by Zoe Chant
Leah sat up, leaving Emily with the book she’d been reading. “That’s right. I’ll need to call a tow truck—what’s the closest company, is there someone local? And if you could recommend somewhere inexpensive to stay, I’d appreciate that very much.”
Jeff undid his seatbelt and turned around immediately. “I thought you were going to stay with me?”
Leah opened her mouth, and then closed it. She’d—well, she’d accepted his dinner invitation. But he hadn’t said anything about staying with him. She’d definitely remember that, if so.
She’d already told herself she’d refuse him if he asked, but it seemed like he wasn’t even asking, just assuming. Like it was the most natural thing, like there wasn’t even a question that Leah and Emily belonged with him.
“You’re also welcome to stay with my wife and me, Leah, if that makes you more comfortable,” Grey murmured. “I’m sure Alethia would love to have the company.”
Leah’s head was spinning. She’d been so sure she’d have to find the money for a motel somehow, and now she had two different offers to host her and Emily free of charge.
But really, she couldn’t impose on someone she’d just met, not to mention someone else she hadn’t met at all. Grey seemed nice, but that didn’t mean she had to right to invade his home.
Back at the cabin, she’d had this fantasy of saying goodbye to Jeff for his sake, and for the sake of her own emotions, but here in the harsh light of day, she was realizing she didn’t have that luxury. There just weren’t that many options.
And she’d rather take advantage of Jeff, who she truly believed didn’t mind that much, than dump herself and her baby on a poor unsuspecting ranger’s wife who had no idea they were coming.
“I didn’t want to assume,” she told Jeff, who immediately relaxed. The worry faded from his face, and Leah guessed he really did want them in his house, or at least wanted to know that they were okay.
“Assume,” he told Leah with a smile. “I still have to cook you dinner, after all.”
Leah shot a quick look at Grey, whose face was impassive. But was that a little quirk at the corner of his mouth, a twinkle in his eyes? It was hard to tell.
She did notice that Grey’s eyes were very similar to Jeff’s—more silvery in color, but almost the same. She wondered if that meant that Grey was a snow leopard, too. Would it be rude to ask? Probably.
“I’ll drop you both off at Jeff’s place, then—we can make sure that you two ladies are settled in okay, and then head into work. Jeff or I will get in touch with someone to tow your car back to a garage in town so that it can be looked at.”
“That sounds great,” Leah said. “Thank you so very much, both of you.”
“It’s truly no problem,” Jeff insisted.
Grey started up the SUV, then, and drove them a few more blocks to a very pleasant-looking little house at the end of a tree-lined street. Leah could imagine that in summer it would be leafy and shaded, but now the trees were all covered in snow, and sparkling in the sunlight. It looked like a scene from a winter postcard.
“Here we are,” Grey announced, and they all fell to the task of getting everything out of Grey’s car and into the house.
Inside, it was cozy and homey-looking, much more so than Leah would’ve expected from a single man. It was still obviously masculine, no pastels or frills or flowers or anything like that, but the living room had a warm rug in the center of the hardwood floor, with a luxurious-looking sectional couch and two armchairs. There were even end tables. Leah set Emily, still in her car seat with eyes starting to droop, down next to the couch and looked around.
There was a flatscreen TV mounted on one wall, but the furniture was oriented to cluster around the fireplace. It would be easy to sit on one side of the couch and watch a movie, but it would be easier to sit around a roaring fire and talk. Another thing she wouldn’t have expected from a single man.
Although when she thought about it...Jeff was such a practical, earthy man, he wouldn’t be likely to have a living room that was a shrine to the Xbox or the Playstation. The comfortable furniture fit him in a way that game consoles wouldn’t.
“This is a beautiful home,” she told Jeff, as he brought in the last of her things from the car and set them in the pile he and Grey had made in one corner.
A smile spread over his face. “Thank you. I’m really glad you think so.” He sounded genuinely pleased to hear it, too.
“Okay,” Grey said. “Anything you need? We really need to get going.”
Jeff glanced over at Grey—he almost looked annoyed, but then he shook his head and said, “Yeah, I know we have a ton to do. Okay. The bathroom’s right through there, and there should be plenty of food in the kitchen. Please eat some of it. No more trail mix, okay?”
Leah raised her eyebrows at him, using humor to cover her discomfort that he’d realized she wouldn’t want to take even more advantage of him by eating his food. “Or what?”
“I’ll make extra dinner and pile it twice as high as I would have otherwise,” Jeff said firmly. “So no trail mix for lunch.”
“No trail mix for lunch,” Leah promised.
“Okay. Make yourself at home. I’ll see you tonight, all right?”
“See you tonight,” Leah echoed, uncomfortably aware of how domestic that sounded. As though they were married, and Jeff was leaving for work on an ordinary morning.
Jeff seemed to realize it, too, because he was smiling a little ruefully. “Okay, let’s go,” he told Grey, and the two men headed out the door.
After the door closed behind them, Leah blew out her breath and let herself drop down to sit on the couch.
“Well,” she told Emily, “looks like we’re staying here for a little while.”
Emily yawned.
“Naptime for you, honey,” Leah told her.
She set up the Pack-n-Play in a spare room and laid Emily down in it. The baby was already half-asleep. Then she came out into the living room and surveyed her stuff.
“Better clean this up,” she said to herself, and set to it.
She quietly moved most of her things into the same spare room where Emily was sleeping, figuring they’d be out of the way in there. It just looked like a guest bedroom, so maybe she’d sleep in there tonight.
Although she guessed Jeff would probably want her to sleep in with him.
She wanted that. Oh, did she want that. The memory of last night—his big, warm body wrapping her up, his sweet mouth, how he’d felt inside of her...
And she’d never felt a connection like that during sex before. It was almost as though, just for a moment, they’d shared their very beings with each other, like they were two halves of the same whole.
And if she was going to be staying here anyway...why not do it again?
Because you’ll break your heart.
But wouldn’t it be better to get as much of Jeff as possible, while she could? To drink in as much of the experience as she’d get, so that later, when she was gone, she could look back on it and nourish herself with it, a bit?
Or would she just be more and more bitter that she didn’t have him anymore? Was she making excuses just because she wanted him so much?
She didn’t know.
Before she could come up with any kind of an answer, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out. Reception had come back, and her phone was informing her that she had voicemails. A few of them. And missed calls from her mom.
Leah sighed. Then she scolded herself for being annoyed. Her mother was worried about her, like any mother would be. There was no reason to be irritated by that.
Rather than listen to the messages, Leah just called her mom back right away. She picked up immediately, and Leah closed her eyes through the expected storm of anger.
“Where the hell are you? I thought you were coming last night! If you changed your plans and didn’t tell me—”
“No, Mom,” Leah interrupted. “There was a big snowstorm last night a
nd I had some car trouble. I’m right near Glacier, but it might take a little while to get the car fixed, so I don’t know when I’m going to get there.”
“Where are you staying? You can’t afford a motel, can you? I’m not sending you money.” Her mother’s voice was sharp and annoyed.
“No, Mom. One of the locals took pity on me and is putting me and Emily up for a few days. Don’t worry about it.”
“Is this local a man or a woman?” her mom asked suspiciously.
Leah didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to tell the truth, either. She stayed quiet. How did her mom always know to ask the worst possible questions?
“A man, then.” Her mom sounded disgusted. “This is how you got into this in the first place, Leah! You’d better not end up pregnant again, because I don’t even have the space for one baby, let alone two.”
Leah sat down on the couch, hunching in on herself as tears pricked at her eyes. In just a few words, her mother had transformed the entire situation into something that sounded so...sordid.
Like Jeff would only have let her stay with him if they were sleeping together, which she knew wasn’t true. He would’ve offered his home to her and Emily even if she’d said no last night, even if she said no tonight and any other nights. He was that kind of a guy.
And even though they had slept together last night, it had been wonderful. Beautiful. Not like her mother was making it sound.
“I’m not going to get pregnant again, Mom,” Leah said. She’d gotten a birth control implant right after Emily was born, because neither she nor Rob had wanted to risk an accidental pregnancy, and even with the implant, she wasn’t about to have unprotected sex with Jeff, because nothing was one hundred percent certain. Plus, she was still breastfeeding. “It’s fine. It’s not like that.”
“Of course it isn’t,” her mom said, sounding like she didn’t believe her one bit. “You know, I wasn’t happy when you told me you had to come home again, but I’m starting to think it’s the best place for you. Especially with a little girl around.”
Leah swallowed and bit her lip. The tears receded. “Well, Mom, that’s where I’m going, as soon as I can get my car fixed, all right? I’ll keep you posted on when.”
“Fine,” her mom said. “I have to get back to work. See if you can find any female locals who might take you in.” She hung up.
Leah set her phone on the coffee table, resisting the urge to throw it at the wall, and let herself fall down to lie on the couch.
Maybe she’d just close her eyes.
Maybe if she closed her eyes, she’d wake up and everything would be better.
***
Jeff pulled into work, was about to get out of the car, and then remembered his phone.
He’d grabbed it as he’d left, but hadn’t checked the messages yet. As he thumbed it on, he winced.
Seventeen missed calls. Cal, Grey, Cal again, his mom, his dad, his oldest sister, his oldest brother, his mom again...
Hastily, he dialed his parents’ house.
The phone was snatched up immediately. “Hello?”
“I’m fine, Dad,” Jeff said immediately. “I went out to check the highway last night, see if there was anyone in trouble, and I found a mother and her baby stuck in the snow. We stayed in one of the vacation cabins up on the mountain. I didn’t have my phone with me and she didn’t have any reception, so we couldn’t get hold of anyone until the plow came through this morning.”
“You scared the hell out of us, son,” his father said. “We thought you’d gotten lost in the storm or something.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Jeff said sincerely. “I didn’t mean to worry anybody. I should’ve checked in with Cal before I left.”
“Damn right you should have!” his father barked. “That was irresponsible, Jeff, and I’m surprised at you.”
“I didn’t think I was going to have to stay up there overnight, Dad. But I had to—I couldn’t let Leah and Emily stay out in the cold any longer.”
“That’s the mother and baby? Are they all right?” his dad asked gruffly.
“They’re just fine. They’re staying with me for a little while.”
“They’re staying with you?” Jeff could hear his father’s eyebrows go up. “Do they not have anywhere else to go? Where’s this woman’s family?”
Jeff wasn’t sure he could explain Leah’s family situation in a way that his dad would understand. In the Hart clan, family was everything, and everyone would help out a brother or sister or cousin in trouble—let alone a child or grandchild. Saying that Leah couldn’t ask her family for help just wouldn’t compute.
“She doesn’t have any family around here, Dad, but even if she did, I’d want her to stay with me.” Jeff hadn’t meant to do this over the phone, but he had to explain something. “Leah’s my mate, Dad. I want her with me forever.”
There was a long pause. Then, “Jeff, you know what your mother says about that.”
“I know,” Jeff said. “But I’m right about this. There’s no question about it.”
“There’s no question that you’re very attracted to this woman, I believe that,” his father said gently. “She sounds like she’s in trouble, if she’s all alone with a baby. But Jeff, just because she’s in trouble doesn’t mean that she’s your mate. You can help her out without thinking you’re destined to be together forever.”
“I don’t just want to help her out, Dad.” Jeff struggled to stay calm. “I want her to stay with me. It’s my job to help people who’re in trouble, and I’ve helped plenty of them without falling for them.” He took a deep breath. “Leah is my mate, and if you can’t accept that, I hope you can at least accept that she’s very special to me and I’ll be asking her to stay as long as she likes. If you can’t...I might not be coming around for a little while.”
“All right, all right,” his dad said. “I hear you. But I just want you to think about this, all right, Jeff? If nothing else, she’s all alone with a baby. A woman doesn’t end up like that without a history.”
Jeff’s fists clenched, and his calm evaporated. “If you’re implying that she’s got something wrong with her because she was in a relationship with someone who turned out to be untrustworthy, well, Dad, I think that reflects more on you than it does on her. Please let everyone know I’m fine. Goodbye.”
He hung up before his dad could say anything else. Then he let out his breath on a long sigh.
Well. He’d known that his parents were going to be skeptical of the whole mate idea, but that could still have gone a lot better.
He couldn’t believe that his dad had as much as implied that Leah was the one who’d done something wrong.
His dad had raised Jeff to believe that if he ever ended up a father, no matter what, he had to step up and take responsibility for that. So Jeff couldn’t understand why his dad seemed to think that it was Leah’s fault that another guy hadn’t done that for her.
Annoyed, Jeff shoved his phone in his pocket and got out of his car, slamming the door. Grey, who’d pulled in just ahead of him and was waiting at the door of the rangers’ official SUV, said mildly, “Something wrong?”
Jeff stepped up to him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure. Can’t promise I’ll answer.”
“How did you know Alethia was your mate? Could you tell the instant you laid eyes on her?”
Grey’s eyes widened minutely, the only sign of surprise on his impassive face. “Why do you ask?”
Jeff hesitated, but it was probably obvious already, so. “Leah. She’s my mate, I know it, but my family...they don’t really believe in mates. So I wanted to talk to someone who’d found his.”
“Well,” said Grey slowly, “all right. No, I didn’t know Alethia was my mate the second I saw her. But I knew there was something about her.”
“You had a connection,” Jeff guessed.
Grey nodded. “Yes. But it wasn’t until we’d spent,” he hesitated, “a day or so together th
at I knew for certain.”
Spent the night, Jeff interpreted. He knew Grey would never say that—he was a very private person, and he was even more careful of Alethia’s privacy. Questions about her from the guys almost always got a shrug and an, Ask her if you really want to know.
But Jeff thought he knew what Grey meant, because the same thing had happened to him.
“That’s exactly right,” Jeff said. “I felt a connection with Leah when I first saw her. But now, now that we’ve spent some time together, I know. She’s my mate.”
Grey nodded approvingly. “Congratulations.”
“But how do I tell her? I’m worried she’s not going to believe me.”
Now Grey’s expression went rueful. “I don’t have any advice for you there, I’m afraid. I didn’t do it too well with Alethia. And she even knew about shifters already. Does Leah...?”
“I told her this morning,” Jeff said. “She seemed happy. She was smiling...” Such a big, wondering smile, like she’d always hoped magic was real, and here was the proof.
“That’s a good sign,” Grey said. “But all you can really do is be honest and hope for the best. There’s no secret method.”
Jeff sighed. “I know.” He straightened. “All right, enough procrastinating. Let’s get to work.”
Grey looked amused, but followed him into the rangers’ headquarters anyway.
***
Leah ended up napping on the couch until Emily woke her up crying.
“Okay, baby,” Leah mumbled, pushing herself to her feet. “Mommy’s coming.”
She made her way into the spare room and picked up her sobbing, wet, hungry daughter, and set about changing her diaper and settling herself on the couch to nurse.
Once Emily was eating, Leah grabbed her phone—and realized she’d been asleep for almost four hours. She stared down at Emily.
“You never sleep that long. Is something wrong?”
Emily chose not to answer, too focused on her meal.