Page 10 of The Alpha's Son

“A pot roast?”

“I didn’t know if you were going to be hungry.”

Joe let her go but frowned as he followed her. “If you didn’t think I was going to come and visit you tonight, why did you make a pot roast?”

Darcy stopped. She had put on some oven gloves and turned to look at him. “I don’t know. I didn’t think you’d arrive, but I wasn’t sure, and I don’t want you to go hungry.”

“And if I hadn’t arrived?” Joe asked.

“I’d have eaten pot roast tonight, then portioned it out and put the rest in my freezer.”

Joe chuckled. “Then I’m glad I arrived.”

He saw her face go red. “I am too.”

“You’ve been let down a lot, haven’t you?” Joe asked, feeling anger at the people before him.

He didn’t want to feel jealous. Neither of them knew who he was or what he meant to Darcy, and she was also fifteen years older than him.

“They’ve not let me down. I know I don’t lead an exciting life.” She shrugged. “If you were expecting some kind of cougar, or whatever it is you guys call it, I’m kind of boring. I love to cook and bake. Crafting takes up a large part of my life.”

“I know. You work with my mom,” Joe said. He remembered his mother’s many hobbies growing up. None of them had been phases, but he also recalled when she had decided to start knitting. The first sweater she knitted him had been a disaster. He hadn’t wanted to hurt her feelings, and he’d still worn it to school, even though several of the guys had attempted to mock him.

They hadn’t been laughing by the time he’d been through with them. Far fucking from it. He still wore the sweater, in fact, it might still be in his box of homemade gifts that had stopped fitting him as he got older.

Darcy cringed and Joe laughed. He watched as she put the large pot on top of the stove, closed the oven, and then turned to him.

She used the back of her arm to push her fringe out of the way. “I think we need to be clear here, Joe.”

“Clear?”

“Yes. I’m … ugh, I don’t have any experience,” she said. “I don’t know what it’s like to date or to be a mate. I’ve been on several awful dates. Not one was amazing. I tend to get nervous a lot. I’ve seen the way men and women act who are mated. Like your parents. They love each other so completely and they have this bond between them that will never go away. It is magical to see, and it’s not just them. I’ve seen it with many other couples over the years. So, I know what I want. I have also seen couples come to love each other, but then their mate arrives, and I’ve seen the disaster that causes.”

Joe didn’t need her to elaborate.

Kelly, the florist, had fallen in love with her childhood sweetheart, and they had two children together. Lived as a happy family for ten years. Then a tourist passed through, and Andrew had found his mate, and Kelly and the kids became a thing of the past. He didn’t even know if Andrew talked to his kids anymore, that was how fast life had changed for them. It had been horrible to witness. Kelly still hadn’t found her mate, but she had raised two amazing kids, at least that’s what Joe remembered. He hadn’t seen them since his return to the pack.

“I didn’t want to start something with anyone that I didn’t know for sure would end with us together. I don’t know how this is going to work between us, and I’m not just saying that, it’s exactly how I feel.” She nibbled her lip. “I’m scared.”

Joe stepped toward her and cupped her face. “You’ve got nothing to be afraid of.” He stared at her beautiful, full lips, and all he could think about was kissing them. Running his thumb across those lips, the temptation was so strong, and he couldn’t bring himself to stop. Closing the distance between them, he was just a breath away from kissing those luscious lips when her words seemed to penetrate his thoughts. “Experience?” He pulled back just a little.

“Huh?”

“You said you didn’t have a lot of experience. What does that mean exactly?”

Her face was a beautiful shade of red, but he had a feeling he knew what it meant. He needed to hear it from her.

“You know what it means.” She tried to pull away, but Joe didn’t want to have any more distance between them. He couldn’t stand the thought of there being anything but the two of them close together.

His wolf didn’t like any kind of distance while they were in the same room. There was a lot his wolf wasn’t accepting.

“Tell me.”

“Joe?”

“Tell me.”

She sighed and her gaze moved past his shoulder and there she went again, nibbling on her lip, which was so fucking tempting to him.