“It was,” I sniffed. “And then it turns out that my sleazebag of a boyfriend got another woman pregnant and forgot to tell me about it.”
“He what?” Kate’s eyebrows shot up. “Let me at him. Seriously. I’m going to pound that douche into the ground. Who? How?”
“I think we both know how,” I remarked dryly. “As for the who, this is where it gets really interesting. Remember that woman who caused a scene over her coffee the other day?”
Kate nodded then gasped, her eyes wide as she realized what I was telling her. “Nooo! Are you kidding?”
“I only wish I was.” I sniffed. “Turns out her name is Jen and she’s having Dom’s baby.”
“How pregnant is she? When did this happen? How long has he been cheating on you?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” I replied. “I didn’t stick around long enough to ask. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. I don’t need to know the gory details. It would kill me to hear that she’s the love of his life and I was just some bit on the side while he was in San Francisco.”
“Are you sure that’s what it is though?” asked Kate. “I mean, maybe he didn’t actually cheat on you. Perhaps she’s his ex and they split up before she realized she was pregnant. Wouldn’t that make a difference?”
“I guess,” I shrugged. “Not enough though. Dom’s going to be with her and that’s the end of it.”
“Is he? Did he say that?”
“No, but-”
“Forget the buts. Can I ask you something personal?” Kate interrupted me.
“I guess.”
“Do you love Dom?”
Did I love him? I hadn’t said the words out loud yet, but I’d known it was only a matter of time. Dom was everything I wanted in a man, or at least I thought he was. Now I wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t know,” I finally replied.
“Well I do,” said Kate firmly. “I’ve been in enough relationships myself to spot the signs. You’re totally smitten with the guy and he feels the same way. Just because some woman shows up and tries to steal your man doesn’t mean you should let her walk all over you. You should fight for him.”
“Fighting’s not really my style,” I told her. “If Jen wants Dom, she can have him.”
“But what if Dom wants you?” pointed out Kate. “Doesn’t he get a say in this too?”
“He said everything he needed to last night.”
“Did he? Or did you walk out on him before he had a chance to explain?”
I blushed. Kate knew me too well.
“Right,” said Kate. “So you need to talk to him before you say your final goodbye. At least hear his side of the story. Maybe it won’t be pretty. Maybe it really is that he was cheating on you and you’re better off without him. But at least if you know for certain, it’ll be easier for you to get closure and move on. I know what love looks like and I was sure that I saw it when I looked at you guys. You can’t just walk away from that, Steph. Not without finding out exactly what’s going on. I’ve told you before and I’m telling you now. You need to open up, let yourself be vulnerable for once, and talk to Dom. Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust that Jen chick. Anyone who creates a scene just to get a free coffee isn’t normal.”
I laughed. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Of course I am, no maybe about it. I’m always right. Now drink up your wine and then text Dom to arrange a meetup to talk before you wimp out. And that’s an order.”
“Yes, boss,” I saluted. Only Kate would have the nerve to treat her manager like this, but she was making a lot of sense. I should have talked to Dom last night, but I was too upset to be rational. Maybe now that I’d had a chance to calm down a bit, I could hear what Dom had to say and get the answers I so desperately needed.
Because this whole situation was seriously messed up and I couldn’t make sense of it on my own.
o0o
Nervously, I played with a coaster as I sat in a quiet booth at the corner of a bar not far from where Dom worked. His reply to my text asking to meet was almost immediate, making me glad that I’d listened to Kate and contacted him. Jen’s pregnancy was a major issue, but maybe between us we could work something out, even if it was going to break my heart to let him go.
“You haven’t been waiting long, have you?” Dom slid into the booth next to me, but instead of greeting me with his customary kiss, he left a respectful distance between us, a distance that broke my heart.
“Not really,” I replied, as Dom motioned to the waitress to bring us both a beer. As soon as she brought two bottles over, I grabbed mine and took a long swig, happy for the excuse to avoid looking straight at Dom. My emotions were still too raw to let me take in his strong, chiseled jaw, his beautiful green eyes, that body that had been mine once.
“So…” I said after a long, awkward silence.
“So,” echoed Dom, before picking up his beer and draining half of it in one go.
“So are you going to tell me exactly what last night was all about?” I asked at last.
“You have no idea how sorry I am that things went the way they did.” Dom ran a hand through his hair in exasperation, a gesture that would normally send tingles down my spine with his natural sexiness. This time, it only made me sad to think that I’d never get to touch him again. “You have to believe me that I never wanted you to find out like that, but Jen always had a mind of her own. She always told me that I was the only man who could tame her, but I don’t think I did a good job of that.”
“It’s true, then? She’s having your baby.”
Dom nodded miserably.
“And you cheated on me with her?”
“No!” Dom gasped, looking straight at me, his piercing eyes wide with innocence. “God, no, Steph. I would never do that to you. Maybe it’s easier if I just tell you the whole story from the beginning.”
“Please do,” I murmured, trying not to let myself feel any hope at his denial.
“Jen and I have a bit of a history,” Dom told me. “She’s the daughter of the alpha female in my clan.”
“So she’s a shifter then?”
“That’s right,” Dom nodded. “And she’s one of the more outspoken members of our clan. She has some very hard line attitudes towards shifter politics, which is one of the reasons why we split up in the end. She thought that my coming to San Francisco was a complete waste of time. She believes that I should focus all my attention on our own clan and not worry about working with others, let alone mingle with humans. She gave me an ultimatum and said that if I left, we were over. I don’t take kindly to people telling me what to do and, well, as you can see, I’m here.”
“And she just watched you leave? She doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who’d let someone walk out of her life.”
Dom laughed mirthlessly. “She’s not. After I’d been here for a few weeks, she showed up on my door. She told me that she’d missed me too much to stay away and if I’m honest, I’d missed her too, just not as much as I thought I would. One thing led to another…”
“You slept with her,” I put in.
“I’m not proud of myself,” Dom told me. “When I woke up the next morning and saw her lying next to me, I knew that the whole thing had been a big mistake. You and I hadn’t yet started dating, but I’d been talking to you in the coffee shop and you intrigued me. Being with Jen that last time made me see that I wanted, needed, someone else. I wanted you. You’re so different to Jen, like a breath of fresh air. Things were so intense with Jen, whereas with you, I had a sense that we’d have something special, something that could last, especially once you started to haunt my dreams. You made it easy to be myself. Don’t get me wrong. Jen’s a great girl.”
“Really?” I snorted. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you.
“I know she hasn’t exactly been on her best behavior,” Dom said. “I’ve spoken to her and made it very clear that she crossed the line. She’s sorry.”
“Ha!” I finished my beer and signaled for another one.
“I’m sorry.” Dom reached out and took my hand in his, but I pulled it away. “Please, Steph. I really am. I thought we’d been careful that night, but it seems that we weren’t careful enough. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt you and if I’d have known what was going to happen, there’s no way I would have let Jen stay over that night.”
“But you did.”
Dom sighed. “I did, and now I owe it to the baby to stay with Jen. You have no idea how much I’d rather be with you. I love you, Steph.”
I put my beer down, turning to Dom to face him. I’d wanted so much to hear him say those words but now that he finally had, they were like a knife in my heart. “Then be with me,” I urged. “If you mean what you say, we can sort something out. This is the twenty first century. I know that you’ll be a good dad, whether you’re in a relationship with Jen or not. You don’t have to go back to her.”
“It’s not that simple,” Dom told me. “Believe me, I wish it were. If I wasn’t-”
He broke off, biting back what he was about to say.
“If you weren’t what? Come on, Dom. Just tell me.”
Dom clenched his jaw and I could practically see the cogs in his mind turning over as he considered whether to let me in on whatever big secret he was keeping. “I’m not just any shifter,” he finally confessed.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m an alpha bear, the next in line to run my clan,” he said. “That’s why I was chosen to spend time with the Loves and why there’s so many protocols I have to obey so that I can be here. And that’s the other complication. I was waiting for the right time to tell you, but whoever I’m mated with will be leading the clan by my side. With you appearing in my dreams, I was positive that we were fated to be together, so I was waiting for the right time to tell you about our destiny. I didn’t want to scare you off. If we’re mated, it’s for life and you need to put clan interests first, just like I do. It’s a lot to ask and I wanted to be sure of us before I brought it up.”
“Wow.” I picked at the label on my beer bottle. “You really are full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“I’m sorry. None of this is what I wanted.”
“Jeez, Dom. Stop apologizing, will you? It is what it is. We can work this out, I know we can. There’ll be a solution to this mess. We just have to figure it out. I don’t want to lose the man I love.”
There. I’d said it. Was it naïve of me to believe that love could solve any problem? Maybe, but in that moment, I knew that I couldn’t be without Dom. I certainly couldn’t let him be with someone like Jen. He deserved better.
I leaned forward and kissed Dom. At first, he seemed hesitant to return my kiss, but as he relaxed into me, grabbing handfuls of my hair to pull me to him, I knew that he felt the same way I did. Whatever happened with the baby, we were going to find a way to make this work.
When we finished kissing, Dom rested his forehead against mine. “I want to be with you Steph, I really do,” he whispered. “But I can’t. Jen’s having my baby and according to clan lore, as the future leader, I have to be with the mother of my cubs. If I were any other shifter…”
“But you’re not,” I said coldly, pushing him away as my heart shattered into a million pieces. “It’s all right, Dom. I understand. You’re a good man. Of course you need to be with the mother of your child. I hope you’re very happy together.”
I turned and grabbed my purse, getting up to go.
“Don’t leave like this, Steph,” Dom begged. “Let’s talk some more. I can’t bear to see you walk away.”
“What’s to talk about?” I asked. “The best thing for both of us is if we just move on. You need to be with Jen. Maybe it’s not what either of us wants, but you’ve always been open about the fact that the clan comes first. You’re going to be an amazing dad. Jen is very lucky to have you by her side.”
I turned and left, not wanting Dom to see me cry.
Chapter Seven
It had been three days since I met Dom in the bar and somehow I was managing to keep it together enough to get back behind the counter serving coffee, having spent the past few days hiding in the office doing ‘admin’, code for crying and eating too much cake. It had been a long day, though, and I was looking forward to closing up and going home to wallow in a bath and feel sorry for myself.
“There you go,” My smile hid how I felt as I handed over a customer’s order. “Two espressos, one soy latte and three slices of our coconut cake. Have a nice day!”
I turned to take the next order, but my blood ran cold when I saw who was standing in front of me.
“You! Out! You’re banned!” As if from nowhere, Kate was by my side, barking at Jen to get out of Perk.
“No, Kate. It’s all right.” I snapped out of the shock that had frozen me in place and I put a hand on Kate’s arm to stop her going after Jen to manhandle her out of the coffee shop. I wouldn’t put it past Kate to try it, even if she knew that Jen was a shifter and infinitely stronger than her. “I’m going to take my break now anyway. It’s long overdue. Jen, why don’t you join me in my office?”
“I’d love to,” purred Jen, pitching her smile at just the right amount of smug to get under Kate’s skin. I could feel Kate’s desperation to go after her, so I quickly motioned to Jen to come out to the back of the store.
“Do you want me to bring you some arsenic-laced coffee?” whispered Kate as I left, forcing me to suppress a giggle. Whatever Jen wanted, I could do this.
“Please. Take a seat.” I gestured to Jen to sit down, as I closed the door to my office behind us. Much as I understood Kate’s gut reaction to throw her out – part of me felt exactly the same way – I had to admit to feeling a little curious about what she was doing here. She’d got what she came for. Dom was hers. What did she need with me? Had she just come to twist the knife in my back a little more?
Jen perched on the very edge of the chair on the other side of my desk as I took the seat opposite. She gazed around the room, seeming to take in every detail, judging everything she saw.
“I must say that you have a very quaint little coffee shop here,” she observed. “It’s so… understated, a world apart from the types of places I’m used to frequenting.”
Why was I unsurprised that Jen was the queen of the backhanded compliment?
“Why don’t you just cut the crap and tell me why you’re here? You’ve got what you wanted. Dom’s with you, so why exactly did you come back? Are you seriously that much of a bitch that you needed to see for yourself how much you’ve hurt me?”
Jen laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself. I could care less how you’re feeling. I just wanted to make sure you got the message to keep your hands off my man. Dom seems to have a certain fondness when it comes to you.”
“You’ve had a wasted trip,” I told her. “Dom and I talked it over and we agreed that he should be with you. I respect his decisions and I’m not going to interfere, so there was no need for you to come and see me. You’ve won.”
“Not quite,” she replied. “You see, Dom’s a romantic at heart. It’s the one weakness in an otherwise perfect man. He might not say the words, but I know him better than he thinks and I can tell when his mind’s elsewhere. He might be kissing me, but he really wants to be with you.”
I felt like I wanted to throw up at the thought of Dom kissing someone else so soon. I knew that we’d agreed that he should be with Jen, but somehow I thought that they’d take things slow for a while, that Dom would need some time to get over me. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I tried to hide my discomfort, but I always did wear my heart on my sleeve and I could see from Jen’s expression that she knew that her words had hit their target. She leaned back in her chair, narrowing her eyes.
“I must say that I can’t see what the big attraction is,” she said. “I mean, you’re hardly anything special, are you? Maybe you’re just really good in bed, a
lthough somehow I doubt it. I guess Dom felt like slumming it for a while.”
“All right, that’s it.” I gritted my teeth, regretting not letting Kate throw Jen out earlier. “If all you wanted to do was insult me, you can get out. I don’t need to hear anything more from you.”
“Yes you do.” Jen didn’t seem bothered by my anger. If anything, it seemed to amuse her. “I don’t know how much you know about shifter lore, but I’m pretty certain there’s one little detail that Dom forgot to mention.”
“What, that he’s going to be leader of the clan, so he needs to be with you because of the baby? I already know about all that.”
“That’s part of it,” confirmed Jen, “but did he tell you the rest?”
“What rest?”
“As leader of the clan, it’s his duty to mate with another shifter.” She sighed. “My dear, you may well have enjoyed your little dalliance with him. You may even have kidded yourself that the pair of you were in love. But your relationship was always doomed to fail. Sooner or later, Dom would have come back to me. I’m destined to be his mate, not some pathetic human.”
“That’s not true,” I countered. “Plenty of shifters mate with humans.”
“Did you read that on the internet?” smirked Jen, her grin broadening when my blush told her she was right. “Whatever you think you know, you’re wrong and in any case, each clan has different rules. Only a female shifter is worthy of mating with our clan’s leader. So if you were deluding yourself with thoughts of winning Dom back, you really need to move on. He’s not going to be with you ever again. I did you a favor ending it now before you get too attached. You might not see it now, but one day you’ll be grateful.”
She stood up to leave, but as she reached the door, she turned as another thought struck her.
“You’re not the first, you know,” she said.
“The first what?”
“The first human who thought that Dom was in love with her. Our Mr Hamilton is quite the player. If he wasn’t so damn gorgeous, I’d have left him years ago, but he keeps begging me to come back to him and, like a fool, I listen. Of course, those silly games are going to end now that we’re having a baby, but I thought you deserved to know the truth. You’re just not as special as you think you are.”
Caring Bear: A Paranormal BBW Shifter Pregnancy Romance (Love Laid Bear Book 5) Page 4
