Page 71 of An Unexpected Home

Leah shook hands with them both. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“Melanie says you are a whiz at keeping the business running,” Dan said.

“I don’t know about being a whiz, but I do my best.”

“I’m sorry to hear about the problems you are having,” Cristine said. “That has to be tough.”

“Thank you,” she said. “And I’m so sorry that Mel got caught in the middle.”

“That is not your fault,” her mom said, swatting her hand in the air. “You can’t control crazy and besides, Mel is just fine.”

Leah was grateful that Mel’s parents weren’t angry about their daughter being hurt, but she still felt horrible that the whole thing had happened. Brandon was still hard at work on the case, but as far as she knew, there was still no sign of Will.

“Hey,” he said, coming up behind her. “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah,but first I want to drop this,” she pulled a small wrapped package from her purse, “at the gift table.”

“You got my mom a gift?” he asked slowly.

“I wasn’t coming to a Mother’s Day party without one.”

He was staring at her like she had two heads. “Is that a –” her last word was cut off when he kissed her. It was hot and quick but she was breathless when he pulled back.

“What was that for?” she asked, her breath mixing with his since he was still close.

“Because I can.” He smiled, took her hand and continued leading her to the kitchen.

Maybe Carly was right and he was an Alpha.

She was probably okay with that.

In the kitchen, she was finished filling her plate with all kinds of delicious-looking food when Logan and Tony walked in.

“Hey,” Logan said, reaching for a plate.

“What’s up?” Brandon asked. “I didn’t know you were coming,” he said to Tony and shook his hand.

“Logan invited me at the last minute, I hope that’s okay?”

“Absolutely,” Brandon said. “Mom loves when more people come.”

“As an added bonus, I get to annoy Carly,” he said.

“I told you,” Leah whispered to Brandon as they walked away. “He lives to torture her.”

“Better him torturing her than her torturing me.”

When the time came for both his mom and Melanie’s mom to open presents, Leah got a little nervous. She hadn’t had a whole lot of time to shop and she really had no idea what Alice liked. So instead of buying her something, she went to a craft store and purchased the things she needed to make a pair of earrings. It was a hobby of hers and if she’d already had her stuff from New York, her supplies would have been there. But she made do and loved how they had turned out.

When it was time for Alice to open her gift, she held her breath and waited.

“Oh my,” she said when she pulled them from the box. “These are so lovely, Leah.” She inspected the earrings. “Did you get them somewhere in town?”

“No,” she spoke and her voice cracked. “I made them.”

“You made them?” She looked at her in shock.

“Yeah,” she said shyly. Brandon was holding her hand, squeezing it for support.

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