Page 10 of The (Maybe) Murderer Who Knocked Me Up

I guess that cat’s already out of the bag anyway.

“You smell like warm bread and vanilla,” I say.

He scrunches up his nose. “That isn’t sexy.”

“Are you trying to tell me that if an alpha walked up to you smelling like cookies and bread, you wouldn’t want to kiss him?”

Quin gives me this cute, bashful smile. “Oh. Um, I don’t know.”

“That’s what I thought.”

His shoulders tense and his smile fades. He looks me straight in the eye. “Does that mean you want to kiss me?”

Fucking hell. There’s no way to answer that question without getting myself into trouble.

“I want a lot of things, Quin. It doesn’t mean I can have them.”

He glances down at my lips. “You could have me. If you wanted.”

He doesn’t understand. I’m half grizzly bear shifter, and we don’t do casual flings. Our souls yearn for a deep romantic connection as early as sixteen or seventeen. It started last year for me. The desire to find a man who I can love is overwhelming sometimes.

Once we’ve given our hearts to someone, that’s it. We’ll love them forever. Which is why I have to remember Quin isn’t a grizzly. Most guys our age aren’t ready for that kind of commitment.

“I do want you, but I can’t get involved with you.” I almost tell him I’m leaving tomorrow, but given that his brothers are too, I don’t want to pour salt on the wound.

“Because you’re in the cartel,” he says.

“What?”

He bites his lip. “Sorry. Silver said you were.”

I can’t blame him. If I had a brother like Quin, I’d say whatever was necessary to keep him away from me, too.

“I’m not in the cartel, but I’m no good for you, Quin.”

He narrows his eyes. “Why?”

“It’s complicated. But trust me, I’m no good for anyone right now.”

Even another grizzly wouldn’t want me. I’m only half grizzly, which is a hard sell for most omegas. And then there’s my moms. Family matters to grizzlies. They care where you come from—who your people are. No grizzly parents would ever let a guy like me bond to their omega son.

It’s better if I keep to myself. Jake’s half grizzly, too. If I can get an apartment for us and provide a stable life for him, he might be able to attract a mate in high school. Then one of us won’t have to end up alone.

“What if I don’t mind complicated?” Quin asks.

“You don’t get it. My younger brother is stuck in foster care. I need to make enough money to get my own place so the state will let me be his legal guardian.”

Quin’s lips twist into a smug smile. “Then I was right about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“My brothers are always saying bad things about you. That you’re in the cartel or you fix stolen cars. But I know you’re a good guy. I can tell.” He looks into my eyes like I’m something special—like I’m someone he wants. Alarm bells go off in my head because I know he’s wrong about me. I’ve fixed dozens of stolen cars, just like his brother said, not to mention the things I’ve done for Gary. I don’t deserve Quin’s admiration.

But I inhale deep, and he smells of warm bread and vanilla. He smiles up at me, his dimples popping, and I can almostsee the possibility of something between us. I’d come back to the trailer park on the weekend to spend time with him. His brothers would be gone, so no one would stop us. He’d be excited to see me and jump into my arms. We’d date for a year or so before I asked him to be mine. We’d raise Jake together and have kids of our own—kids who would be adorable raccoon shifters, like him.

The fantasy only exists in my head for a second before all the reasons it would never work stack like dominoes. I’d have nowhere to stay on the weekend. I doubt Quin’s moms would let me stay with them, and Georgina’s room will undoubtedly go to another kid in the foster care system. Quin’s brothers might be clueless while we’re dating, but they’d never let me bond to him. And I highly doubt Quin wants to raise a fifteen-year-old kid when he’s only eighteen himself.

“You deserve someone better than me,” I say.

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