was a little more Abercrombie model than your average dude, but nothing about him screamed that he was anything different than what the world could see.
I wanted to ask him a million and one questions, but how to do that without being rude? What was the social protocol on handling preternatural relations? If I had anxiety just thinking about it, then what would happen to me when I attempted to get between the sheets with one.
The whole notion should be incredibly stupid to me, but it wasn’t. Seeing how well Mia and Jason went together may be think that maybe trying something new would be good for me. Lord knew what I’d been doing was so not working for me.
“Are you having fun?” Mia shouted over the music.
“I am. I’ve heard so much about these guys around town and they do live up to the hype. I am glad you talked me in to coming out tonight. I needed this.”
Mia rubbed my arm. The smile she flashed me was one of sympathy not joy. She knows how long I’ve been struggling emotionally even though I tried not to talk about things too much.
Mia nodded at the stage. “Did you check out the bass player?”
I had been so preoccupied and in my own head that, while I’d heard the music, I paid virtually no attention to the band.
She pointed to the musician at the far left of the stage. “Check him out. He’s a hottie.”
And he stood out. The music bordered on heavy metal and the band certainly looked the part, except for their bass player. Every man on that stage had long hair, a long beard, or both. The man Mia pointed out to me was practically clean cut to the rest of his band. His dark hair was close cropped and tousled, He was taller and leaner than the others, but still had the strong, wiry arms of a guitar player. What drew my gaze was his unusually full mouth framed by the perfect amount of five o’clock shadow. It’s not everyday you see a guy with a mouth that begs to be kissed.
“He’s a good looking guy, Mia. A little musical eye candy is always nice.”
“You should try to meet him.” Mia suggested.
“Yeah, okay.” Guys with instruments didn’t go for girls like me. They went for the willowy, model-type groupies. Not a chubby girl with “a great personality.” Or so I’ve been told.
But he kept looking over in our direction. Maybe I was wrong.
Bear Knuckle Brawlers did not disappoint. Their set lasted until midnight, but Mia wanted to continue the party at another bar. After the second encore the effects of my day had finally slammed down on my shoulders. I was exhausted.
Leaving the bar, Mia was vibrating with excitement. “That was so good! I’m so amped right now I won’t be able to sleep. Let’s go do the after party!”
“You guys go have fun without me. I’m beat.”
“Awe, come on! Don’t poop out on me now. You don’t come out with me anymore.” Mia whined. She put on her best sad puppy face, but I wasn’t biting. I needed to get home ASAP.
“You’ve got Jason with you,” I checked to make sure he was out of earshot, “and wouldn’t you like to, you know.” I said with a wink.
Mia glanced over her shoulder at the blond hunk that was her date. He was chatting up one of the roadies. Judging by all the laughing and carrying on, I assumed they knew each other.
“Okay. You twisted my arm. Sleep tight, Nicole.” I got a hug and a kiss on the cheek before she scampered off to her date.
I called a car service to take me home and while I waited, went ahead and browsed ComeShift. And I wasn’t disappointed. Most of the men on there were stunning, good looking to the point of intimidation. As I swiped through profile after profile, each smiling face reminded me that I was way out of my depth.
The entire fifteen-minute ride home was spent on that damn dating app. The problem with choice is, when presented with too many, making a decision is impossible. I came down with the worst case of FOMO ever and had to put my phone down.
I tossed the damn thing on the kitchen counter and decided to take a shower.
The hot water helped me think and it didn’t take long for me to realize that I didn’t have to pick anyone tonight or even a week from now. There wasn’t a rush for me to choose anyone from ComeShift or at all for that matter. I had to wonder about why I put that sort of pressure on myself.
The answer to that was simple: I hated being alone. Based on my track record of serial monogamy, I’d go so far as to say I was totally allergic to being on my own. The only cure to that was to glob on to the first asshole who paid attention to me and hold on tight. The relationship would be rocky, angry, and temporarily ruin my life, but I was never alone. Going more than two weeks between relationships was verboten in my world.
As I scrubbed the scent of skunky beer and cigarette smoke out of my hair, I threw down the gauntlet on myself. Don’t date. I needed to take the time to date and get to know myself, and maybe take care of myself a little better. All the emotional highs and lows of being caught in the relationship revolving door couldn’t be good for my mental health.
I finished my shower and stepped out into the crisp air. Chicago didn’t have a very long fall before transitioning into winter and with the end of October fast approaching, even the most well insulated house felt the dropping temperatures.
With my day having gone as shitty as it had, I took my time and luxuriated in getting ready for bed. I massaged a rose scented oil into my skin and took the time to comb and blow dry my hair. When I got dressed, I slipped into my silky pink pajama shirt. The men’s style button down never failed to make me feel both sexy and comfortable. By the time I was done, my mind was calm, I had found my happy place, and I was the kind of tired that would quickly lead to the best sleep of my life as soon as my head hit the pillow.
For an extra special treat, I was going to turn my alarm off. I wanted to sleep until my body told me to stop. I didn’t want the shrill call of my phone’s alarm to startle me awake and remind me that I was currently unemployed. As an extra measure, I was going to leave it in the kitchen tonight as my own personal do not disturb.
I had just tapped the off button on the alarm and was getting ready to power down when an alert popped up.
“Holy shit!” The alert was from ComeShift. Someone was interested in me, but I hesitated. Should I look? I had just spent the last hour convincing and empowering myself to be on my own for awhile and I had to wrestle with whether or not peeking was a good idea.
I wasn’t going to look. I plugged my phone in to charge and left it on the kitchen counter. If I still wanted to know in the morning, I‘d look then. In the meantime, I was going to sleep the sleep that the overworked dreamed about and not think about it.
Chapter 3
4:58 turned to 4:59, each minute that ticked by was so much longer than the last. I had laid in bed for the last three hours praying for that sleep I so arrogantly thought I was guaranteed. I got hosed.
Curiosity took over my night and sent my brain into a miserable, swirling vortex of what ifs and self-doubt. I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep until I checked out my match. So, I tossed back the covers and padded into the kitchen. I could promise myself whatever I wanted, but first I had to know what I was avoiding.
I gasped and nearly dropped my phone on the tile floor. The man of interest was the bass player from Bear Knuckle Brawlers. “No. No that can’t be right.” I checked my profile photo to make sure it wasn’t me from thirty pounds ago. It wasn’t. It was still the selfie I had taken last weekend while on a hay ride with Mia. I just cropped her half off to post. I knew I looked pretty good in the photo, but I didn’t think I looked rock star worthy. The fact that he was local made no difference. I counted at least a half dozen bras flung at the stage during Bear Knuckle Brawlers set.
The profile photo of Nicholas Berry stared back at me with a pair of soulful brown eyes with just the right amount of come hither in them. He’s a twenty-eight-year-old musician and writer from the Chicago area who was interested in hookups only. I read through the rest of his profile and was shocked by how Spartan the whole thing was. Every description was succinct and he answered each profile question with just enough information to be an answer and nothing more.
A random hookup with Mr. Hot Bass Player? I shook my head and powered my phone back down. I had to hold to my promise to myself no matter how panty dropping his smile was. No good could come of me getting tangled up with another guy and getting hurt.
………..
“It’s so nice to see that you’re still alive, Mia. Would it kill you to answer a call or text once in awhile?” After almost ten days of no contact, I finally managed to nail my so-called best friend down for lunch.
“Sorry, girl. Jason surprised me with a romantic trip to Alaska and there was no signal.”
“Alaska? I’ve never heard anyone describe Alaska as romantic; freezing, harsh, abominable, and barren, but never romantic.”
Mia’s face lit up. It was obvious she wanted to talk about it badly. “It was super cold, but we stayed in his gorgeous log cabin. He has a huge brick fireplace and the sexiest bed ever in the master. We hardly left the room let alone the house.” She sighed and got a dreamy look in her eye.
“Uh oh! You’re in trouble. I think you’re in love.”
Mia blushed and looked down at the tabletop. “I think I might be. Jason is everything I’ve been looking for in a man and so much more I didn’t know I wanted. Would you believe I found a man who can cook? And I mean cook like a chef, not just boil hot dogs.”
“That’s a coup. Congratulations, Mia. You’ve found the chupacabra!” Finding anyone who could cook an edible meal for themselves in this town was impressive.
“I know! To be able to trade off meal duty with someone for a change is going to be so nice.”
I watched the brown depths of my coffee swirl as I stirred my sugar in. I had to bury the fact that I was jealous. Sure, I made a promise to myself that I would stay out of the dating pool for awhile, but seeing my best friend happy drove home how badly I wanted that for myself.
Mia ducked her head to catch my eye. “What about you, Nicole? What have you been up to while I was away?”
I chuckled a little. Somehow a week long love affair with Netflix while wallowing in self-pity didn’t seem to cut it compared to a romantic week in Alaska. “I decided I needed some down time so, I took the time to unwind after being dumped and fired in the same day.” I took a sip of my coffee before continuing. “Oh and someone got in contact with me on ComeShift.”
Mia squealed and clapped her hands. “I’m so excited. Oh, Nicole this will be such a good choice for you. So what did he say? What did you guys talk about?”
“Um,” how to tell her that I was a chicken on a self-imposed celibacy break? “That’s the thing, I didn’t respond.” I was tempted, but I always managed to stop myself before pressing send on a message. There’s a good chance I missed the boat.
“How come?” Mia whined. “You could have so much fun with this guy.”
“I could have fun. Or I could wind up on my face again. Trust me, this dude is way out of my league.”
“Pfft. I don’t buy that for a second. Show me what he looks like.”
I knew better than to resist. Mia would badger me to death if I even tried. I pulled my hone from my purse and opened the app. “It’s this guy.” I handed her my phone and she snatched it from my hand.
She gasped. “You can’t be serious! The bass player? Why have you not responded to him yet? You must be delusional.”
“I’m on sort of a man break for awhile. I’ve been through a string of terrible choices so I need to bow out of the dating scene for a bit.”
Mia nodded, but I had the feeling she was actually agreeing with me. She wasn’t.
“That’s nice, but this guy is looking for an in and out, not a relationship. What harm could come from a one-night stand.” Her fingers whizzed around the screen as she tapped out a message. Before I could protest or get my damn phone back, she pushed send. “There. All done.” She handed me back my phone with a grin.
I stared at her with my mouth in my lap. What had she done? “Mia, what…”
Mia waved her hand to interrupt. “Don’t say anything. I promise you, shifter is the way to go. One night won’t kill you. In fact, I think you’ll be thanking me when all is said and done.” She continued to beam at me as though she just pulled the greatest best friend move ever. That cheeky bitch was so proud of herself.
“Fine. And for the record, if this whole thing blows up, you will be at my house with a pint of ice cream and a Beaches DVD to console my bruised feelings. When my heart gets broken, it will be all your fault.”
“Alright, Negative Nancy, you got yourself a deal.”
I took her outstretched hand and pumped once. I was nervous as hell, but I was going to close my eyes and jump anyway.