If I’d known shopping would make her like us this much, I would have suggested this from day one.
Osiris snorts.“She’s trying to make it not seem so bad since you just told her you were a pussy.”
Fuck you.
“You think if I tell her I’m scared to shower alone, she’ll buy it?”Cole tosses out there and I hurry to wipe away my grin before Rin catches sight of it and feels the odd man out.
We parked right outside of Goldies; a little boutique styled shop painted in cream and plum with gold accents. There’s a planter situated inside of a broken chair and Rin takes less than a second to start grinning.
“Oh please tell me her mates are bear shifters. I’ll love you forever; lie to me if you must,” she begs, grinning ear to ear as we get out of the truck.
“She’s never going to let Rob live it down either,” Cole answers, chuckling. He leans in and points to his cheek. “I’ll take that undying love and affection now, if you don’t mind.” She laughs, humoring him, and he turns his head at the last second to capture her lips instead. “Whoops. I slipped, honest.”
Her hand tightens on mine, stroking her thumb back and forth. “So clumsy,” she tsks under her tongue. “This is why we can’t take you hiking, you know. We’re always afraid you’re going to twist your ankle, we just didn’t want to hurt your feelings by calling you out on it.”
She turns to Ozzy, shaking her head dramatically. “I know, but I had to tell him. He deserves to know what we talk about behind his back before he develops a complex.”
Ahh, shit. She’s been picking up on it.
“After all,” she states a little louder, “it’d be so rude when he’s standingright here.”
“Balls,”Cole says before cutting off the connection. “Old habits, gorgeous. Besides, you can’t expect the men trying to make you fall hopelessly in love with them to start waxing poetic in front of you. You’ll start thinking we’re lame.”
“How did you guys survive without me?”Osiris laughs, rubbing against her leg in apology.
She bends down to kiss the top of his head, but still doesn’t let go of my hand. “You’re obviously exempt, handsome. But your brothers could learn some manners.”
I pull her back up, kissing the back of her hand and tugging her into Goldie’s before we can get into any more trouble. It has a bit of everything; dishes, knick knacks, clothes, and the like. Pretty much a one stop shop for girly things. We sell jewelry boxes out of here that do fairly well, but the real goal is getting our brochures into people’s houses for larger projects.
“Well, if this week wasn’t interesting enough,” Goldie chuckles, emerging from the back room. Her chestnut hair is liberally peppered with grey, and her striking, violet eyes don’t miss a single detail as she rakes them over our mate. “Aren’t humans just the hottest commodity on the market?”
“What are you talking about?” I ask with a frown
Her eyes twinkle with mischief. “Nothing you need to mind yourself with. Now, what can I do for you?”
I gesture to Rin. “We need to get her set up to survive the winter.”
Rin rolls her eyes, pulling free of my grip to approach Goldie and stretch out a hand. “Rin. And you don’t need to trouble yourself, I’m pretty sure I can find my way.”
Goldie scoffs, ushering her to a chair before practically shoving her in it. “Nonsense. Whole shebang, or do you already have a coat and boots?” Cole starts browsing through the women’s underwear, earning a sharp smack to the back of his head as Goldie passes him by.
“The works. Better to have too much than not enough.”
She winks at Rin. “Don’t worry, honey. I’ll get you set up.” Goldie starts efficiently navigating her way through the shop and we leave with enough bags that it’s clear we’ll need to back track to drop things off at the house before going further into the fringes.
We toss the bags in the truck, deciding to show her around a bit since we’re already here. Her hand finds its way into mine once more and I’m torn between enjoying it, and hating that she feels like she needs to comfort me. I don’t want my mate to look at me like I’m something she needs to protect; I want her to look at me like I can protecther.
Rin snorts, her free hand flying up to cover her mouth as she stops in front of a building. “No.” She turns to Cole, snickering. “You guys have a brothel?”
I chuckle, correcting her. “It’s a café.”
Pivoting on her heel, she looks at me, stunned. “Happy Endings? Seriously?”
Smothering a smile, I stop her from barging inside, figuring we should get this out of the way before she destroys Gretel’s blissful ignorance. “The lady that started the shop is even more obsessed with fairy tales than you are. And since it began as a bakery before it morphed into a café, her slogan was ‘every day should have a sweet ending.’ And by the time anyone found out what she planned to name it, she’d already ordered the sign and filed all of the paperwork.”
Cole smiles, looking at the stone building that resembles a cottage with a shake of his head. “Gretel’s little tribute to her namesake.” He leans in to kiss Rin’s cheek. “No one has the heart to point it out. So there’s an unspoken agreement to pretend you don’t notice.”
By the time we’re done, Rin’s bouncing on her feet, anxious to go in. There are several small tables, a few people doing a double take when they pick up on the abrupt human scent mingling in with the baked goods. To their credit though, as soon as they see she’s with us, they go back to their snacks. Sure, they keep shooting not-so-subtle glances in our direction, but nothing turns into a scene. I’m not even sure if Rin notices.
