Ronnie grinned. “Mutual agreement?”
“Exactly.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t raised in a Pride. I wanted to see what it was like.”
“And?”
He nodded his head. “I love my children.”
Chuckling, Ronnie hugged and rocked the little boy in her arms.
Shaw’s expression warmed as he watched his son bury his face in Ronnie’s neck. “He likes you.”
“Like father, like son apparently. He’s been nipping my neck for the last five minutes.”
“Be grateful he doesn’t have his fangs yet.”
“Okay. Time to go.” Allie tried to pull her daughter away from Shaw, but the little girl held on like her life depended on it, refusing to let her father go. Shaw took her to the limo himself and buckled her into her car seat with surprising efficiency.
Her little guy, Erik, Ronnie finally discovered, didn’t put up a fight when his father pulled him from her arms, but he did look deep into her eyes for several seconds, then kissed her cheek before letting anyone put him into his own child seat.
As the limos pulled away, Ronnie turned to Shaw. “Good Lord, is that boy like you.”
“So tell me about your mom.”
He didn’t expect that question to send her tripping over her own two feet and flying into the bookstore’s erotica section he’d followed her to. Luckily he had fast hands and caught her before her head could make contact with the Kama Sutra.
“Whoa! Are you okay?” The few times she’d mentioned the woman it hadn’t been very positive. Brendon simply hoped to find out why.
Ronnie gripped his arms and let him put her back on her feet. “I’m fine. I’m fine.”
“You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want.”
Shaking her head, “No. No. I don’t mind.”
“You two argue a lot, I guess.”
“Not often. Only anytime the sun rises or sets somewhere on the Earth.”
Brendon laughed and didn’t immediately release her. He liked having her in his arms. “Okay, so you two have your, uh, issues.”
Ronnie tried to pull out of his arms, but when he didn’t release her, she shrugged and leaned back. “Yeah. We don’t get along much. Never have. My daddy said we started arguing when I was still in the womb.” She leaned forward and grabbed one of the books off the shelf. “Said he’d walk in the room once and found her yelling at her stomach, telling me to stop kicking her so damn much.”
Keeping one hand around her waist, Brendon took the book out of her hands. “Let’s see what we have here.” He quickly read the blurb on the back. “Nope. Forget it. There’s no spanking. You’ll get bored.”
She elbowed his stomach. “I will not get bored.” She snatched the book back. “I don’t need to read about spanking, ya know?”
“True. Why read about it when I can slap your ass myself?”
She slammed her foot into his instep. And, if he were a lesser man, it would have hurt like hell. He tried to get the book back but she held onto it, the two of them laughing as they struggled over it. It took them a few seconds to realize they were being watched. Slowly, they looked over their shoulders at the human male ogling them. They stared at him for several moments, then Ronnie snarled and snapped. The man couldn’t run fast enough.
Grinning, Ronnie looked up at Brendon. “I love doing that.”
She mentioned the schools she had interviews set up with, and Shaw drove her to the closest one. They got out and walked around the deserted campus for a good thirty minutes before Ronnie had to sit down on a bench by a Japanese garden so she could put her head between her legs.
“I can’t do this. I can’t go back to this.”
“Why not?” He sat down next to her, his hand smoothing down her back. “Ronnie, it’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be trapped. Like an animal. In these tiny classrooms. And they’ll expect me to be back at a certain time on certain days—for four years.” At the moment, four years sounded pretty much the same as forty.
“You’re not real good with everyday routine.”
“Why should I be? What’s so great about routine? The same thing everyday. Is anything more depressing?”
“Routine doesn’t always mean boring.”
“Ha!”
Shaw scratched her head, leaning over to kiss her temple. “What are you planning to study anyway?”
Shrugging, she replied, “Probably engineering. It’s what I studied in college the first time around.”
When he didn’t say anything, Ronnie looked at him. He stared off across the campus, a deep frown on his face.
Insulted, she slammed her fist in his shoulder, making him wince. “I know this accent confuses you superior Yankees, but being Southern does not make you stupid.”
“I never said—”
“Shut up.”
Shaw quickly complied, but she knew he was trying not to laugh. So was she.
Clearing his throat, he said, “Was that the textbook you had at the hospital? The one you hit me with?”
“You deserved it. And yeah. One of my old engineering textbooks.” She rubbed her hands over her face and rested back against the bench. “I started reading it, and it all rushed back to me. How boring this all is. No wonder Sissy Mae didn’t have to twist my arm to get me to bail. And bail I did.”
He chuckled. “But I thought you were ready to change your life. Settle down—”
Ronnie sat up abruptly and slapped her hand over his mouth. “Let’s not use those words right now.”
Intense gold eyes watched her, and he pulled her hand off his mouth. “What if you meet the right guy, Ronnie? Would you settle down then?”
“You mean the right wolf?” She wanted to get the distinctions clear because she didn’t much like the expression on that gorgeous face.
“Why limit yourself?”
“Mostly because I don’t want funny-looking children.”
Shaw rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you believe that breedist bullshit. Just because two different breeds mate doesn’t mean—”
She had her wallet out and her pictures unfurled before he could even finish. “One summer we stayed with Sissy Mae’s cousins in North Carolina. Momma’s Smith Pack, daddy’s a black leopard. This is their daughter when shifted.”
Ronnie handed Shaw the picture of her, Sissy Mae, and her cousin lounging around many years ago after the Fourth of July family hunt.
Shaw jerked back. “Christ.”
“Yeah. Exactly. Do you think that snaggle tooth is attractive?”
He shuddered but tried to hide it. “Okay. That’s one instance.”
“Really? Have you seen a wolf with a full mane? Or a cat with a long muzzle?”
He shuddered again. “Okay. Okay.” He motioned to the picture. “But what does she look like human?”
She flipped a couple of pictures over and showed him a picture of the three friends on the North Carolina beach in bikinis a year or two back.
“Whoa.” Shaw took the wallet out of her hand. “She’s hot.” He glanced at Ronnie and back at the picture. “North Carolina, right?” He shoved Ronnie off the bench. “That’s where I can find the snaggle-toothed babe?”
For a second there, he ran so fast she wasn’t sure she’d catch up with him.
Brendon glanced around the dance studio and frowned. “Explain to me why we’re here.”
For some unknown reason she’d dragged him into one of those ballroom dancing studios and had signed up for one of the advance classes. She wouldn’t tell him why, but she kept giggling, which had begun to make him very nervous.