“Jake’s a womanizer.” The words left her lips before she had a chance to think them through. It was her defense mechanism. She didn’t really know if he was a true womanizer. All she knew was the he owned a strip club.
“Do I need to slap you upside the head with that big ass mirror over there?” Letty snapped. “Is this the same guy who called me down at the lobby because you were so freaked out it worried him?”
He had? This was all so new to her. Nic just didn’t know what to do. “Jake called you?”
“Mm-hm. He didn’t just call me,” Letty said. “He ordered me to get my ass up here because his ‘mate’ was upset and he didn’t know how to make you feel better.”
That just wasn’t like Jake. He was so laid back. So...chilled. Like nothing ever bothered him. From what she’d seen of him since she woke up it was like a whole new person. A much more controlled man with the sex drive of a God. He was such a dirty-talker. All she had to do was remember some of the things he’d said and her skin heated.
“I guess you’re thinking of something good about him.” Letty raised a brow. “You got that whole ga-ga look on your face.”
Nic inhaled sharply. “Look. I get that I got drunk and propositioned Jake—”
“Married. You married Jake,” Letty drawled slowly.
“Fine!” she growled. “I married Jake. We’re both adults. I’m sure we can figure this out without anyone having to lose a limb over pissing the other off.”
Letty stood. She straightened her jacket and grinned. “Good luck with that one. While you try not to kill your new husband and become a widow in a single day, I heard the Alpha from the Vegas Pack hit on you last night.”
“Oh, hell.”
Letty headed for the bathroom entrance, stopped and turned to face Nic again. “Try to keep your new husband from bloodying the lobby. It takes forever to get that cleaned up.” She smiled. “So think about what it is you want. Oh, and remember you and I still have a date to visit the evil parents this evening.”
“Like I’d forget,” Nic mumbled.
Letty twisted her lips. “I sure as hell tried to, but mom called. Repeatedly. There’s no ignoring her.”
Nic nodded. She wiggled her toes in the cool water. Her feet didn’t look like giant hams anymore. “It’s fine. I’ll be ready by the time you get off.”
“So he left? And you haven’t seen him since?” Barbara asked, handing Nic a cup of coffee.
She’d just gotten out of the shower when Barbara had knocked on the door wanting to know how Nic was feeling.
“He left. Said he’d give me some time to myself so I don’t feel overwhelmed by him.” She sighed. She would’ve preferred for him to stick around and talk to her. Tell her how he felt. What he wanted. But no, he’d gone and any question she had for him would have to wait.
Barbara shook her head. “Those boys. I swear I should’ve smacked them upside their heads more often. Maybe then they’d have listened to me.”
Nic leaned back on the sofa. She’d put on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, not ready to face the world by being dressed up. A new knock sounded on the door.
“Stay there. I got it.” Barbara stood and opened the door. It was Jordan, Ellie and Emma.
The three stopped when they got a good look at Nic.
Jordan gasped. “Damn.”
“Wow,” Ellie choked.
“What the hell happened to you?” Emma asked bluntly.
Barbara frowned. “She had a rough night.”
“We heard,” Jordan chastised. “You couldn’t grab a phone and call us when you decided to pop the question? Apparently half the bar stopped dead in their tracks to listen to you.”
“They cheered her on too.” Barbara chuckled. “It was very . . . entertaining. I think the part where she asked everyone to sing ‘happy wedding day to you’ really took the cake.”
Nic sighed, embarrassed beyond belief. She’d never be able to show her face in that bar again. “I married Jake. And now I have no idea what to do.”
All the others nodded as if they understood her dilemma.
“Where’s the food?” Jordan asked, rubbing her stomach.
“Should be here soon.” Nic leaned back into the soft leather sofa she was curled in.
“We think better around food,” Emma said. She shrugged at Nic’s grimace. “You know it’s true.”
Twenty minutes later with enough food to feed an army, Shaari joined them.
“He mated you!” She gasped, her pretty eyes wide. “If that doesn’t tell you how he feels, I don’t know what would.”
“Um, words?” Nic replied. Yeah, that would be nice. To know how he feels. What he’s thinking. Hell, something other than the mask of a dirty-talking sexy womanizer he hides behind.
“Hell yeah. We need those words.” Emma bit into a pastry. The icing spread over her fingers in a sticky mess. She then licked them individually.
“I don’t understand.” Shaari frowned. “Why are these words so important?”
Jordan hugged a throw pillow to her chest and answered, “Because we are human women. Well, I used to be anyway. When you’re human, you can’t scent emotions, arousal, fear or lies. All you can do is hope that the person is telling you the truth.”
“And if he never tells you?” Shaari’s eyes turned sad.
“Then you’re always going to wonder. Even if someone does things to show you he loves you, the fact is, we want to hear those words. We want to make sure our feelings are returned. We want to be loved.”
“Unless you don’t know how to love,” Nic whispered. A sharp new aching taking hold of her heart.
“How could you not know? Everyone knows.” Ellie sat on the arm of the sofa Nic was curled on and played with her hair.
Nic shook her head. “I don’t have a bad family. They’re just very cold people. I don’t know what being loved feels like.”
“Of course you do!” Barbara jumped in. “You love Letty.”
“She’s my sister. I care about her deeply. I don’t know what this love between most couples is about.” She sat up, trying to explain a little better. “My mother didn’t show emotion unless it was superficial. Approval or disapproval over something she wanted or something we did.”
“You mean there weren’t any hugs or kisses?” Emma asked, sipping on her coffee.
Nic shook her head. “Never. Dina didn’t allow for displays of affection at any time. Our family was the cream of the crop and we were to behave as such. No crying, screaming or acting up. And certainly no hugging or kissing. That would’ve messed up her makeup.”
“What a bitch!” Barbara snapped. “I hugged my babies until...okay, I still hug my babies. Even though they hate it. I hug my adopted babies too.” She grinned at Jordan and Emma.
“And we love every single hug too!” Emma winked.
“So how could I know what love is? I have never really felt much of anything before. I’ve always been afraid to open myself up to pain after seeing what it can do to allow someone else to control your feelings,” Nic said honestly.
“Oh, honey.” Barbara sat on the other arm of the sofa and pulled Nicole in for a hug. “Jake loves you. He’s just really stupid about showing it.”
Jordan snorted. “Don’t feel bad, Nic. They all are.” She popped a piece of muffin in her mouth. “It took Ellie and Barbara pushing them to go to us during the scenting ceremony for them to move their asses.”
A new knock sounded at the door. Shaari stood to open it. It was a security guard with an envelope. He handed it to Shaari and left.
Nic watched Shaari sniff, her brows rising with interest. “It’s for you, Nic.”
“The smell told you that?” Emma gasped.
Shaari grinned. “No, it has her name on it.”
Nic chuckled and grabbed the envelope out of Shaari’s hands. Sure enough it had her name scrolled in the front with a bold masculine writing.
Inside the envelope, there was an invitation to a private din
ner. From Grady Harris.
“Who’s Grady Harris?” Emma asked, glancing around.
Shaari’s features turned serious. “The new Alpha for the Vegas Pack. He’s known to be very close friends with Alpha Rockhill and Rahound.”
“Wait, Rahound? As in Caleb or his uncle?” Jordan asked.
Barbara’s blue eyes turned troubled. “The uncle.”
“Oh, hell.”
“I’ll just decline the invitation.” She shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”
Shaari sat down on a chair, tossing her long ponytail over her shoulder. “The big deal is that if he’s anything like I’ve heard, he won’t take no for an answer. He’s got his sights on you and it could mean trouble.”
Emma folded her legs under her on the recliner. “Send him a message saying no thanks. Or are you going to go just because he wants you to?”
“Hell no!” Nic’s sharp reply brought up all eyebrows.
She picked her cell off the table next to her chair and dialed her sister.
“Can you do me a favor and send Mr. Grady Harris a message that I’m not interested in dinner? Thanks.”
“What’d she say?” Emma asked.
Jordan giggled. “That she’s gonna end up having to clean blood off the lobby.”
“Okay, back to my wonderfully hard-headed brother who needs a lesson in love.” Ellie caressed Nic’s hair. “What exactly would you consider a good way for him to show you his feelings?”
Nic thought about that. She was probably the worst person to ask that question. She didn’t even know if she had the feelings in her that most couples shared. Having lived most of her life in an emotional distance from everyone, it was hard to say what she should be looking for. The new emotions in her heart were already driving her crazy. If Jake messaged she smiled. And a weird fluttering took hold of her stomach. When he touched her, she went up in flames and warmth filled her heart. She would lose her mind soon if she couldn’t figure out how to control her feelings.
“I don’t really know. Jake and I have never really done anything alone. Things most people do to become emotionally attached.”
“A date!” Barbara squealed and slapped her hands on her thighs. “You’re going on a date.”
“Oh what a great idea.” Jordan clapped. “We can help. Find you a nice place and set it up so you two have alone time.”
Nic swallowed hard. A date with Jake. Him wearing more than a pair of black ass-hugging jeans and a T-shirt showing off those sexy tattooed muscles. Jake dressed up would be very dangerous for her hormones and those insane emotions running rampant in her chest. He’d probably be beyond dangerous to her sanity too.
“You guys can do all kinds of fun stuff!” Ellie exclaimed. “This is Vegas. There’s shows, dinners, concerts. So much you two can do!”
Nic licked her lips. “I’m not really sure—”
“I’ll go check out your closet!” Barbara rushed off to Nic’s bedroom. “We’ll get you all sexified for my son.”
Shaari’s jaw dropped open. “Did she really just say sexified?”
Emma bit down on another pastry. “Mm-hm. You’ll get used to it.”
“I’ll send Jake a message,” Ellie said. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and typed on the large screen. “I’ll tell him that if he hopes to get any kind of a long lasting relationship with you he better do more than make your panties wet.” She raised a hand. “No need to deny it. I know he makes your panties wet.”
Nic felt her face heat as though she’d been under the hot sun for hours.
Jordan tapped her nose and winked. “It’s a shifter thing.”
Lovely. So everyone knew she had the hots for Jake. Nice.
“This date will have to happen after I go visit my mother and step-father with Letty. We have a family dinner they called once they knew I was going to be in town.” She watched the others move around with renewed purpose. Her personal life.
“Don’t worry.” Shaari grinned. “The men are off in some meeting or another with Aric and a few of his friends from other packs. They will be busy for a while.”
Nic tried to stifle the giggles. Her stomach hurt from how much she’d laughed already. “Ellie, if you keep staring at your mother with those big surprised eyes, I’m going to pee myself.”
Ellie ran a hand through her short spikes and sighed. “Are you not watching this? She’s buying sex toys.”
Nic nodded, watching Barbara add stuff to her shopping cart. Who used a shopping cart at an adult toy warehouse? Of course, she was one to talk. She had her own damn cart. The number of items in that cart was starting to worry Nic. She’d thrown random things in it without paying much attention to what she grabbed.
How they ended up in a toy shop she didn’t know. One minute Barbara declared Nic needed a new dress for her date with Jake and they’d gone out shopping. Before she knew it, they’d gone from buying her a sexy dress to going to the adult warehouse across the street.
Now there she was with a cart filled with toys, some of which she had no idea what they were for. All she knew was that her nerves over her first real date with Jake had made her grab a bunch of impulse buys.
Emma and Jordan approached them with some dress-up costumes from the other side of the store. Emma held what looked like a policewoman uniform. Only it was missing most of the actual uniform. Jordan had a sexy nurse outfit in hand.
“Ooooh, Barbara,” Emma gushed. “You so have to check out the costume section. They have this super sexy catwoman one you’d rock.”
Ellie groaned and slapped her forehead. “Please, don’t encourage her.”
Barbara smiled wide, sliding red tipped nails through her blonde hair. “I’ll have you know I don’t need to be encouraged. I am a VIP member to a special adult shop that caters to the shifter community.”
Ellie gasped. “Mother!”
Jordan grinned. “What shop?”
“I want in on this whole shop business. I can never have enough toys.” Emma rushed to Barbara’s side and gave her big puppy innocent eyes. “Tell us more all-knowing one.”
Nic glanced down at her buzzing cell phone. It was Letty reminding her of their visit to see their mother. Nic’s mind wandered away from the raucous conversation to Jake. Sex with him had been amazing. And she knew there wasn’t a single doubt in her mind that Jake would make her burn in bed forever. What she wasn’t familiar with was this love business. Love was deep. Emotions. Binding. She didn’t know if she had it in her to allow someone that far in her heart.
Jake had always been Ellie’s sexy brother. With a body built for sin and a face to match, he had been a fantasy. Fantasies never came true, until now. A relationship could not be built on hot sex alone. Not when the moment she got upset he took off. Not when he didn’t open up about what it was he wanted. Hell, she had no clue they’d mated until she saw the scars on her shoulder.
“Are you still with us?” Ellie hugged her to her side.
“I’m here. It’s hard to process things like what’s going to happen with me and Jake when he’s always been the guy you want from a distance.”
They fell behind, their steps slowing down with the conversation.
“What do you mean from a distance?” Ellie frowned.
“Jake has never been shy about flirting. Neither have I. Flirting and sex talk. That’s all easy.” She licked her lips, hating the way her guts twisted in a slow building panic. “I won’t deny wanting Jake for a long time now. But this whole marriage-love business?” She shook her head. “I don’t think I can do it.”
Ellie’s eyes widened with alarm. “Give it a chance, Nic. Don’t just drop him because you’re scared. Jake wouldn’t have agreed to marry you, to mate you, unless he were sure you loved him.”
“How could he know when I don’t?” she whispered.
“I…” Ellie’s voice trailed off at the sound of the beep of her cell phone. Her gaze jerked up and the alarm turned to full blown fear.
“What is
it?” Nic asked, her own instinct screaming danger.
“Caleb...” she choked out, her eyes filling with tears.
Oh, God. They rushed to meet the others at the register. Nic had never seen someone ring up purchases as fast as that cashier when Barbara growled that they had to go due to an emergency.
“What does the message say?” Jordan asked, jerking the phone out of Ellie’s hand. “Okay, it’s from Nate. He hasn’t seen Caleb in a few days. Things look pretty bad.”
Nic watched Barbara pull Ellie into her arms. Ellie didn’t normally cry. She was usually the one offering everyone else support, words of encouragement and hugs. But the moisture crawling down her porcelain skin was real. And the sadness tightening around Nic’s chest for her friend was just as real.
“Should we head back to Blue Creek?” Jordan asked, her attitude drastically changed from fun-loving to Alpha female ready to fight serious.
“No.” Ellie sniffled. “Caleb knows what he’s doing. I’m sure he’ll turn up. I know he will.”
The faith with which Ellie said the words floored Nic. Though she knew Ellie hurt for the difficult time Caleb was going through, she believed in him fully. Could she get there with Jake? Have that certainty with anything he said or did?
“Let’s go back to the hotel,” Emma suggested. “We already cleaned this place out of the fun stuff and Nic has enough to make Jake want to marry her all over again.”
The lighthearted banter was needed at that moment, so Nic didn’t mind.
“Poker?” Jake laughed. “This is how you discuss pack business?”
He sat down in one of the chairs around the table and watched Mason deal cards. Aric shrugged and passed him a tumbler with whiskey. “It’s better than running in the desert in this heat.”
True. The last thing his wolf wanted was to run in the desert. His mind circled back to Nic up in her room. He knew his mother and the others were with her. He swallowed the drink in a single gulp, the alcohol burning down to his stomach.
“Damn, Bro.” Mason shook his head. “You look like you had a rough night. Considering you’re the newly mated and newly wedded one here, makes me question what the hell people see in marriage.”
Unexpectedly Mated (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance): An Alpha male. A curvy but sassy BBW. A trip to Sin City neither will ever forget. (Sassy Mates) Page 7