Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
L ucky stretched, her body humming in satiation and pleasure.
She’d ended up spending four days with Ezra, but she needed to get back to the real world.
Her panther was already cutting up behind it.
It was time to make steps toward her new life and stalling was no longer an option.
She thought she’d been spoiled with Ezra being at her house, but here was worse.
Her mate had shown her around his town, and just a taste of the way her life would change was both scary but exciting.
No one had pursued and wooed her the way he did.
Ezra was applying pressure and it felt good.
They’d spent a good portion of her time in Oakridge at his house, but he’d taken her to restaurants and shopping too, the whole while spitting good game in her ear.
Game he’d already proven that he’d back up.
She sighed because she loved her job, but she was already drafting her two weeks’ notice in her head.
She’d put in fifteen years at the post office, but her mate was offering her a lifetime with him and nothing would beat that.
Going through her morning routine, Lucky smiled at the closet Ezra had filled with clothes her size.
He’d done that before she had even agreed to visit his house, never mind be his mate.
Rah had great taste, she had to admit. Her father had always teased that she needed to find a man that did twice as much as what he did for her, and she could happily report to him that Ezra did that and more.
Her smile dropped as she realized that she still hadn’t told her parents about finding her mate. It was almost as though telling them would make it real and pierce the bubble she’d built around their relationship. Was she ready for the world to intrude?
Descending the stairs to the first floor, Lucky once again marveled at his beautiful home. She knew people with money, but she’d never seen anything on this level. Old money certainly spoke a different language than new money. She found her mate in the kitchen, standing over the coffee machine.
“Should I even ask why there are more clothes in that closet than the ones I bought yesterday?” Lucky spun around in the black maxi skirt she’d paired with a matching t-shirt she had tied underneath her breasts.
Ezra’s gaze heated as he turned and took her in, his eyes turning electric blue a moment before he suppressed it. Now that she’d seen his tiger live and in person, she understood where all that power beneath his skin came from.
It was intoxicating to say the least.
“Did you look around? That closet is full of things, and all in your size.” He pulled her into his arms.
“Oh, yeah? You’re that confident?”
“Can’t do what I do without confidence,” he told her, sipping at her lips. “Are you leaving me today?”
“Not you pouting,” she chuckled. “I have to work in the morning, and if my cousin does not see my face today, she’ll probably send her very overprotective mate to my location.”
“So, that gives me at least a couple of hours before the Edwards brothers are beating my door down.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “You know Devon and Declan?” She rolled her eyes. “What am I asking, of course you do.”
“I know everyone who is associated with you, Lucinda Brielle Bryant.”
“Oop, you’re never beating the creepy allegations,” she told him. She stood on her toes and pecked his lips.
“When will I see you again?”
“You’re asking. Well, that’s a good start.”
“Don’t play coy with me, princess. I’m trying to be less overbearing.”
“I have to work, and driving an hour back and forth is not gonna work for me.” She kept it to herself that she was putting in her notice in the morning.
“All the more reason for you to quit your job and move into your new life.”
“Timetable, Ezra Kaine.” She hugged him. “Wait, what’s your middle name?”
“Matthew. You’re leaving your bag here?” He looked behind her. “That’s a good sign.”
She snorted and slipped her purse higher on her shoulder. She wasn’t carrying her suitcase back, but she did have one of his shirts covered in his scent in her purse. Her panther was not leaving without it.
“So, I’ll see you Saturday. If you don’t want to drive, your security can do that.”
Lucky shook her head. “I have something with the family on Saturday.”
He sucked his teeth and she laughed.
“Call me when you get home,” he told her, stealing her breath with a kiss.
Ezra walked her to the door and her car was waiting for her, the security he’d assigned behind it in their SUV.
Her mate waited until she got in her car and waved.
Lucky practically floated back to Eastfield.
Butterflies fluttered throughout her stomach as she thought about the changes about to happen in her life.
The first step was going to be finally telling her parents and the rest of her family.
They were having a kickback on Saturday, and she figured that would be as good a time as any to give them all a heads-up.
She worried her bottom lip as she thought about Ezra’s position.
Telling her family that Ezra headed the Aces was out, but she still worried about how much she should be telling people.
It was part of her reluctance to tell her parents.
In all her thirty-plus years, she’d never hid anything this important from them.
Hell, she was surprised that Richie hadn’t slipped and told them.
Exhaustion hit her the moment she stepped into her apartment. She would miss her place. She’d worked hard to get it and now she would be making another place her home.
Before she could settle on her couch and decide what she wanted for lunch, there was knocking at her front door.
And not no gentle knocking. Whoever it was knocked as though they were SWAT.
Keisha walked in uninvited moments later, her stomach leading the way.
Dressed in leggings and a cropped t-shirt, her cousin’s pregnant belly was on full display.
“Girl, why is you knocking like the police?”
“I haven’t talked to you in thirty days,” Keisha complained as she slid off her shoes at the door.
Lucky cackled. “Heffa, I literally talked to you yesterday.”
“Okay, but I haven’t put eyes on you.”
“You would’ve seen me at the family kickback,” Lucky pointed out.
“I’m more than family, ho,” Keisha said, mushing her head as she joined her on the sofa.
Lucky could only laugh as she leaned down and greeted her godbaby. “How are you feeling?”
Keisha pouted. “Smothered. Let’s order wings and talk shit about our mates.”
As though Devon could hear her talking about him, Lucky’s phone rang. She put it on speaker, not even bothering to pretend he called to speak to her.
“Key…” was his warning tone. “Why you not answering your phone?”
“You called Lucky, so you see my location, love.” Keisha rolled her eyes, though a happy glint was still there. “I just needed some air. Her mate is as bad as you, I’m sure security is not far.”
“I’ll come pick you up when you’re ready,” he fussed.
“I drove here,” Keisha whined.
“I said what I said, my love. Feed my son and stay off your feet,” was his parting order.
“You see what I’m dealing with?”
“You love it,” Lucky told her.
“Every second,” Keisha sighed happily, kicking her feet up onto Lucky. “Now, back to you. I feel like Kaine stole you from me.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” Lucky laughed and moved Keisha’s feet, standing.
She got them drinks and settled back next to her cousin, allowing Keisha to rest her swollen feet in her lap. Pulling out her phone, she let Ezra know she’d made it home safely and then went to her delivery app.
“What else my baby got a taste for besides wings?” Even as she ordered, her phone dinged with a deposit from Devon. “My cousin be standing on big business, bitch,” Lucky said with a laugh. “You so spoiled, Keisha, and I love that for us.”
Keisha laughed and pulled a blanket from the back of the sofa, getting comfortable. For a few moments, they debated what they wanted delivered for lunch. Lucky allowed the pregnant lady final choice. Laying her phone down, she sighed as her cousin stared her down.
“What?”
“Now that that’s out of the way, how is it going with you and Kaine?”
“Girl.” Lucky body-rolled.
Keisha groaned. “Ugh, when are we packing?”
Lucky laughed before getting serious. “I’m gonna put in my notice tomorrow. Rah was stepping behind me this weekend, and ain’t no use in denying me or my animal. I don’t know why I was stalling. I didn’t expect to fall this hard, this fast, so I guess I was dragging it.”
“I understand completely.”
“He’s so attentive and soft with me. I’ve seen the way he navigates the world as Kaine, and I don’t get that at all. He gives me Ezra and me and my panther are folding.”
Keisha snickered. “Has he met Uncle Sin yet?”
Lucky gave her a droll look and her cousin outright laughed.
“Well, then I know he’ll be at the barbecue this Saturday.”
Lucky pursed her lips and Keisha sat up. “You didn’t invite him?”
“He needs to meet my parents first before I throw him headfirst into our family stuff,” Lucky tried defending herself.
“Excuses,” Keisha accused, and wasn’t shit Lucky could do to dispute that.
“To be honest, I’m a little scared for him to meet mom and dad.” She turned to face her cousin, getting serious. “Like, Devon was in the streets and you told him he needed to be out before you would mate with him. I can’t give Ezra that same ultimatum. He’s in a different league.”
Keisha frowned. “He’s in the streets? I asked my boss about the Aces and he didn’t mention that.”
Lucky opened her mouth and then closed it. “Well, no.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“This isn’t street shit. Think mafia,” Lucky said, and Keisha’s eyes ballooned.
“Bihhh. Say word?”
Lucky sighed.
“He in the mob?”
“No, but damn near close. It’s a family thing.”
Keisha settled back, her gaze introspective. “All Silas told me was that he called them when he couldn’t get some shit to move.”
Lucky leaned up. “I knew the Knights got down, but Silas was supposed to be the strait-laced one now.”
Keisha snorted. “If I really told you how my boss moved, you would know some shit about how hard he rides for shifters.” Her cousin shook her head.
“But all that aside, in this type of ecosystem we’re in, being shifters, sometimes lines have to be crossed for the shaky truces we have in place. You think Auntie Kat will disapprove?”
“She let daddy run the streets so it’s not that, but like… how do I explain his family’s guild?” Lucky sat back and thought over Keisha’s words. Her cousin was right, she was making excuses.
“Do you have to explain it? Is it their business?”
“You know I tell my parents everything.”
“Hmm, and if you invite him to the family barbecue, they gon’ be all in his shit,” Keisha admitted.
“Exactly so.”
“Well, I guess I can understand that. You won’t be able to hide him forever, though. Especially since that man scent marked you to hell and back.”
Lucky snickered. “He does get carried away with the marks, and I let him chase me in our cat forms.”
“Ewww, you nasty, tell me everything,” Keisha teased. “But most importantly, is it true about tigers and that barb?”
“We haven’t exchanged bites yet, so I wouldn’t know.”
“We’re gonna circle back to that for sure.”
Lucky laughed and settled onto the sofa, happy to spend time with her favorite cousin.