Page 22

22

KEANE

I went to pull up my pants and button them, only once I got them up, they wouldn’t button. I knew this day was coming and had been delaying it, wearing my mate’s sweats instead. But it was time to just accept the fact that I needed to go get paternity clothes.

I didn’t want to. It wasn’t that I didn’t love being pregnant or carrying our baby and keeping them safe. I loved the way my body changed to accommodate the growing life inside me, I just hated clothes shopping. Everything looked great on the rack, but then when I went to put it on, the sizing was messed up or it fit weird in spots, especially my shoulders.

I was not in the mood to face the racks, but it was time. It was either buy new clothes or walk around naked. Boaz would love the naked plan if it was only us, but that wasn’t how life worked.

I took out my phone and messaged Boaz. You busy?

It was a stupid question. Of course he was busy. He’d been working his tail off in his new position and looking out for me. Absolutely, he was busy.

But two seconds later, the phone rang. When I answered it, the first words out of his mouth were, “I’m never too busy for you, my love.”

Now I felt guilty. It didn’t take much lately. My hormones were all over the place, and extreme emotional responses were pretty much my norm.

“You don’t even know what I’m gonna ask. I should’ve waited until you got home.”

“Mate, I’ll always rather you call me right away, no matter what it was.”

That was oddly specific. There had to be a story there.

“What can I do for you, Kitten?”

“I’m—I’m calling uncle,” I grumbled.

“Uncle?”

“Yeah… I need to get some clothes that fit. These won’t even button.”

“I’ve got you. Go into the closet. There’s a bag with a stork on it. Grab it.”

I waddled over there, and sure enough, there it was, and inside? Inside it were a bunch of different paternity clothes. Best. Mate. Ever.

“When did you do this?” I hugged the pants close to me.

“When you stopped wearing your button pants?” Of course he’d noticed. He noticed everything.

“Thank you, alpha mine.”

“Nope. We’re not doing that. These are clothes to get you to the store. Get dressed. We’re going out. We’ll buy some more. You don’t want to do laundry every other day.” That was true. “And there’s someplace I want to stop.”

“Okay. I’ll be ready.” I didn’t hesitate to agree with him. I still didn’t want to go get clothes, but “someplace I want to stop” was a surprise, and I was there for that.

I barely had my clothes on when my mate came home. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a while.”

I was still confused. Why would he be that happy about me getting new clothes? That didn’t really make sense, but also… he did like to spoil me.

I pulled him in for a kiss. “You’re the best. How did you find clothes that fit me so well?” I picked up my shirt and showed him how the pants still had room but were nice and firmly up—no chance of falling.

“I know your body, Kitten.” He placed his hand on my growing belly. “I’ll call ahead and have them pull more of these styles for you.”

“You… what?”

“I’ll call ahead. You hate clothes shopping.” Every time I thought he couldn’t be any more perfect, he went and did something like this.

“I really do. But I don’t remember telling you that. Do you know everything about me?”

He gave me a deep kiss, and I nearly forgot that I’d asked him a question. “I pay attention, if that’s what you mean. But no, I don’t know everything. I learn something new every day. It’s one of my favorite things.”

We arrived at the paternity store to discover they had, in fact, pulled out a bunch of clothes all in the same type, style, and size as the ones he picked out for me and had them bagged and ready to go. I didn’t even try anything on, letting Boaz scan his card, and away we went.

“That was painless. Thank you.”

He put his hand on my belly. He loved doing that. I liked it too. “Anything for the father of my baby. Now… now it’s time for the good part.”

“The good part? Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

We drove out of the city into a much more rural area than I’d been in a long time. It was beautiful, but the farther we got, the more confused I was.

“We aren’t going to visit a pack, are we?”

I knew that would eventually be part of my responsibilities, but I needed a heads-up—or twenty—before that happened.

“Nope. We’re going to see a human.”

That piqued my interest. Twenty minutes later, we pulled into a farm and up to their barn, where a small sign read: Handmade Furniture.

He walked around to my side of the car and helped me out. We went inside, where the person sanding a rocking horse stood up straight and smiled.

“Is it time?” The man set down his sander.

“It’s time.” My mate wrapped his arm around my middle.

The man came over and shook my hand. “I’m Doug, and this was one of my favorite projects. It was such an honor to create them for you.”

I didn’t understand—was I getting the rocking horse or what? But he led us to the back of the shop, where there were a ton of bookshelves.

“These are for you.” My mate kissed my cheek.

“They’re custom and will fit the dimensions your husband gave me. But they’re movable instead of built-in. So if you ever decide that you want to move, you can easily take them with you.”

My old shelves had been plastic crap. Nothing like these.

I hugged Boaz, barely getting my arms around my belly.

“Now it’s your time to pick the finish.”

Doug showed me gobs of choices, but my eye instantly went to one that reminded me of my childhood bed frame. It was funny how memories stuck like that. He told us he would deliver them in a week, and my mate and I left.

I thought we’d go home next, but no. My mate had more surprises for me, and our next stop ended up being a huge bookstore.

“Here.” He handed me a gift card. “If you don’t spend every single penny here, I’m not taking you home.” He was teasing. Probably.

“Okay. I can do that.” It wasn’t hard to spend money at a bookstore. But then he told me to turn it over—and I saw the total amount, and my jaw dropped. “They make gift cards that big?”

“You already agreed. No take-backsies.” He ran a finger along my mating mark, knowing full well what that did to me.

“Okay, I will do this because I know that you like to dote on me, but I’m using a lot of it for the baby.”

“I accept your terms,” he said, kissing my cheek. “I know you love your books.”

I’d lost many over the years, in moves, in shitty apartments, at college, and I did miss them. They were kind of my thing. The library had been great, but there was something about having a copy on your shelf for whenever you wanted them.

My first stop was the children’s section, where I found a nice employee and told her, “I want to start a library for our baby.”

When I told her our budget, her face lit up. The next thing we knew, the counter was filled with books.

“Are we going to be able to read all these to them before they’re in college?” Boaz asked, clearly amused.

“We’re going to read to them all the time. And probably this one—” I held up a book that had been my favorite as a child, “you’ll have memorized pretty early on. Let’s check these out, and then come back for the rest.”

I used pretty much the entire gift card in that one corner of the bookstore, and when I started looking for books for myself, I was much more cautious—until my mate realized what I was doing.

“You know that’s not the only money we have, right?” He stood in front of me, holding my eyes.

“I know.”

“Books. Buy books. Lots of books, or I’m going to buy them for you. And you know I have bad taste.” He didn’t. I might not want to read the kind of books he’d pick out for himself, but he paid attention to detail. I’d have been surprised if they weren’t 100% to my taste.

“You spoil me.”

“Kitten.” He nipped my ear. “That’s my job. So maybe let me do it.”

“Only if you let me do my job. Later.” I ran my finger down his chest.

“Oh? And what job is that?”

My hand slid straight down his body, then back up again. “To see if I can make my mate purr.”