you prefer friend.”
Brice mouthed, “With benefits.” He held up his thumb.
Rafe had an urge to knock the goddamn twinkle out of his best friend’s eyes.
“I want Grace to trust us, not fear us. Making friends among us will ease her anxiety when she finally learns what we are.”
“Want her trust to us? Tell her the truth. The sooner the better,” Rafe said. “Or else this entire scheme will blow up in your face.”
“Tighten ’em up, Pops.” Rafe handed Brice a Phillips screwdriver so the father-to-be could fasten the last four screws into the crib.
Though miffed at his friend for involving him, Rafe understood the reason. The Alpha family was protecting their own. Cassie.
Cassie wanted Grace close. So, the Alpha family would move heaven and earth, and probably a little bit of hell, to see Grace safely settled in their midst. In a twisted, deranged way, the Alpha family had paid him a huge compliment.
He’d rather have free-range runs.
“Thanks, man.” Brice beamed and tackled his token assignment.
After they inserted the mattress, Brice pulled a package out of the closet. “How about this?”
“What is it?” Rafe packed up his tools.
“Stuff the sales clerk said we had to have.” Brice read the package description. “Crib sheet, coverlet, bumpers.”
“Sorry, Walker. Bows and frills aren’t my department.” Rafe shook his head.
Brice frowned, placing the package on the crib Rafe had put together.
They broke down the boxes and stuffed the trash into a garbage bag. “Mom and Dad are out with friends tonight. I’m firing the grill to toss on some burgers for supper. We’ll have plenty if you’re hungry.”
A wolfan was always ready to eat.
“Grace is joining us.”
Dread and excitement competed in racing Rafe’s heart. Part of him, the stupid part, wanted to see her again. The smart half wanted to get the hell out before she showed up.
“I’ve got work to catch up on. Maybe next time.”
“There might not be a next time with Grace. You know what my dad is planning.”
“It won’t work.”
“Cassie said there’s a spark between you and Grace.”
Rafe gave him an eat-shit look.
“My mistake.” Brice’s lopsided grin said he didn’t think he was wrong at all. He grabbed an armful of trash.
Rafe snatched up the remaining garbage and followed him to the side entrance of Gavin and Abby Walker’s home, their family quarters adjacent to the resort.
Brice stayed outside to light the grill. Rafe ducked inside to retrieve his toolbox.
“Rafe? What are you doing here?” Cassie met him in the corridor connecting the Alpha family’s residence to the resort.
“Helping Brice with a project.” Rafe’s gaze skimmed the top of Cassie’s head to his real target. Grace.
“Does he still have all his fingers and toes?” Cassie’s eyes widened against her pale skin.
“He did, but he’s outside lighting the grill.” Rafe’s gaze jumped back to Grace.
Her hair looked professionally sleek. He liked it better in a mussed ponytail. She wore denim shorts with a tiny bit of lace at the hem and a pale pink top with little bows on the capped sleeves. Her nails, painted a dark pink with a black swirly pattern at the tips, matched the toes peeking through the openings of her low-heeled sandals.
“Hey, Sunshine.” Brice strode toward them.
Cassie beamed as he wrapped her in his arms for a big, juicy kiss.
Brice urgently hiked his thumb behind Cassie’s back and gave Rafe the bug eye.
“Come with me.” Rafe clasped Grace’s hand and led her inside the small nursery the Walkers wanted set up for their daughter.
Grace’s lightly glossed lips parted in a soft sigh. She trailed her hand over the newly assembled furniture. “This was your project?”
Rafe nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat at the longing he saw in Grace’s eyes.
Grace gripped the crib’s cherrywood rails, and for a second, Rafe thought tears shimmered in her eyes. “She’ll love it.”
“Do you know what to do with this?” He handed her the packaged bedding set.
Grace’s rich, full-bodied laugh did something funny to Rafe’s stomach. “Two grown men couldn’t figure out how to put sheets on a baby mattress?”
“I sleep on a couch.”
Grace’s cheeks pinked and her tongue peeked between her soft lips. “How could I forget?”
Her heated gaze licked his body, inch by tortuous inch, just as it had when he stood in front of her, naked. His body reacted the same as it had yesterday. His muscles clenched, his breath quickened, and his blood felt too hot for his veins. Trapped behind the zipper, his cock strained against its confines.
He spun her toward the crib. “Hurry.”
Grace quickly tucked the corners, smoothed the fabric and tied perfect little bows.
Grace’s eyes watered and Cassie burst into tears when she entered the room. Rafe thought it peculiar human females cried when happy, particularly when Cassie did it. She had never been overly emotional. Pregnancy had changed her.
“It’s beautiful.” She moved from Brice’s arms to squeeze Rafe’s hands. “Thank you.”
Sorrow simmered behind the joy in her eyes. “You will come more often to see us? To see the baby?”
Rafe tipped his head. The loss of his child didn’t mean he couldn’t be happy for theirs.
“Well, then.” Brice clapped his hands together. “You can start by joining us for supper.”
“Oh goody,” Grace whispered in Rafe’s ear. “I won’t be a third wheel tonight, after all.”
She playfully bumped against him and the jolt of her touch unleashed a flood of wolfan hormones into his bloodstream. The sudden rush deafened his ears and he had the sense of tumbling down a waterfall. His lungs tightened, his heart pounded, his skin dampened.
He
