Grant stifled the urge to tell Taylor to stay the eff out of his personal business. Not the time.
Mandy raised a hand. “Grant is the opposite of a ladies’ man. He has paid me, and a lot of other women, to pretend to be his date just to keep all those groupies out of his face. That’s what you saw when you broke in to our room. His room, now – I’ve moved into my own room, which is a relief, because he snores, and sleeping on the fold-out sofa hurts my neck. I’ve suffered a lot of sleepless nights because of him, and not in a good way. Trust me, he has no sex life whatsoever. It’s actually sad.”
“Thank you?” Grant shot her a look of annoyance. “This is your idea of helping?”
Mandy smirked. “This is my idea of fun.”
“Wait. What made you suddenly acknowledge that you have a son?” Celeste looked at Grant.
“Because a case worker from Nevada showed up at our lodge demanding to take him into custody,” Grant said. “We stalled her for now. We have to be back in Nevada to meet with a judge day after tomorrow.”
Celeste sucked in a gasp of dismay and quickly stepped back to let them in. They all filed into the small, shabby room. Jeffrey went and sat down on one of the beds, next to an alphabet coloring book. He had piercing amber eyes, just like Grant.
Grant would never have believed he could feel such a powerful bond towards a tiny little person he hadn’t even known existed the day before. He wanted to scoop Jeffrey up in his arms and keep him safe from the world and never let him go. He was bewildered to find that his heart could feel so full just at the sight of a tousle-haired urchin in teddy bear pajamas.
There was a long moment of awkward silence.
“I guess I’m sorry about the flying monkey comment,” Celeste said to Taylor.
Taylor shrugged. “Hey, I’d love to be able to fly. I probably wouldn’t want to be a monkey, though. They’re cute, but they throw their own poop.”
“They do?” Jeffrey looked at her, eyes wide.
She nodded, walking over to him. “Yes, they do. Hi, my name is Taylor. I’m your aunt.”
He moved back a little, looking alarmed. She reached into her purse and pulled out a children’s book about trains. “I hope you like this,” she said.
“I don’t know how to read yet, but I’m learning,” he said, holding up his alphabet coloring book.
Grant cleared his throat. What was the right thing to say when you were meeting your six-year-old son for the first time? “Hello, Jeffrey. I’m your father,” he said. “My name is Grant.”
Jeffrey’s smile vanished instantly. He leaped from his bed with a growl.
“No, you aren’t!” Jeffrey ran over to Grant and kicked him in the shin. “You didn’t even want to see me.”
Well. He’d expected Jeffrey would take it badly. Jeffrey had not disappointed.
“Jeffrey!” Celeste gave him an exasperated look. “We don’t hit people!”
“Youdon’t hit people,” Jeffrey corrected her.
“Why would you think that he didn’t want to see you?” Celeste asked him. “He’s your father. Of course he wants to see you.”
He scowled up at her. “Because I heard you out in the hallway talking on the phone. You were telling someone that this was the fifth time you’d left a message for Grant and if he didn’t even want to see his own son, that was his loss.”
Grant shot Cliff a murderous look. Cliff shook his head in denial. “I had nothing to do with that!”
“Right,” Grant growled.
Celeste looked stricken. “I was all the way at the end of the hallway! The door to our room was shut!” she said to Jeffrey.
Jeffrey gave her a haughty look. “I have very good hearing.”
“Werewolf,” Taylor said. “I also have very good hearing. Different werewolves have different special gifts.” She pointed at Mandy. “Mandy has super-strength. She can pick up a grown man and throw him across a room.”
“She can?” Jeffrey looked at Mandy with interest. “Can she throw Grant out of the room into the street?”
“She probably shouldn’t.” Celeste gave Grant a dirty look. “Although the jury’s still out.”
