Page 21 of Wrong Number, Right Fox (Dial M For Mates #6)

GARNER

I was determined to get the work done before Joss got up.

Not that I was an expert, but I’d done okay so far.

My mate’s slow breathing assured me he was still asleep. If he woke up before I’d completed my tasks, I’d have to rush and make his tea and toast, because since we’d discovered he was pregnant, that was my morning routine.

Joss was carrying the baby, so I had to do everything to make his job as easy as possible. I wasn’t exactly a morning person, but I forced myself to get up before my mate each morning of his pregnancy.

The soft padding of feet on the carpet and then the wooden floor alerted me to Joss having woken.

“Garner? Are you here?” His voice was underlaid with concern, and I had to hotfoot it into the living room.

“Oof.” There was a thunk and a clank, and I raced around the corner. Joss was standing, thank gods, but he’d run into the baby gate I’d installed.

“What’s this doing here?” He rolled his eyes. “We’re not expecting your brother, are we?”

“No.” Besides, a baby gate wouldn’t stop a fox.

“I’m baby-proofing the house.”

My mate cradled his tiny bump. “I’m only twenty weeks. It’s a little early.”

“I want to be prepared. If the baby comes early and I haven’t done it, we’ll have to stay in a hotel.”

My mate grinned. “Newborns can’t exactly run a mini marathon.” He squinted at my hips, and my mind immediately went to sex.

“What’s that around your waist?”

I jiggled my hips and turned around, giving him the 360 view. “My tool belt. Like it?”

Joss cupped his chin. “It’s very professional.”

I smacked my hip and puffed out my chest. Yes, my mate approved.

“Can you help me with this, please?” Joss fumbled with the baby gate. “It’s difficult to open.”

That was the idea, so the baby wouldn’t get into the kitchen.

“What do you think of my work so far?” I twirled around yet again. “I’ve installed drawer locks.” I yanked at a drawer to demonstrate. “And I’ve attached padding to the sharper corners.”

I took my mate’s hand. “Follow me.” Leading him into the bathroom, I pointed at the toilet. “Ta da!” He cocked a brow. “I zip-tied it. There’ll be no falling into the toilet.”

Joss folded his arms and crossed his legs. “What if I need to pee, as I do right now?”

“Oh. Right.”

He charged out, yelling over his shoulder, “You haven’t done the other toilet, have you? If so, we have a problem.”

“No, not yet.” Hmmm, my plan had a few hiccups which I’d have to iron out.

Joss trudged out of the second bathroom and headed for the couch. He flung himself on it and cocked his head.

“That’s odd. Usually when I jump on here, it shifts a little.”

I held up a hand, so pleased he’d picked up on that. “It’s bolted to the floor.”

“Why?”

“Because we don’t want our little one to tip it over.”

Joss’s eyes wandered around the room. “Our child won’t come from Planet Krypton.”

“Huh?” I’d studied the planets as a kid but had never heard of that one.

“Never mind. One day I’ll introduce you to human comics.”

I was never a comic fan unless the hero was a fox shifter, and there weren’t many of those.

“What is this?”

My mate peered over the back of the sofa as I crouched near the stove.

A tinny voice rang out, and Joss cringed. “A small person is approaching the stove. Danger, danger.”

I leaped up, smiling and clapping. “It works.” Next I tried to open the cupboard under the sink and both our phones buzzed, followed by an alert. “Possible intruder near the sink.”

Joss clutched a cushion and begged me to make tea and toast. “This is so much to take in.” His clenched teeth and weird expression suggested he was in pain, but when I asked, he begged for his food.

My mind was occupied with how much baby-proofing I still had to do, and I dropped a spoon. Odd for a shifter, but I’d been distracted.

“Danger, danger. Small person detected.”

“Sorry.” I stood up. Had to make sure I didn’t drop anything again.

The floor lit up with fox paw prints. This was intended to show the baby the way out and far from danger. I jumped from one print to the other as Joss gave me side-eye.

“It’s cute. You gotta admit it, but…” I deliberately allowed my voice to trail off to get my mate’s attention. I stood in front of what looked like a lock box. “Look, instead of waiting until we get our little one a snack, they hold their palm under here and a cracker topples out.”

“Babe, we need to talk.”

I was a little deflated because my mate didn’t sound overly enthusiastic about my progress. He patted the couch, and I sat beside him with coffee in hand.

“I love how you’re forward thinking, wanting to protect our child, but I don’t want to live in a home that screams danger at me if I bend down.”

I was silent, trying to imagine the situation from Joss’s point of view. “I’m sorry. I’m just so excited about being a dad, and I want to protect our little one just as I do you.”

He took both my hands. “And I love that about you. But perhaps you could scale back a little.” He looked at me, his expression hopeful.

“Fine. I’ll work on that. I suppose I could get rid of the laser trip wires.”

Joss slapped a hand on his brow.

I burst out laughing. “Kidding.” But I made a note on my phone, Remove laser trip wires .

“You know what I’d love? If you got all the pillows, blankets, and duvets in the house and piled them on our bed.’

I sat up, my mind grasping what he was saying. “A nest?”

“Yeah, not to give birth in but so we can snuggle and it’s warm and we can talk about our baby and how life will change.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

My shifter abilities helped, and I tore about the house, at twice the speed of a human. I arranged everything in the middle of the bed, then tossed them on the floor because I didn’t like what I’d done.

“How’s it going in there?” Joss’s voice reached me as I stood in the doorway, thinking whether the cushions should be placed around the edge, or in the middle with the pillows. Or should it be arranged like a color wheel, so red to orange to yellow and so on.

“Harder than I thought.”

My mate appeared in the doorway. “I need something soft, so let’s toss everything on the bed. It doesn’t matter if it’s messy, and we can bounce into it.”

My mate was pregnant. There couldn’t be any of that.

“I know that look.” He waggled his finger at me. “I’m not going to run and leap face first or do a somersault. Just butt first and bounce.”

“Fine. Let’s get messy.” We got everything onto the mattress in a big jumble, and I held out my hand and he clasped it. We bounced together and lay on our backs snuggling, covered and surrounded my softness.

“This is nice.” The gentleness of this temporary nest contracted with the harsh warnings I had installed. I placed my hand on Joss’s belly and whispered to our baby that I’d always be there to make sure they avoided the sharp corners of life.

“Oh, Garner, that’s so sweet. You are going to be the best dad.” My mate’s eyes filled with tears. “I love you.”

“Love you right back.”

I hoped I’d measure up as a dad. My dad reared me and Booker to be the best people we could be and to always chase our dreams. But my dream came true when I met Joss, and another dream was fulfilled when he got pregnant.

We lay in one another’s arms and talked of how we’d decorate the nursery. I agreed with whatever my mate wanted, because if I’d consulted him on the safety features I was installing, I wouldn’t have messed up.

“But there is one thing I bought that I hope you’ll love.” Our little one would have a tricycle, and they needed a helmet. And when they were older, they’d have a bike and we’d be cycling together as a family. I pulled three boxes from under the bed.

Joss’s eyes lit up. “For me?” He squeed.

“One of them is. One’s mine, and the other’s for the baby.”

Joss opened the smallest box first and tears filled his eyes. “It’s adorable.” It was a bike helmet shaped like a fox’s head with pointed red ears. “I love it. The fox family.”

Ours were similar, only adult size. We put them on and snapped pics. Shame they were so hard ‘cause I would have liked to sleep in mine.

“I can’t wait to meet our little one.”