“You’re right. I’ll ask him tonight.” Hunny sent Nessa a knowing look. “So you didn’t answer my question earlier. What happened after your date, Nessa?”
Nessa grinned, feeling lighter than she had in years. “Yes, we had sex. It was phenomenal.” That was an understatement of epic proportions.
“And you saw … everything?” Hunny asked hesitantly.
Nessa furrowed her brows in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Hunny leaned against the cart, letting out a soft sigh. “Henry tells me a lot, Nessa. Probably too much, actually.”
Realization dawned. “And he mentioned Murphy’s scars.”
“He didn’t go into specifics or anything,” Hunny assured her. “He just mentioned that Murphy was nervous about you seeing them.”
“He was.” Nessa shrugged, not wanting to delve into more details. It was one thing to discuss Murphy’s body with him and to help ease his insecurities, but it felt like a betrayal to speak with someone else about it. Even if it was her best friend.
Still, she didn’t want to brush Hunny off, either. “We all have things we’re insecure about, but I hope one day Murphy can see himself the way I do.”
Hunny’s eyes softened. “That’s really sweet.”
“I know. It’s part of my charm.” Nessa stuck her tongue out playfully.
“I’m really glad you went to him when you found out about his mating sickness,” Hunny continued solemnly. “You’re a good person, Nessa.”
Nessa waved away the praise, uncomfortable by it. “I’m just glad his symptoms are gone. I thought we’d have to mate for that to happen, but Murphy seems fine now.”
More than fine, actually. She hadn’t heard him get snarly aside from last night, when she’d brought up Tony. He hadn’t gotten jealous or possessive when she’d been around his friends or family, either.
“I was wondering about that, actually,” Hunny said, licking her lower lip thoughtfully. “Usually, in order to cure mating sickness, the bear has to mate, otherwise he’ll eventually go insane. What if Murphy wasn’t sick? What if his bear was just throwing an epic tantrum to get under his skin, hoping he’d give in and chase after you?”
“What?!” Nessa exclaimed in bewilderment. She shook her head in an instant denial. “No. No way. That would be so … soslyof his bear to do something like that.“ And mean as hell. “Tabitha said Murphy had mating sickness, and she’s the doctor. She would know.”
“Murphy didn’t let anyone actually get close enough to him over those few months without you, so she could only speculate.” Hunny grinned. “Whatever happened, the end result was the same. You and Murphy are together now. His bear is obviously happy with that, otherwise he’d still be acting up.”
Yeah, but …
If what Hunny suspected were true then Murphy’s bear was a diabolical little shit! Oh, she’d be having words with that freaking bear when her mate came back over tonight.
Would it be weird to interrogate Murphy’s bear? Probably. Would that stop her? Not for a damn second.
“Anyways,” Hunny said casually. “I’m really glad that things went smoothly with Murphy last night. I’m sure he was relieved.”
“I can understand why he felt nervous,” Nessa admitted. “Being vulnerable with someone else is difficult.” That was one reason Nessa had never confided in anyone about her pastbefore last night. One day, when she was ready, she’d tell Hunny about it, too.
“He’s honestly the sexiest man I’ve ever seen.” All those muscles, his striking brown eyes, and rugged good looks were such a turn on. Nessa sighed wistfully. “I’m super envious that he can eat whatever he wants and still lookthatgood.”
Hunny glanced around their section of the store before leaning in and whispering, “It’s definitely a great perk of being a shifter. Especially now that I’m pregnant. Before, I really only ate fish, veggies and fruit. I wasn’t into red meat, or carbs, or a lot of sweet things. But I swear to you, ever since this second trimester hit, all I want is chocolate cake and pizza.”
Nessa’s brows shot up. “There is a pizza place next door that has this tasty chocolate chip brownie dessert, topped with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge. We can always stop there after we’re done shopping.”
“Shut the hell up, seriously?” Hunny asked excitedly. Just then, her stomach growled loudly. “Ugh, now all I want is food.”
“Do you want to go eat and then come back here after?”
“Yeah, actually. Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” Nessa wasn’t about to come between a pregnant woman and her cravings—she knew at leastthatmuch about pregnancies. Pulling the clothes from the inside of the cart, she walked them back to the rack before following her friend toward the exit. “I actually wanted to ask you something. Murphy mentioned that his mom and dad used to host family dinners once a week, but that hasn’t happened in a while. What do you think about starting that up again?”
“What, like you and I make food for the guys?” Hunny asked, surprise evident in her voice.
