Page 23 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

I could certainly get used to it.

Parking and picking up our dinner, I took the front steps two at a time and knocked on Lucy’s door.

“Mommy!” Vada yelled.

“I hear it,” she mumbled seconds before the door opened.

There was a little girl with red rimmed eyes holding onto her leg for dear life.

“Mommy!” Vada yelled again. The young one looked up at me with huge eyes. She sniffed the air. “Food?”

“I’m told you like pot roast, Vada. Would you like to share my dinner?”

She abandoned her mother and toddled over to me.

“Doc,” she said. “Eat.”

I leaned down and swooped the girl up with one arm while balancing the pot in the other.

She giggled.

“What way to the kitchen?”

Vada pointed and squealed happily.

CHAPTER 7

LUCY

I wason the verge of tears watching them.

Micah had Vada help him find three plates and silverware along with a serving spoon and set up the table. They both refused to let me help as they giggled and conspired while insisting I just sit and relax.

There was something sexy about a man with a baby in his arms. Plus, he was so nice to Vada. He had told me she wasn’t the only lab baby he was acquainted with but seeing the way he treated her like a normal child made my heart melt and endeared him to me.

I had never truly had help with my daughter. It had always been just me and Vada. I had never dared to believe there could be anything else in the future, but as we sat down and ate the most incredible meal I could ever remember, my guard dropped where he was concerned.

“Mmm!” Vada exclaimed. “I yike. Doc, I yike.”

“This really is delicious,” I said. “Thank you. You really didn’t have to do all of this. It’s too much.”

“Nonsense. I would have preferred to have spent the entire day spoiling you both. Typically, I would have had today off.”

I didn’t know how to feel about what he said. No one had ever spoiled me before. I knew I couldn’t let him keep doing stuff like this, but for tonight, it had been sheer bliss to sit and let someone else handle the mundane daily needs such as making dinner.

“So where were you today, then?” I asked deciding not to comment on what he had said.

“I had a delivery. A baby. A baby boy to be specific. He was breech and the labor was long.”

“And the baby is okay?” I inquired.

“Absolutely. I wouldn’t be a very good doctor otherwise, now would I?”

“You can’t help such a thing,” I said with a frown.

“I know, and it happens rarely. I got lucky this time. No c-section necessary.”

“I’ve only had to perform one. It was terrifying,” I admitted.

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