Chase had to bite his tongue to prevent the flood of questions. He felt his heart lurch with pity as he looked at the young boy still half asleep in his mother’s arms. This must be so hard for him. And her. Chase felt a strong, protective urge wash over him.
No more. The pair of them might not know it yet, but they were safe now. Chase wasn’t going to let anything else happen to them.
“Well,” he said, clapping his hands together. “I should probably get to work if I’m going to turn these noodles into something fit for the young man. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready. Feel free to relax until then.”
“Thank you.” She gave him one last smile and then headed off, the boy on her hip. He stared after her for a long moment, until his reindeer stamped an impatient hoof. Right. Time to get to work on feeding them.
Chase had always loved cooking. He’d been vegetarian his entire life—reindeer and meat didn’t exactly mix, and nothing about it had ever appealed to him. But when he’d been growing up, if you wanted a decent vegetarian meal, you had to prepare it yourself, and his parents had gone to great lengths to make sure he’d been able to do exactly that. Restaurant quality vegetarian food had come a long way over the years, to a point where it was now edible for him to eat out. But he still preferred doing it for himself.
There was something calming to him about the methodical steps you had to take to make a dish turn out well. It was soothing. It was probably one of the reasons he had felt so drawn to police work. Deductive reasoning was also a very methodical process.
Even now, he could feel himself become calmer as he chopped the vegetables into even pieces. There was something so satisfying about watching things fall perfectly into place. And he needed that sense of calm now more than ever right now, because it was taking all his self-control not to hunt down Hailey’s ex and teach him the error of his ways, then come back and make love to his mate. He grew hard at the thought, and stifled a groan. Calm. Calm would be good.
He tossed the vegetables into the stirfry, steering well clear of the onions. He wanted both mother and son to feel comfortable here, so they’d be more likely to stay. Now that he had his pre-destined family by his side, he didn’t want to let them go.
They were his as much as he was theirs.
“Dinner’s ready!”
He plated the meal up and carried it through to the dining room, almost spilling the lot when he caught sight of his stunning mate.
“That smells wonderful.”
I know.His inner reindeer stamped its hoof proudly, basking in their mate’s praise. Chase couldn’t help the smile that lit his face as he set the plates down, fortunately still with their contents in place.
“Time to put that down, love,” Hailey said, gently wresting the stuffed blue toy from his son’s hands. “You don’t want it to get dirty.”
The boy let out an adorable noise of protest. Without meaning to, he reached out and ruffled the toddler’s hair. Riley looked up at him in awe and he smiled.
“He’s really attached to that thing. Has he always been a fan of reindeer?”
“I don’t think so,” she replied. Chase couldn’t help but frown a little. “I’m pretty sure tonight was the first time he ever saw a reindeer. And the less said aboutthat, the better. But he sure does like that stuffed toy. So maybe it was fate I crashed next to Santa’s Village.”
His heart started pounding louder. “Are you a big believer in fate?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Maybe a bit, I guess? I always wondered why I stayed with his father for all those years. But when I saw Riley for the first time, I felt like it all made sense.”
Chase paused, his spoon hallway towards his mouth. This was the second time his mate had slipped up in normal conversation. Perhaps she actually did want to talk about it. He canted his head, his open expression inviting her to elaborate.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
At least, not right now—that was what was left unsaid.
But she wanted to confide in him. She just didn’t want to say anything bad about Riley’s father in front of the boy. In his eyes, it just proved she was the perfect mother.
The remainder of the meal passed in comfortable silence, broken only Hailey’s praise of the food, and Riley’s sporadic and nonsensical chatter.
Riley let out a quiet yawn soon after finishing his desert. Chase heated up a pot of hot chocolate for them to share, topping it off with a handful of mini marshmallows. It was a perfect end to a relaxing evening.
“I should probably get him to bed,” Hailey said, rising from her chair.
“Okay,” Chase replied. “I’ll sort the dishes. You can wait for me in the living room if you don’t feel like going to sleep just yet.
Or if you feel like talking, he left unsaid.
Hailey nodded, catching the double-meaning. Chase took a couple of deep breaths as he was cleaning up. He needed to be a calming presence for his mate when she told her story.
Claim mate,his reindeer commanded. Yeah, he needed tonotdo that. She might be ready to open up to him, but she definitely wasn’t ready forthatconversation yet.
