with the tiny kittens and with her kids? She didn’t know, but she did know she wanted to spend more time with him.
“All right,” she said at last. “I’ll give you a grocery list and you can pick the things up on the way home. I’ll take the kittens with me,” she added. “That way you don’t have to bring them into the store with you.”
She was curious to see how the big Kindred would handle this arrangement. Tony had always used to fly into a rage if she asked him to do any of what he called “women’s work.” Once in a very great while he might run to the store for a gallon of milk or some bread if they were all out but he always grumbled about it and expected to be praised to the skies for his heroic effort afterwards.
It was the same with laundry or dishes or any of the other domestic chores her ex had considered himself above doing. Tony absolutely wouldn’t help in any way. “Not my job, babe,” he would always tell Luci if she asked him to change a diaper or take out the garbage. “I bring home the bacon and you cook it—that’s how it goes.”
Even after Luci had finished the two year Vet Tech course at the local community college—which she never could have done if her mom hadn’t been able to watch the kids—and started working part time while the kids were in school, Tony still wouldn’t lift a finger around the house.
“You can work if you want to,” he told her. “But the money goes into our shared bank account. And the minute the house starts looking like a pig sty or my dinner is late—even once—you’re out of there. Understand?”
Luci hated herself now, for putting up with his bullying. But at the time, she’d thought she had no choice. Now she waited to see if Raze would act the same way her ex had when asked to do a domestic duty. If he did, she would know immediately he wasn’t the kind of man she wanted to be with.
But instead of protesting, the big Kindred nodded thoughtfully.
“I’ve been in a human food store several times now, but I never knew quite what to buy. It’ll be interesting to have a list and see how the ingredients fit together when you cook them.”
He promised to come over to drop off the groceries and pick up the kittens as soon as Luci got home so she could start cooking. When he left in his shiny silver shuttle car, with her list in one hand, she couldn’t help thinking that the big Kindred seemed like a genuinely nice guy. And a sexy one too.
Though she tried to keep her mind on her work as she finished the last bit of her shift at the clinic, all she could think of was the next time she would see him.
Seven
Raze couldn’t wait to see the curvy little Earth female again.
As he drove through downtown Tampa, Luci was all he could think about. The spontaneous hug she had given him had really intrigued him. He could still feel the press of her gorgeous, soft body against his and smell her sweet, feminine scent.
Raze was glad she’d allowed him to buy the food for tonight’s Last Meal. He simply didn’t understand a society that didn’t honor and reward the hard work of a female trying to raise her young ones—especially one trying to raise them alone. In such an uncaring world, Lucia needed someone to help her. A male to protect and provide for her.
A little voice inside his head whispered softly that the male in question could be him.
Raze pushed it away. He was a hybrid, he reminded himself. He couldn’t bond with her—couldn’t give her the deep, soul-connection, which was what such a lovely female deserved and no doubt desired.
Well, at least he could spend time with her while he was here on Earth. He had already called over to the HKR building and extended his leave time for a couple more solar weeks.
He intended to use that time raising the kittens and getting close to Lucia—as close as a friend could be, anyway, since that was all he could ever be to her.
Eight
The next two weeks seemed like a dream to Luci. She saw Raze every day—sometimes with the kids and her mom at dinnertime—and sometimes at the clinic. The kittens, (which were thriving,) provided an excellent excuse—which was good,