Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,126

I want you, was what he’d been thinking. “Anyway, I can.”

“You don’t have to do anything.” She waved a hand, seeming a little shy.

Cody narrowed his eyes. “Yes. I absolutely do. What about clothes or shoes or anything? Supplies? I think we pay our staff fairly but I know a maid can’t be able to properly cover the expense of six children.”

“Well.” She shrugged. “I’ll be honest. We invaded that cabin. It was abandoned and we took it over. So we don’t pay rent. That helps.” She poked at her potatoes, pursing her lips. “They do need new shoes though.”

“You need electricity!” Cody said fiercely. “You can’t get by on a little generator forever. I don’t know how you’re getting by now.”

“Cody-”

“I’ll find you somewhere else to live,” Cody said.

“Cody-”

“Don’t worry about expense or anything. I got this. And don’t argue! What’s all this stupid money for if I can’t help out with something like this?”

“Cody!”

He snapped his mouth shut. He sometimes got carried away and this was one such time, he supposed. “Yeah?”

“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand back and went back to scarfing up her dinner.

He sighed in relief. That was one problem solved. At least she was willing to accept his help. Though he wasn’t sure how she would respond when he brought up tougher subjects.

Now was the time to find out, he supposed.

“Look, maybe I’m overstepping here,” Cody said slowly. He sat back in his chair. He had only eaten about a quarter of his dinner. But clearing the air about this seemed too important to ignore. “Do you have any idea of maybe... Well, I don’t know, like how long you plan to keep the kids sort of isolated like they are? I mean you can’t keep it that way forever. And they need an education.”

Jessie tensed up, her shoulders hunched up around her ears. She stared down at her plate, her cheeks bright red. He wondered if he’d sounded too accusatory.

He cleared his throat. He had never been very good at being diplomatic. “It’s not as if I think you’re doing anything wrong,” he said quickly. “You rescued those kids and I know you’re doing the best you can. But they need, you know... more. More than you can provide-”

“Don’t take them away!” Jessie whispered it, her eyes big and shiny with tears. Cody’s heart thumped in his chest. He hadn’t intended to imply anything like that.

He waved a hand and said, “No no! Nothing like that. I just mean they can’t stay in that little cabin forever. It’s not good for them-”

“They go on runs!” Jessie said. She clasped her hands in her lap, her voice pitching up. “I take them out and they shift and play and catch fish. I would never keep them locked up forever. Cody, please don’t... Someone will take them away or their sleuth will find them if they go to school or if... I wouldn’t know what to do if they had to go back there, I couldn’t live with myself... ” She got to her feet and started pacing.

Good job, Cody, he thought. This was not how this was supposed to go.

“Jessie.” He tried to sound firm. He stood slowly, not wanting to startle her. This was not his strong suit. He wished he’d asked one of his brothers for advice. Except how could he, without telling them about the cubs? He had promised not to. Judging by how upset she was now, that had been a good call. “Jessie, I don’t want to take the cubs away, I promise. I’m just trying to do what’s best for them and for you-”

“I know what’s best for them!” Jessie said fiercely. “I’ve been doing this all on my own, Cody! When I found them, they were practically starving! They were dirty and hurt and they’d never even known affection or what it was like for somebody to care for them and I know you want to help but you’re not just going to come in and take over and take them away-”

“No, no, no! Jessie, wait!”

She was panicking. He couldn’t blame her. He imagined that she must have been sitting on this stress and fear for all this time while working herself to the bone to care for the kids. She must have been exhausted and totally overworked. Cody had lost it on his staff for a lot less than that himself. Because Jessie wasn’t just a babysitter. She was a mama bear and there was nobody