“I’m glad I’m not responsible for feeding you. You’d eat me out of house and home really quickly.”
“To make sure that never happens, you’d just have to move in with me. That way, I’d be the one who’d have to feed you instead.”
“What about me, Dirk?” Tyler chimed in. “Would you let me move in with you too?”
“Of course I would. I’d make sure you had your own room, and I have a huge backyard you could run around in all day, if you wanted.”
“Really?” Tyler asked excitedly. “Can my mom and I move in today?”
Ryann felt her face heat. “Tyler, Dirk was only joking. We really can’t move into his house with him. Dirk’s my boss. It’s because of him I don’t have to leave you during the day.”
Tyler’s face fell. “Oh.”
Dirk reached across the table and ruffled Tyler’s hair. “How about you come over for a visit. Would that be okay?” He then looked over at Ryann. “If that would be all right with your mom, that is.”
“You don’t have to feel as if you have to,” she quickly said.
“I know. I want to. Besides, there could be times where we might have to work in person. Tyler is welcome to come along.”
“Are you sure you want a three-year-old running around your place? He can get pretty rambunctious. I’d feel bad if he ended up breaking something.”
Dirk laughed. “You don’t have to worry about that, and you’ll see why when you come for your first visit.”
“All right, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
After finishing the last of his rolls, Dirk asked, “How does sometime in the afternoon sound, for me to come over tomorrow? I’ll give you a call when I’m on my way.”
“That’ll be fine. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Yes. Don’t worry about the bill. I’ll take care of it on my way out.”
“Okay.” Ryann slid out of the booth and took hold of Tyler’s hand after he stood beside her. “Thanks for lunch. I’m glad we could finally meet face-to-face.”
“You’re welcome. And same here.”
Not able to think of something else to add, Ryann turned Tyler toward the restaurant’s entrance and walked away. As she pulled open the glass door, she commended herself for not turning around and looking at Dirk one last time. Even though he’d given her a couple of toe-curling looks, that didn’t mean anything. As gorgeous as he was, Dirk didn’t need a divorced woman who came with a child.
Dirk waited until Ryann and Tyler walked out of the door before he signaled one of the waitresses to bring him the check. He slightly relaxed the hold he had over himself. He thought he’d done a great job of acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening while he’d sat across from Ryann. But on the inside, that had been the furthest thing from the truth.
His mating urge rode his ass, hard. The whole time he’d been with Ryann, her scent had filled his head. But what ramped it up even more was when he’d caught the perfumed smell of her arousal a few times. He was glad they’d been seated with a table between them. He swore he spent the entire meal with a hard-on, one that was just slowly starting to go down. Not that his cock would behave, now that Ryann had left. Until he claimed her as his mate, he had to look forward to walking around with an erection, or at least being semi-hard.
He took a deep breath. He already missed Ryann. When he’d at first thought she was married, he’d felt as if the fates were playing a cruel trick on him. She couldn’t belong to another man and be his. And with a child involved, there was no way in hell Dirk would’ve tried to come between Ryann and her husband. Regardless of how badly it would affect him.
But when she’d said she was divorced, a sense of relief had surged through Dirk. There wouldn’t be any other man standing between Ryann and him. His would-be mate already having a child didn’t bother him in the least. He loved kids. That he’d have an instant family once he became mated to Ryann was fine with him.
After leaving enough money to cover the bill and tip, Dirk left the restaurant. Once in his car, he headed in the direction of Marin County. There wasn’t much point in returning to Roxie and Beowulf’s place. He wasn’t on duty to watch over Roxie today. She’d actually forced him to take a few days off, since he’d spent more time over at her place working on his online dating service than doing anything else.
Arriving at the Protectors’ mansion, Dirk parked his car in the large detached garage before going inside. Standing in the foyer, he heard voices coming from the living room. And from the fresh scents in the air, he knew Leif and Jaden were home, and Jaden’s father, Miles, was around as well.
Dirk stepped into the living room and found all three of them there. Leif and Miles were laughing at something, but quickly stopped when he walked into the room. Jaden sat on the couch next to her mate, taking turns scowling at the men. He had the sneaky suspicion the two males had been laughing about something to do with him.
His thoughts were confirmed when Miles said with a grin, “Jaden and Leif were just telling me about your latest…endeavor. Did you get bored with your online trading before deciding to do something so…so different?”
Dirk stared at the other man and scowled a bit. He still wasn’t used to the idea of Miles being in his home whenever the man felt like it. As Saskia’s true brother, Miles had been a Protector at one time. Then he’d gone to the dark side, wanting to find the foretold one himself, and then use whomever it was as a figurehead so he could rule over the werewolf packs. They’d considered Miles the enemy for a very long time. Now that Miles thought Jaden was that foretold one—knowing nothing about Roxie—he seemed to have turned over a new leaf. He also wanted to take on some of the duties of protecting his daughter. If Miles were to ever find out Jaden was only posing as the one they were to watch over, Dirk had a feeling it would all end very badly.
“I figured my service would be something a lot of male werewolves would find useful,” Dirk said. He wasn’t about to give more of an explanation than that, especially when Leif and Miles started to laugh again.
“Enough, the both of you,” Jaden said over their laughter. “You’re acting like two teenage boys, instead of men who’ve lived to see a thousand years. I think Dirk had a great idea when he came up with this. He hopes he’ll be able to find his mate through it.” She looked directly at Miles. “And, Dad, I think you should be signing up to use it as well.”
Miles stopped laughing and gave Jaden a shocked look. “What? You can’t be serious.”
This made Leif laugh even harder. “Miles, you should see your face,” he said between gales of laughter. “It’s priceless.”
Both Miles and Jaden ignored Leif. Jaden sighed and rolled her eyes before she said, “Yes, I’m serious, Dad. We both know Mom was never your mate. You loved her, yes, but you never had the mate bond with her. That means there’s a woman somewhere out there who’s meant for you. I’d like to see my father happily mated as I am. You’ve been alone for too long.”
Miles looked even more shell-shocked. “You want me to go on the internet to find my mate?”
All this mate talk played havoc with Dirk’s nerves. He was already having a hard time being apart from Ryann, knowing what she was to him. Having to wait twenty-four hours to see her again was going to be damn tough to go through. Though he had to admit, Miles’ reaction to Jaden telling him she wanted him to sign up for Mate Connection was humorous. Dirk decided to keep his mouth shut about it, figuring it would only set Leif off again.
“What’s wrong with that?” Jaden asked. “You’d be surprised how many people meet their future husbands and wives that way.” She looked at Dirk. “You’d have no problem signing my dad up, would you, Dirk? That way, both of you can hopefully find mates.”