“I design lingerie,” she confessed. “And I sell it on my own website.”
“Oh.” He thought for a moment. “You made that? And the red one too?”
“I designed it, yes,” she said. “I’m not trained or anything, but I taught myself how to draw and sew. After I put a concept down on paper, I’ll make the prototype myself and send it down to a factory in Ecuador where they’ll produce it. I was, uh, updating our website with the new collection when you burst into the bathroom.”
“And you model it yourself?”
“Well, I don’t have the money to hire models,” she huffed, wiggling away from him. “And I edit out my head and my tattoos so no one knows—”
“Shhh … baby doll.” He hauled her back into his arms. “Don’t get your feathers all ruffled. I’m not judging. In fact, I’m even more amazed.”
“Amazed?”
“Between working your ass off and taking care of Adam and Darcey, you found time to pursue your passion,” he stated. “And, well, I hope you don’t think this is trite, but I’m proud of you.”
Lush lips parted. “P-proud?”
“Yeah.” He kissed the top of her head. “For everything you’ve accomplished.”
She squirmed uncomfortably.
“Now what?” he asked.
“Er, I should tell you … once word got out about our marriage, my sales went through the roof,” she said sheepishly. “See, I was getting a loan from the bank to open up my own shop when I found out we were married, and that’s why I came here. Then when orders started pouring in … that’s kind of one of the reasons I wanted to stay here.” She buried her nose in the sheets. “You hate me now, don’t you?”
“Hate you?” How could she think that? “Never.” Besides, it didn’t matter to him why she stayed, only that she did. “Come here.” He wanted to take care of her, make everything right for her.
“Daniel,” she moaned when he kissed the side of her neck. “Oh …”
He made love to her slowly, deeply, keeping her body pressed up against his, whispering sweet words of encouragement to her. When it was all done and he came deep inside her, he had to bite his lip to keep from saying those three words he’d been desperate to say to her. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her, but it just didn’t feel right yet. His grizzly, of course, was impatient. It wanted to bond with her, claim her.
Mating bonds were precious, as he’d seen firsthand with his parents. They had told him that in order for the bond to fully form, there couldn’t be any barriers, and both partners had to be open to it. He could still feel some hesitation on her part, and though it pained him, he would wait for her. Forever if he had to.
“We should get up,” she said, rolling over to her back. “Adam … he might be hungry.”
“Okay.” He sat up. “But I’ll make breakfast today. So … what do you want to tell him?”
“Tell him? I’ve already told him the truth about what happened that night in Vegas.”
“I mean, about us?” He gestured to the bed. “After all this. If you want, we can just act normal around him. And keep this between us.” If Sarah wanted to keep this a secret from Adam for now, he would understand. He’d hate it, but would defer to her wishes.
“Oh.” She shrugged. “He’s sixteen, and Darcey had ‘the talk’ with him a couple years ago. You don’t have to worry about things getting weird. Now, can you go make breakfast? I’m starving, and you’re the one to blame for sapping my energy.”
Relief poured through him. He didn’t want to have to hide and sneak around, not with Sarah. And he liked Adam a lot and would hate to lose the teen’s respect. He grinned goofily at her. “All right, breakfast it is.”
As Sarah predicted, Adam didn’t make a big deal or act weird when Sarah came down to the kitchen in her robe and cuddled up to him as he flipped pancakes or kissed him when he passed her a cup of coffee. In fact, if he didn’t know any better, he could have sworn the teen looked almost smug.
After breakfast, Daniel hooked up the big screen TV in the living room, and they watched movies all afternoon, then ordered Chinese for dinner. There was no word from Jason or Thoralf, and while Daniel felt a twinge of worry, he knew the dragon shifter was capable of taking care of himself.
That Sunday passed too quickly for Daniel’s liking. Normally, he looked forward to heading into HQ and starting his week, but it was hard to leave Monday morning, especially with Sarah in his bed. Despite the night of lovemaking—and that quickie in the shower before he left—he still felt unsatisfied when he left her this morning. Maybe it was because both he and his bear longed for the mating bond, and until it was fully formed, they wouldn’t feel at peace. He was tempted to stay at home with her, but sticking by her wouldn’t make her any more ready to accept him as her mate, plus, he had people depending on him at work.
When he pulled into the parking lot of HQ, he was relieved to see that there were fewer people waiting outside, and there were no news vans trailing him, though that was probably because they didn’t recognize the borrowed SUV. When he walked by the small crowd waiting outside, they spotted him and called to him. Today, instead of ignoring them, he stopped to chat and even took a few selfies before heading inside.
“Rogers, Chief wants to see you,” the ranger at the reception desk called as soon as he got in.
“Thanks, Jansen.” Whistling to himself, he headed for Damon’s office and knocked on the door. “Hey,
