Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,129

looked a mess. But at the soft second knock at the door, she jogged over to answer.

Jessie threw open the door and there stood Cody... holding several shopping bags and looking bashful. “I may have gone overboard,” he said, shrugging. “There’s more in the car.”

46

Cody

Cody had let Jessie leave and then paced around, feeling like he was about to go out of his mind.

If there was the slightest chance Jessie was his mate, maybe this proved it. Because the thought that she was upset somewhere was driving him crazy. But she clearly didn’t want to talk to him. He pictured a little cloud of smoke following her when she’d run off, as if she were a cartoon.

Cody didn’t do well when he felt helpless about something. He tended to project it onto others, usually the kitchen staff. But he resisted the urge to head down to the kitchen and yell at the skeleton crew left at night for late dinners and desserts in the dining hall. Nothing was their fault and even if they knew his moods better than he knew his own and took it all in stride, he knew it wasn’t fair to them.

Instead, he went on a run in the woods. It wasn’t quite as joyful as his last. But he stretched his legs and stomped around in the creek and clawed at a tree. But after a half-hour of that, he felt no better. He returned to his suite and grabbed his keys, intending to go on a drive and distracted himself.

Somehow, he ended up at the Max Mart, an all purpose department store at the edge of town. It was an impulsive decision. He was driving and listening to music and thinking about how he might help Jessie once she was feeling better, he’d resisted the urge to text, when he saw the big yellow letters that spelled MAX from the road and impulsively decided to go shopping for the cubs.

An hour later, he was at her front door, hoping against hope that she actually felt like speaking to him.

“What did you do?” Jessie said. She was half-laughing and Cody grinned. That was a good sign anyway. At least she wasn’t upset anymore.

“I was just out driving,” Cody said with a shrug. She let him in and the kids all crowded around, stopping short at the edge of the area rug in the living room as they stared at Cody, as if it was some kind of barrier they would never dare to cross. “I was thinking, ya know. About... our conversation.” He set the bags down on the floor and the children didn’t wait for permission before they attacked the bags to poke around inside. “And I sort of impulsively went shopping. I was worried there might be things you need and I want to help, like I said.”

Jessie shut the door and stood facing him and he stepped closer. His instinct was to kiss her. It felt natural. He almost felt like he was coming home after work... Coming home to his family. There were worse things.

“I didn’t know if you still wanted to... ” Jessie’s mouth twisted and she played with her fingers. She was obviously full of nerves. He wanted to put all that worry to rest and he took his hands in hers. “After I flipped out the way I did. It wasn’t your fault, Cody. I want you to know that. I was just... I’ve been under a lot of stress, I guess. You didn’t do anything wrong.” She let him take her hands and squeezed his fingers. He bit his lip, his heart swelling. “I’m sorry.”

“You got nothing to apologize for,” he said easily. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “I figured you were just having a shitty day. Happens to the best of us. I once screamed at my pastry chef for ten minutes over absolutely nothing. Turned out I was just hungry.”

“I know I need to face up to some stuff,” she said softly. “About the kids and their schooling and the future... “

“One day at a time.” He nodded and the both of them took a deep breath as if in sync. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Wow!” Chris was kneeling on the floor, taking books out of a bag. “These look good.”

Cody had gone on a bit of a shopping spree. He’d bought supplies for the toddlers like pull-ups and wipes. He bought vitamins, over-the-counter medicines in case somebody got sick, a whole lot of