Her expression was of utter bewilderment. She looked from Brock back to Kai and then finally shrugged, opening her mouth and leaning forward.
It was as erotic of a sight as Kai thought it would be. Her mouth opened as she waited to accept the bite of food. He wished, barbarically, that he were sliding something else in her mouth. His wolf wanted it, too.
Soon.
She wrapped her lips around the fork and pulled the morsel into her mouth, tasting the flavor of the fish, she moaned lightly.
Not fucking soon enough.
"So, um, Frannie tells me she met you while you were responding to a call at her house?" Victor asked Brock, who was as transfixed by Francesca's open mouth as Kai had been.
"Yes," Brock grunted.
Whatever Victor had expected of his date with Francesca, his imaginings most definitely hadn't included Kai and his mate.
If there was ever a time for Kai to believe in fate, this was that moment. Of all the places Francesca could have gone on a date, of all the times. And for him and Brock to also be there at the exact same time? His inner wolf was a smug bastard and most likely wanted to take all of the credit as if he somehow led them there. That was bullshit, since they were going to go there anyway, but Kai could thank his inner beast at least for disrupting her date. She might not know it, but she belonged to Brock and Kai—and neither of them shared.
"Well, is everything okay now?" Victor flailed.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss cases," Brock said flatly.
Francesca shot him a look that Kai couldn't fully see from his seat on the other side of her. He saw his mate wince, though. "It's fine," Francesca said to Victor. "Nothing like that had ever happened before and nothing has happened since. Completely safe. Well not..." she faltered and looked like she was reaching for her purse before pausing and catching herself. "I mean, safe enough."
Kai didn't need super senses to tell that something she had remembered had her flustered.
Chapter Eight
Kai
Kai had picked up on the tremble in her voice as well as the way Francesca had changed what she'd originally planned on saying. He would be getting to the bottom of that, for sure. He shared a look with Brock and saw that he was on the same page. At times, Kai felt as though he and Brock had been together so long that they could now read each other's thoughts and could communicate without saying a word. Right now, Brock's face was saying that he was going to look into the issue as soon as they were done there. Kai nodded.
Francesca set her wine glass down, seemingly surprised to see it now empty.
"Would you like another glass?" Victor asked quickly, having finished his own glass of cabernet.
"No, I don't think so," Francesca said, her gaze going from Brock to Victor and then to Kai. "Maybe just water for a bit."
Kai approved of the choice and was going to suggest as much. The only thing that had kept him from saying as much was the thought that his insistence might have pushed the ornery little kitten into ordering another glass out of spite. "What did you two order to eat?"
"Um, nothing? Unless, Victor, did you get us food?"
The tips of Victor's ears went red and he avoided Kai's gaze. Busted, buddy. That was shady dating skill number one. Order drinks but forget to order food. Hoping to get her a little bit tipsy, maybe loosen her up?
Kai barely held back his growl.
"The food here is too good not to try. You seemed to like the salmon, what about a shrimp dish? I have dreams about the shrimp and angel hair pasta dish."
Francesca shrugged her shoulders and looked to Victor. Kai hated the way she checked in with Victor, waiting for him to take charge of the situation. Kai caught Brock's eye and they shared the same thought. He wondered if Brock noticed the way he was mangling his fork.
Perhaps Victor wasn't that bad, but he was here with Francesca—that was the first and only strike he needed. Victor, though, either didn't notice or didn't care to take charge of Francesca. He had only just closed his mouth so that he didn't look so much like a goldfish.
"Do you want to split one?" Francesca asked him, giving him a second chance to take control.
"You should really have one to yourself," Kai said before Victor could answer. He wanted her to get food in her booze-filled belly for one and for two he thought he might stab Victor in the leg with his fork if he tried to put his mouth on something directly after Francesca. Kai was used to feeling so territorial, he felt this way about Brock, but already, he could tell it was going to be different with Francesca. Not in a way he could put into words just yet, but he felt not just territorial of her already, but protective of her. He didn't want her to be uncomfortable after making any choices tipsy that she wouldn't have made sober.
"Okay, sure."
Kai flagged down the waitress and ordered the shrimp in angel hair pasta and butter sauce for Francesca. On a look from Brock, he also requested a pitcher of water.
The waitress, who had been eying him like he was a hot fudge sundae and Brock the whipped cream, now looked curiously from him to Francesca and over to Victor. She was having just as hard of a time figuring what the hell was going on as Victor was.
"So, Kai, what do you do?" Francesca asked, interrupting the silence that had fallen on the table after the waitress left.
"Didn't I mention? I'm a state's attorney, not that I ever thought I'd be working against the little guy. I'm not really, just the little guy who murders. Though, if you ask my mom, she never expected me to be much more than a beach bum who spent his days on the North Shore. To her though, that wouldn't have been a bad thing. My brothers and sisters are all beach bums. The whole pack really. My dear mother is thrilled by them. I think at the root, she is simply proud of where she comes from and wants us to all be proud as well. Have you ever been to Hawaii?"
"No, never. It sounds lovely but I kind of have a thing about deep water. I don't think I could snorkel or surf. It's horrible. Even just walking by an aquarium is too scary, you know when the water gets a little darker?"
"Thalassophobia," Victor said, speaking for the first time in a while. "Not all that uncommon. I've read a few psychology books, there was a great one published by a local professor Dr. Paterson who described the easiest way to get over a phobia was by facing it on a continual basis. I would be happy to help you. My gym has a diving pool. We could relax in the hot tub after."
Kai noticed Brock stiffen and he smirked. Maybe Victor did have a little fight in him.
Francesca smiled warmly at Victor.
Damn it, that was his smile. He knew that to an outsider his sudden claim over Francesca might seem odd, Neanderthalish even, but he was actually holding back. He had known as Brock had, just from looking at her, that she was their mate. That didn't mean she was someone they would like to simply date and fuck, though he looked forward to doing both, but that his inner animal recognized his other half in Francesca's soul. Technically, your other third.
Whatever fraction of his heart she held, he was damned sure she wasn't going to let that fraction get into a pool with some other guy who wasn't Brock.
"I understand what you mean. Brock here can't swim. Sinks like a rock to the bottom every time. It's actually how we met."
Brock scowled as Francesca laughed.
"No, I can swim, I just don't enjoy it," Brock replied.
Francesca's eyes glittered. Brock must have hurt her feelings more than Brock had realized earlier that day or else she wouldn't be finding so much amusement at his expense. Kai understood. Brock's filter from brain to mouth was nearly nonexistent. He meant well, and that saved him in a lot of situations. That and the fact that he was built like a mountain. He'd learned to simply keep his mouth shut in most cases, especially when he was with Kai, who could talk his way into or out of anything.
"My older brother, Farley, isn't the best swimmer, either," Francesca said. "I remember one summer, my mother used to take us to the public pool every day during the break, probably to keep us fr
om destroying the house while we were out of school, and Farley had tried copying my other older brother, Felix. Even though Felix had told him not to.
"Anyway, he climbs up to the highest diving platform. I think it must have been fifteen feet, at least, and he jumps like he doesn't have a fear in the world." Francesca was a big hand talker and as she got to the part where Farley was flying through the air, her hands soared down like an airplane and then her fingers spread like an explosion.
"Smack! He hits the water like a semi-truck and then I wait for him to swim up. I remember standing on the side of the pool with my water wings trying to come up with the best burn to really hurt his feelings. But he didn't come up. I looked around for my brother Felix first, and realized he must be back in the food court chatting up some girl. I looked for Finn next and guessed he was probably hiding in the bathroom hoping no one tried to look for him. I already knew my mother had left for a moment, leaving Felix in charge of us." Francesca took a long drink of her water, lost in the moment.
"So I keep waiting, right? And searching the pool, thinking surely someone is about to do something. But no one does. I realize that everyone is so involved in their own thing that no one even saw Farley climb the ladder, none of them saw him jump and no one was waiting for him to come back up, except me. I push up my water wings, settle my cartoon character goggles over my eyes and I cannonball in the pool, head down, searching. I find him quickly at the bottom, dive down, and swim with all my might the moment I have his arm in my hands, to the top. At this point my mother has come back, Felix has stopped trying to make out with whatever girl he was trying to make out with and the lifeguards who were all supposed to be on duty from the beginning have decided to pay attention. They get me and Farley out of the pool, and it gets blurry here, but someone does CPR, and well, Farley is still alive so spoiler alert there." Francesca stopped talking and the table stared at her, enthralled and dumbfounded.
"That's amazing," Brock said first. Sometimes his lack of filter was exactly what a situation needed.
Victor held his chin in his hand. "What did your mother say? I bet she felt horrible."
Francesca shrugged. "Mothers are people, too, they aren't perfect. My earliest memory was of her forgetting me at home while she went grocery shopping. Felix found me crawling my way into the oven because I was pretending it was my house."
"Felix saves you a lot," Brock commented.
Curiously, Francesca blushed instead of lashing out like Kai had thought she would. "You have no idea," she mumbled.
"Sounds like there is a longer story there," Kai said.
Fear flashed in her expression so fast that there wasn't a chance Victor had noticed. He did and so did Brock.
Francesca smiled brightly, it was also one-hundred-percent false. "Not one that I'm going to tell. Oh! Look, food."
The waitress came by with Francesca's food. Kai kept the conversation going with Victor so that Francesca could concentrate on eating. Victor, however, kept drinking. He got himself another glass and by the time Francesca was done with her meal and two full glasses of water he was showing signs that he was intoxicated.
"Um, well, this was a great, double date?" Francesca said after the waitress arrived with their checks. She insisted on paying for her own and Victor, the drinking wonder, let her. "Kai, you are a pleasure, not sure what you're doing with this one." She motioned over to Brock who glowered. "I shouldn't blame him too much. Pippen is kind of scary when he wants to be. Congrats on your victory." She stood and Brock and Kai stood with her. "Speaking of victors, can I drive you home?"
Victor looked up at her and blinked sluggishly. "I don't live far," he said with a small slur.
"Come on, I don't mind. I've sobered up, that food and all that water really helped."
Nope. Not happening. Kai stepped to Victor's side. "We can take him home."
"Um, no. That's a little weird," Francesca said. "I don't mean to be rude, but Victor and I were on a date, I'm not going to pawn him off on you. I'm just one floor down."
"I'm literally sitting right here," Victor said, annoyed. "And I'm really not that drunk. I can walk home. Let me walk you to your car at least," he said trying to go around Kai and the table.
"Perfect," Kai said. "We're parked on that floor, too." He settled in on one side of Francesca as Brock settled in on the other.
Victor stood awkwardly in front of them. He looked from Kai to Brock, clearly wondering why he kept getting cock-blocked by who he thought were two gay guys in a relationship. They left the wine house that way, with Brock and himself escorting Francesca. When they got to her car she had her keys in her hands. Kai leaned forward, drawing in her scent. She smelled good to drive. Well, she smelled good enough for him to think of a lot of things he wanted to do with her and Brock.
"Thanks," she said pointedly to Kai and Brock as if dismissing them.
Behind him, Victor shuffled like he was waiting for his goodnight kiss. Fat chance.
Kai smiled serenely at Francesca pretending not to notice her "why are you still standing here" face. "Go ahead and get in. We'll walk Victor out, too," he said and then made the colossal mistake of guiding her toward her car door with his hand on her lower back. Even through her jacket, he felt her heat and swore she had trembled even at that light touch.
Enough of this game. He needed to claim her now, bend her over the hood of her car and—
Brock grazed the back of Kai's hand with his own, bringing him back to the present in a way only his mate could have. "See you later," Brock said in his low rumble, moving forward to shut Francesca in her car, a look of dumbfounded confusion on her face.
She regarded the three of them and then shrugged before starting her car and taking off.
True to their words, Brock and Kai made sure Victor made it out of the garage and in the right direction on the sidewalk. They didn't say a word to each other until they were in the jeep, Brock in the driver's seat. "You were right," Kai said finally as they both simply sat there.
"She's stubborn," Brock replied, but he didn't say it like a bad thing, more like a compliment.
"Who the hell is this Victor?"
"I don't know. Pippen mentioned it had been a while since she had gone on a date. Maybe today renewed her spirit."
"Great job, babe. You pushed our mate out of your arms and into the dating world." Kai said it like a joke, but Brock still frowned. "It's good that you make her angry. It means she likes you more. Of course, she hasn't really met me yet. Why didn't you tell her you were bisexual on your date earlier?"
"It really didn't come up."
"Well, she's confused now, but we'll explain it all next time." Kai buckled his seatbelt and Brock started the jeep. There was so much that Francesca didn't know, but soon she would realize the most important thing, that she was theirs.
Chapter Nine
Frannie
Frannie pulled into her driveway and killed the engine. She sat motionless in the driver's seat trying to figure out what the heck the night had turned into. One minute, she'd been on a date with a solidly mostly normal man and the next she'd been surrounded by sexy, sexy man meat.
Man meat? She dropped her head to the steering wheel. Now she sounded like an orc. That was just great.
Frannie was surrounded by gay men but none of them ever acted toward her the way Kai and Brock had. Kai had said he was bisexual. Maybe they have an open relationship?
Well, that was great for them, but Frannie would never last in one. She got too attached to things to be in a relationship that had an expiration date from the start and to her, that would be what an open relationship would be. Two men, playing around until they got bored.
Maybe Brock had just been about to tell her he wasn't interested in her like that during their lunch date and she'd gotten so hurt by him being coerced by Pippen that she'd left before he had a chance? It would be just like her to get so turned on by a guy who wasn't remotely attracted to her. Now, two men.
Th
ere was no denying that her panties were soaking wet right now. From the moment Kai had sat on her right and Brock on her left, she'd had a hard time not imagining them naked. She'd clenched her thighs together and switched to water so she didn't accidentally let something slip. Kai had been so attentive and easy to talk to. And the two of them together had seemed so natural. Even to Frannie, an outsider, they just seemed right. At times she almost thought the two of them were having their own silent conversations. Though, that moment Kai had helped her to the car, touching her lower back, that moment would stay with her forever. She'd never felt weak at the knees from a single touch before then.
Frannie lifted her head, blowing a curl out of her face. It flew up and then settled back down exactly where it had been. She needed to stop thinking about the two men who were in a relationship and at most, looking to play around, and start thinking about the guy she actually went on the date with.
Poor Victor. He'd handled the odd situation really well. Better than she would have if their roles had been switched. Frannie pulled out her cell phone to text him and was happy to see she already had a notification for a message from him.
Victor: Tonight will go on my list of strangest first dates. ;)
Frannie: Seriously, I'm sorry. I don't know what that was about.
Victor: I'm sure things with you are never normal. In a good way. Should we call a do-over? Maybe tomorrow?
Frannie looked up at her house, the lights in the living room were on which meant someone, most likely Finn, was awake.
Frannie: Tomorrow my roommates and family get together and do this early dinner thing.
She was in the middle of typing, "So why don't we do it Monday?" when she got a reply.
Victor: Perfect, I'll bring a bottle of chardonnay.
She looked back up, noticing a silhouette gliding across the front window and found comfort in that shape in her house. It meant someone was already there. Even before she had been kidnapped, Frannie hated living alone. When she'd offered for Luke to stay with her it was as much for her as him.
Wolf's Mate Mpreg Romance Box Set Page 70