Page 18 of Fought and Freed

“Thanks for dinner and for driving me around.” Grant popped open the door.

"Talk to you tomorrow, Maddy?”

She nodded. “Sure, just call me later in the day. I want to sleep in.”

He chuckled. “So do I.”

He hopped out of the truck, shut the door, and walked up the steps.

Cody pulled away from the curb and drove them toward home.

“Let’s hear it.” Maddy breathed out.

Cody’s eyebrow raised.

“How you don’t trust Grant.” She shifted in her seat to face him and crossed her arms over her chest. “That I should stay away from him.”

He shrugged. “He doesn’t seem too bad. A little lost, but nice.”

Maddy’s eyebrows shot up. “Who are you, and what have you done with my Alpha Cody?”

He laughed. “That’s the second time you called me Alpha Cody. What’s that all about?”

“That’s what I called you when I talked to Dr. Hayes about you.” She reached across the seat to tap his arm. “You’re my protector. Skylar is my jokester. Ryder is my romantic. And Jace is my sweet guy.”

Cody liked the sound of that. “And what else did you tell this Dr. Hayes about us?”

“That’s between me and my therapist.” She smirked. “Yes, I talked about you guys, but I didn’t go into much detail. I like Dr. Hayes, and he helped me understand that I’m afraid to tell people how I really feel because I fear they won’t love me or will leave me. I have major abandonment issues.”

He pulled into the driveway of their house and turned off the truck before turning in his seat to face her. “You know you can tell me anything. I might get mad or upset and walk away, but that doesn’t mean I love you any less or want you gone.”

“I know that here.” She pointed to her heart. “But sometimes this—” she pointed to her head “—overrules it.”

“Well, this—” He pointed to his heart. “—loves all of you.”

She shimmied closer. “And all of me loves you.”

Lifting her to bring her closer, her soft lips touched his, sending a zing through his body. No other woman had done that.

He got lost in the moment, her mouth on his reminding Cody how much he enjoyed kissing her.

If he didn’t stop now, he would take her right there in the truck.

Pulling back, he smiled at her. “Come on, I’ve been dying for you to see your new bedroom.”

Inside the house, Cody dragged her through the kitchen, but in the living room, Maddy stopped dead in her tracks, a frown on her face.

Cody followed her eyes to the fully decorated Christmas tree that sat off to the right of the fireplace, with dozens of wrapped gifts beneath. “Why the frown, little one?”

She peered up at him. “There are gifts under the tree.”

“Yeah.” He squeezed her fingers. “We wanted to wait until you came home to open our presents.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes, and she turned away. “I have nothing to give you.”

“We already have a plan for that. We’ll wait for you to purchase whatever you want, then we’ll celebrate Christmas.” He turned her to face him. “So, we’re doing things a little differently this year. The important part is everyone will be here to celebrate together.”

“This year hasn’t been what I expected at all.” She hung her head and shook it.

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