“Are you threatening my bond mate?” a voice calmly asked from the front entrance.
Both of them spun around in shock. Sulen walked in with a confident stride, his black leather coat trailing behind him.
How had he come in without her hearing him? The sensor hadn’t gone off, or she would have heard it. The sound was ingrained in her conscious after hearing it so often. Amelie leaned back to check her comp. The screen remained blank, no vid image.
“Because I wouldn’t like it if you were.” He drew to a stop beside Amelie and placed a hand on the curve of her hip.
She controlled the urge to flinch and watched Aviana. The other woman’s gaze leisurely roamed over Sulen’s muscular form, hesitating in a noticeable and blatant manner at his groin area before continuing up. Her smile was seductive, the red paint giving them a plump texture.
“Amelie and I were just talking. I came on Roan’s behalf.”
Her voice was simpering and grated on Amelie’s nerves. Sulen didn’t react at all. Not that it mattered. He wasn’t Amelie’s real bond mate and she didn’t have a prior claim on him.
Aviana smoothed her hands down her hip and dragged a finger to her mouth to tug on the bottom lip. “He’s devastated by the discovery that this...that Amelie would keep his daughter a secret all these years. Being a father is a dream for him and—”
She paused on a sob. How she managed to get a tear to well up, Amelie didn’t know. Aviana drew in a deep trembling breath. “A-a-and, I have personal issues that have prevented us from being able to make that happen. Learning about F-fleur when we came here seems like it was meant to be.”
“Mmm.”
Sulen’s response to the pack of lies was non-committal and Amelie was eternally grateful he wasn’t falling for it. She didn’t know if Roan had told his wife the truth but the fact the woman chose to believe him about Amelie keeping Fleur a secret without any proof and was determined to take her daughter was inconceivable.
“I came here to see if we could all get together and discuss the matter like civilized adults but Amelie has been very resistant to finding a workable solution.”
Sulen tugged Amelie closer and her hip smacked against his side. He looked down at Aviana from his greater height and glared. “Considering your husband’s aggressive approach toward her at the community center, wouldn’t you say she has every right to be leery?”
Aviana’s cheeks took on a fiery cast as she shook her perfectly coiffed hair over her shoulder. “Roan was justifiably upset.”
“So upset he sent you here to threaten Amelie?” Sulen shifted his weight to the side and his long coat swung back briefly to reveal the weapons strapped to the left side of his body. Two knives and a blaster that Amelie could spot before the material dropped back in place.
There was also a definitive bump on her left side where his right hip was pressed against her. How many weapons did one man need?
Aviana’s gaze rounded then snapped back up. “I hoped that as women we could resolve this peaceably. Surely you can understand a man’s desire and right to be aware of his unknown child’s existence.”
Sulen shrugged. “Maybe if he had been of better character, a woman wouldn’t have felt the need to hide a child, or better yet, maybe a woman didn’t hide it and the man chose to ignore the idea of being responsible for a baby. I can’t say since I’ve not been in that position.”
Amelie swallowed and pushed back a rising grain of fear. Sulen hit too close to the truth with the last comment. Roan had been very much aware she was pregnant. The difference was he’d hoped he’d intimidated and abused Amelie enough that she would have followed his directive and gotten rid of the child. Or lost her all together.
“Fine. It seems like you’re unwilling to listen as well.” She pointed to Amelie. “You will not get away with your lies. Roan and I will find a way to prove you don’t deserve to keep his child. You’ll regret your refusal to work this out amicably.”
With one last sniff and a chin lift, she stalked from the store and slammed the door behind her. For a moment, Amelie wilted in place. The threat took the last of her steam and she pounded her fist on the counter. Stupid, Roan.
“Are you alright?” Sulen placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
At least Amelie wanted to think it was meant to be comforting. The grip was more firm than it needed to be. “I’m fine. Just didn’t expect to have someone offer to pay me for my daughter at the end of my workday.”
He turned her around and tipped her chin up with a scarred knuckle. “Have you prepared for the eventuality that the truth will come out?”
“There is no truth to their story. I...” Amelie took several deep breaths. She couldn’t reveal the truth. Not all of it. “I’m sorry you got dragged into all of this.”
The corner of his mouth curled up and he tilted his head to the side. “Are you? I mean, I’m listed on an official registry as father and bond mate to you and your daughter. Sounds like I was deliberately included.”
Embarrassment caused her face to flame. Flustered, Amelie checked the time and shuffled around the counter to grab her keys and things. “I have to go. It’s time to pick up Fleur and I don’t want to be late. Who knows what Roan will try to do next.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said, right on her heels as Amelie shut everything down and locked up the garden center.
“You don’t have to,” she protested, eager to be out of his presence before he questioned her further.
“Listen.” He gripped her arm, stopping Amelie from rushing down the street. “The school you have her in doesn’t have the greatest security and despite my feelings on your ex and his wife, I don’t trust either of them.”
“You’ve been to Fleur’s school?” she asked, bypassing everything else he said.
She tugged her arm free and her steps quickened. Getting to the school became a priority. Amelie needed to make sure her daughter was safe.
Sulen kept pace with her, his ground eating strides not causing him any problem. By the time they reached the learning academy, children already streamed from the front door to their waiting parents. As Scarlett had warned, there were plenty of dads here today.
Amelie stopped on the walkway, scanning the small bobbing heads. Sulen saw Fleur first and stretched his arm over her shoulder to point. “There she is.”
Fleur came streaking through the front door, hands in the air and wearing a big grin. “Daddyyyyy!”
Her cry drew the attention of the others. Amelie wanted to curl into a ball and hide. Instead, she went to one knee to catch Fleur, who showed no signs of slowing her rapid approach.
Going right past her, Fleur hit the bottom of Sulen’s legs and wrapped both arms around his knees. “You came back.”
Amelie was stunned. She stood up, shock more than likely visible on her face. Sulen scooped her daughter up as if it was no big deal and propped her on his forearm to hold her aloft. Fleur curved one arm about his neck and pressed her face against the hollow of his throat.
Fleur never went to anyone like that at the end of the school day except Amelie. It was their special ritual from the first day Amelie had dropped her daughter off. Fleur called it her missed you so much hug. Now someone else was on the receiving end of that embrace.
“Are you okay with going out to eat?” Sulen asked.
Staring at their two dark heads together with matching green eyes, it hit her all at once. They didn’t just have the same coloring. They favored strongly from the shape of Fleur’s nose to the way her eyebrows had a funny way of arching up. Like Sulen’s. The resemblance was unnerving.
“Amelie?” Sulen sent a frown in her direction.
Amelie shook her head in dazed confusion as thoughts of the impossible ran through her mind. He and Fleur had been carrying on a conversation without her hearing a single word. “What?”
“Fleur wants something called curlies and said you don’t have any more at home.”
A snort escaped and Amelie
gave her daughter a mock glare, which was met with an unremorseful grin. Amelie faced Sulen. “There’s an eatery that just so happens to serve a certain person’s favorite food. We can walk there.”
During the all too short trip, the idea building in her mind refused to quit and Amelie knew she’d have to have a serious conversation with Scarlett to see if what she was envisioning was improbable.
Chapter 10
When they arrived at the quaint eatery, Fleur was greeted like a person of great import. From Sulen’s arms, she reigned over the staff, waving and calling out greetings which were enthusiastically returned from the entrance all the way to their table nestled in a small corner.
Amelie slid in one side of the bench and Sulen slid across from her and sat Fleur beside him. Her daughter’s continued traitorous behavior drew a bit of humor from Amelie and she rolled her eyes when the imp smothered a giggle and bounced about the padded bench.
“I take it you’ve eaten here before.”
Chuckling at Sulen’s statement of the obvious, Amelie glanced around the familiar décor. A’shar’s was owned by a Dorian male mated to a Gerelin woman he met and bonded with twenty years ago. They’d settled here and to get to know the community, he’d opened this small place, serving cuisine from his native world. Thus the curlies Fleur loved.
“We’ve been here a time or two,” she answered.
“We come lots. Mommy likes it here.” Fleur climbed to her knees and peered over the high back of the booth to wave, then turned around and sat back down.
Amelie couldn’t see who her daughter greeted but it wasn’t unusual. “The staff here really like Fleur.”
Leaning his forearms on the table, Sulen arched a brow, encouraging her to continue.
Amelie didn’t have a problem sharing the story. It was a pleasant memory for her though at the time she’d been at her wit’s end. “A few months after I had Fleur, I became the new owner of the garden center. I’d never run a business before and didn’t have employees and couldn’t afford time off.”
She could see the thought forming and rushed to add, “The new parent pay accord didn’t get passed until a year later. So anyway, here I was exhausted from a long day at work and desperately wanting something quick to eat. I took Fleur with me to work every day because I didn’t have money for her care and the only person I knew at the time was my best friend who had a pretty hectic schedule too.”
“Any Gerelin would have stood for you, offering care or relief if you’d asked.” Sulen spoke in a calm voice but his mouth tightened, showing his frustration.
“I know that now.” Amelie paused in her story to let Roktok, the staff member, bring them glasses of water and a fruit juice for Fleur. “I’ll have my usual.”
Sulen hesitated, an expression she couldn’t read flashing over his face before he said, “Give me double the portion of whatever you bring her.”
He was in for quite a surprise but Amelie didn’t say anything.
“And you, Fleur?” Roktok asked, giving her his full attention as if he didn’t already know.
“I’d like nidbits and curlies, please.” No longer bouncing around, she scribbled on the electronic screen built into the table’s surface with a colored wand. The screen was the only one in the entire restaurant and designed strictly to entertain her daughter when they came here.
“Of course.”
“Thank you!” she chimed loudly as Roktok walked away, causing several people to laugh.
Curling her lips up, Amelie acknowledged his questioning glance. He wasn’t impatient, merely waited for her to finish her story. “I came here after a really grueling day. I barely managed to order without sobbing. I guess the staff mentioned it to the owner when they put my order in.
One minute I’m drowning in tears and the next this huge gregarious man comes by and snags Fleur from me to rock her in his arms and sing until she falls asleep. I could have kissed him for those moments of blissful silence.”
“And I would have welcomed it.”
They jerked at the brash voice coming toward them. Sulen was on his feet, his coat pushed back with one hand while the other gripped one of the knives she’d noticed earlier.
“Whoa! Whoa!” A’shar cautioned with his raised hands. The triangular shaped ears on the top of his bald head wiggled.
“It’s okay, Sulen,” Amelie rushed out. “This is A’shar.”
A’shar who outweighed Sulen by a hundred pounds and was a good foot taller yet Sulen hadn’t hesitated in his defensive stance.
With a disgruntled look, Sulen eased back into his seat. Fleur had no such reservations and leaped across Sulen’s lap to reach for A’shar. “Baba!”
After carefully checking to see how Sulen would react, A’shar picked Fleur up. He cradled her daughter in his meaty grip and nuzzled her with his protruding snout. The gold rings dangling from both ears swayed as he rocked Fleur from side to side in their ritual greeting.
A’shar lifted his head and winked at Amelie. “I will take her to the back for a bit. We miss her.”
We being his bond mate, Ria. Amelie flicked her fingers in approval and A’shar lumbered off, the floor vibrating in his wake. It was amazing how silent he could be when he wanted. As to missing Fleur, Amelie found the claim amusing since they were here once a week if Fleur could wheedle the trip out of Amelie. Sometimes to eat and other times to visit her fwends as she called them.
Amelie sighed once she and Sulen were alone again. “As you can see, he took to her. Told me to come in after work every day for a break because he and his bond mate had no kids by choice but loved having a baby around. One week became a month and then a year until it became a routine. There isn’t a staff member here, from the cleanup crew to the cook, who hasn’t rocked Fleur to sleep or soothed her when crying at least once. Probably more.”
Sulen leaned back, his booted feet bracketing her legs. She couldn’t read his expression as he stared. Shifting about, she reached for her water and took a healthy sip.
“You’ve made this place your home,” he finally said, drumming the fingers of one hand on the table.
Amelie studied the broad hand, his thick fingers with the multiple scars across the back of his knuckles. There was a thin trail of hair at the base of his wrist that disappeared into the sleeve of his coat. She wondered how far the hair went.
He tapped a single finger hard once and Amelie’s head snapped up to be caught in his stare. His gaze heated, the swirling desire there unmistakable. His nostrils flared as he leaned forward. “That’s why you came here. Created the story about already having a bond mate. You wanted a home.”
Amelie needed to clear her throat to speak without rasping her words while her body throbbed and pushed for her to act on the arousal tingling in her nipples and between her thighs. Being attracted to the faceless Gerelin Scarlett assigned as her fake mate wasn’t something she had considered. There was something about his commanding figure pulling her toward him.
It was hard to hold his stare but Amelie did. “Yes. I wanted a home. Colony guidelines specifically state residency will only be granted to Gerelins or their direct family members unless you have an exception like a job in high demand that can’t be done by a community member.”
“Why me?”
That explanation was longer and would implicate Scarlett. Amelie firmed her lips and didn’t speak.
“Do you know what I would usually do to someone—”
“Here you go.” A server set several plates overflowing with their food on the table and vanished.
***
Sulen controlled his frustration. There were too many interruptions here. He wanted to know what she’d done to bond them. How she’d formed the connection when he’d been far away on another world. It was indisputable that they were connected. The bonding scars on her neck were fake but the thin rope letting him sense her presence in the dim corner of his mind was real.
Amelie pulled her plate toward her and maneuvered another in
front of Sulen. He glanced down and a frown pulled at his lips. What was this?
Amelie snickered and he looked up. She pointed with her eating utensil. “Those green things are arii, a leafy vegetable sourced here, the red is maaza, also a vegetable. The blu—”
This looked like a child’s portion of red, green and blue foods tossed together. He interrupted her to snarl, “Is everything on my plate a vegetable?”
Tongue in cheek, Amelie shrugged. “I try to set a good example for Fleur but also, I don’t eat meat.”
He couldn’t mask his horror and Amelie burst into a robust laugh. Head tossed back and neck arched, she gave in fully to her humor. Sulen smirked and stirred the items around on his plate. It’s what he deserved for mirroring her order without knowing what it was. “Is it too late to add something...heartier?”
Still chuckling, she lifted her hand and the same server came back over as if he’d just been waiting in the wings. The crowd had grown and most of the tables that had been empty when they arrived were now full. Despite his focus on Amelie, Sulen had noted the arrival of each customer as they entered.
“Roktok, can you get Sulen an andirian steak. The biggest A’shar serves.”
Roktok nodded. “Absolutely.”
Sulen’s steak arrived, delivered by the return of Fleur, who carefully balanced the wide square plate between her hands. Her brows were creased and her tongue poked out in intense concentration. Sulen rose and caught the plate as it started to tip to the side.
Fleur dove past him to slide into her seat on the bench. Sulen glanced at his food and noticed a tiny corner of his steak missing. Concerns of food tampering as always rose. Fleur pointed with her eating utensil. “I tasted it for you.”
Snickering, Amelie finished her vegetable platter and watched him devour the perfectly cooked steak with a hint of red at the center. Fleur didn’t seem bothered by her food being cold and ate her nidbits and curlies then pointed to Sulen’s pile of vegetables still sitting on the separate plate. “Don’t forget your veggies to be healthy.”
Amelie choked on another laugh and quickly sipped her water to hide the sound. Sulen grimaced and tossed his napkin over the plate he refused to touch. “I’m full.”
Claiming His Unexpected Baby Page 7
