Page 15 of The Fated Mate Bandit

“We could just stay here for the rest of the night,” I say, only partially joking.

“Wouldn’t that be nice? But we need to go shopping before my brothers get here. I’ll never hear the end of it if they see you wearing my clothes.”

Reality returns with all its sharp edges. Silver’s brothers will see me pregnant with a bruised cheek in just a few hours. They’ll feel sorry for me and probably tell their moms about how sad my life has turned out.

That’s fine. It has to be fine. This is Silver’s house, and he should be able to invite his brothers over.

I climb off Silver’s lap. “Okay. I was thinking we could go to Walmart, if you don’t mind. They have inexpensive paternity clothes there.”

He stands up and raises his arms above his head in a big stretch. “Target is closer and their clothes are nicer.”

“Yes, but they cost more.”

He flashes me the dazzling smile that always mesmerized me in high school. “Don’t worry about money, okay? You’re my mate for the next month, which means I get to take care of you.”

That’s a line straight out of my fantasies. I shouldn’t let him. Soon enough, all this will be over, and I’ll undoubtedly have to pay him back for each moment of generosity, but I want the fantasy too much. Not necessarily the free stuff, but the experience of going shopping with Silver and letting him buy me things because he wants to.

This is my brief chance at happiness, isn’t it? What if I just let myself have this?

“Thank you, Silver,” I say.

“No problem. I enjoy buying stuff for the people I lo…ike,” he corrects himself mid-word. Was he about to say that he loved me?

I can’t read too much into that. He’s caught up in the way things used to be between us. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered to put his paws on me.

“Are you ready to go?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

He puts his shoes on and leads me out to a clean garage with a white car parked at the center. He grabs a pair of gray flipflops from a bin by the door. “These are the smallest ones I have.”

My feet are still swollen, so the straps almost fit. The sole is far too long, though, and they slap the ground as I walk.

“We’ll get you new shoes in just a minute,” Silver says, rushing around the car to get into the driver's seat. His car is as clean as his garage, which is a relief. My pregnancy has made me more sensitive to smells than ever before, and wolf shifters have an excellent sense of smell. The stench of Daryl’s car is almost unbearable.

The Target is only a few minutes away. Silver parks in one of the spots reserved for pregnant omegas near the front of the lot. I expect him to keep his distance from me as we walk to the front doors. My cheek is still very swollen, and the last thing he needs is for someone to think he’s beating up his pregnant mate, but he grabs my hand and laces our fingers together. Pleasure rushes through me, with little sparks emanating from where our fingers are intertwined.

“Is this okay?” he asks.

I nod.

Silver does get a few suspicious looks from the other customers as we make our way into the store. He doesn’t seem to notice.

“Hold on, let me get a cart,” he releases my hand and rushes toward a row of carts, then hurries back. I assume we won’t be holding hands anymore because it would be awkward, but he grabs for my hand again anyway.

“Do we need a cart?” I ask. “I can just hold the clothes.”

“You’ll need more stuff than you can carry,” he says, awkwardly pushing the cart one-handed.

“What do you mean? I just need a shirt and maybe some underwear.”

He scoffs. “You don’t have anything, Lucas. You’ll need a whole wardrobe.”

My stomach sinks. That isn’t what I expected when I agreed to this shopping trip.

He steers the cart to the back of the store where the men’s clothing is. In the corner near the dressing room is a small section of paternity shirts and pants. I scan the shelves for prices and find the clearance rack tucked behind the selection of tank tops.

“Look, they have a few things on sale,” I say, heading for the rack.

---