by Lynn Howard
Maybe she figured since one of the Pride panthers was mated to a Fairy, who just happened to be her cousin, it was safe. And it was obvious she was trying to put Penny at ease. Every Shifter he knew loved kids. Most wanted cubs or pups or whatever at some point. It was ingrained deep in them, in their genetic makeup to want to bring more Shifters into the world.
Hollyn brought the food over and sat a heaping bowl of mac-n-cheese in front of Penny. “It’s still a little warm, so blow on it first,” she told the little girl.
She then set a burger and fries in front of Daxon and a BLT with potato chips in front of Ryanne.
“Can I get you guys anything else?”
There was ketchup, mustard, salt, and pepper on the table, as well as a napkin dispenser. They were good.
Daxon opened his mouth to say as much, but Penny beat him to it.
“No, thank you,” she said in her little girl voice. It was such a tinkling, squeaky sound and made Daxon smile.
“How about some more milk?” Hollyn asked Penny.
“Yes, thank you,” she said, holding her half empty glass out to Hollyn.
“You guys want some more soda or beer?”
“I’m good,” Daxon said. “A glass of water would be fine.” He wasn’t a light weight by any standard, but he didn’t want to have a bunch of beers then drive Ryanne and Penny home. That would be the epitome of irresponsible and would make Ryanne think poorly of him.
And he could admit to himself he wanted the beautiful mocha skinned woman to think highly of him. He wanted her to see him as someone she could trust in her baby sister’s life.
“Who taught you such good manners?” Daxon said, resting his forearms on the table and looking at Penny.
“Ry. Did you know you’re not ‘upposed to put your elbows on the table?” she said, looking pointedly at where Daxon rested his forearms.
“Well, technically, I’m putting my arms on the table,” he teased her.
Penny giggled and shook her head. “You’re fun,” she said like she had outside.
“Told you,” Daxon said to Ryanne. “I’m fun. She thinks so.”
Ryanne had a mouthful of food but that didn’t stop her from crossing her eyes at him.
He chuckled and lifted his burger. Watching Penny, he made sure she blew on each bite so she wouldn’t burn her mouth. He watched Ryanne’s pile of chips to make sure she didn’t run out if she was still hungry.
And then he realized he had become as pathetic as Brax and Aron. He now understood their need to be near their mates, their constant worry, their need to touch Campbell and Charlie.
Because he was one hundred and ten percent sure Ryanne was his mate.
Now, he just had to figure out a way to make that happen while letting it still be her choice.
Chapter Five
Penny didn’t end up finishing her food, but Ryanne ate her entire sandwich, her chips, two glasses of soda, and a few of Daxon’s fries.
His woman could eat.
He’d always found a woman with an appetite sexy. It gave them the curves he craved, the kind his hands ached to explore. Nothing against skinny women, but Daxon liked his women to be a little softer.
Like Ryanne.
Her ass and hips were round, her tits were big, and her waist was small. He totally understood that Sir Mix A Lot song.
He realized as he watched Ryanne clean Penny’s hands he hadn’t seen her hair down since that first night. There had been so much chaos, he couldn’t remember how it looked. Was it long? He knew it was super curly and thick, but had no idea how long it was. But there was definitely enough for him to grab hold of when…
“Your eyes look like Ry’s when she’s mad,” Penny whispered. “Are you mad?”
Shit. “No, sweety. I was just thinking.”
He had to reign in his fucking hormones before he made a fool of himself in front of the woman he craved more than his next breath.
He had let his fantasies get away from him and his eyes reflected his mood. No way would he tell Ryanne he was sitting there fantasizing about bending her over and taking her hard and fast.
Besides, the first time he had sex with her, he wanted to take his time to savor every inch of her delicious body. He imagined she tasted sweet and her skin was soft as satin.
“You okay?” Ryanne asked, leaning in close to whisper in his ear. “Do we need to go?”
Her being so close wasn’t helping dampen his arousal.
“I’m good. I was daydreaming.” Not a total lie. But again, no way would he tell her what he was thinking. Not here. Not in front of a five-year-old girl.
“Did you want anything else to eat? I don’t think they have desserts, but we can ask,” Daxon said.
“Do they have ice cream?” Penny asked, excitement evident in her bright blue eyes.
“No ice cream, squirt,” Noah said from the bar.
Penny slunk down in her chair a little. She might have liked Hollyn, but Noah still scared her. She would eventually grow to like him, too, but it would take a few more times and a lot of bribes.
Like having ice cream on hand for the next time they came to eat.
“We can go somewhere for ice cream. I know the best place in town,” Daxon said, leaning down to be in her eye line and hiding Noah from her view.
“Where?” she asked, her voice softer now.
“Not far from here. What do you say, Ry? Ice cream?”
She patted her stomach. “Not for me. I need to lose some weight. But I’ll sit with you two.”
The idea that she thought she needed to lose a pound was appalling. “You’re perfect the way you are,” he said with a frown.
Her toffee-colored skin darkened with a blush and made Daxon want her that much more.
Ryanne’s smile was so sweet yet so unsure when she looked up at him. She really didn’t see herself, did she? She didn’t see how stunning she was.
Daxon paid the tab and helped Penny out of her seat. He wanted to hold Ryanne’s hand but felt safer having the little girl between the two of them.
They ended up swinging Penny two more times on the way to Daxon’s truck. He buckled her in, gave Ryanne a hand up – and resisted the temptation of cupping her ass in both hands – then headed to the driver’s seat.
“What kind of ice cream can I have?” Penny asked from the backseat.
Daxon glanced at her in the rearview. She was kicking her feet and watching through her window as the world passed them by.
“Any kind you want, angel,” Daxon said.
Ryanne snorted beside him.
“What?” he asked, looking over at her as he waited for the signal to turn green.
“She’s far from an angel. Just wait until you get to know her better.” The smile she gave him was full of affection. He was sure little Penny wasn’t a total angel, but she was far from a bad kid.
Not a chance someone like Ryanne could raise a bad kid.
The ice cream place was packed, so they opted to order at the window and eat at one of the concrete tables outside. For some reason, Daxon had pictured Penny asking for a huge amount of ice cream or a sundae. She had simply asked for a vanilla cone and sat happily beside her sister licking it as it melted onto her hand.
Daxon and Ryanne both got chocolate cones and he did everything in his power to ignore her pink tongue lapping at the ice cream.
“Hey!” Penny said, pointing at Ryanne’s cone. “My ice cream looks like me and your ice cream looks like you,” she said.
Ryanne chuckled. “You’re right. Only, I don’t think you’re quite that pale.”
They touched their ice cream swirls in a cute little toast, then went back to eating their dessert.
He’d wondered if he would have to convince Ryanne to join them, but she had ordered without a fight. She’d wanted the ice cream, but had worried about her weight. Hell. She could gain twenty more pounds and he would still think she was the most alluring woman in the world.
Trying to take
his mind of Ryanne and what she was doing with her tongue, Daxon leaned over and touched his ice cream to the tip of Penny’s nose. She burst into giggles and reached for a napkin.
“Oh, honey. Your nose is the least of your worries,” Ryanne joked.
The little girl had ice cream from her nose to her chin and didn’t seem to notice or didn’t mind. Kids usually didn’t.
Once she was cleaned up, Daxon aimed his truck for their house. The sun was still bright in the sky, one of the best things about summer, and he was far from done being with Ryanne.
“Did you want to stay for a while?” Ryanne asked as if reading his mind.
“Hel – er…yeah.” He had seriously almost cussed in front of Penny. He would have to try better at controlling his mouth as well as his thoughts.
They had only been out for a few hours, but little Penny yawned loudly in the back seat. The sun still had at least another hour before it would disappear behind the trees blanketing the area.
Ryanne got to her sister before Daxon could round the truck. Penny was awake, but she rested her head on Ryanne’s shoulder as she carried her up to the house.
“Can we watch Wreck It Ralph?” she asked sleepily.
“Again?” Ryanne said, smiling over at Daxon. “That’s her new favorite.”
“Mine, too,” he said, but Penny didn’t react. The girl was seriously tired.
He almost missed those days when he could fall asleep anywhere, when he could lay down and close his eyes and not have to worry about tossing and turning for the next hour or more.
Ryanne set the girl on the couch and flipped through her DVDs. He didn’t know many people who still watched movies on DVDs. But Reed from Big River would salivate over their collection of movies. Although most seemed like the Disney type or other kid shows.
“You guys want some snacks or are you stuffed?”
“I’m stuffed,” Penny said on a yawn.
“Got any popcorn?” Daxon asked, taking a spot on the couch beside Penny. She instantly leaned over and rested her head on his arm.
Ryanne stared down at where her baby sister was snuggling up to Daxon and a wistful smile pulled the corners of her lips up.
“She really likes you.”
Daxon shrugged and raised his brows. “Do you blame her?” He was teasing, but he didn’t miss the blush on Ryanne’s cheeks as she turned to head to the kitchen.
As he watched the opening credits, Daxon realized he never heard the microwave beep. Instead, he heard a pot placed on the stove, followed by the popping of corn. She was making it the old school way. When was the last time he’d had homemade popcorn?
He couldn’t remember. He’d been a kid, small enough to sit on his dad’s lap and reach inside the bowl as they watched some nineties cartoon.
If he had realized she was going to go through so much trouble to make it, he never would have asked for it.
A few minutes later, she carried a huge bowl overflowing with buttery popcorn and set it on the coffee table in front of the couch, then took a seat on the other side of Penny. She smiled at him and turned her attention to the screen.
Neither of them was really paying attention to the movie. Daxon lifted his arm, smiled down at Penny when she moved closer to lay her head on his chest, then laid it across the back of the sofa so he could be closer to Ryanne, even if it was only grazing her curls with his fingers.
Ryanne glanced up at him again, then ducked her eyes in a shy move. It was so freaking endearing.
She glanced down at Penny about halfway through the movie, then nodded at her when Daxon looked over. “She’s asleep,” she whispered. “I’m going to take her to bed.”
A blush washed over her cheeks again and he couldn’t help but wonder if she realized they’d be alone again.
They’d been kind of alone that first night after he had taken her to Big River for the cookout. But she’d hugged him goodnight and he had been too big of a pussy to try for a kiss.
That wasn’t true. His deep ingrained lessons of letting a woman choose the pace of a relationship had stopped him from leaning in and tasting her lips.
“Let me,” he said.
“You don’t have to keep doing this stuff. I know you don’t have kids. I know this isn’t something you do on a regular basis.”
“You’re right,” Daxon said, cradling Penny in his arms as he pushed to his feet. “But you do. Let me help. Take a break.” He winked down at Ryanne as he carried Penny to her bedroom.
The little girl’s room was painted white, but the bedspread, curtains, and lamp beside the bed were pink and covered in ballerinas. How cute. Did she aspire to be a ballerina one day? Had Ryanne thought about putting her in dance classes but worried the girl might slip the fact her sister turned into an animal?
Daxon balanced Penny in one arm while he pulled the blankets back. He laid her gently onto the mattress, then covered her up, making sure it reached all the way to her chin. If she got hot later, she could kick the blankets off. But the air was on now and he didn’t want her to get cold.
Wait. Was he supposed to put her pajamas on before depositing her into bed? He didn’t feel comfortable changing her since she wasn’t his daughter. She wasn’t even part of his family.
Yet.
He barely knew either of these females and already they had begun to worm their way into his heart. There was no way anyone could meet the tiny girl and not care about her. She was so damn sweet.
Like her sister.
Speaking of…
She was still sitting on the sofa when he returned to the living room. She’d stopped the movie and held the remote in her hand. “Did you want to watch something else? I don’t have cable, but I bought one of those antennae things so I have public channels.”
She was talking fast, even if she was whispering. She was nervous about being alone with him.
He didn’t want her nervous. He wanted her excited. Tonight wouldn’t be the night he kissed her. He would have to go back to his original plan of letting her make the first move.
Even if it meant taking another cold shower when he got home.
****
Ryanne had always laughed when people said a domestic man was sexy.
Now, she understood.
Watching Daxon take charge and carry her sister to bed did something to her insides. And her heart. She was tempted to ask him if he cooked and cleaned, too.
The tattoos and piercings really were deceiving. He was so sweet and gentle with Penny and looked so natural carrying her instead of being awkward and having no idea how to hold her in his arms.
Those arms had bulged and flexed as he’d lifted Penny. The t-shirt he wore wasn’t too tight, but it left very little to the imagination. It clung to his barrel chest and the sleeves hugged his arms.
So yummy.
And now, they were alone.
She’d wanted that. She had wanted to be able to spend time with him, to talk to him without little ears hanging on to every word.
But nerves turned her stomach and sent butterflies buzzing like crazy in her belly.
She wanted Daxon to cross the room, pull her into his arms, and crash his mouth down on hers. She wanted to pull that t-shirt over his head and lick every tattoo on his body.
But she wasn’t exactly sexually aggressive. She wasn’t shy, per se, but Daxon made her feel…different.
He was all chiseled and beautiful and she was a little squishy in places.
You’re perfect, he’d said. And he’d looked so genuine when he had said it. Maybe he liked a woman with curves. She had never had a problem with her butt, but she’d always wished she had had a flatter stomach. Maybe toned arms.
And a more dominant animal.
His proximity did something strange to her animal. Instead of cowering into the deepest corner of Ryanne’s mind like she did with more dominant beings, she purred and slinked inside Ryanne’s mind, like she wanted to get closer, like she wanted to rub her scent all over Daxon so eve
ryone would know he was off the market.
Silly idea. Men like Daxon didn’t get claimed.
They were the claimers.
Which begged the question, “Why aren’t you mated?”
His head snapped back and his brows popped up to his hairline. “What?”
“You’re, what, late twenties, early thirties?”
“Late twenties,” he said, stopping a foot or two from the couch and crossing his arms over his massive chest.
“Shouldn’t you have a mate by now? Shouldn’t you have claimed a female by now? I mean, I know the laws have changed, but that was only a couple of years ago. You should have had a mate already.”
If she wasn’t mistaken, he looked like she had just insulted him.
“I don’t have a mate because I don’t force females into anything. And the laws changed because of my Pride and my friends you met the other day.”
He dragged a hand down his face, rubbing the stubble on his cheeks and chin. “I should go,” he said, his voice on the growly side.
She had pissed him off. Or hurt him.
What did he mean by his Pride and friends were responsible for the law changes?
“Wait,” she said, jumping to her feet when he crossed the room and headed for the front door.
He stopped but didn’t turn around to look at her.
So, she rounded him and stood in front of him.
His eyes were bright green as he stared down at her. They were more yellow than green, the glow behind them belying his emotions.
“Did I make you mad?” she asked.
“No.” Yep. His voice was full of his panther.
“Then why are you leaving?”
“Because I don’t force women to do anything.”
She frowned up at him. What the hell did that mean? She was so confused. Where did the fun-loving guy from earlier today go?
“Look, I’m sorry for prying. I just…I don’t understand how someone like you is still single.”
It was his turn to look confused. “Why aren’t you mated?” he asked. The growl had subsided a tad and he sounded more like Daxon.