“Mom,” I called. My father waved from his spot on the recliner. “Hey, Daddy.”
“Pumpkin,” he said without turning from the game. He’d become a couch potato since retiring. “Find a new house?”
I joined him in the living room for a minute, dropping a kiss on his half-bald head. “Nope. It’s not in great shape.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll get another soon.” He patted my hand, but his attention was already taken by the game again.
“Mom!”
“In here,” she called.
I followed the sound of her voice to the bathroom in her bedroom. She had Tiff in the tub. “Hey, babe. Bath time?”
“I had chocolate!” she exclaimed.
Mom gave me a sheepish grin from her spot beside the tub. “She had spaghetti for dinner, then chocolate ice cream. Her clothes are in the wash.”
I laughed and shook my head. I should’ve asked before grabbing food. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Well, you worked late again.” She got that look on her face that told me she was about to scold me. “You work too much.”
“Mom, I do not. Most of the time I take Tiff with me. I spend a lot of time with her.”
Her exasperated sigh made my skin crawl. “I’m not talking about your parenting. You’re a wonderful mother. I’m talking about dating. And you time. You need to carve out time to just be with yourself. And time to socialize.”
“Mom. We’ve been over this a hundred times.”
She waved her hand and grabbed the hand shower to rinse Tiff.
It didn’t take long to get Tiff in a pair of pajamas—my parents loved buying clothes for her. She had an entire wardrobe at their house and her clothes constantly were in rotation between the two homes and two washing machines. I didn’t mind. They loved doting on her. We said lots of goodbyes and gave lots of kisses. My father even managed to unglue himself from the game long enough to say goodbye to his sweet Tiff. A modern miracle.
“How was your day?” I asked as I drove us home.
My mini-me grinned at me in the rearview mirror. “Good!” She scratched her nose and a bit of her father shined through, a stab to my heart. I still missed him every single day. “We colored. And Nana let me play in the pool.”
Mom always had a baby pool full of water and ready to play in the warmer months. “That sounds fun,” I said with fake excitement.
As she rattled on about her day with her Nana and Papaw, I listened and encouraged her to talk and be expressive.
My heart pounded with love. Her father wasn’t here to give her his, so I tried to show her twice as much affection. The car wreck that killed Kyle had taken my best friend from me. He’d only known I was pregnant with his child, the result of a drunken one-night stand between two lifelong friends, for a few weeks. I’d told him the moment I found out.
But he was gone, and she was here. And she was all I needed.
2
Maddox
“You guys can leave, you know,” I grumbled.
Jury, Stefan, and Rico laughed, though Rico was subdued. He’d been quiet since coming to stay in Black Claw.
Jury and Stefan, not so much. They’d appeared at my doorstep a few hours before with a new racing game we’d all talked about wanting, as well as beer and pizza.
And there had been a lot of razzing me about my date. I was surprised it had taken them this long to get around to it, honestly. Especially with Jury’s mate being Bethany’s friend.
Jury looked around my living room. “When are you going to decorate?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Why? It’s just a rental property.”
Stefan handed me a fresh beer. “I have to agree with Jury. If you ever hope to change Bethany’s mind, you’re going to have to have a real place to take her, not this barely-even-a-bachelor pad.”
Rico just shrugged when I looked at him to see his opinion. “I wouldn’t decorate a rental either. But then, I would’ve just stayed with your grandparents. They’re pretty chill.”
Rico had Jury’s old room at the big house. For the most part, they let him come and go, but nobody really ever forgot that the reason he was here was that he kept getting into trouble back with his clan. My great-grandfather’s clan.
There were too many alphas in this family. Another reason I hadn’t decorated. I wasn’t sure I’d be staying in Black Claw, not that I’d told anyone that. There was no such thing as privacy in this small town. Even telling Jury, who was my best friend, was no guarantee that the secret would be kept.
The Kingstons were like royalty in Black Claw. It had been cool, at first. All the parties, all the girls. But it got old. I had a serious plan for my future, and it didn’t include acting like a frat boy for the rest of my life. It had gotten worse since Jury was officially off the market.
“You know better than anyone what it’s like to see your mate.” I tried to defend myself. “And things might’ve been worse, because I could smell the desire coming off that creep.”
Stefan sat back on my sofa and grinned. “I can sympathize. But I gotta go soon. Daddy-duties call.”
I grinned at him. He hadn’t stopped smiling since the baby was born.
Rico shook his head. “Hey,” I said. “Don’t be like that. As soon as these women figure out that you’re here, you’re a Kingston, and you’re single, they’re going to swarm. Maybe get the heat off of me.”
Rico just shrugged. “I’m too fucked up in the head to worry about women at the moment,” he said. “Even if a mate landed in my lap as they did for you assholes, I’d run for the hills. What the hell would I do with a mate?”
Jury and Stefan laughed. “Yeah, we thought the same thing, bud.” Stefan
