by Sky Winters
Sure, Luke was over ten years older than her. Sure, he was a stranger. But like he had said, strangers could get to know each other better. Strangers did not have to stay strangers. That was the beauty of them. He already knew her body well enough to rock it last night… Maggie wanted to fall for him. She knew it would be easy. And she was starting to let herself, now that she knew that he wanted that, too.
“I should shower,” Maggie said. “I smell. Don’t you dare say that I don’t.”
He laughed. “All right,” he said. Getting up from the couch, he helped her up and she made her way to the bathroom, removing her pajamas as she went. They left a trail on the floor. Luke felt a tightening in his pants as he watched her go. She was damn sexy. He did not know how he was going to get to work, but he was going to need to. He had two more mouths to feed now.
After taking a few pictures of the pregnancy tests, for posterity’s sake, he wrapped them back up in the bag and tossed them into his trash can. Then he cleaned the coffee table. He kept his home pretty clean, but he was going to need to keep it even cleaner now.
He was also going to need to do something about the empty rooms upstairs. He slept in the large bedroom on the main level, but one of the spare rooms was going to become a nursery someday soon. Luke loved a project.
When Maggie came out of the bathroom, dripping wet with one of his sea green towels around her, Luke looked her over with a smile.
“I need some clothes,” she said softly.
“What?”
“I need some new clothes,” she said louder. “I can’t go back to Trish’s to get my clothes, so I guess I’m going to need to go shopping.”
She didn’t say it with any remorse toward the clothing she had to give up. She said it in a matter-of-fact tone. Buying clothes was simply another step in the process of starting her life over. She had been starting over since she moved out of her apartment, and there was something thrilling about a whole new wardrobe. Not that she expected Luke to turn into a host of one of those outfit makeover shows or anything.
He stood up and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her middle. “You mean you don’t want to wear this towel all day?”
Maggie giggled slightly. “It’s a bit drafty.”
She went back to the bedroom and put on her tight black pants. Luke came with her and looked through his closet, pulling out a green button-up. “Here, you can wear this,” he said. “It’ll be bigger on you than what you’d normally wear, but at least it’s clean.”
Smiling at him appreciatively, she put the shirt on. It was subtly checkered shirt and reminded her of something a high school science teacher would wear. It smelled like Luke. “Thank you,” Maggie said.
They headed out to his truck and drove toward a shopping center. All of a sudden, Luke snapped his fingers. “There’s something else we should probably do, to make sure we have solid proof.”
Maggie arched her eyebrows at him, not entirely sure she knew any of what he was talking about.
“We should go to a clinic and have a doctor make sure you’re pregnant,” he said. “I mean, three false positives are probably not possible… especially for a werebear cub. But it doesn’t hurt to check, does it?”
“I guess not,” she said.
He turned the truck around and headed in a different direction. They went to a small clinic and Maggie filled out the form as a new patient. “I don’t have any insurance,” she said.
“That’s okay,” the receptionist said. “We will work something out.”
“I can pay for it, since it was my idea,” Luke said.
Maggie smiled at him. “You know, if you keep on spoiling me like this, I’m going to take advantage of it every time.”
He chuckled. “I want you to.”
When she went into the room to be examined, he stayed in the waiting area, reading through old issues of ladies’ magazines, smiling an amused sort of smirk. Maggie did not take long, and she was soon back at his side, sucking on a lollipop.
“Where did you get that?” he asked, laughing.
“They were in a cup in the exam room,” she said, keeping it in her mouth. Then she pulled it out in order to add, “I’m pregnant.”
Luke beamed at her and hugged her close. “I figured.”
“The doctor says I’m two months along,” she said. “You were right. Your… special enhancements make it faster?”
He laughed loudly at that. “You make it sound like I’m a souped-up car or something.”
Maggie grinned at him, lollipop stick hanging from her lips. “Aren’t you?”
They held hands as they went up to the counter together. He paid for the check-up out of pocket. At first, she worried that they would not let him, but since he was the father it made sense that he would be helping her out. She wanted to get another job so she was not leaching off of him, but he wouldn’t hear of it because she was pregnant and there was a chance that Keith might find her wherever she went on her own.
At the store, she tried on some new shirts and some new pairs of pants. He even bought her a pretty dark blue dress with white polka dots. “I could wear this to a job interview,” Maggie said with a smile, twirling as she admired herself in the store’s mirror.
“You could wear it on dates,” Luke corrected. “You don’t need a job. At least not for a while. I want to keep you safe.”
She pouted a little at that. Her assumption had been correct. Maggie did not mind having time to relax and not worry about things like jobs and paying rent. She was so used to being the responsible one that she wanted to enjoy being able to throw off all responsibilities… At least until the baby arrived, of course.
The only thing that concerned her was that she did not want Luke to come to resent her. She had resented Tony for taking advantage of her generosity and becoming a sloth, and she did not want to do the same thing that Tony had now that she was with Luke. She was not that person. She just needed to find a good medium place between accepting the things he allowed her to do and also maintaining some of her responsible, independent nature.
“I could work for you?” she suggested then, sitting beside him in the dress. “Would you like to see my resume?”
Luke laughed. “You’ve been in customer service before. You can work for me if you want, but you’re not obligated to.”
“It’ll keep me from being alone in case the wolves come for me.”
She had a point there.
“All right. You’re hired! You can be my personal secretary. I will pay you in niceties, not nepotism.”
Maggie beamed at him. “Niceties like this dress,” she said.
He nodded. “You better keep that on.”
It surprised her that she was able to leave the store with the dress on, but the sales associate did not think it was a big deal as long as she had access to the tag so she could scan it. The dress went okay with Maggie’s black heels. It would have been better if she had matching blue heels, but she was not going to go overboard.
Next on the agenda that Luke had apparently created in his head, they went for frozen yogurt. They shared one large container rather than each getting a medium one. She wanted all fruit toppings and mango frozen yogurt, instead of going for the chocolate flavor.
“I know the fruit flavors are still bad for you, but I feel healthier eating mango.”
He chuckled at her. “You can get whatever you want. I’m not going to guilt you one way or the other.”
Because of the cub growing inside of her – at least, she blamed it on the cub – Maggie ended up eating more of the frozen yogurt than Luke did.
She set the spoon down in the container, content, and admired Luke as he sat across from her. When Tony had cheated on her, Maggie set out to find not just a rebound but someone who would make her ex jealous. Someone who was the antithesis of Tony. She had no way of knowing that she would run into someone as kind and loving as Luke.
She had a feeling that Tony would be jealous of Luke, too. She
had a feeling that he would claim that werebears were just as dangerous… But she did not care what Tony thought. She did not even care about getting back at him now.
It was a petty reason that had led her to Luke, but now that she had him she did not want to go back to the way she’d lived before. She did not want a fling. She wanted Luke, and nothing but Luke…
Trish hadn’t said anything in response to Maggie’s text. That worried her.
Then Maggie remembered that Keith said he knew where she lived. She had a pretty good feeling that wasn’t her old apartment. The phone location would most likely lead back to Trish’s apartment.
“Shit,” Maggie said under her breath.
“What?” Luke asked. She could tell that he worried it had something to do with the baby.
“It’s probably nothing,” she said, smiling weakly at him. “It’s just…” She sighed. “He said that he knew where I lived, but the place where I lived is at a friend’s apartment.”
He raised his eyebrows. “And you think…”
“I hope not, but yeah,” Maggie said with a half-nod. “I think he could possibly have shown up there. I haven’t heard from her since this morning. Usually she responds faster than that.”
She hoped that it was nothing. Maybe Trish was busy. But her friend was usually not so busy that she wouldn’t respond, especially to a text where Maggie claimed she was possibly pregnant.
“Okay,” Luke said. “Well, I am going to take you home first. There’s no way you’re going back there. You’ll be safe at home. I’ll see if your friend is at her place and, if she is, bring her back with me and we’ll sort it out from there. In the meantime, I guess you can try and text her again or call her.”
He walked with her quickly back to the car, as though just thinking about the threat of Keith meant that the werewolf was close by. As if thoughts of him went out into the ether like some kind of bat signal.
Maggie did not feel like running into him again either, but she was not sure that her giant boyfriend showing up unannounced at Trish’s place was going to do much in the way of making Trish feel safe. As Luke drove her back home, Maggie sent her another text to try and give her a fair bit of warning. She hoped that maybe Trish would see it and respond instead, which would call everything else off.
Hey, Trish, haven’t heard from you in a while. Just letting you know my boyfriend is going to stop by your place and make sure you’re okay. I’ll call you soon if I don’t hear from you. Xo
She did her best to not betray how worried she was. She really hoped this was nothing and Trish just had her phone off for some reason. Things happened…
She really hated herself for getting Trish involved in the first place.
Luke dropped her off at his house, walking with her inside as though he was a Secret Service bodyguard or something. Maggie chuckled a little. “Am I going to need to start wearing a bullet-proof vest now?” she teased.
He looked like he was considering it.
“You just wait right here. I have my cell phone with me, and I’ll let you know if I see her. In fact, I will bring her back here if I see her. Keep trying to get in touch with her. That’s all we can really do right now.”
He did not like that these two young women were in this situation. This was part of why he hated werewolves. Whenever one lived in town, everyone else had to be on their guard.
“Okay,” she said. “Thank you for all of your help.” Maggie gave him a kiss.
As soon as he was gone, she went into the kitchen to make herself a snack. The Ritz Bits were still there, but she was going to need something more substantial than that. She could not live on frozen yogurt and salty snacks all day, with this kind of anxiety going on. She rubbed her belly as she heated up some French fries that were in Luke’s freezer, wondering if her life was just always going to be this stressful now.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Bear Bodyguard
Luke returned home after about an hour. Alone.
“I knocked on the door and I waited, but I did not see her and she did not answer.”
Maggie raised her eyebrows, even more concerned now. She was sitting on the couch, hugging a pillow to her belly because it was comfortable and more relaxing to do so than to pace the room in despair, which is what her brain told her she should be doing.
Immediately, she took out her phone and called Trish.
It rang and rang, and eventually went to voicemail.
“Shit!” Maggie said, and then waited for the beep. “Hi, Trish, it’s Maggie. This is probably just me blowing things out of proportion. I’m assuming that you didn’t get my text. I’m pregnant, and so my hormones might be making me more worried about you than I actually should be… Anyway, the creepy guy from the club last night told me that he knows where I live and that is where you live, so I want to make sure you’re okay. Please give me a call when you get this. And, whatever you do, don’t go home. If you are home, leave. Call me back please. Bye.”
When she ended the call, she looked up at Luke. He was standing there, arms folded across his chest, looking like a concerned father. Maggie had almost been able to forget about how much older he was, until she saw him looking like that. Would he look like that when their child was home late on a school night? Would he look like that when their child got a boyfriend or girlfriend? Society said that she should have been bothered by his being so much older, but Maggie felt comforted knowing that he had the maturity that she still lacked.
She patted the couch next to her and he sat down. She moved so she was sitting against him now. He rested his arm around her shoulders and leaned his head so it was touching hers. “I guess now we wait,” he said.
The sun had set by the time Maggie’s phone started to buzz. She realized, chagrined, that she had turned it over to vibrate so that her nap on the couch wouldn’t be interrupted. How easy it was to do that…
As soon as she heard it buzzing, she leaned forward and scooped her phone up, pressing the call button. “Trish?! Oh, thank god.”
“I’m so sorry I missed your call and texts,” Trish replied. “I was playing mini golf with my family, which is probably the lamest excuse ever. First of all, wow! You’re pregnant? That was fast.”
Maggie laughed and then realized that she was crying a little, too. It was so good to hear from her best friend again. She did not even know how she had fallen asleep. The stress mixed with the pregnancy must have caused it. “It’s faster with were-people,” she said, and then she laughed a little again. “As if that’s not also a lame thing to say…”
Trish took a deep breath. “Right, so, and second of all, I listened to your voicemail while in the car with my parents and I’m so glad I did because I’m at their house now. You don’t have to worry about some werewolf loser showing up and trying to… eat me or whatever he would have done.”
Maggie closed her eyes. She did not want to imagine what Keith might have done to Trish, and thank goodness she did not have to. “Excellent,” she said. “Stay where you are then. I don’t know what our course of action is now, involving him, but as long as you’re safe that’s the main thing.”
Luke looked at her and his blue eyes lit up a little when he overheard the fact that Trish was safe. He seemed so relieved, and so ready to carry on with their happy lives.
“You got it, dude,” Trish said. “We should get together sometime soon and get me up to speed with everything.”
Maggie agreed and politely ended the call. She set the phone back down on the coffee table and let out a loud, overdramatic sigh. “I swear she is going to give me an ulcer.”
He chuckled and hugged her close. “Just wait until you’re a parent,” he said.
“Don’t remind me,” she said with a smile. “Especially not right now.”
Petting her hair, he looked into her eyes. “But you know, you are going to be a great mother. I can tell that already, by how much you care about people. Not everyone would have given a second thought to their frien
d as soon as they themselves were safe.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I guess that’s true.”
Before she knew it, he was making out with her. And she was not complaining. He dipped her back onto the couch as he had done the night before. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, kissing him back. Her heart was pounding.
“Can we do it on the bed this time?” she asked him. “The bed feels more like a couple thing, not a one-night stand, as soon as possible kind of thing.”
He chuckled. “Fair point.”
Carefully, he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to his bedroom. He pulled the dress off over her shoulders and kissed her as she lay there in her bra and panties. Her tummy was bigger than Maggie had ever seen it.
She wondered as she kissed Luke if their baby was going to be extra-large as well as extra fast at developing.
Luke’s cock was poking at his boxers intensely, and he started petting her pussy through her panties.
“You’re so delicate with me,” she murmured against his skin. “You don’t have to be. I’m a big girl.”
“A big girl who’s about to have my big cock inside of her,” he grunted.
“Yes, please.”
He whipped off his boxers and pulled off her panties, leaving her bra on as he plowed into her. Grabbing onto Maggie’s shoulders, he thrust into her so intensely she wondered if their baby could feel it.
“Oh, yeah,” he growled into her ear. “Maggie, you feel so good.”
She licked her lips and raised her legs so they formed a V that he was in the middle of. He was filling her up with his cock and nothing but good feelings. He was not wearing a condom this time.
To hell with it. A condom clearly cannot hold him off anyway.
He bit at her calf muscle and pressed up against her clit with his fingers, pressing her g-spot at the same time. Maggie came hard, her opening contracting around his large cock and catching him off guard, causing him to come inside her much sooner than he had been planning to.