The Silverback's Christmas Bride (Holiday Mail Order Mates Book 6)

by Lola Kidd

  “Yeah, me too.” She turned to him. “Sometimes, at the end of the job, people stop being friends.”

  Wy stopped and swallowed. “Do you not like me anymore, Jen?”

  She shook her head and tapped her fingers on the counter. “I like you very much. We were friends before, and we’re better friends now. But people are different. Maybe not everyone’s going to be your friend anymore. You should prepare yourself for that, Wyatt. I know that will hurt, but that might happen.”

  “I think I’ll still be friends with most of the people I talk to,” he said. “I knew most of them beforehand. I’m not really worried about that happening.”

  “Most of the people.” Jen tilted her head and looked at him. “Most. What about the ones you weren’t friends with before? Those are the people I’m talking about.”

  “Yeah, but the only person that I really didn’t know beforehand was Dottie.”

  It slowly dawned on Wyatt what Jen was trying to say. It was like being hit with a bag of bricks. “Are you saying that Dottie doesn’t want to be my friend anymore? Is that what you think? Did she say something to you?”

  “She definitely did not say that to me,” Jen assured him. “I’m just saying that it could happen.”

  “But do you think she would do that? Has she said anything about that before?” He was suddenly feeling sick to his stomach, and his gorilla was starting to push itself to the front. It was happening again.

  Jen looked him in the eye. “No. I don’t know for sure that that’s going to happen, but it wouldn’t be a crazy idea. Think about it. She’s not even from here. Maybe it was just a fun winter break romance for her.”

  Wy looked over at Dottie. She wasn’t talking to anyone around her, and she was only looking at her toys.

  Jen lowered her voice. “I’m not saying that’s what happened, but it could. Think about it, is all I’m saying. Keep it in mind.”

  They unpacked toys together in silence. Once he had set up the trains and dolls, Wy took the box they were using and put in closer to the next workstation. Jen followed him but didn’t say anything.

  “If you want to talk,” she whispered as more people started filing in from lunch, “I’m always here for you. Just as friends, I mean. But don’t forget I’m always here.”

  Wyatt nodded. “Thanks. Thanks for everything.”

  She went to help one of her friends on the other side of the shop set up. He was glad there was no one next him. He didn’t want to talk right now. The only person he wanted to talk to was Dottie, and she didn’t look like she was in the mood to talk at all.

  Even if she wouldn’t talk with him at work, she couldn’t avoid him outside of work. He was going to go to her house after work. He didn’t know what was going on, but he had to find out. He couldn’t take this any longer.

  Strangely enough, he hoped Jen was right. Deep down, he had a sinking suspicion that she was completely off base, but it was a nice thought. It made a nice explanation for Dottie’s sudden change of heart.

  More than likely, it was the same thing that always happened to him. Dottie must have finally realized that he was more trouble than he was worth. He had seemed great at first, but now that the shine had worn off, she was seeing him the same way every other woman did. She probably didn’t want to talk to him anymore, but he had to hear it from her himself.

  As hard as it was going to be, he had to know one way or the other.

  Chapter 15

  Dottie was home by herself that afternoon. She needed something to break the monotony of the evening.

  She hated being alone in the house for a few hours by herself now. Her parents had gone back to check on their house before Christmas. They wanted to make sure there were no newspapers left out so nobody got any ideas and broke into the house.

  Normally, Dottie would have gone to see Wy or invited him over during this time. That had been her plan, since she knew the trip was going to happen. But ever since last Saturday night, she hadn’t felt comfortable doing that. She barely felt comfortable even talking to him. She was having a hard time looking him in the eye. She was sure he would be able to see all her feelings laid bare, and she didn’t want that. She didn’t want him to know how conflicted she was. He might get the wrong idea. She wasn’t even sure how she felt yet, so it wasn’t like she had anything to talk to him about.

  Before she left work, Jen had pulled her aside in the dressing room and told her that Wyatt had asked about her. Dottie was flattered, but also worried. She was hurting him—the exact opposite of what she wanted to happen, and here she was, doing it anyway. She was such an idiot. She really should have listened to her mom and decided over the weekend. Either way, it would have all been over by now.

  She was so confused. After the bar, she had been sure how she felt, but now she wasn’t sure of anything. All this time, she had been so sure Wy was her mate, and then poof, overnight she felt different. It wasn’t exactly anything he had done. It was more like she had slowly started to realize some things. He was different than she had expected. Maybe he’d been pretending to be someone else all along. There was something about him that her parents didn’t like, and that made her nervous.

  Neither of her parents could tell her why they weren’t sold on him. They hadn’t been sold on Billy, either, and that had ended so badly for her. If she had taken their reservations more seriously, she wouldn’t have gotten herself into that stupid mess. She didn’t want to make the same mistake again. And this time, she wouldn’t just hurt herself, either. Her parents would be so disappointed if she didn’t trust them again. And of course, if she was wrong, she would hurt Wy too. It was all so complicated.

  She wished there had been some easy way to know the right thing to do. If only her animal could speak to her more clearly.

  Her animal—that was it! She needed to fly. Maybe if she got into her butterfly’s brain, she would be able to see the situation better.

  She hadn’t yet been able to shift in the house, either. This was a good time to take a spin around and a great way to pass the evening. This house was bigger than Wyatt’s place, but she double-checked and made sure all the windows and vents were closed. There was nowhere for her butterfly to go if it got too scared.

  After checking everything, she took off her clothes and shifted down. It wasn’t as relaxing as the last time, but her animal didn’t take over and panic, either. She was able to work in concert with the animal to check out the entire house. She went from the first floor to the attic. She checked all around, every nook and cranny.

  It was all brand-new, since she was seeing it through her butterfly’s eyes. Everything was so much bigger. She didn’t know how long she had been shifted, but it was a wonderful flight.

  Until she got back to the living room. There was a man standing near the couch. Her butterfly panicked.

  “Dottie?” The man put out his finger.

  It was Wy. But she was too afraid to land near him. She needed to get away from him, and right now.

  She couldn’t get her butterfly to cooperate. Its little heart was beating so fast, she didn’t think she would ever get it back under control.

  What was he doing here? He had ruined everything. She had been having such a nice night.

  “The door was open. I knew you were home, but you didn’t come to the door. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come inside. I should have just gone home and called you.”

  Her butterfly was going to lose its mind. It wouldn’t stop beating and beating its wings. It was trying to find an exit and get outside. It found one of the closed windows and beat itself against the glass. It hurt, but Dottie barely registered the pain. She needed to calm down. She had to get control again.

  Wyatt stepped closer. “I’m sorry. I’m going to leave now, okay?”

  Dottie used all of her concentration to will herself back to human form. When she was naked and shivering on the floor, she glared up at Wyatt. “Why did you come in?”

  “I’m sorry.” He
threw a blanket from the couch over her so she could cover herself. “I saw all the lights on and thought maybe you were here. I just wanted to talk.”

  “Normal people use the doorbell,” she spat. “If no one is home, normal people don’t just come in.”

  Wy reared back. “I understand. I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. But… since I’m already here, can we talk?”

  “You need to talk right now?” She stood up and pulled the blanket tighter around her. Her body ached from hitting the window with such force. It had been a long time since her butterfly’s injuries had hurt her in human form. “I can’t believe you did this.”

  Her heart was beating a mile a minute. She was so angry. How could he just come in like that? That wasn’t the correct way to act. That was insane. She would never just walk into his home. She hadn’t even invited him or anything.

  “I could have gotten seriously hurt, Wyatt,” she told him. “Do you understand how messed up what you did was?”

  “I do, and I’m sorry.” He put his hands out. “Can we just talk? I know that I messed up, but I don’t understand why you stopped talking to me so suddenly. I’m only looking to get some answers.”

  “I didn’t just stop talking to you,” she said. “I still talk to you. We talked the other day at work. We talked this morning at work.”

  She was trembling, she was so mad. If her butterfly had flown out the open door, she could have gotten seriously hurt. It had taken all her strength to make herself shift back to human form, even in the house. If she had been outside, she wouldn’t have been able to do that. And all he wanted was to talk to her. He had put her life in danger just to talk to her. He could have called. He had her number!

  “But why haven’t you been talking to me outside of work? Is this because of what happened at the Brazen Bull?”

  “It wasn’t because of anything, exactly.” She yawned. “I’m just not sure this is going to work out, I guess.”

  Wy bit his lip. “Okay. Okay. But not for any reason?”

  “Not really.”

  “There isn’t something about me? Something you don’t like? Something that disgusts you?”

  She shook her head. “Not really. I guess…I guess maybe you just aren’t the same anymore. You seem different than I thought you were.”

  “Not as good?”

  She shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know.”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She put her hand over his. She was so very tired, but this was what had to happen. Her butterfly had panicked. If Wyatt was really her mate, she wouldn’t have been so anxious when she saw him. He should have the opposite effect on her, like taking a Xanax or something. But he had upset her so much.

  Her parents were right. There was something off about him. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but they weren’t right for each other. She had been so wrong in the beginning.

  “I am too. What changed?” he asked with tears in his eyes.

  “I don’t know, exactly. Maybe we rushed into this. Maybe I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was so excited to have a friend that I let myself fall for you too hard, too fast. We should have gone slower. This wouldn’t be so bad if we had waited to get serious about each other.”

  “What about our LK Brides match?” he asked. “I mean, they thought we were perfect for each other.”

  “They get it wrong sometimes,” she said gently. “Their matches don’t always work. Your friend Cade was matched before, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Cade had a match before Kira that didn’t work.”

  “Well, we’re just like that. We look good on paper, but we don’t work so well in real life.”

  He nodded and bit his lip again. She reached over and hugged him awkwardly. She really hated hurting him like this. All her anger was gone. Now, she just felt bad and tired. So very tired.

  “I guess I should go.” He stood up and cleared his throat. “Thanks for talking to me about this and being so nice. I won’t bother you anymore.”

  Dottie could only nod. It wasn’t a bother to talk with Wyatt. She had loved talking with him. She wished she could go back and just be his friend. She had been so stupid. She should have never trusted her butterfly or some stupid online dating site. They weren’t right for each other. She had done this. She never should have trusted her own judgment.

  She led Wyatt to the door and let him out. After she had locked him out, she sank down and cried next to the door. She felt so terrible about doing this to him. She didn’t know how she was going to go to work the next day and have to see him.

  It was going to be a very sad Christmas this year at the Hart house.

  Chapter 16

  The gorilla helplessly looked at the counter. There was a hot steaming pizza sitting there, but all he could do was look at it longingly. He had shifted too early. He had been a human when he answered the door to get the pizza, but he was so sad that as soon as the pizza man had left, he had shifted back.

  Today was a hard day for Wy. It had only been twenty-four hours since he and Dottie had broken up, and in that time, he had been a human for maybe twenty minutes.

  He hadn’t slept much, either. He had been so sad that all he could do was sit in the dark as his gorilla most of the time. He was lucky that he didn’t have work that day, because he would have had to call in. He was in no shape to be a functioning human right now.

  The weather report said they would be getting eight inches of snow that night. Dottie’s parents were still out of town, and he wanted nothing more than to go over and see her. But that wasn’t going to happen. She was done with him.

  He knew it was the same as it always was. After she had figured out what he was really like, she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore. He should have seen that coming. It was all for the best, really. He should be happy—it had all gone down exactly as he’d expected, and he knew for sure now. But he wasn’t. He was so sad. Much sadder than he’d expected to feel.

  He hadn’t even known her for that long. He hadn’t ever felt this sad over losing a woman who wasn’t his mate. And she wasn’t. She had told him he wasn’t her mate.

  There was a knock at the door, but he didn’t bother going to get it. He knew it wasn’t Dottie, and there wasn’t anyone else he wanted to see. The knocking went on for a few more minutes, and then the door unlocked.

  “I know you’re in here, Wyatt.” Blair came in huffing and puffing. Her hand was over her stomach. “I can’t believe you just let a pregnant woman sit on your doorstep. In the cold, no less. You have a lot of nerve, man.”

  “I didn’t ask you to come.” Wyatt had shifted back to human and had slipped into the bathroom with the door closed. He knew from experience that if he didn’t talk to Blair, there was no way she would leave him alone. It was easier just to talk and get it over with. Then he could go back to moping in peace.

  “Come out of the bathroom. I want to talk to you face to face. I can’t believe you think I didn’t see you slip in there. And put on some pants!”

  “No. I don’t want to talk. Just go home.”

  “I’m going to stand out here and wait for you. The longer you stay in, the worse it’s going to be. Do you really want me to be driving back home once the snow really starts up? Is that what you want? To make me, as pregnant as I am, stand out here for hours and then have to drive home in the snow?”

  Wyatt stewed by himself for a minute. He debated whether he should wait or go out. If he waited, he was pretty sure she wouldn’t just leave. He would have to wait until she gave birth before she would leave him alone. Knowing her, she would insist on giving birth in his living room. She was very stubborn.

  On the other hand, he really didn’t want to face anyone right now.

  There was an easy solution. He opened the bathroom door and shifted.

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake.” She threw her hands up and crossed her arms. She leaned on t
he kitchen counter and got comfortable. “I guess I’ll talk at you, then. I can’t believe you’re making this mistake, Wyatt.”

  The gorilla could say nothing, but Wyatt was annoyed. This wasn’t his choice. This was fate. He couldn’t fight the cosmos. The universe had made him this way, and he couldn’t do anything about it. Women didn’t like him. He wasn’t that likable of a guy. He couldn’t believe Blair was rubbing it in.

  “You finally met a nice girl, and you pushed her away. I don’t know what happened, but you need to fix it.”

  Wy was so annoyed. He shifted right away. He didn’t care if she saw him naked. “I didn’t do anything. It was all her.”

  Blair leaned forward. “It was all her? What did she do?”

  “She dumped me. She got sick of me, and she dumped me.”

  “What was the reason?” Blair was taken aback.

  “The usual. No good reason. Just that she didn’t like me anymore.”

  “Are you sure there was no reason?”

  “I did everything right. I was myself, and I thought I was treating her well. Then, she dropped me like a bad habit.”

  “I’m sure you did the best you could, but maybe you two aren’t meant to be together.”

  “We aren’t. How did you even know we were broken up?”

  “The rumor mill. Jennifer tried to call Dottie, and she wouldn’t pick up. When she texted her to see if anything was wrong, Dottie spilled and said she didn’t want to talk. Jen went to work out at the gym and told Abe. Then it got back to me after Abe told Lizzy.”

  Wy shook his head. “I’m glad everyone knows, now. At least I won’t have to have this conversation again.”

  “How are you doing?”

  “Bad. I didn’t think I would be this upset.”

  “Why wouldn’t you be?” Blair said glumly. “I’m upset, and I wasn’t even dating this girl. Are you sure it’s over?”

  “I’m sure.” Wy went to his room and got some pants and put them on. “Blair, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “And you have to be honest with me.”