Page 20 of Bearly Taken

“Thank you.” He kissed the tip of my nose again, then released me.

“Will you tell me about your pregnancy and the delivery while you shower?” he asked, walking with me to the bathroom and taking a seat on the ground.

My throat swelled.

Despite how difficult it had been, those were happy memories. Memories I’d shared with enough other women in town that it didn’t feel really intimate to tell the story again.

So, I spent the next half an hour talking while I scrubbed myself in his shifter-sized shower. Even after I was clean, I didn’t move to get out. He was listening closely and asking questions, like he always had in the past, which made me just want to keep talking to him.

But eventually, it was time to turn off the water.

He stayed where he was as I dried off and pulled on one of the old, massive t-shirts I wore to sleep, and as I brushed my hair.

When I finally headed to bed, he left me with a kiss to my forehead and another thank you before padding down the hall to his own room.

I texted my mom to let her know that Reed was going to take care of Parker in the morning before I got off work, so she would know she could sleep in. Then, I went to bed.

All night, I dreamed of the man I was starting to realize I might still be in love with.

five

WREN

My nerves ragedsomething fierce as I climbed out of bed and got dressed for work. I thought I heard a door open down the hall, but figured I had to be imagining it. Reed had no reason to be up, and Parker hadn’t learned how to climb out of his crib yet.

Plus, the little guy slept like a rock.

When I emerged from the room, I paused in the hallway as the smell of something cooking made my forehead crease.

What the hell?

I hurried into the kitchen, stopping again when I saw Reed standing in front of the stove. He was shirtless, and dressed in nothing but a pair of athletic shorts that clung to the perfect bubble of his backside.

“You’re cooking?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.

He looked over his shoulder, and his lips curved upward as they moved over my figure in the jean shorts and collared shirt that made up my uniform.

“Why are you cooking?” I asked, when he didn’t respond. “Why are you even awake?”

“You didn’t eat before you left yesterday. So, I’m cooking for you.”

I blinked.

He turned back to the stove.

“You don’t need to do that,” I said, padding further into the kitchen. “It’s really early, and I don’t usually eat before work.”

“I was planning to wrap it in tin foil.” He looked over his shoulder long enough to wink. “And I know I don’t need to. I want to.”

I just stood there, entirely unsure how I was supposed to respond.

Part of me wanted to throw my arms around him and thank him.

Part of me wanted to run the other way before the bastard made me care about him again—if I’d ever really stopped caring.

I settled on murmuringthank youbefore I went back into the hallway so I could stop in Parker’s room. He didn’t budge when the door opened, and his little snores were so cute, I could’ve cried.

I didn’t, though.

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