by M. L. Briers
“You came to take me to school!” Stacey chuckled, brimful of happiness.
“You asked — I said I’d be here, and here I am,” Malachi offered back.
He considered it only a small white lie. He didn’t think the child would understand that he had a needed to be outside of their cabin all night long.
“I’m going to tell everyone about my fairy cabin lights, and my huge Christmas tree that’s as big as my house.” She giggled with excitement.
He liked the way that her eyes were wide and shining so brightly. It made his heart hurt in a good way.
“As big as the house?” Malachi challenged her on that one with a teasing smile.
“Well…” She took a moment to think about that one. “Almost.”
“You know, I almost caught a fish that was as big as my truck once…” Malachi offered back and watched her eyes open wide in amazement.
“Really?” She asked, excited by the sound of it.
“Sure, if your tree can be as big as your house then my fish can be as big as my truck, yes?” He offered her a teasing grin, and she chuckled.
“Deal,” she nodded as if they’d just made one.
“Go and get in your car seat,” Malachi chuckled on a small shake of his head. He put Stacey down, and she ran off, happy in her own little world.
Malachi walked toward his mate, and she raised her eyebrows, questioning him with just a look. Malachi chuckled again.
“I think I need to work on my reasoning skills with Stacey,” Malachi admitted that he’d messed up.
“I think she got you there,” Donna chuckled.
“She’s smart — too smart,” Malachi grumbled.
“And devious — and, I think she can wrap you around her little finger,” Donna sniggered.
“I think you’re right,” Malachi grumbled but in a good way.
He’d learned his lesson — hopefully, he wouldn’t repeat it, but he was new to the whole dad thing – so, what were the odds?
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Malachi didn’t like grocery shopping, but he liked grocery shopping with his mate. He liked the way that she turned her nose up at the healthy option, and wrinkled her nose with guilt as she snatched up the sugar ladened option instead.
He liked watching her reach up to try to get something from the top shelf, and he liked it when he leaned in close and got it for her. He really liked watching her bend over for something on the bottom shelf — there was no way in hell that he was going to help her with that one. It was too good view to miss.
By the time that they reached her cabin, Malachi was definitely hungry, and not just for food.
“Yummy breakfast cereal with a sugar coating,” Donna reached for the big box that they’d bought at the store, and that was a mini-drama in itself.
Between them, they had managed to totally confuse the young girl on the checkout by arguing among themselves as to who was going to pay the bill. Of course, Malachi had won the day — as Donna commented on his pouty lip and muttered some strong words under her breath – but he didn’t care because he got to pay the bill.
“No.” Malachi frowned and berated her from under his dark eyebrows. In return, she cocked just one eyebrow back at him.
“No?” She hugged the box to her chest.
“They’re bad for you…”
“They have little pieces of fruit…”
“Bad fruit.”
“I didn’t think any fruit was bad fruit,” Donna huffed back.
“I’m going to make breakfast,” Malachi announced as he reached out and snatched the box from her grip. His mate had had a good grip on the box, and he had to figure that she really wanted the sugary cereal.
“You are?” She offered him a curious look.
“I am. I figure this is a good time to take charge or we’ll be eating cardboard cereal and bad fruit,” Malachi shrugged a shoulder as he started toward the kitchen with the box in hand.
Donna grimaced and refrained from reaching out for her favorite breakfast food. It was quick, easy, and tasty — how could it be wrong?
“Please tell me you have nothing against chocolate,” Donna grumbled as Malachi’s shot a look back over his shoulder at her and grinned from ear to ear.
“I have nothing against any food — but everything in moderation,” he offered as he stashed the box up on top of the cupboard where she couldn’t easily reach it and turned toward the stove.
“Who eats chocolate in moderation?” She tossed him a look of disbelief.
“Not females,” he chuckled and snatched a look at her just as she was scowling back at him.
“It’s in our DNA — you can’t deny a female chocolate when she wants it.”
“I’m well aware. There are times when I will toss a chocolate bar at you, without making eye contact, and back the hell off.” He chuckled to himself.
“The man is wise,” Donna chuckled with him.
Donna had been uneasy most of the night. She hadn’t slept well, not after her father’s visit, and she also knew that Malachi would be outside the cabin all night because he’d said as much in his big mucho tones.
There had been a part of her that wanted to go outside and tell him to sleep in the cabin, on the sofa, of course. But she’d denied herself from doing that because she thought that if she did, then he might not be sleeping on the sofa at all.
Not that she expected him to take advantage of her and crawl into her bed or anything — but, she didn’t know if she could stop herself from asking him to.
The more she’d thought about Malachi — the more she’d tossed and turned in her bed — the more she’d wanted to be with him, see him, and spend time in his company. He was pretty easy company to be around.
She hadn’t expected that. All the rumors and talk around bear shifters were aimed towards the fact that they were temperamental, unpredictable, and violent — when provoked — and some didn’t need provoking.
Malachi wasn’t like that. He might have been big, he might have been a shifter, but he had a certain gentleness to him that she hadn’t expected.
At least, he did around her and Stacy.
She liked that a lot.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~
“You just have to leave them in the sink — that’s what the dishwasher is for,” Donna chuckled as she looked at the man up to his elbows in bubbles, washing the breakfast things at the kitchen sink.
Malachi shot a look at his mate. He was resigned to the fact that she wasn’t exactly housewife of the year material, but that was okay — he’d been taking care of himself and his house for years, and he wasn’t too proud to get his hands dirty with chores.
“This takes five minutes, the dishwasher takes forever, and you need to wait for a whole load of dirty dishes to pile up,” Malachi shrugged his broad shoulders.
“I have a mental image of you in an apron,” she chuckled at the thought. Malachi shot her a scathing look, and a low grumbled growl of disapproval. “Maybe I should get you a pair of fluffy slippers for Christmas with reindeer heads on them.” She chuckled harder and gave him a teasing look.
“Reindeer head slippers on a bear shifter?”
“Maybe a couple of little elves — Santa’s little helpers,” she grinned.
“The only good elf is one that’s buried up to his neck in…” The sound of his mobile going off in his back pocket made him groan inwardly. He wasn’t expecting a call and assumed that the vampire was being annoying again.
Malachi dried his hands and reached for the phone. The name that flashed up somewhat surprised him, and he held up his index finger to Donna as he swiped the screen and took the call.
Malachi headed for the front door, and Donna eyed the plates in the sink with suspicion.
“Lucky timing — I think not,” Donna muttered as she walked to the sink to finish off the plates. “Man timing.”
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�
�Where are they…?” Donna was chucking sofa cushions over her shoulder like a madwoman as she searched for her keys.
Malachi was more than amused to watch his mate in a state of panic. It wasn’t like she didn’t have enough time to scour the cabin from side to side, room to room, find her car keys, and still, make it to Stacey’s school in time to pick her up.
Not to mention the fact that he was there and he knew where his keys were. But would she listen? Hell no, she was female and panicking.
Malachi ducked a flying cushion and snatched another out of the air in front of him. He had to wonder if she was actually aiming at his head.
“Well don’t just stand there…” Donna said, exasperated by the man’s lack of action. She lifted her hand and motioned around the room.
“I have my keys,” Malachi grinned from ear to ear and gave a low, deep chuckle that only exasperated her more.
“Well, you get a gold star,” she playfully sneered back.
“You have plenty of time — I’m not sure how many ways I need to tell you that,” Malachi chuckled.
“Not the point,” Donna said.
Then she turned on her heels and thrust her hands down the back of the sofa cushions. She stood up, placed her hands on her hips, and blew a few stray strands of hair from her face. Her shoulders rose as she took in a deep breath, and then they fell as she blew it out again.
“You’re one of those — laid back — nothing fazes you — kind of guys, aren’t you?” She eyed him with a big dollop of suspicion.
“You mean I don’t panic if I lose my car keys?” Malachi folded his large arms across his chest and grinned from ear to ear.
“I mean — there you are…” She held out her hand and motioned to him. “All Mr. Calm and collected, letting me do all the hard work…”
“You’re searching for your keys and tossing cushions around the room — how hard can it be?” Malachi teased.
Donna’s nose wrinkled as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling and considered a dark word or two in response.
“That’s not the point…” She brought her gaze back to his and wagged her index finger at him as if he was a naughty child.
“So, you want me to throw sofa cushions around the room?” Malachi teased.
“Do you want me to hit you upside the head with a lamp?” Donna shot back.
“I didn’t realize you were so violent — I should have guessed from the first time that you opened the door holding a baseball bat,” Malachi was teasing and playful, and she kind of liked it.
“I have a dark side,” Donna tried not to grin, but she couldn’t help it. He was grinning — it was contagious. At least, that was what she was telling herself.
“Most women do,” Malachi chuckled. He chuckled harder when she screwed up her face and looked at him as if he’d just grown another head.
“Seriously?”
“You don’t think so?”
“I think I am reconsidering hitting you with that lamp,” Donna said and then immediately held up her hand in a eureka moment. “Shopping bags!” She set off for the kitchen counter. It was the last place that she could remember having her keys.
“They’re not there,” Malachi said, but Donna scoured the counter anyway. Then she turned her attention to the area around the counter and inevitably the floor.
“Says you,” Donna muttered.
“And I’m right.”
“And how would you know you’re right if you didn’t know where they…” Donna slowly turned towards him. She had something of a death glare aimed in his direction.
Malachi grinned from ear to ear as he held up his fist, opened his large hand, and the bunch of keys jangling against his palm with the keyring hooked over his middle finger.
“I don’t believe you did that!” Donna rushed towards him. She needed to feel those keys in the palm of her hand – just to know that she had them.
“Payback’s a…” he started, but when Donna tried to snatch the keys from him, and almost broke his finger in the process, he bit down on the pain. “Could I keep my finger?”
“You should have thought about that before you stole my keys and made me search for them,” Donna chuckled. She still had the keys in her hand, and she was letting go.
Malachi wasn’t about to let go either because he couldn’t. The key ring was stuck.
“Stop pulling,” Malachi grumbled a growl.
“Then let go,” Donna bit out.
“I can’t let go — it’s stuck around my finger,” Malachi offered back, but he could see that his mate had something of a deranged look in her eye. Perhaps teasing her with the keys wasn’t such a good idea.
“Well, that’s the breaks — and by break,” she grinned.
“You’d break my finger to get the keys?”
“Well, I need the keys to drive the car,” she offered with an innocent little shrug of her shoulders. “Your finger isn’t necessary.”
“Harsh,” Malachi grumbled another playful growl.
“Mess with the bull and – you know the rest,” Donna wiggled her eyebrows at him.
Malachi liked that look on her. It was sexy.
Mine…
Malachi reached out with his other hand and wrapped his arm around her waist. He yanked her forward, and with one hand still on the keys, she was thrown off balance and couldn’t save herself from crashing into his chest.
As a belated thought, her other hand pressed against the hard muscles of his chest, and she had the urge to curl her fingers and test their strength. The growl that rolled through his chest vibrated against her fingers, and her gaze snapped up to his.
“You might have the keys, and my finger, but I have you,” Malachi growled.
His wide grin became a lot more serious as his eyes darkened and his beast pushed against the cage that he had him locked in.
Donna swallowed down the excitement that rolled through her body in waves — unending — with the internal combustion engine that was throwing out heat through her body and making her feel fevered.
Of course, her heart had tried to escape her ribs to get to him. Her fingers still wanted to curl against his muscles, and boy, was her mind flashing some very rude thoughts?
Malachi closed his large hand around the keys and her hand. He took her arm down and around behind her back, as he leaned in and brought his lips down on hers.
Mine…
Her lips were soft, and he couldn’t resist tasting them. When Donna instinctively opened for him, he deepened the kiss.
Malachi was in heaven. He hadn’t yet wooed his mate, and he needed to remember that.
Mine…
His mind, his body, and his soul wanted to go full steam ahead — not to mention his beast — but that couldn’t be for many reasons.
One of those reasons was that they needed to pick Stacey up from school.
Malachi was happy at that moment just to have the connection with her. He could wait for the rest.
Mating – bonding, however long it took to win her as his, was just fine with him.
She was his mate and nothing, and no one was going to get between them.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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Donna’s mind was still back on that kiss. It didn’t help that Malachi was sitting beside her in the car.
The man’s presence alone was distracting. Especially, with all of the feelings and emotions from that kiss twisting around within her that she was still trying to deal with and process.
When the big black truck came out of nowhere and blocked the drive in front of her, Donna snapped to attention, and both of her feet stomped down on the brake. The heady sound of Malachi’s angry growl filled the car and mixed with Donna’s dark curses.
“Are you hurt?” Malachi growled out at the same time that he punched his seatbelt off and turned to look at his mate.
Malachi’s eyes took her in. He was looking for signs of trauma, and all the while he growled and bit off curses. Whoever owned the truck was
in serious danger of being beaten to death.
“I’m fine,” Donna played pattycake with his hands as he reached for different parts of her body, testing for injuries.
“Are you sure?” He demanded.
“I’m sure.”
“Then I’m going to kill that man,” Malachi turned his attention towards the door.
He popped the lock and kicked the door wide. The hinges protested, and yet he didn’t care as he unfolded his body from inside the car and started the short distance between the two vehicles.
Donna panicked once more. The last thing that they needed was for Malachi to do anything stupid.
It had been a near miss accident — not something that the man needed to rush to anger about.
Donna rushed to get out of the car. Her eyes were on Malachi has he stalked towards the truck — but when the driver’s door opened, and her father climbed out — Donna wanted to kill dear old dad herself.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Malachi growled as he made a beeline for her father.
“Are you crazy? Stacey could have been in the car!” Donna started toward her father.
“Stacey is at school,” James replied with a small sneer. “I’m here to give you a last warning — get your things and come back with me now.”
Malachi’s long legs might have been eating up the distance toward her father, but Donna was highly motivated and was coming up behind him fast.
“I wouldn’t leave with you if hell had frozen over,” Donna spat out in disgust.
“If that’s the way you want it — I just bought the company that gives you your contracts — your services are no longer required,” James said. The look on his face was pure satisfaction.
“You…” Donna launched herself towards him. It was only Malachi’s quick thinking as he wrapped an arm around her and snatched her backward that stopped her from attacking her father.
“Easy Mama bear,” Malachi whispered against her ear.
That time she hated the fact that his voice was so damn soothing to her nerves. She was more than willing to rip her father’s head off and hand it back to him.