Chapter 4 #3
That little girl had placed her trust in him. She’d placed her hope in him. That had to mean something, didn’t it? That had to mean that maybe, just maybe, Astius had been right—that Broxen could be more than his past. That he could choose a different path and succeed.
Maybe it meant that Gabriela had seen something like that in him, too.
He shifted a hand, reaching toward the bear cookie, but stopped himself. Something about it gave him pause.
Saving the best for last.
That was a human thing, wasn’t it? There was no harm in it. How often was he gifted homemade bear cookies, anyway? He’d keep that bear aside for a little while.
He picked up a striped candy cane cookie instead, holding it delicately between his forefinger and thumb.
The red, white, and green icing stripes were neat and relatively even, with only one spot where a tiny trickle of white had mixed with the red.
That small imperfection made him smile. This cookie had undoubtedly been decorated by Gabriela.
When he lifted it to his nose and inhaled, he was hit by a pair of appetizing scents—the cookie and its icing, each smell unique but complementing one another. Broxen opened his mouth and took a small bite.
“Mmm,” was all he could manage as he chewed. He’d tasted pre-packaged cookies from the grocery store, and they were fine, but this was something entirely different. Sweet and buttery but not overly so, the icing and the cookie in perfect balance.
The rest of the candy cane vanished in one more bite.
Broxen hadn’t quite finished chewing it before he made his next selection, the green tree with red, blue, and yellow dots all over it and a star on the top.
A Christmas tree. His smile widened as he turned the cookie to look it over.
The dots were haphazard and uneven, and the green icing had run off one side of the cookie. Another of Ana’s creations.
Broxen devoured the cookie and picked up the next one. His mind was overwhelmed by the flavor, the sweetness, the surprise of having been gifted them. Perhaps that was why they tasted so good.
Or, perhaps, Gabriela was simply a good baker.
By the time he stopped himself, only one cookie remained on the plate, surrounded by crumbs and a few flecks of icing. The bear continued to stare up at Broxen, happy despite its companions having been devoured before its very eyes.
He still couldn’t bring himself to eat it. This one was special, just for him. He’d save it for a more special time.
Broxen stood up, picked up the plate, and walked into the kitchen. He put the bear cookie into a plastic sandwich bag and set it on the counter. As he washed Gabriela’s plate, he was struck by the kindness of her gesture.
He knew Gabriela had struggled. He knew she was tight on money, that she often cut it close paying her bills.
In the fall, while the weather was still nice enough for windows to be open during the day, he’d heard her on the phone with debt collectors and credit companies.
He knew she had little to spare most of the time.
But she’d still shared this with Broxen.
Perhaps a few cookies wasn’t much, but he knew from experience that value was relative. The less you had, the more you valued those things. For her to have thought of him, to have shared with him, to have made him a small part of something she and her daughter had done together, meant a lot to him.
He set the plate in the drainboard and glanced around his house again.
The living room, kitchen, and dining room were all connected in one large, open space.
What would it be like to have that space full of life?
To have Gabriela and Ana here, laughing and talking, to have music playing and the fire crackling?
Maybe if he had someone to cook for, he’d finally take out those steaks.
Broxen could almost imagine this home with Gabriela’s touch applied to it. He could almost imagine the door opening and little Ana bounding through, offering a big smile to her mother and Broxen. He could almost hear her tell them about her day at school.
And he could almost feel Gabriela’s hips between his hands as the Broxen in his imagining walked up to her from behind and swept her into a kiss after Ana had raced into the spare bedroom.
He could almost taste those full, enticing lips.
He could almost smell her scent and feel her warmth as she turned toward him and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her soft, sensuous body against his.
His heart sped and his breath grew ragged as blood rushed to his groin again.
Coiled heat dominated his chest. Planting his fists on the counter, he bowed his head, and strands of his long hair fell around the sides of his face.
This desire was becoming so strong that it hurt, and that wasn’t dissuading him at all.
There was no doubt in his mind now—he wanted Gabriela and Ana to be his. To be his family. And tomorrow at ten o’clock, he would begin working toward that.
He would seize every opportunity to make Gabriela his mate.