“It’s only one Saturday, Mom. You’ll be fine without me for one Saturday.”
“Come over on Sunday then. I’ll cook that baked chicken dish. I know it’s your favourite.”
“I can’t. I have plans on Sunday too, remember?”
Her mother’s eyes welled up with tears. “So, I’ll be alone all weekend?”
“Not if you ask Mrs. Nester to take you to Bingo with her.”
Her mother glared at her, and Rosalie tried not to sigh when the tears disappeared and she switched tactics again. “You know, I see Mrs. Nester’s daughter’s car at her house all the time, Rosalie. All the time.”
“That’s nice, Mom.” She gathered her purse and stood. “I’ve got to run. I’ll come by Monday night and we’ll have dinner then, okay?”
“Maybe I’ll be busy.” Her mother sounded liked a petulant child.
Determined not to give in to the guilt, Rosalie pasted a smile on her face. “Okay. Well, if you are, just call me and let me know. Love you.”
She leaned down and kissed her mother’s cheek. Her mom stared at the table and refused to reply. Ignoring the guilt eating away at her stomach lining, Rosalie hurried out of the house. She took a deep breath of the clean air. As always, she felt a sense of relief and – like always – the relief made her feel terrible.
She glanced back at her mother’s house, resisting the urge to go back in and beg for her mother’s forgiveness like a little kid. It was only one Saturday. Her mother would be fine.
* * *
Hudson stared fixedly at his phone. When Rosalie didn’t text again after almost five minutes, he tossed it on the couch beside him and stared blankly at the television. After a moment, he reached down and adjusted the crotch of his jeans. He had a damn erection just from texting with Rosalie. He adjusted himself again, grimacing at the pressure.
The problem was that he could easily hear Rosalie’s voice in his head as he read her texts. That low, raspy, incredibly sexy voice. Her voice always brought on images of tangled silk sheets, smooth pale skin with curves in all the right places, and a woman’s soft cries as she climaxed over and over.
Rosalie’s soft cries. Rosalie’s pale skin. That little freckle at the corner of her mouth. Her perfect nipples outlined against the pink shirt she wore last Sunday.
The air conditioning in the theatre had been on the fritz, pumping out more cold air than it needed to pump. Despite wearing just a short-sleeved t-shirt, Rosalie had insisted it was fine. She said they didn’t need to leave. She said she didn’t get cold easily.
He always kept an empty seat between them. She thought it was because he took up more than one seat and it was partially that. But it was mostly self-preservation. Having those soft curves of hers pressed up against him would have his dick so hard it would rip through his damn jeans.
Last week was no different. She had automatically sat a seat away, but an hour into the movie he could almost feel Rosalie shivering in her seat, could see the way her nipples were hard little peaks against her shirt. The sight had made his bear so pathetically eager to mate with her that he would have been ashamed of it…if his human side hadn’t felt exactly the same way.
He should have given her his hoodie to wear – he never got cold – but he didn’t.
He couldn’t.
If he had her scent on his clothes, it would drive his bear insane with need. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself from coaxing her into his bed, so he could make her forget all about that lion shifter she was in love with.
He’d wanted the little human from the moment she’d bumped into him at the bar that night. From the moment she had stared up at him with those gorgeous blue eyes and asked him to help her. She had pressed her body up against his and he was lost.
The wolf shifter at the bar had threatened her. He’d scared and bullied her, and Hudson would have torn that fucking wolf shifter to shreds if he had taken one step closer to Rosalie. When the asshole tried to go near her again, not ten minutes later, Hudson had almost lost control. He’d managed not to kill the wolf, but couldn’t resist putting his arm around Rosalie, couldn’t resist pulling her soft and curvy body up against his so that everyone would think she belonged to him. Ensuring some of his scent was on her so other shifters would stay away was bad enough,, but the fact that Rosalie noticed? That was way too fucking dangerous. For Rosalie and for him.
He muted the television and checked his phone again. Still no text. It wasn’t like she had to keep texting him. They had confirmed their plans for the movies on Sunday. But, sometimes, she would ask him how his day was, and once she had sent him a gif of a baby polar bear sliding off its mother’s back.
He always kept his replies short and he hadn’t even responded to the gif. After that, she stopped sending texts other than ones related to their weekly movie plans. He was stupidly disappointed, but it was for the best. He needed to keep her at a distance.
Then why have you gone to the movies with her every weekend for the last month?
Because he was smitten with her like an idiot in one of those stupid romantic comedies that Samuel had always made him go to see. He tried to conceal it by being even more standoffish and irritable with her than he was with other people. She seemed to accept that it was just his personality.
She was cautious around him though. He didn’t think that she was afraid of him – would she go to the movies every Sunday with him if she was? But it bothered him that she made sure not to ever touch him and didn’t talk much on their movie dates.
So now you’re calling them dates?
He stood and shut the television off before stomping to the kitchen. He wasn’t dating Rosalie and saying he was smitten with her, was him being a fucking drama queen. Sure, he was interested in fucking her, but she was gorgeous and sweet, and any red-blooded male would feel the same way.
It had been almost two years since he’d mated, of course he was interested in fucking Rosalie. He’d never slept with a human before, but he knew how to be gentle. Even shifter females were much smaller than him and he was always conscious of the size difference. His first lover had been older than him with experience. She’d done a fine job of teaching him how to be gentle.
Besides, Rosalie wasn’t a tiny, fragile little human. She was tall for a human female and she had nice full curves that would cushion his body nicely if she was brave enough to try missionary with him.
If she wasn’t, if she wanted to be on top like most of his partners preferred, watching her gorgeous, naked body ride him would be more than enough. He’d take her however she said.
Hell, he’d do whatever she wanted him to do.
Yeah, no, you’re not smitten at all. Idiot. His inner voice sounded both smug and perplexed.
Who was he kidding? He was utterly and completely hers…and she had no fucking idea.
She never would.
He couldn’t put her in that type of danger. If Corden knew, if he even suspected that Hudson cared for her, he’d use her as a way to get to him. Corden would hurt her and torture her, just like Samuel was tortured until…
His hands curled into fists and he turned and slammed his left fist into the wall next to the fridge. He punched through the drywall, scraping the shit out of his knuckles. He pulled his hand free and stared at the hole before moving to the sink and rinsing away the blood and the drywall dust. His appetite for supper had disappeared completely. Instead of eating, he added wall repair supplies to the grocery list stuck to the fridge and then headed to the bedroom.
He couldn’t let Rosalie know anything about him, let alone confess his immediate love for her. The idea of not seeing her at all sent his bear into a frenzy of panic, so he would keep going to the movies with her every Sunday. He would dream about her, masturbate to thoughts of being with her, and let her keep believing that he barely tolerated her.
What happens when she finds someone else? What happens if she convinces that asshole lion shifter to bang her? The first time you smell his scent
on her, you’ll rip him apart. You know you will.
No, he wouldn’t. He had more control than that. If Rosalie started sleeping with the lion shifter, or anyone else…he’d pack up his shit and move on. He’d have to leave the city eventually anyway. It was too dangerous to stay in one place for too long.
Corden would never stop looking for him.
Chapter Two
“Hi. Can I help you?” The dark-haired woman with the incredible green eyes and killer body, smiled politely at Rosalie.
“Um, hi. I’m Rosalie. I’m here to help with the moving, but I think maybe I have the wrong house?”
She stepped back and checked the house number again. It matched the address Bria had given her but there was no moving truck parked in the driveway.
The woman’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Rosalie! You work with Bria, right?”
“That’s right.”
“It’s so nice to meet you. Bria’s told me a lot about you. I’m Katarina Frost.”
“From the security company. You’re Bria’s best friend.”
“Yes.” Katarina smiled at her and held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you as well, Katarina.”
“Call me Kat. Come on in.”
Rosalie followed the woman down the hallway. She was a cat shifter of some kind, she was sure of it, but she couldn’t remember what Bria had said she was.
“The guys are back at the old house packing up the truck with the furniture and the rest of the boxes. They should be here any minute.” Kat squeezed past a stack of boxes. “But we brought a bunch of boxes in our cars and have started to unpack.”
Rosalie followed her into the kitchen. It was full of boxes, some half unpacked, and she smiled at Bria when the tiger shifter waved at her. “Rosalie, you made it!”
Ava, with a chubby redheaded baby held in one arm, was rifling through a diaper bag. “Hi, Rosalie. It’s so nice to see you again. Thank you for helping us move. We really appreciate it.”
“It’s no problem.” She gave Ava a bit of an awkward smile. “Your baby is adorable. How old is she?”
“Thanks. Her name is Lila and she’s three months.”
“Hi, Lila.” Rosalie stroked the baby’s soft cheek. She loved kids and she was itching to hold the baby.
To her delight, Ava held Lila out to her. “Would you mind holding her for a second?”
“Not at all.” She took Lila and kissed the top of her head before jiggling her lightly. The baby stared up at her and Rosalie kissed her forehead. “Hi, sweetie.”
“So,” Bria stood next to her, “let me introduce you to everyone. You know Ava, and you just met Kat. This is Willow, Ginger and Maggie.”
“It’s, uh, nice to meet you all.”
The three women smiled at her and said hello. They ranged in size from tiny to average height, and Rosalie was uncomfortably aware of her own height and oversized hips.
Lila was starting to fuss, and Rosalie jiggled her again as Ava dug deeper into the diaper bag. “Oh, for goodness sake, is it really possible that I didn’t put a single diaper in the diaper bag?”
Willow laughed and peeled off a piece of packing tape from a box. “I’ve got an emergency stash at my house.”
“Seriously? Okay, let’s take Lila over there and I’ll change her and feed her. If I’m really lucky, she’ll fall asleep.” Ava took the baby and smiled at Rosalie. “Thank you.”
“How awesome is it that you can just walk over to my house now?” Willow said as she joined Ava at the doorway to the kitchen. “Living right next door to each other is going to be amazing.”
“You won’t be saying that when you hear Lila screaming in the middle of the night for food,” Ava said. “Her hunger cry will echo across the neighbourhood.”
Willow laughed and kissed Lila’s chubby leg. “I won’t hold it against you, sweet Lila.”
The baby’s forehead wrinkled, and she let out a screech that was loud enough to rattle the dishes in the boxes.
Ava winced. “Speaking of which.”
Willow checked her watch. “It’s almost lunch time. We’ll order pizza for dinner, but, Ginger, if you don’t mind helping me make some sandwiches for everyone for lunch, I’d love you forever.”
“Sure,” Ginger replied.
Kat raised her voice to be heard over Lila’s increasingly loud wails. “Bria and I will unpack the books in the living room and put them in the built-ins by the fireplace. Maggie and Rosalie – can you guys start unpacking the kitchen?”
“Of course. Ava, do you want stuff in particular cupboards?” Maggie asked.
Ava grinned at her. “Okay, don’t laugh but there’s a piece of paper on the counter with a diagram of the kitchen and detailed descriptions of which dishes go in what cupboard.”
“Wow, you guys are organized,” Maggie replied.
“Not me. Mal is the organized one,” Ava said. “He and Bishop have been planning out the move. I’ve barely done anything. Hell, Willow and Ginger packed up most of the house for me.”
Willow grinned at her. “We’re the nicest friends ever. Also, I’m starting to think that packing and moving is Mal’s secret superpower. C’mon, let’s go feed that kid of yours.”
Maggie smiled at Rosalie as everyone else left the kitchen. “Boy, Lila has a cry on her, doesn’t she?”
Rosalie nodded. “She does have a healthy set of lungs.”
Maggie laughed and studied the piece of paper on the counter before opening up the box closest to her. “So, weird question but – are you human?”
“I am. Are you?” Rosalie reached into the box and took out a paper wrapped glass. She unwrapped it and set it on the counter before reaching for another.
“I am, and honestly never thought I would start off so many conversations with – are you human?”
Rosalie laughed and set another glass on the counter. “How do you know Ava and Bishop?”
“I’m mated to Porter, who is Mal’s brother. Bishop practically grew up with Mal and Porter and the rest of their siblings.”
“Porter owns Bud’s Bar, right?”
“He does. Have you been there?”
“Just once.”
“Cool. How do you know Bishop and Ava?” Maggie reached into the box.
“I don’t, not really. I mean, they used the real estate agency that I work for to buy their house. I’m Jace’s PA and friends with Bria.”
“Well, it’s nice of you to help out.” Maggie studied the paper. “Okay, everything in this box is their everyday use dishes, which means they go in the far left cupboard. How about I unwrap and hand the dishes to you and you put them in the cupboard. I think that’ll be faster.”
“Sure.” Rosalie stood next to the cupboard and lined up the glasses neatly on the bottom shelf as Maggie handed them to her. “So, how did you meet Porter?”
“I was having some trouble with a hyena shifter that I had dated briefly. Porter, as well as his brother’s security company, uh, helped me with him.”
“That’s nice.” She didn’t know Maggie very well – didn’t know her at all, actually – but even she could see that the woman was hiding something. Deciding it wasn’t any of her business, she stared at the empty spot where the fridge should have been. “So, it’s kind of weird that they don’t have a fridge.”
Maggie laughed. “Ava said that the previous owners were insistent on taking their fridge with them. Made it part of the sale agreement. Ava and Bishop bought a new fridge and it was delivered yesterday. It’s sitting in the garage. Bishop and Hudson are going to bring it in when they get back from the old house. Whoops - careful.” Maggie grabbed for the glass that was slipping out of Rosalie’s hand.
“Hudson? Hudson, the polar bear shifter?”
“Yes. He works with Porter at the bar. Do you know him?” Maggie asked.
“I do.”
“Oh right. You’ve been to the bar, you said. He’s so big, he’s kind of hard to miss.” M
aggie handed her the glass again and Rosalie placed it in the cupboard.
Maggie was unwrapping the plates and stacking them neatly on the counter. “Porter asked him if he would mind just helping them load and unload the big pieces of furniture. He says Hudson is unbelievably strong. Says he usually unloads the entire beer shipment himself and it takes him less than half an hour.”
She handed the stack of plates to Rosalie. “I’ve met him a couple times when I’ve stopped by the bar. He’s so quiet, I don’t think I’ve heard him say more than five words, but Porter says he’s a great bartender. How well do you know him?”
“We, um, we go to the movies together almost every weekend.”
“Oh.” Maggie handed her another stack of plates. “Are you guys dating?”
“No,” Rosalie said quickly. “God, no.”
Maggie glanced at her and Rosalie blushed. “Not because he’s a shifter or anything. I have no problem dating a shifter, really. In fact, I have a huge crush on this lion shifter at work and I’m trying to get him into my bed and … oh my god, I can’t believe I just said that.”
Maggie laughed. “It’s fine.”
“I’m so embarrassed right now.” Rosalie set the second stack of plates in the cupboard.
“Don’t be. I know a little bit about having a crush on a shifter. Before we started dating, I was a total dork every time I was around Porter.”
“What kind of shifter is he?”
“Wolf.” Maggie was unwrapping bowls and she shoved the paper into a recycling bag. “Anyway, I totally get what it’s like so don’t feel bad. You and Hudson are just friends then?”
“Sort of?” Rosalie moved the plates to the side so she could fit the bowls beside them. “It’s kind of hard to tell with Hudson. What with his preference for complete silence.”
Maggie laughed again, and Rosalie grinned at her. “We ran into each other at the movie theatre once and he suggested that we go to the movies together as friends. Honestly, I think he just felt a little sorry for me because he’d just watched me be dumped by Lincoln for Tori.”
Rosalie Undone (The Shifters Series Book 6) Page 2
