“Do you want to slow things down?”he asked.“I don’t want you to think that I’m after anything.I’m not a one-and-done guy.I’m not after you for what you can do for me, I’m genuinely crazy about you and want to spend time with you.”
“Heck no, I don’t want to slow down,” she said, letting out a wry laugh.She lowered her voice.“Do you really think that you can rock my world like you did last night and I wouldn’t want to do that again?”
He smiled, relief flooding through him.“I would back off, though.”He reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze.“You’re so important to me.I just want you to be happy.”
“I promise I’m the happiest girl on the planet.I just need Cruz to get with the program.Because he was cheated on by someone he loved, he doesn’t trust easily.I feel bad for whoever he dates next because they’re going to have a lot of baggage to deal with.”
“I’m sorry you had to deal with him like that,” he said.“I would have stuck around to defend you if I’d known he was waiting up.”
“That would probably have escalated things.It’s beenDarcy and Cruz Against the Worldfor the last five years.I think he’s just trying to hold onto something,anything, so he doesn’t feel alone.I do worry about him, but he can’t be so controlling with me.He doesn’t dictate what I do or who I’m with.”
“I don’t want him to hate me or cause problems between you two.”Ford didn’t have his biological family to rely on, and he knew how precious it was to be cared for by people with your DNA.The herd was his family, but it wasn’t the same.He didn’t want Darcy to have to give up her only family for him, but he also knew that once she learned the truth of shifters, she’d have to keep a huge secret from Cruz.And that would put additional stress on their relationship.
But one problem at a time.
“I could talk to him,” Ford offered.“Man to man, tell him what my intentions are.”
Her eyes darkened a little as she gazed at him, a small smile curving her lush mouth.“And just whatareyour intentions, Ford?”
He gave her hand another squeeze, his stallion whinnying in his head.“To make you happy, to keep you safe.To make you mine.”
“I’m already yours,” she whispered, a glimmer of truth and heat in her eyes.
“I’m yours too.”
She returned the squeeze to his hand and then took her hand back so she could keep eating.“I promise I’ll deal with Cruz on my own.He’ll come to terms with it at some point, but it doesn’t matter to me if he approves or not.Because in the long run, it’s my heart and my life, not his.”
“I’m a phone call or text away, any time day or night.”
She smiled with a nod.
Lunch continued, the topic changing to the morning they’d had.Ford had been back in the barn tinkering with a tractor they’d bought at auction that Colton had ruined during one of his first attempts to disrupt their farm and cause problems.She’d been busy with inventory, her afternoon revolving around setting up a display of outdoor lights for holiday decorating.
Then before he knew it, the half hour was over; the time had gone by way too fast.
She walked him out to his truck and kissed him goodbye.
They weren’t planning a date until Friday night, but he asked if he could come by for lunch tomorrow, and she’d happily agreed.
After one last kiss goodbye, he got into the truck and left, his stallion angry to leave but looking forward to seeing her the next day.
He hated to leave his soulmate behind, but they both had work to do and it wasn’t like he could just camp out at the hardware store all day, every day.His stallion was restless with the need to share their shifting nature and claim her fully, but he knew that would come when the time was right.
He glanced in the rearview as Grey—his escort—pulled out behind him to follow him back to the farm and sighed.He hoped they never saw Colton again and then they could stop having to escort each other everywhere.But he was thankful he had his herd watching his back so he could be with Darcy.
Someday, they wouldn’t be living apart.He’d be coming back to the farm and she’d be there waiting for him.
* * *
Crew stood and raised his hand, the herd quieting around the big kitchen table in the farmhouse.Everyone was there—from Dexter and his human mate, Nancy, the original founders of the herd, to Khyle and Tris, and the herd members and their mates who called the farm home.Dexter and Nancy had lived apart from the farm for ages—Ford and his three friends using the farm as cover for their shifter nature—with the couple living a mile down the road.Nancy’s daughter, Dani, who was now mated to a gorilla shifter named Neo and lived at the safari park, had lived with Dexter and Nancy when she was younger.After Khyle and Tris mated, they built a home a half mile down the road from the farm.
“I’m so glad we’re all here tonight,” Crew said.“I’m thankful for everyone that’s part of the herd, and I’m especially thankful for the amazing meal that everyone helped put together for us.We’re here tonight to celebrate Ford finally—finally!—finding his soulmate.Cheers, man, I’m happy for you!”
Ford grinned at his alpha and tapped his glass of iced tea against the others as they whooped a cheer for him.
“Thanks, guys.”
“You two are getting pretty close?”Nancy asked from across the table.
