“Not without you,” she replied quietly. “Without talking to you first. I tried and I couldn’t sleep. All I could think about was…how I talked to you the other day because I was too stubborn to accept your help. You were right.”
“Ellie—”
She held up a hand. “I take on too much. I ignored that this guy was dangerous. I should have called for the law to intervene when the harassment first began, but all I wanted was to prove I was the unstoppable single mom and business woman capable of doing it all. Even superheroes team up to get help sometimes. I only wanted this place to be successful. I wanted to show Emma how tough her mama is.”
Griff rose from his seat. “You are tough, Ellie. You’re more than the business you’ve put together. More than the bakery. You’re kind and compassionate. You care about people because your heart’s so big, not because you can get something back for it. And Emma is learning that from you, too.”
“How can you forgive me for how I behaved?”
“Because you’re a good woman, and I know the difference between a good one and a shitty one. Kelly was good at making people miserable. I was unhappy for years while married to her and I never realized it. Never understood what was wrong. I just thought if I worked harder, if I bent over backwards to make her happy, eventually she’d show me what it was like to be loved.”
“She was an idiot.”
“Yeah, she was.” He touched her chin, directing her eyes to his. “Took me a long time to realize our marriage didn’t fall apart because of anything I did. It was all her. The times we’ve been together? Every single moment was worthwhile, El.”
“Yeah.” She took in a shuddered breath and let it go. “Hey, um… you wanna come home with me? It’s the end of your shift, right?”
“Right.”
“Come with me.”
* * *
Humming with energy, Ellie dragged out all of her pans and equipment. She fried sausage and whipped together enormous, flaky buttermilk biscuits from scratch. Portia had taken Emma with her when she left at a quarter after seven, otherwise, she’d have been on the couch watching Netflix.
Once, Ellie checked in on Griff and saw he hadn’t budged from the blanket pile.
Good. He needed every second of rest so he could do that to her again before he went home to prepare for a shift. Satisfied with her plan, she started on the gravy, making it thick and spicy, anticipating a man like him appreciated a bit of heat to his gravy.
She already knew how he liked his coffee in the mornings. Giddy, she powered on the electric kettle and popped the lid off the French press.
Sometime later, when Griff ambled into the kitchen in just his boxers, rubbing the back of his neck, she was plating his meal.
“Wow. All that for me?”
“Uh-huh. You sit down.”
After Ellie coaxed him into a chair at the table, she fetched his coffee and made it the way she’d seen him order it at Lottie’s.
Griff blinked up at her. “How’d you know how I take my coffee?”
“I’m not even going to lie and pretend I haven’t been stalking you for months.”
To her relief, he laughed.
“By the way.” She quirked a smile at him. “You go ahead and book those tickets to Disney World.”
“Seriously?”
“Mm… Yeah.” She slid into his lap and wrapped both arms around his neck. “I’m positive. As long as you’re willing to stand in line with Emma to see the princesses.”
“I’ve always wanted to meet Ariel. Wouldn’t want to meet her with anyone else.”
Epilogue
Summer
The morning after the most spectacular wedding Crisis had ever seen, Ellie, Griffin, and Emma set out for Disney World by car for the true tourist experience.
Emma spent most of the trip chatting about Maddie and Dean’s wedding, her expectations of Disney World, and how much she couldn’t wait to meet Ariel. Emma had been the prettiest flower girl while Ellie served as the matron of honor.
In addition to standing at the front of the wedding, she’d baked the cake as her gift for them, a seven-layer masterpiece celebrating the newlywedded couple’s favorite things—sculpting, painting, and metalworking.
Topping it, instead of a man and his new wife, a dancing fox stood on his hind legs, touching one paw to the wing tip of an elegant swan. Maddie had made their animal sides in miniature, and it was so stinking cute Ellie could have died.
Ellie really couldn’t believe her best friend was married, no more than she could believe she was sitting in the passenger seat of her trusty sedan, awaking from the nap she took while Griffin drove.
The hardest part about leaving Crisis behind was entrusting her bakery to Luke’s care while she partied hundreds of miles away in the Magic Kingdom. The mess with Chad Brunswick had left a lasting mark.
Griffin called it PTSD, saying he’d seen it in enough of his friends from the military to recognize the panic in her eyes, the nightmares that woke her in the early morning, and the way she remained hypervigilant in her bakery. Months later, she still struggled to relax while opening. Still tensed when opening the door to her home.
Chad was in prison now after plea bargaining. He’d turned in his accomplices in the robberies, and it turned out he’d driven a few other people in other towns and cities out of business, buying up their property afterward. Ellie was just one harassed party out of many.
Three days after his arrest, the police recovered her belongings from a storage unit in Huntsville, and Chad went away to a secure prison for shifters maintained by the magic police force that monitored all their kind.
“Mama, me and Griff saw a gator crossing the road!”
“Did you?” Ellie tiredly rubbed her eyes.
“Uh-huh. It was slow, and it blocked the whole road. Nobody could get around him.”
Griff grinned at her. “Had to wait twenty minutes for him to move his butt. You missed all the excitement.”
“I’m sorry. Are you tired? Want me to take over?”
“Nah. We’re almost there.”
Not too long after sunset, they reached the Animal Kingdom Lodge where they had reservations for a two-bedroom suite, giving Emma a room to herself. They’d shared a bed a few times already at home while her daughter slept in her room, but not often. Emma didn’t seem to think anything strange about it.
Likewise, Griffin never lost his patience if Emma charged into the room during the middle of the night, even the one time she dove into bed screaming about the monster in her closet, planting her sharp little elbow in one of Griff’s kidneys.
Aside from a startled yelp, he’d shrugged it off with superhuman willpower. Then he took her little hand and showed her the closet was empty before tucking her in again. The three years since Greg’s death had been a long time for Emma to forget what it was like to have a father. Her only question had been if Griffin staying overnight meant Ellie and Griff liked each other as much as Maddie and Dean.
Thank God she didn’t ask if it meant they’d get married. Ellie wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.
The next day, as Griffin stood in line beside Emma to see each princess, Ellie second-guessed herself.
“Am I pretty?” Emma asked Griffin, only a few places away from meeting Princess Aurora.
“The prettiest,” he assured her, nudging a few strands of hair beneath her tiara.
When Ellie took her wedding set to Dean, he’d repurposed them into the central component of a gold tiara. It hadn’t felt right putting them on again.
As they reached the front of the line, Ellie raised her Canon and prepared to take dozens of pictures. Her phone was back at the hotel, a major step for her in overcoming her fear of needing to always be available.
If she could trust Griffin with one baby, she had to have faith in Luke taking care of the other.
* * *
Luke had it all under control. The morning rush had slammed them relentlessly, a line of cars wrapped arou
nd the building and way too many people piling into the bakery for breakfast sandwiches on the go. Without Grace, it would have been a clusterfuck.
On the morning after a big wedding, a load of relatives lingered in town, their remaining numbers evenly divided between the town’s most popular eateries. He’d seen the Chugga Chugga’s parking lot. They were also packed without a table free.
Dragging his attention back to the bakery, the bells over the door chimed. He expected to see a last-minute customer, unprepared for the curvaceous form of Grace’s granddaughter, wearing scandalously tiny denim shorts and a cropped tee. The girl was personified sin in a small package, five feet of trouble, long legs, and muscled thighs he dreamed about having around his waist.
His cock rose steadily to salute, thankfully concealed behind both his jeans and an apron.
You can do this. You’re in control of yourself, he thought. Last time Sofia entered, that pep talk had prevented him from bursting into his swan body and putting his wings on display like a randy cob searching for a mate.
“Uh. Hi.” Sofia tucked a few curls behind her ear and looked around nervously. She was wearing huge, dark aviators. “Is my grandmother here?”
“Sofia?” Grace called from the kitchen. She breezed out from behind the counter to hug her granddaughter. “Oh, it’s just so great to see you, baby, but…what are you doing here?”
Sofia hesitated, biting her lower lip. “How great?”
“Well, as great as ever, I guess. You never visit enough.”
“Good. I’m glad you think so, because…I’m moving to Crisis.”
Fuck me.
Maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words, because that was precisely what Luke wanted from her.
* * *
I loved writing Ellie and Griffin. They were so fun. As you may have guessed, the next story features Luke, our sole male swan shifter. He may be pretty, but trust me, he isn’t one to be underestimated. Please try to remember to review.
Ready for Luke and Sofia? Don’t miss out on their story.
Did you miss Dean and Maddie? Go back to the beginning with the first Swan Lake Mates.
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Other Books by Vivienne
For similar stories set in a small town co-authored by Domino as Vivienne Savage, check out these hot military shifters.
The Right to Bear Arms (Book #1)
Let Us Prey (Book #2)
The Purr-fect Soldier (Book #3)
Old Dog New Tricks (Book #4)
Texas Pride (Book #5)
A Man of Many Talons
If you loved the hell out of this and want to read another romance with fantasy elements, check my series, Daughter of Fortune.
For fantasy romance with mermaids and the like, read Kingdom in the Sea.
Check out my newsletter and keep up to date at http://www.dominotaylor.com/newsletter
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About the Author
Domino Taylor is one-half of the pen name Vivienne Savage. This is her debut as a solo author and her first complete, unassisted work. A video gamer by nature, she considers herself a horror movie aficionado and spends her evenings reading historical romance. She also enjoys the outdoors, jogging with her dog, riding horses, and going to renaissance fairs. Domino is a former correctional officer, registered nurse, and the mother of a brilliant son and daughter.
For more information
www.dominotaylor.com
[email protected]
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