by Sky Winters
“Good morning, sleepy head,” he said softly, petting her hair and her cheek, leaning in and kissing her. “Do you want some breakfast?”
Her enthusiasm for breakfast overrode her enthusiasm for sleep. She nodded her head and got out of bed. “Ugh, I feel like I slept with my head in a vise.”
Luke looked at her as if he knew something she didn’t. “There’s some aspirin if the bathroom if you need it. Top drawer on the right under the sink.”
She mumbled her thanks and went into the bathroom. Maggie looked at herself in the mirror and couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous her hair appeared now. She had been solidly asleep all night and wondered if it was one of the effects of being with a bear shifter. Had Luke’s hibernation skills wore off on her?
She found the aspirin where he told her it was and carefully swallowed down two of them with some water. She felt kind of queasy and didn’t know why. Sometimes, in the mornings, she just felt that way. There was one possibility, but Maggie quickly removed it from her mind. She did not want to get ahead of herself or work herself up. Things with Luke were so relaxed and easy-going. Like what being with a bear should be like. She did not want to complicate things…
As soon as she was done in the bathroom, Maggie headed back out to the kitchen to find Luke working on making waffles. He smiled at her, pressing the waffle iron down onto the batter. “Feel any better?” he asked her.
“Well, I don’t think it’s supposed to work that quickly,” she replied, chuckling softly. She sat on a stool at his little breakfast nook, resting her chin against the cool granite countertop. “I feel achy,” she complained.
“Let’s get some food in you and see if that helps.” Luke placed some waffles onto a plate and moved it over in front of her nose on the counter.
Maggie sat up, drawn in by the wonderful smell of waffles.
Luke grabbed some syrup from his pantry and set that in front of her too. “I didn’t know if you wanted something in them or not, so I went ahead and made chocolate chip waffles. Who can say no to chocolate chip?”
She smiled appreciatively and put some syrup on her short stack of the delicious-smelling breakfast. As soon as he was done making his, he placed them on another plate and brought them over so he could sit beside her in the nook versus at his small table.
“I hardly ever actually sit here,” he said. “It’s nice.”
“I imagine cleaning this is easier than cleaning a whole table,” she reasoned. God, the waffles tasted good. She continued to feel queasy, which made her feel bad. Grabbing her phone from her purse, she checked to see if she had any messages.
Girl, did you have sex with the bodybuilder guy?? Take all the time you need if that’s the case!
Maggie could always depend on Trish to be understanding.
As much as she liked the waffles, she had to stop eating them halfway through. She set her fork down, frowning. “I don’t feel so good,” she said. Carefully, she pushed herself away from the counter and walked to the bathroom. She felt like running, but knew that running would make it worse.
“I think I’m pregnant,” she said when she came out of the bathroom, her hair now tied back in a tiny ponytail in an effort to keep it out of the way in case she needed to barf again. “In fact, I most definitely am according to everything I’ve ever heard about it. But that’s ridiculous; I mean, we just had sex last night, so I couldn’t possibly be having the symptoms so soon.”
Luke was in the process of rinsing off the plates and putting them into the dishwasher. He looked up at her and it bothered her a little how unsurprised he seemed. “Well, things are somewhat different when you’re pregnant with a shifter child. The pregnancy progresses much quicker. Do you want to take a test and find out for sure?” he asked.
“Doesn’t this worry you?” she asked him, sitting back at the breakfast nook across from where he loaded the dishwasher. She could reach out and touch him if she wanted to, but right now she almost felt like recoiling from him. She wanted him to be upset that she was pregnant. She wanted him to show some shock, some concern, some ‘how are we going to handle this new situation?’
Instead, she got the calm reaction of someone who seemed to have seen it coming.
“It doesn’t worry me, Red. If you really are pregnant, I’ll be excited… Unless you don’t want it.”
Maggie pouted at him.
Luke looked at her. “What?”
“So you’ll just be supportive of me, no matter what?” she asked him. “You don’t even know me.”
“I’d like to get to know you.” He closed the dishwasher and turned it on.
The sound practically drowned out Maggie’s thoughts. It grated against her brain, and she brought her hands to her head. The aspirin was taking its sweet fucking time to go into effect.
Maggie did what every pained and possibly pregnant woman probably did… She started to cry.
Luke raised his eyebrows and rushed around the counter to her. He wrapped his arms around her and took her off the stool, carrying her over to the couch and setting her down, sitting beside her. At no point did he fully take his hands off of her; he kept one big hand on her thigh. He did not tell her to stop crying. He did not tell her that everything was going to be okay. But he sat with her and let her cry it out, and Maggie appreciated that.
As her tears slowly subsided, she leaned into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. “Do you feel any better now?” he asked her.
She nodded against him.
“Do you want me to go to the store and get you a pregnancy test?”
She nodded again.
Maggie wanted him to stay with her, but she also wanted to get this over with. At least if they knew she actually was pregnant, they could move from there. Luke got up from the couch and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be right back. Do not go anywhere.”
“Where else would I go?” she asked, smiling faintly at him.
He left and she got her phone again before collapsing back on the couch.
I think I’m pregnant.
She did not know what else to say to Trish. This guy was sweet and decent, but he was also a bear-shifting stranger. Was having his baby the right choice for her? Looking around his living room, she noticed the empty mantle meant for pictures again. Perhaps this was something he had been waiting a long time to find… Luke was such a shy guy, really. He had come to her rescue but hadn’t made any moves toward her until she’d made it clear it was okay.
Could she love this guy?
Hugging one of the couch’s throw pillows to her chest, she closed her eyes. The aspirin finally took effect. She felt like lounging in her pajamas all day. Surely a bear would be okay with that plan.
CHAPTER FOUR
Having A Cub
When Luke arrived back at home, he found Maggie sleeping on the couch. He smiled a little. That was a sure sign that the aspirin was working now and her upset stomach had at least calmed down. “Maggie?” he asked softly.
She sniffed and stirred, opening her eyes and craning her head back to look up at him. She’d been sleeping in a strange, almost fetal position, clutching the pillow to her belly and chest as though she was in pain. Maggie felt much better, especially now that Luke was home. “Did you bring the thingy?” she asked, still only partially awake.
He chuckled and sat beside her, clear white plastic bag in hand. “I did,” he said. “I didn’t know which brand was best, so I got three. I think it will help confirm things.” He dumped the contents of the bag onto the coffee table.
Three boxed-up pregnancy tests. What a fun afternoon this was going to be.
“I’ve gotta pee,” Maggie said. She stood up a bit wobbly and grabbed the first test.
Two hours and three used pregnancy tests later, Maggie and Luke knew that they were, in fact, expecting a baby. She held her hands over her mouth, staring down at the short row of pee sticks, amazed. All of them said the same thing, in three different ways. Two lines. A plus. Preg
nant.
“I thought I might throw up when I found out, but I feel fine,” she said through her hands, tears in her eyes.
Luke put his arm around her and pulled her close. She was still in her pajamas, her hair still up in her little ponytail. It was so short that a lot of it had billowed out of the hair tie throughout this ordeal. She was beautiful to him.
“I guess this means I’m not moving back in with Trish,” she said.
He shook his head. “Absolutely not. You are living here with me. You’re not even going back there to get your stuff.”
He said it more gruffly than he intended. Maybe it was the papa bear instinct kicking in now. Luke was going to be protective of her. He already was, but it was going to be amplified now that Maggie was pregnant with his cub.
She nodded, smiling a little. “Okay, Mr. Bear, sir,” she said, giving him a small salute.
They cuddled on the couch for a moment. She hadn’t anticipated feeling happy after it was confirmed that she was pregnant. She thought that she would feel sick, upset, shocked, horrified even… Maybe even mad. But instead, she felt happy. This felt right, for some reason she could not put into words.
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 s
he 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.”
