Ice_Reaux - Laura Wright Page 0,45

she was some crone at thirty, or anything, but the years in that cell had passed painfully slowly. They felt longer than they were. And now, as she stood here under the wolfish—no, the cat-ish—gaze of her Pantera male, she had a new and thrilling lease on life. And fun. And…hopefully sex.

“You both ready?” Reaux asked her.

“Both?” Karen repeated, suddenly confused.

He glanced past her. “Isn’t Caleb coming?”

Her heart leapt into her throat. Had he really come there hoping to take them both…? “I thought it was just us. Caleb’s going to hang out with Adrian tonight. You remember my friend, Adrian?”

Reaux nodded, a shadow crossing his steely gray gaze. Then he seemed to recall something, and he took a thin envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. “I brought this for him.”

“A CD?” she said.

“Don’t laugh…”

“I wouldn’t dare. Unless, you know, it’s supposed to be funny.”

“I’m a big music lover. Have been since I was a kid.” He leaned his powerful body against the door and lowered his voice. “These are the songs I listened to back in the day.”

“What day is that?” she asked, knowing she was flirting. With her voice, her eyes.

He inhaled deeply. “When I was trying to…” He looked away for a second. “Get my cat to come out.”

The light flirtation she had been enjoying up until that moment gave way to something else entirely. Something deeper, and hopefully longer-lasting. It was the realization of what this male had not only given to her son, but created for him. And it spread over and through her like the softest, warmest, safest blanket.

“I’ll make sure he gets it,” she promised, her voice thankful and resolute.

He nodded. “Hungry?” he asked, one dark brow raised.

You have no idea, male. “Very.”

He smiled and offered her his arm. “Let’s go.”

***

“You didn’t,” Karen said, laughing in between sips of her wine.

“I was a little devil,” Reaux told her as he watched her across the table. “The teacher made me eat every last bite.”

“Did you get sick afterwards?”

“In ways I refuse to talk about because I plan on kissing you later and I don’t want that image of me stuck in your mind.”

She laughed again. “Fair enough.”

Not wanting to take Karen out of the Wildlands, Reaux had decided to bring her to Miss Nathalie’s. A few months ago, the older female had decided to turn her boarding house into a restaurant. There were so many new couples now, new faces in the Wildlands, the female had caved to the demand for a nice eating spot. Not that the eight-table spot was all that fancy, but it did have some seriously good food and a killer romantic atmosphere.

“What about you?” Reaux asked, taking in the way the candle flickering between them on the table made her eyes glow amber. “What bad stuff did you do as a kid?”

The question sobered her for a moment, and Reaux wondered if maybe he’d overstepped. But she quickly relaxed and said, “I used to record my parents sleeping.”

Reaux put down his beer. “I’m sorry, what was that again?”

She laughed. “Both of them claimed they didn’t snore. I got so sick of hearing that argument.” She shrugged, her pretty pale shoulders lifting and lowering. “I recorded them. Then I played it for the whole neighborhood.”

“I bet you got in trouble.”

“You’d think, right?” She picked up her fork. “But my parents weren’t like that. They were both really caring and loving—and forgiving.” She stabbed a tiny carrot and slipped it into her mouth. “And they could take a joke.”

Lucky, lucky, carrot. “They sound like good people.”

“They were.” When tears suddenly sprang to her eyes, he reached across the table and took her hand. “I swear, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t cry more than a handful of times during the twelve years I was in the lab. And now I’m out and free and…happy.” She smiled at that. “And a walking tear duct.”

“It’s a good thing, Karen,” he assured her. “Means you’re healing. You’re allowing yourself to heal.”

Her eyes lifted to meet his, and they were thoughtful as well as glistening. “What do you want, Reaux?” When one of his eyebrows lifted, she smiled softly. “I mean, out of life?”

Well, that was a question. Especially now. Meeting her had changed everything for him. “I want the Pantera and the Wildlands to be safe.”

She nodded. “Agreed.”

He squeezed her hand. “And I’d like a mate and a family.”

She swallowed. He watched