by Lynn Howard
Shawnee shrugged up her shoulders. “I kind of want to keep you to myself for a while, too.”
****
Colton and Shawnee made love two more times before he finally carried her into the shower and washed her. Well, they washed each other. Which almost turned into a third time, but Colton needed food to replenish his lost energy.
He’d known Shawnee was sexy as hell, but he’d had no idea how fucking passionate the woman was. Did her piece of shit asshole former mates have any idea of the perfection they’d had in their lives? Doubtful.
Now, she sat beside him at the table, her curly red hair drying in ringlets down her back. Once again, she’d skipped the makeup and was wearing another one of her new outfits. This one was a long, flowy striped skirt with a simple tank top. Thankfully - for both him and any bastards who might think to check out her tits – she was wearing a bra underneath.
“Any idea where you want to start?” Colton asked her as he guided the truck into Fenton. There really weren’t a whole lot of places to shop in Cedar Hill. And he wanted his mate to have fun and get anything and everything she was looking for.
“I literally have no idea. This is the part where I say wherever you want to go. So, yeah…I’m clueless as to what I’m actually into.”
“We’ve got all day. And if you don’t find anything today, we’ll go again this week. And next weekend. And every day until you find the perfect crap.”
“Crap?” she asked with a tinkling laugh.
“Stuff? Things?”
She shook her head and went back to watching the scenery pass. Her smiles came so easily today. Something had changed since last night. It was like she’d found herself while lying beside him over night and he loved every second of it.
Pulling into the long strip of stores, he parked at the first store and leaned over to steal a kiss before he climbed from his seat. After he rounded the hood and opened her door, he couldn’t help himself but to steal yet another kiss. Really, he could spend every second of the rest of his life snuggled between her thighs, just tasting her lips.
“Unless you’re ready to go home already, I suggest you behave yourself,” she said against his lips, a smile in her voice.
Colton groaned his disapproval and reluctance to pull away before lowering her from the truck with his hands on her hips.
“You realize I can climb down on my own, right?” she said, nudging him as they walked across the parking lot hand in hand.
“Yep. You realize I’m just copping a feel each time, right?”
Shawnee’s head whipped up as she let out this surprised, faux shocked sound with a smile on her face that let Colton know she was far from offended.
They went from store to store. Each time Shawnee would pick something up, turn it over, and shake her head. So far, she was turning her nose up at the overly feminine crap. Hallelujah. Colton was fully prepared to live with a bunch of lacy, floral décor, but was overjoyed that his woman wasn’t into that.
The third store they tried, her excitement grew over a bunch of brightly colored pillows and bed spreads. Bright, but not too girly. He could live with that. “You like them?” he asked as she held a couple of smaller pillows against the comforter on the show bed.
“I think I do. I think my favorite color might be blue. Because I keep wanting the blue stuff.”
Colton glanced up at the ceiling and thanked whoever was listening. She wasn’t gravitating toward dark blue, like Colton would have, but at least it wasn’t pink.
“You sure about this?” she asked when Colton told her to toss the bedding set into a cart he pushed behind her.
“Absolutely. Get it. Get anything you want.”
Colton had intentionally saved every penny he’d made for years in anticipation of a family. And he’d spend his savings on his mate if it made her smile the way she did now.
“What about this one?” she asked, holding up a pink atrocity that looked like something his grandma had in her house.
Forcing a smile on his face, he nodded. “That would be just fine, too.”
“You’re grimacing,” she said, her lips trembling as she tried to hold back the smile. And then she barked out a laugh. “Did you really think I’d want something like this in our house?”
Colton’s heart did that flutter thing again. Our house. Damn, he loved the way that sounded coming from that pretty mouth of hers.
Hand to his heart, Colton left out a heavy sigh. “Thank God. I got a little nervous.”
Shawnee tossed a small throw pillow at him. He stood and let it whack him in the face. When her smile dropped and she seemed to be waiting for his reaction, he snorted with the laugh he was holding back. His mate was playing with him. In public. She wasn’t concerned with what people around her might be thinking.
As he watched, Shawnee grabbed a sheet set that matched the blue and light green – she’d called it sea foam green – comforter, a set of curtains, and a few smaller pillows.
“How are you going to sleep with that many?” he asked.
“They’re for decoration. You don’t really sleep with them.”
Her next step was the bathroom area. His bathroom was fairly plain. He had white towels, white porcelain tiles, and white walls. She grabbed some blue towels and a rug that was similar to the comforter.
“Any chance you’ll let me paint the bathroom walls?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as she held up a picture depicting a cartoonish woman stepping out of the shower.
“It’s your place, too. Do whatever you want.”
Shawnee set the picture down and turned around. “It’s ours. You said that. I want both of us to choose the stuff together. So far, you’re letting me do all the choosing.”
“Honestly?”
“Of course,” she said, crossing her arms as if ready to close herself off.
“I have no sense of style. The white walls are because I had no idea what color to paint them. As long as you don’t do that lacy pink shit,” he said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the comforter she’d teased him with, “you can paint any room any color you want. You can paint the damn wood beams outside, if you really want.”
“That would be weird,” she said, crinkling her cute little nose. Seriously. Did she do anything he didn’t find adorable?
Once she’d grabbed what she wanted from that store, they carried it all out to the truck. He stopped and looked down the row to the stores they’d yet to check out. They were not done. “Get in,” he said, grabbing her hips and lifting her into the front seat. “It’s getting hot and I don’t want to walk all the way down there.”
“Down where?”
“Target. You need some pajamas.”
“You don’t want me sleeping in your shirts?” she asked, turning in her seat to look at him.
“I don’t mind you wearing my shirts every single night. But I want you to have as much as you want and need. The fact you own nothing but sexy shit tells me those weren’t your choice.”
And the fact those sexy little nighties were bought for her previous mates made Colton want to burn every single one of them.
Colton let Shawnee out at the door. “Go ahead and start shopping. I’ll catch up with you.”
“You don’t want to come in with me?”
He looked across the parking lot. The place was packed. He’d have to park a good distance away and it was hot. He didn’t want his mate sweating her ass off. “It’s too hot to walk all that way.”
“You’re going to,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in the seat as if she refused to budge. “If you can walk that far in the heat, so can I.”
“Stubborn little pussy cat, aren’t you,” he teased. Her head whipped around and her mouth popped open. He shot her an unapologetic grin and turned the car down a long row filled with cars.
“I can’t believe you called me a pussy cat,” she said when he helped her down. “I’ll have you know I have claws.”
&nb
sp; “That I would love to feel scratching down my back,” he muttered. He was fully aware she could hear him, but kept his eyes forward as he walked to the front door with his hand wrapped around hers.
Colton glanced down at her from corner of his eye; his mate was bright pink and there was an obvious glow in her golden eyes. “Might want to get hold of yourself before the humans see those eyes,” he teased.
“You’re not helping,” she said, rubbing her forefinger and thumb against her lids as if that would help.
By the time they made it across the parking lot and up to the door, her blush had faded and her eyes were back to normal. Or as normal as a lion Shifter’s could be.
Shawnee stood just inside the front of the store and looked around. Then she dragged Colton behind her, smiling as she headed straight for the bras and panties.
“Is this payback?” he asked as she held up a barely-there thong to her lower half.
“Yep. And, yeah, it’s working. Might want to do something about those eyes, mate.”
With a raise of a brow, she turned and left him there to deal with his glowing eyes. Oh, his mate was getting sassier as the day grew on. And made him want her all that much more.
****
Shawnee had never had so much fun shopping in her life. Colton laughed so easily and had a permanent smile on his face. When she’d first met him, she’d wondered about that, was mildly jealous over his constant happiness. Now? She totally understood. Colton made life fun. His mindset was always positive, so nothing affected him.
After a little persuasion, Shawnee agreed that she needed some sleep clothes that weren’t solely for a man’s approval. She grabbed some long t-shirts, a few cotton nightgowns, and a couple sleep tank and short sets.
“This is getting to be too much, Colton,” she said when he handed her another set to throw in the basket.
“Nope. I saved money just for you. Spend it.”
Shawnee gave him a disbelieving frown. “You didn’t even know I’d be your mate. You didn’t save that for me.”
“I saved it for when I had a mate. That’s you. Every penny is for you, Shawnee. Not like I have bills.”
True. Shifters tended to pay for things with cash. Their homes were built themselves. Their power was under a fake name and paid for with cash. There was no water bill, no sewer bill, no cable bill. Nova from Big River Pack was the first Shifter ever to use her real name in the public eye when she’d written and published fiction books about, well, Shifters. At the time, she hadn’t even actually met another Shifter, so she’d had to guess about the romantic element. Although, from what Shawnee had heard through the grapevine, she’d been pretty damn close about the mate bond.
Not that Shawnee knew about that. She’d been chosen because she was available and needed a mate. Or so she’d thought.
Turning and tilting her head back, she studied Colton as he inventoried what she had in the cart. She didn’t need a mate. He’d taught her there was strength deep inside of her, even if she was still struggling to keep from shrinking back into herself constantly.
Nope. She didn’t need a mate. But when his eyes raised and met hers, she knew she didn’t want to be without Colton, either. He was the closest to a best friend she’d ever had. She truly and deeply cared about him and wanted to be with him. It was such a liberating feeling. Each day with him, she found more and more strength.
“You sure you don’t want anything else?” he asked.
Shawnee felt the moment her heart opened wide for Colton. It was the same moment her lioness actually crept forward and declared Colton her mate. For the first time in her life, she knew exactly where she belonged: Wherever this giant, warm, beautiful man was.
Chapter Seven
Colton pushed the cart through the aisles, watching as Shawnee picked things up and either lowered or raised her brows. He was getting used to her expressions, could tell exactly the moment she decided whether she liked something, could tell exactly when she wanted to take it home. He’d only intended for her to buy herself some more lounge type clothes, but when she wandered down the home goods aisle and discovered a few more home décor things, there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d tell her no.
In the end, he didn’t really need to say no. She only chose a few empty picture frames and tossed them in the cart on top of her PJs.
“What are those for?”
“This one is for a pic of Blackwater. This one is for Hope Pride. This one is for Big River,” she said, lifting each individual frame. “And this one is for when we finally have a picture of us together.” Light pink made her freckles stand out even more on her cheeks.
So many things floated through his head but he couldn’t settle on a single one. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead and breathed in her scent. His mate. His true mate. He had no idea whether she’d ever know how deeply she was burrowing into his heart, but he was doing his best to show her.
Shawnee gingerly laid the last frame on top of everything else as if there was already a picture of them under the glass. She laid a hand on the side of the cart as Colton aimed it toward the front of the store.
“You sure you don’t want to look at anything else?”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve touched every single thing in here,” she said with a wide grin and a twinkle in her eye. There was seriously a twinkle and she was glowing. How had he not noticed that before?
His mate was truly the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. He couldn’t wait until they Shifted and ran through the woods together. He couldn’t wait to see her lioness.
Colton unloaded the cart and paid for everything, gently pushing Shawnee’s hands away when she tried to grab the bags and load them into the cart. She cocked one brow, pushed his hands away, and proceeded to load it all up, hooking the bag with the frames over her arm.
With a bit of a pep to his step, Colton leaned against the handle of the cart when Shawnee stopped to admire a few plants lined up on the sidewalk outside. She turned her face up to him. “Do you think we should—”
“Shawnee Baker,” a woman said. She didn’t call it out in a question, more of an accusation, like the person couldn’t believe Shawnee was in public. Her tone was far too condescending and disciplinary for Colton’s taste.
Shawnee’s shoulders tightened and she slowly turned, all hints of the earlier smiles and laughter long gone from her face. “Jeremy. Tonya,” she said with a dip of her head and her eyes on the ground. “This is my mate, Colton Barnes of Blackwater Clan. Mate, this is Jeremy and Tonya of Horine Pride. They are friends of my parents and reside in my family Pride.”
Her voice was flat, and the words sounded as if she were reading a list from a sheet of paper. She didn’t raise her eyes to the older people glaring at her, raking their eyes up and down her body with disgust all over their judgmental fucking faces.
“How are ya?” Colton said, offering his hand. Neither of the fuckers took it. They were too busy staring Shawnee down. It was like he could see her slowly deflating under their scrutiny.
“We’d heard you got stuck with a bear. Just as well. Since none of the lions are interested, at least you found someone willing to take you in. Are you pregnant yet?”
Colton glanced down at Shawnee as his anger built. Come on, girl. Tell them to fuck off. You’ve got this.
“I don’t know. It’s only been a week,” she said, her voice soft. And those pretty eyes were still on the fucking ground.
“How the hell would it be your business if my mate was pregnant or not? Did you want to go inside and get a pregnancy test? Maybe you’ll want to go into the stall with her to watch her piss on it.”
Dammit. He’d meant to keep his mouth shut and let Shawnee fight her own battle. He wanted her to draw on her own strength. But these two pieces of shit were making her feel small again and he couldn’t tolerate that. He was quickly moving past anger and straight into rage.
“Excuse me?” the woman, Tonya, said, holding her hand to her chest as
if offended.
“This is Pride business, bear,” Jeremy said, taking a step toward Colton.
Oh, come on, asshole. Give me a reason to lay your ass out.
Leaning only his head down and lowering his voice to preternatural levels, Colton sneered at Jeremy. “She is no longer your business. You should be ashamed of yourself for asking her personal shit. What we do in our home is our business. If she wants cubs, she’ll let me know. If she doesn’t…well, I’ll just keep on worshipping her. You know, the way she’s supposed to be worshipped.”
“Her job is to breed,” Tonya said, her eyes sliding over Shawnee’s body again. “What the hell are you wearing? Your mother would have a coronary if she saw you—”
“Shut up,” Shawnee said, her head finally raising. Her chin jutted out and she pushed her shoulders back. She looked like she was getting ready for a battle. “He’s right. This is my life. This is our life. Colton is my mate and better than any lion in Horine or Tammen or anywhere else. You’re just pissed because you don’t get to mistreat me anymore. And you can stop wrinkling your nose at my clothes. Because I happen to like them. I chose them. And you know what else? Colton likes my fat ass just the way it is.”
She stomped right past the couple, stopped, came back and grabbed the cart, and pushed it forward. “Oh, and he let me pick all this out. And he bought it for me. And you know what else?” She looked back at Colton, looking for strength or making sure he was still there. “I think I’m going to get a job.” Her brows raised at Colton. They hadn’t discussed that. Not that Colton minded her working. He wanted whatever made her happy. And if that included a job, he’d drive her all around town until she found something.
Colton’s grin was so wide it almost reached his ears. Maybe the couple had beaten Shawnee down, but she hadn’t stayed down. She’d risen like a freaking tsunami and rolled right over those two assholes. Brows high, he shrugged at Jeremy and Tonya, and then jogged to catch up to his mate who was putting the bags in the back of the truck.