I climbed out of the truck and knocked on the door. I swore to fate, I could hear my brother doing baby talk inside. Lily, his baby girl, couldn’t have her daddy wrapped any more firmly around that pudgy little finger of hers.
“Door’s open,” Clint called in a grown up voice then returned to his high pitched tone. “Is that your Uncle Rand? Hmm? Is Uncle Rand here to see you?”
I couldn’t help but grin at the transformation in my brother. And at how adorable his halfling babe was. Obviously, she got her looks from me.
“Hey, where’s your mate?” I asked, entering the kitchen, where Clint had Lily in a high chair, the tray covered in peas. She offered me a single tooth smile when she saw me, a smooshed pea stuck to her cheek.
Clint was in a kitchen chair facing Lily, but he glanced up at me. “She’s at Rob’s. It’s ladies’ night down there.”
I groaned as I ripped off my hat and stabbed my fingers through my hair. Maybe I should just abort this mission and head to Cody’s. Yeah, that’s what I should do.
Clint eyed me not as a threat but with curiosity. I got along just fine with his mate, but I didn’t often seek her out specifically. “Why? What do you want with Becky?”
I cleared my throat. “Well, ah…”
Clint’s protective streak kicked in—it had been warring with his gentler daddy side, but that disappeared as I hesitated. He stalked around the table and nearly bumped chests with me. “What do you want with my mate?”
Yeah, so much for not being threatened.
“Advice,” I mumbled, not quite meeting his eye.
Clint cocked his head. “Come again?”
“About my mate.”
Clint’s face transformed from the stern visage of the enforcer to one of celebration. “Rand! What the fuck? You found your mate?”
Lily babbled and slapped her tiny hands on the tray as if she was also happy for me.
A sputter of guilt flickered in me. I’d figured Rob would’ve told him by now. I should’ve told my brother sooner although I’d been pretty fucking busy trying to pin Red down.
“Yep. Yes. It’s Natalie. Natalie Sheffield.”
“No shit.” He grinned at me and gave me a slap on the shoulder.
“Listen, I’d love to stay and watch Lily throw peas at you, but my mate is stubborn as fuck and doesn’t think I love her.” Yeah, that pretty much summed it all up. “This is why I need to talk to Becky and figure out what the hell to do.”
Clint crossed his arms over his chest and laughed. Then he looked down at Lily and said in his ridiculous baby voice, “Your Uncle Rand’s got big problems. Yes, he does!”
I glared. “It’s really not funny.”
Lily laughed and threw a pea on the floor. Great.
Clint sobered. “Nope. I know. It’s definitely not funny at all. Well, why don’t you go down to the big house. All the women are there together. I’m sure they’d all be happy to school you on everything you did wrong.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I could probably kick your ass while you’re in daddy mode.”
Clint’s grin reappeared. “Try it, little brother. We’ll see how well that works out for you.”
I wanted to punch him—I really did—but Lily was babbling away so sweetly, waving her chubby little fist, it even had me turning soft. I settled for flipping him the bird as I walked out and got in the truck to drive down the road to Rob’s house.
When I got there, the women—Willow, Audrey, Marina, Becky and Charlie—were all waiting for me on the porch, wine glasses in hand, waving. I sighed, knowing this wasn’t going to be fun. At all. A prostate exam might be less invasive than what I was walking into.
“Here he is! We heard you needed the female perspective,” Marina called out as I walked up.
I groaned. Yeah, this was going to be painful. But Natalie sure as fuck was worth it. “Word travels fast.”
“Clint texted,” Becky said with a smile. “And we heard the news.”
“I learned yesterday,” Willow gloated, tossing me a wink. “Rob told me about Natalie. Congratulations.”
I shook my head. “Congratulations are definitely not in order.” I climbed the wooden steps of the huge wrap-around porch and leaned against the rail. The sun hadn’t set yet, but the heat of the day was dropping off to a cool Montana summer night.
“What’s the hang up?” Marina asked. She was the youngest of the women—younger than Natalie. She’d left college to mate Colton Wolf, Rob’s brother.
“The hang up is that she thinks it’s not love.”
“I’m guessing you got all hot and heavy since your wolf scented her,” Willow said.
I gave her a sly wink. “You know I don’t kiss and tell.” They all knew the truth. No shifter male could resist their female once she’d been scented. “Still, Natalie says I barely know her, and she’s afraid of being stuck in a loveless marriage.”