“Why? What about it?”
“Never mind,” she mumbled.
“No, seriously, I want to know.”
She scrunched up her face. “Joaquin might possibly have the satisfaction of knowing I was today years old when I learned this morning that the phrase isn’t ‘easy peasy chicken squeezy’. He took great pleasure correcting me. Fucker.”
“Chickensqueezy?” Ken fell over onto the bed, helpless with laughter. “And you didn’t make him punch himself in the balls?”
“No. But that would have been a damned good idea.”
He reached for her hand. “See? You have restraint. You’ll make a great Pack Alpha one day when Peyton retires.”
She shook her head. “Nope.Not. It.I don’teverwant to be Pack Alpha if I can avoid it. I’m hoping Peyton and Gillian have a Prime Alpha pup who can rightfully take over one day. Or even Trent and Asia.”
“Why not you?” Ken asked.
“I have enough to deal with as Head Enforcer. And that’s not the kind of job I want to pass on to someone else when I’m still perfectly capable of doing it.”
“But you’re already sort of a Pack Alpha now.”
“No, I’m head of the expanded pack council. Like being a CEO of one division, but not the actual owner of the whole flippin’ company.” She flopped back next to him. “Why? Were you looking forward to me being the Head Bitch in Charge or something?”
He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Not necessarily. I just want to support you and help you meet your goals.”
“What about you?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“What are your goals?” she asked.
He leaned in and kissed her again. “To be a husband and father and enjoy our family. I’m not kidding that when we met, I had no goals other than survival. I’d hoped to maybe save up enough money to one day buy a house. Get tenure. Security. That was my only goal. I’d hoped to meet someone, but as you well know, I wasn’t exactly very social.”
“Lucky for me.” She nuzzled his neck. “Because you are definitely the best thing that ever walked into my life.”
His fingers trailed up and down her back. “At least you have a snazzy new piece of headgear,” Ken teased.
Dewi sat up. “Oooooh, no,” she said. “I amnotwearing that thing. I need a helmet, I’ll grab my motorcycle helmet.”
He sat up with her. “Oh, come on, baby. Mint green and coral on you is sooooMiami Vice-hot.”
“Cannotbelieve I didn’t throw that goddamned thing away before we left Miami.”
He nuzzled her nose. “You do get brownie points for grabbing the helmet.”
“See? I wastryingto be safe!”
He laughed, and the easy sound of it settled her heart. “I know, baby. I would like you to sit down with Beck in the next day or two and talk with him.”
There went her warm fuzzies. “Yeah.”
He went quiet for a moment. “I’m guessing you had no idea he felt like that.”
“I mean, I remember he was super-protective when I was little. Everyone was. Him, Badger, Peyton and Trent. All the Enforcers who were at the compound. Even people who weren’t Enforcers. I rarely had a moment alone-alone unless I was safely locked in my room. Even when I went out to visit the cemetery, I knew someone was keeping an eye on me. I was never really ‘alone.’ Not until I moved here.”
“That must have been difficult.”
“I…” She thought about it. “It wasn’t that it was difficult, it just…was. It wasn’t like I knew anything else. I knew I was the little sister to the Pack Alpha, and that explained why I couldn’t just run around like anyone else. Why I couldn’t go on shifted runs unless Beck or Badger or one of the others was with me.”
