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Chapter Thirteen
Maizie knew A
She pushed up to one elbow, trying to clean the waxy perfume taste off the roof of her mouth with her tongue and blinked the sleep from her eyes. “Morning.”
A
Crap. Not again. Maizie noticed the empty pillow beside her. “How’d I get here?”
“Mr. Lupo carried you here last night. After you, uh, passed out.” Her little cheeks flushed. Chin down she glanced at Maizie from beneath long lashes then quickly returned her gaze to the clothes. She folded them onto the storage bench.
Maizie thought about that for a minute, pushing up to sit, sheet clutched to her naked chest. She remembered being with Gray at the quarry, his confessions, his admission of their strange, intimate co
He’d knelt beside her when she couldn’t get up and then…nothing. “He carried me the whole way? Wow.”
A
The small woman laughed, her toothy smile bright. She clasped her hands at her chest and for a second Maizie expected her to rub them together with an eager glee.
“This morning? So he was here earlier with me?” Maizie tried not to read too much into the fact she needed someone else to confirm her bed partners.
“Of course. He had a hard time letting you go, but he had a, ah, business meeting.”
A warm tingle filled Maizie’s belly. He’d held her all night. She remembered the warm feel of him now, the safety of his arms, the strength, the tenderness. Gawd, she liked the way he seemed to treasure her. She liked the way she treasured him. Things were good.
Maizie shoved the snarl of bed-hair back from her face and fought the goofy grin threatening to control her mouth. They were destined for each other, like a real-life fairy tale.
A
“No.” Maizie glanced at the silver tray and plate cover, smiling. “It’s, uhm, perfect. It’s absolutely perfect.”
A
Okay, now her giddiness over Maizie’s love life was starting to get weird. “Wow, you’re really close to your boss, huh?”
“Oh, yes. He’s just so, well, he’s just so wonderful.”
“Yeah. Exactly how close are the two of you?”
“He means the world to me.” She shrugged, wrinkling the clean line of her high-buttoned blouse for a moment. “I love him.”
“Really? I see.” So why was she so happy to find Maizie in his bed? Twisted.
Not that it really mattered. A
“So, uhm…” Maizie tried to think of a discreet way to word her question-and failed. “You two ever have sex?”
She was exhausted, her body felt like it’d been drawn and quartered, and her powerful bond with Gray had turned her brain to mush. She didn’t have the brain cells to spare beating around the bush, and going by the way the rest of the family behaved, it seemed a legitimate question.
A
“Geez, don’t hold back. Tell me how you really feel.” Maizie’s offense at the woman’s repulsion was too messed-up to think about.
A
“Okay, I’m lost.”
A
Maizie’s cheeks warmed. That certainly explained A
Her hands laced together in front of her, very proper. A
Of course he did.
“My father, my biological father, was an abusive man,” A
“Attacking?”
“The abuse was…sexual.”
“God, I’m sorry.” Maizie suddenly wanted to hug her.
A
“That’s horrible, A
She nodded, her fingers absently toying with a thread on the comforter. “We never heard from him again. He didn’t even file a police report. Just sort of…disappeared.”
That last statement made Maizie’s blood run cold. She ignored it. Too many potential skeletons in that closet. Besides, this wasn’t the movies. Being a werewolf didn’t automatically make you a killer. Even if the guy had it coming.
“Gray’s taken care of me ever since. He and Do
“You knew Do
A
“Yeah.” She knew exactly what A
“That’s why I was so happy when he brought you home.” A
Maizie’s belly fluttered. Gawd, she was in deep. She didn’t care. It was exactly where she wanted to be.
“He’s a good man. He deserves to be happy. And now he has you. You’re one of them, one of the family.” A
“I thought you said you didn’t think of Gray that way.”
“I don’t. He’s not my type. I meant switch places with you in the family, in the pack.”
Maizie’s heart skipped. “You know?”
“What?” A
“And you’re not creeped out? You’re not afraid?” Maizie remembered her struggle to believe, to come to terms with the truth.
“No. They’re like my family and you will be too, except…” A