Page 22 of Ours

Zack’s mother sputtered on the other end, and Sandy sat up in Zack’s arms.

“You need to listen, lady. That human daughter-in-law thinks you’re this wonderful lovely woman and speaks nothing but nice things about you. I have met that daughter of yours with the beautiful little boy, and you should be proud of what amazing people they are. And lastly, Zack isn’t rebelling. He is one of the most talented people I have ever met, and his business is doing fantastic. I love what he does just like I love him.”

She didn’t let his mother respond before she pressed the End button. She could feel the tension in Zack’s body, but she’d felt him stiffen even more when she’d said she loved him.

Argh. Crap!She shot a glance at Jake and saw him staring at her with a look of longing, and she felt a pang of guilt that she didn’t say it to him too.Oh no, I love him too. How the hell did they do that?No way was she going to say anything more.God, look at how Zack was reacting.

Jumping out of Zack’s arms, she chanced a look at Zack to see his frozen face. Then she caught a quick glance of Jake again before she ran into the house praying one of her brothers or her father would come and pick her up.

She’d stuffed up big this time and let her redheaded temper go too far. She ran to the room and searched for her bag. Finding it on the floor with her clothes, she rummaged through it until she found her phone and called her eldest brother.

“Hey, Phillip, I need a favor. Can you come pick me up from the vineyard, like now?”

“Is everything all right, sis?”

She looked around her as she one-handedly got into her clothes. “Um, yeah, fine. I…I…I’m fine. See you in twenty out front.” She gave him the address and hoped it was correct.

Leaving the room she’d made love to the men she loved in, she ran down the stairs and out the front door.

Oh my God, I just told off one of the men I love’s mother. Shit.Sandy’s brain was in overdrive.They said I was their mate.She wondered if they got to choose mates or they just got stuck with whomever and put up with it. Why hadn’t she asked that question?

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Jake was pissed as he watched Sandy run off, and Zack sat frozen in the chair. Why wasn’t he going after Sandy to tell her that he loved her too, and that she didn’t have to worry about his mother?

Zack was an idiot, and Jake wasn’t sitting there shocked anymore. Getting up, Jake shook him. “Zack, snap out of it and go chase our mate down. She just told your mother off, which I don’t think anyone has ever done. And she stuck up for you and told her how much she loved you.”

Jake shook him again before giving up when Zack grabbed his phone, nodded, and walked in the opposite direction.

Scrubbing his hands over his face, Jake went after Sandy. After looking in his room to find it empty and her clothes and bag missing, he searched the rest of the house. Jake was surprised when he saw her walking toward the road.

Running after her, he yelled for her to stop, but she seemed in her own little world. Finally he stopped her as she reached the front of the property.

“Little Red, where are you going?”

Sandy felt stiff in his embrace, and he looked down to see her brow furrowed and her lips turned down into a frown. “Do you have a choice of who is your mate or are you stuck with me?”

What the hell is she going on about?“Sandy, I don’t know what you mean.”

Her eyes widened at the fact he’d used her name, and she pushed at his chest. “Do you have to be with me or do you have a choice? Does being a shifter take away who you would really choose?”

Growling at her silly thoughts, he pulled her to him and kissed her until they were both fighting for air. “Little Red, I don’t do anything I don’t want to, and we shifters always have a choice.”

He closed his eyes and breathed her sent in as she relaxed in his arms. “How angry is Zack at me right now? I know I shouldn’t have spoken to his mother like that, but that woman…”

Jake chuckled and leaned down to pick her up, cradling her in his arms, before slowly walking back to the house. “Zack’s not angry, just shocked that someone stuck up for him against his mother. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and usually he just avoids his parents.”

“Oh, well, I’m glad I cleared that all up, and now I’m on a roll. I might as well ask you the rest of what I wanted to ask.”

“You have more questions?”

She snuggled into him. “Yep, and my number one is why are you so afraid to let go with me? I feel you holding back. I know you want to say things, and you keep biting your tongue. Like about me going to this concert, how I won’t let you or Zack pay for things, the fact I do so much for my brothers, or even talk about your job. I want to ease your tension, not make it bigger, and don’t think I haven’t noticed how much you avoid things. I know you can’t tell me too much about your work, but, Jake, I’m willing to listen to anything you have to tell me, be it little or a lot.”

Jake paused at the front door to stare down at her and couldn’t help the words that came out of his mouth. “God, I love you. No one else worries about me or asks every day how my day went, even when they know I don’t want to talk about it. You don’t complain about my crazy phone calls in the middle of the night. You’ve welcomed me with open arms every night since I’ve met you. I’m so lucky to have you.”

Jake looked down to see tears rolling down Sandy’s cheeks. He leaned down and kissed them away. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

She reached up and pulled his face down to hers. She kissed his lips and whispered, “I’m crying because I’m happy. I love you too. I wanted to save it to say to both of you someplace special, I didn’t want to say it after my tirade to Zack’s mother, as I didn’t want you to think I thought of you as an afterthought, because I didn’t.” She brushed her lips against his again. “Come on, let’s go and sit inside. I want you to tell me what’s going on. Why you’ve been so stressed.”

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