We soaped each other down, me not able to stop myself getting rock hard as I rubbed my hands all over his body and him apparently not managing it either, but we knew now probably wasn’t the time for us to be getting amorous. There would be plenty of time for that later, or at least I hoped there would. I was already looking forward to the idea of a repeat of last night.
We got out of the shower and got dressed, Jarrett dressing in his clothes from yesterday and me putting on a polo shirt and jeans. I didn’t want to overdress, to overdo it for what felt like a great big family date. I didn’t want to put too much pressure on it.
Emery was waiting by the door, shoes on, hair brushed, a pretty little dress on. She was tapping her foot and huffed when we arrived at a leisurely pace.
“Come on,” she groaned. “What if all the good donuts are gone before we get there?” She was practically jumping up and down with excitement. It was really cute.
“Well,” Jarrett said. “If all the good donuts are gone then I’ll just ask the owner if he’ll make us some more. Whatever ones you want.”
“You really think he’ll do that?” Emery said, apparently not too sure.
“Well I think he’ll certainly do his best,” Jarrett said. “He is my best friend after all.” He turned to me. “My car or yours?” he smiled.
“Mine, it has a booster seat in it for Emery,” I said.
“Cool!” He turned to Emery. “Lead the way princess.”
“This way Mr. Ew-Dad.” She laughed and practically pulled him out the door. I couldn’t help but smile, one because Emery was so comfortable with him already and two because he was taking me to the place that his best friend worked. Was he showing us off? Was I reading too much into it? Possibly. I liked to think he was showing us off. Maybe this could really work between us.
11
Jarrett
We pulled up outside Frostbites and, as I expected it would be on a Saturday, it was pretty crowded in there. We got out of the car and I walked them to the front door to see Tate behind the counter serving people with the trademark big smile of his and Jonica, a stunning, Hispanic girl who he hired a couple of years ago, making drinks for people and bussing tables. I was surprised that Brent had never been here, it was the only place in town that had a decent cup of coffee and decent pastries, all made on the premises and super delicious. Though I guess he’d been pretty busy being a Dad instead of going out to get coffee and stuff. The thought that we might have bumped into each other sooner made my heart hurt. I needed to stop focusing on how much time we’d lost, if I didn’t stop I’d drive myself nuts.
“Wow!” Emery said as we walked through the door. “It’s so pretty! And it smells like donuts and pastries and sugar!” She was wide eyed and staring at everything like she was in Disney World or something. It was quite something to see her this way. I don’t think I’d ever seen her that happy while we were at school.
When they saw me walking in, Tate and Jonica excused themselves from behind the counter, leaving some of the other workers to get on with it. I wrapped Tate in ahug, and he couldn’t seem to be able to take the grin off his face. He knew exactly what this was and maybe the smile on my face gave me away too.
“Who’s this?” Tate said, grinning broadly. He knew exactly who it was, he just wanted the introduction.
“This is Brent Bridges,” I said. “Brent, this is Tate, my best friend of, what is it now, ten years? I can’t seem to get rid of him. And this is Jonica.” They both said their ‘Hellos’ in turn.
“And who is this little sweetheart?” Jonica said, bending down to greet Emery.
“Emery Bridges,” Emery said defiantly. “I like your shop. It smells like unicorns.”
Tate couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you so much! Well, given that you seem to be the expert on these type of things,” he said with a false sort of grandeur that made Emery crack into an even broader smile. “Would you like to come with me to make some cupcakes? We need to make them extra sparkly and extra unicorn-y and I think you might be just the little girl to help us.”
Emery gasped and turned to Brent. “Papa, can I? Please?” She looked so excited she might burst.
Brent turned to me. “Only if it’s okay, I don’t want to impose,” he then turned to Tate. “I don’t want you to have to feel like-“
“You’re not twisting my arm or forcing me to do anything,” Tate said with that easy smile. “We need help with the cupcakes, Emery seems to know what she’s talking about.” He lowered his voice. “Besides, I get the feeling you two should probably have some alone time to talk about what this all is, huh?”
Brent blushed and I hoped against hope that he wouldn’t be annoyed that I’d spoken to Tate about our situation, especially given the fact he was now helping us out.
“Thanks Tate,” I said.
“My pleasure!” He turned to Emery and Jonica. “Okay then cupcake makers, let’s go!” They marched off behind the counter just behind some plastic paneling, standing Emery up on a footstool or something so she could see what she was doing. She eyed the undecorated cupcake with hunger, licking her lips, her eyes bulging. I had a feeling I would be paying for a lot of cupcakes today.
“Shall we sit?” Brent asked, nudging me in the side, pulling my gaze away from Emery. “She’s very happy, you know.”
“I can see that,” I said. “I’m glad she is. Like I said, I have a lot of time to make up for.” I looked around for a spare seat, spying a booth not too far away from where Emery was wreaking havoc on the cupcakes. There was already icing sugar flying through the air and sprinkles covering the counter, I imagined she would be covered in it by the time we left. “Over there looks good,” I said, pointing out the seats. “I’ll get the coffee in.”
I ordered two coffees and a couple of breakfast Danish before sitting down with Brent. I handed him the coffee and watched him as he sniffed it and took a sip. His eyes widened and his face lit up. “Wow,” he said, quickly taking another sip. “What the hell is in this? That’s damn good coffee.”
“What did I say? Best coffee in town! Tate only makes the best. He’s quite the perfectionist,” I said. “The amount of free pastries I’ve managed to get from here because they weren’t quite up to Tate’s standards is quite something. It’s amazing that I’m not ten times the size of what I am right now.”
“Well, you’re in very good shape,” Brent said with a smile. “Not that I’m objectifying you or anything but you have a really great body.”
“Speak for yourself,” I said, feeling the blush creeping up my cheeks. “I could look at you all day.”
“You’re far too kind,” Brent said, his cheeks reddening too. He had another sip of coffee, looking down at it and shaking his head like it was spiked with something. “So, what’s the deal with Emery?” he said. “At school, you were saying her alphaness is getting a little out of control.”
“Yes, it’s pretty obvious that she doesn’t have an alpha influence at home,” I said, immediately wishing I could take back what I’d said when i saw his face drop. “That’s not what I meant. That wasn’t a criticism on you at all, I didn’t mean-“
“I get what you’re saying Jarrett,” Brent said, reaching out and patting my arm. I was grateful for the contact. “Carry on.”
“It’s not that it’s necessarily a bad thing,” I continued. “But to help Emery curb that, I think it requires an alpha influence to teach her how to be that way without hurting anyone, without losing control. I’m sure you’ve taught her a lot which is why most of the time she is quite docile and good, but there will be an instinctual part of her that knows she has power over you.”
“How so?”
“It’s a confusing relationship, really,” I said. “You’re her father, so you have authority, but she is an alpha so, in pack terms, she would end up with the authority over you. It must be a bit of a warzone in her head in that way, and it will only get worse without some proper help.” I took a sip of coffee, I was bab
bling, I knew I was babbling, I wish I could get myself to shut up sometimes. “When there are two parents in the picture it’s often easier because the alpha parent can stop the child, if they are alpha, from trying to dominate the omega parent. And that wasn’t the case here, so it’s a little more complicated.”
“I wish you were around for all of her life, Jarrett,” Brent said, lowering his voice. “If I’d known you were still in town, that you were literally around the corner, I would have tracked you down, I would have contacted you. I honestly tried, believe me! I tried everything I could think of. I even went back to the club the following week hoping that you would be there, but you weren’t..”
“I was scared too,” I said. “I’d never knotted with anyone before, obviously, and I didn’t know what it meant really. I didn’t know what was going to happen but I was pretty sure it wasn’t good. I tried to find you that night, tried to make sure you were alright but you totally vanished.”
“I just wanted to get home,” Brent sighed. “I felt embarrassed. I’d not seen the signs, the attraction, the fated-ness, and we’d not been safe. There was so much that could have gone wrong.”
“I wish I could have been there too,” I said. “I so wish I’d got to see her grow up, been able to help you raise her. Most of all I wish I’d had the chance to get to know you better. That night we moved to fast, I didn’t even get your name. ” I took a sip of coffee, not taking my eyes off Brent, not wanting to, just wanting to look him right in the eyes so he knew that I meant what I was saying to him. “If I’d known you were pregnant, I would have done anything for you, for her. Which is why, if you’ll have me, I don’t want to miss any more. I want to get to know you both, make up for lost time.”
“I understand that,” Brent said. “And I’d like that. I’m sure Emery would like that too. We can make this work, I know we can.”
There was a fuzzy feeling in my chest. That we had come to this after so much time apart, it was almost like we’d been waiting for each other rather than just missing each other. That sounded better in my head. Maybe we wouldn’t have been ready to be together all those years ago, after a drunken one-night stand. Now it seemed a lot more right.
As we drank our coffee and ate our Danish, we talked more and I found out what he did for living and how he had managed to juggle that with Emery. It actually seemed like a pretty sweet gig because he could work around her and when she was at school. It meant they got to spend school holidays and weekends together. It was nice that they got to spend so much time together. When me and my brothers were growing up, we had to entertain ourselves most of the time because our parents worked.
He had an incredible working relationship with his boss and even I’d heard of the freeLucas books and I wasn’t a big reader, not at all. It was pretty incredible that he was behind those, even though his name wasn’t splashed across the front of them.
After a little while, Emery came over covered in icing sugar and frosting, carrying four extravagantly decorated cupcakes and a juicebox. She looked incredibly pleased with her creations. I took a bite out of one and swear it gave me a cavity.
“Good morning Mr. Ewen!” A familiar voice chirped nearby. I looked up, panic flooding me. A woman with long blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes was smiling down at me. Another teacher from work. Holy shit. I tried not to let the panic show on my face. “Certainly not a surprise that I’d find you here.”
“What can I say?” I shrugged. “Best coffee in the neighborhood!”
She winked, showing me her to-go cup. “I’ll be the judge of that,” she chuckled. “I’ll see you on Monday.”
I suddenly felt a little cold, panicking that I’d been caught doing something that I shouldn’t have been doing. Brent must have clocked it because he reached across the table and stroked my hand. It brought my attention back to the coffee shop, back to this little family moment we were having. I hoped it would be the first of many.
“So, I have an idea,” Brent said with a mischievous grin on his face. “How about we get ourselves home, get some people” he nudged Emery “cleaned up and then spend the rest of the day together. We can go to the park, go shopping, maybe have dinner together a later.”
“Can Mr. Ewen stay too?” Emery asked, licking the frosting off the last remaining cupcake.
“If he wants to,” Brent said. “I know I’d like him to.”
I smiled. “That sounds perfect.”
12
Brent
I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. I’d wanted a family like this for as long as I could remember. I grew up being shipped from foster home to foster home, desperately wanting to have a happy family and now I could see the possibility of one on the horizon I could hardly believe my luck.
After we’d gotten Emery cleaned up, we went to the grocery store and picked up some food; something nice for us to have for dinner, a bottle of wine for Jarrett and I to share that evening, something nice to make for breakfast and a few quick bites we could have for a picnic.
It was a beautiful day to be in the park, to be wandering through the trees and kicking up the autumn leaves. Emery was having the time of her life being outside, running around with Jarrett, not really giving him a moment to breathe and treating him like he was her new best friend. Which I suppose he was.
It was sweet and I definitely got a huge amount of joy seeing the two of them together. I wanted to hold onto this moment, I wanted to remember this day. As they ran through the trees, kicking up the leaves I took a few photographs, the two of them caught laughing, smiling, grinning at each other. I stared down at the photos, noticing how similar the two of them looked. While Emery had inherited my eyes, she had Jarrett’s face. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. There was no denying that she was his.
“What are you looking at?” Jarrett said, appearing at my side out of breath and a little red faced. Emery had clearly given him the runaround. I showed him the pictures. “Oh my god.”
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing at all.” He flicked back and forth through the pictures, smiling to himself.
“I can send them to you if you want,” I said. “Seems only fair that you should have pictures of your daughter on your phone.”
He looked up at me and smiled, his eyes a little misty again. “I’d like that,” he said. “Gosh, I need to stop nearly crying all the time, it’s getting silly.”
“I’ll tell you when it starts getting silly,” I said, reaching down and taking hold of his hand. “Until then you get as emotional as you want to get. This is a big day.”
Emery fell asleep in the car on the way home. The effects of so much outdoors all at once and probably a major sugar crash after all that frosting taking its toll. When we got in, Emery wasn’t in the mood for the dinner I’d planned so we put her to bed.
We sat in Emery’s bedroom together, me brushing her hair while Jarrett read her a bedtime story. He was way better at it than I was, giving voices to all of the characters in Cinderella, rushing around the room and acting most of it out for her. She was enthralled, so enthralled that I worried she might not go to sleep. But when she was tucked up in bed, all tuckered out from the day, she was out like a light, leaving the evening to Jarrett and I.
We went back downstairs and I cooked us a stir fry, Jarrett watching me from the dining table.
“You’re sure I can’t help with anything,” he said for what had to be the thousandth time. “I can cook, I can clean up, I can do something.”
“Please just let me do this,” I said. “If you want to do something nice, open the wine.”
He walked over to the kitchen and started rummaging through the drawers looking for a bottle opener.
“Your kitchen is a disaster,” he said, poking me in the side. “Where is your bottle opener?”
I reached into the drawer next to me and pulled it out, waggling it in the air.
“Were you looking with your eyes closed or something?” I teas
ed.
“Oh, it’s like that is it?” He walked towards me, a grin on his face.
“Well, if you’re not going to look for it properly it is,” I said.
He got really close to me, no space between us whatsoever, our bodies touching. He kissed me softly, running his hands down my arms, sending electric shocks all the way through my body. I couldn’t get enough of him. I just couldn’t.
“You’ll learn where things are,” I whispered. “In time.”
“Oh, is that so?” he said. “Plan on having me over again, do you?”
“You’re a good house guest,” I said. “You cuddle well.”
“Among other things!” I slapped him hard on the chest and he laughed raucously before kissing me again. God who needed wine when you could get hammered off somebody’s kisses?
We ate at the dining table, me finding out more about Jarrett’s family, how close he had been with his two older brothers since his father died, how they used to have this big pack but they got cursed. It was a pretty horrible story, one that I could tell it wasn’t easy for him to talk about. But I wanted to listen. I wanted to be there for him no matter what it was he was going through.
After that we sat down on the sofa and I got my fantasy. We curled up with a Netflix film but, unlike in my head, we didn’t just watch it and wait for the credits before kissing or enjoying each other, we did that throughout. I couldn’t have told anybody how that movie ended because we were too busy talking over it, getting to know one another, learning everything we’d missed over the past eight years. There was so much of it, we could have gone on forever.
Furbitten Falls Alpha's: A Wolf Shifter Mpreg Romance Bundle Page 7
