The Baby Shift- New York Read online

  “And if it was?” he asked.

  Her eyes flashed. “It wouldn’t be a problem. But, I feel like I deserve to know.”

  Gods, when had she become so attractive to look at? He felt himself pulled toward her. He wanted to kiss her. To mate her. Something dark flashed in his mind. No. What was he saying? He cleared his throat, willed his face to be calm. “It was,” he admitted. “I have to do it on the night of the full moon.”

  “Like a real werewolf?” she said, her serious face breaking. He smirked.

  “Yes, like a real werewolf.”

  “And no other times?” she asked. He cocked his head to the side.

  “Why are you so curious?”

  She dropped her gaze. “I want to know. For Thomas. He’ll be a Shifter too.”

  “Yes,” he said with a nod. “Of course, he will. My brother—” An awkward hitch occurred in his speech. “My brother would’ve been happy to watch Thomas turn into a strong Shifter. I’m sure he’d be happy to know that there’s someone good looking after him.”

  She smiled. “He would be. You are, after all.”

  A surprised look crossed his face without him being able to stop it. “I suppose you’re right.” And he nearly laughed when she took out a notebook from Gods knew where.

  “I’d like for you to give me a basic overall idea about what to expect with Shifting,” she said, leaning forward. “For Thomas.”

  For Thomas, of course. He wondered if any of this was about him. Was he hoping for it? And for a few hours, he suspended his work and gave her all the information she wanted. He was afraid that she would refuse to leave if he asked to return to work. Annie walked in with coffees, two, as if she’d expected to find them both here. She wore a sly smile and caught his eye with a playful wink that Cassandra didn’t see.

  “Here you are, loves,” she said as she dropped off the tray. “And no worries, Miss Cassandra, young Thomas is down for his nap.”

  “Thank you, Annie,” she said and glanced back down at her notebook. Lucius raised his eyebrows. He’d never known Annie to happily take over chores for anyone, least of all a brand new hire.

  Perhaps this Cassandra had surprises for all of them. When she looked up, he was taken again by that damn scent of roses. He raised a hand as she opened her mouth to ask another question.

  “Do you wear perfume with a rose scent?” he asked. “Is it shampoo or conditioner?”

  She smiled, almost slyly, almost as if she wasn’t quite the innocent young woman that Lucius had come to expect. “Are you watching me, sir?”

  He laughed. “Smelling you is more like it. That’s one thing you should know. Shifters have an extremely strong sense of smell.”

  Her cheeks took on that dusted pink look that he loved so much. “Oh,” she said. “Oh, I didn’t realize. It’s my shampoo and conditioner. Is it bad?”

  “No,” he answered too quickly and then hesitated. “It’s quite nice, actually. It’s just a bit strong. I was curious.” His highly-attuned hearing caught a sneaky giggle from the hall and then Annie’s fleeing footsteps. So, she’d been listening in the hall for him to make a fool of himself?

  “I’ll switch them if you want.”

  “No,” he said with a shake of his head. “It’s nice.”

  Her pretty smile warmed his heart. She closed the notebook and placed it on her lap, looking up at him with round eyes. Oh, no. There was already pleading in them. He felt his entire willpower wasting away.

  “There’s one more request I have,” she said. The beast inside him shivering with delicious naughty anticipation. His body, please, let it be her carnal desires.

  “Yes?” He wanted to say, “Anything for you. Name it.”

  “I wanted you to come along with Thomas and me on a family day,” she said with a wide grin. “There’s a Saturday in your schedule that’s open. I already checked.”

  Clever. He smiled uneasily. There wasn’t exactly a way to get out of this, was there? She stared expectantly at him. Perhaps, she’d known that she would be winning all the battles today. With a little sigh under his breath, he nodded.

  “Family day.”

  “Perfect,” she cheered. “I’ll call Richard to make the arrangements.”

  “Arrangements?” he echoed.

  “Yes,” she said, oblivious or unwilling to care about his objections. “We’ll be going to the aquarium and having lunch after that.”

  Ah, she’d planned out everything, had she? He nodded. Fair enough. “Okay, then. Feel free to call Richard.” He glanced at his computer, knowing the mounting e-mails weren’t going to retreat any time soon. “Do you mind if I get back to my work?”

  She jumped up, the movement giving him a delight flash of skin from her swirly skirt. Desire punched him in the chest, but she was oblivious. “Thank you, Lucius!” She skipped out of the room. Downstairs, he could hear the muffed happy cheers of Annie, no doubt over their hard-won victory for Lucius to join them on a family day.

  Cassandra

  Cassandra planned everything. Her type-A personality had never been brought out more than this Saturday. She had tickets pre-purchased, baby supplies packed away, and Richard waiting in the driveway. She smoothed down her sundress. It hit her knees, a sweet lilac color that she accessorized with a light flowy cardigan. The heat wouldn’t be too bad today with the clouds. She’d glad that she hadn’t chosen something outdoors since the clouds were looking grayer than she wanted.

  She held a happy Thomas, whose eyes lit up when Lucius came down the stairs. He was dressed in casual for the first time to Cassandra. Her eyebrows raised. He didn’t look bad at all. In fact, out of his suit, Lucius had chosen fitted colored slacks and a black V-neck t-shirt. His arm muscles, which she’d never glimpsed before, bore tribal looking tattoos.

  “My clan’s marks,” he explained when she caught her gaze. She flushed and nodded, unable to produce words. He was way too handsome in his casual clothes. Far more than she thought she could handle. His five o’clock shadow had been left more stubbly than usual. When Annie saw this off, Cassandra swore that the older woman was practically giggling from seeing Cassandra sweat.

  This was her idea! She had to keep it together. They loaded up the car, and she settled Thomas into his car seat with the help of Richard. She was about to get into the backseat with Thomas, but Lucius took an elegant step and offered her the passenger seat. She felt her eyebrows nearly leave her face.

  “If you want,” she said.

  He sat next to Thomas, and she watched them carefully in the rearview mirror as Richard went on about the weather. Thomas was absolutely delighted by Lucius’ presence.

  “He won’t stop staring at me,” Lucius said when they climbed out of the car and loaded up the stroller. It was true. The baby’s gaze had scarcely left Lucius’ gorgeous mug.

  “Familial bond?” she suggested with a shrug. But, secretly, she was gloriously pleased. Operation: Family Bonding was off to a good start. She wondered, secretly, if part of her wanted to be part of the Greylord family just a tiny bit. Her cheeks warmed as they waited in line to give their tickets. She’d printed them off the night before. A gruff looking security guard glared at Lucius, and she frowned, but felt Lucius press a warm hand into her lower back to scoot her up the line,

  “Security folk don’t take too kindly to men with Shifter eyes,” he explained with a biting smirk.

  “They don’t?” she asked and ran her mind through any possible reason that might be.

  “There’s still some discrimination against Shifters,” he explained when he saw her confused face. “It’s okay.” She felt a wave of shame come over her, and she pushed the stroller along. Thomas was thrilled to see the swimming fish in the brightly lit aquarium tanks. But, she frowned, unable to feel as if she made a misstep. When they stopped for lemonade, she turned to Lucius.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He stared at her. The three blinks came. “For what?”

  Her jaw dropped. Wasn’t i
t obvious? Couldn’t he see that she’d been beating herself up for the last half hour? “I didn’t even consider your feelings about going out among humans.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said, nearly snorting his lemonade up in his nose while laughing. “It’s not that common and I really don’t mind. Money helps.” The last part, he said with a wink. Then he stooped down to the stroller to offer his own lemonade to Thomas, who took a hesitant sip. His face puckered from the tart flavor, but a broad grin broke out onto his tiny face, and they giggled as he tried to come back for seconds.

  “Later,” Lucius promised him. “At lunch, we’ll get more.” And to her surprise, Thomas seemed to understand. He glanced up at her. “You look so surprised today.”

  “Did he understand you?” she asked, baffled.

  “A bit, I think,” he said with a shrug as they made their way to the jellyfish exhibit. “Shifter children are quite attuned to adult Shifters.” She was left with her tumbling thoughts as they finished the rest of the aquarium. When she finally took a moment to look around, she was surprised to see a few women glancing in Lucius’ directions and shooting daggers at…her! She covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Lucius turned to her.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” she lied. They made their way to the exit where Richard was waiting for them, perfectly on time.

  “How were the fish?” the driver asked with a handsome smile.

  “Looked delectable,” Lucius replied. She thought he looked a bit more delectable than the fish. “Made me hungry.” She swatted him playfully. Again, he opened the door for her and slipped into the backseat beside Thomas. The baby was, again, delighted. She was a bit jealous! After all, she was the one that spent all of her time with the baby.

  Richard caught her glance and winked. “Now, now, the little tyke’s just excited to see the Mystery Man.”

  “I can hear that,” Lucius said from the backseat. They laughed and Richard maneuvered them smoothly out of the parking lot and onto their next adventure to the restaurant. At the restaurant, it wasn’t as busy as Cassandra expected. The oncoming clouds had apparently made most families stay home. Nonetheless, they piled into the restaurant and took their reserved table. She’d decided on a nice Americana restaurant that offered a variety of things.

  “I made sure they had lots of meat here,” she told Lucius. He grinned.

  “Has Ms. Annie been spilling my food craving secrets?”

  She smiled impishly. “Not so much a secret. Half your breakfast plate is always some form of meat.”

  “Fair,” he said. She caught his gaze and held it for a second too long. He opened his mouth to say something, the air charged with tensions.

  “What do you folks want to drink?” the server asked, interrupting the moment like a wave of cold water.

  Lucius

  Damn it all to hell.

  Lucius stared hard at his wall, a painting of a stuffy old man on a horse staring right back at him, mercilessly. Almost as if to say, you knew what you were getting into. Had he? He sank back into his chair. Two weeks since the aquarium outing. Two weeks since brushing past one another awkwardly in the halls and avoiding gazes at breakfast. Annie had made a few passive comments on the whole situation while she dropped off lunches to his office.

  But, it wasn’t lunch now. No, he’d worked himself until the evening took over. Way past the evening, he noted when he glanced at the clock. Eleven. Everyone would be in bed. He snuck out into the hallway and slipped down the other wing of the house. Carefully, he crept into Thomas’ open room. For a moment, he just watched him, watching the slumbering baby’s face as he dreamed of things beyond Lucius’ imagination.

  Lucius smirked down at him. What was worse? That he’d fallen for his own caretaker or that he’d also grown attached to the son he’d been forced to adopt? Damn his brother for dying. His hand gripped the crib with white knuckles. A single tear made its way down his eyes.

  “Lucius?” a sleepy voice asked from the doorway. He turned to see Cassandra, eyes half-lidded with sleep, and clad in a tiny nightgown with a jade robe thrown over it. Desire and embarrassment struck him all at once. He went towards her, not wanting to wake the baby. She glanced up at him, her long neck looking utterly elegant even though her hair was messy and the circles under her eyes dark.

  “Don’t worry,” he told her gently as he ushered her out into the hall in a low voice. “I was just checking on Thomas.”

  The sleep faded from her eyes as her face lit up. “Oh, how lovely. Thank you. I have the monitor with me. I thought I heard something,” she muttered and then looking down to see her thin lacy gown, tied her robe in the front with a little cough. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yes,” he said and rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Go back to sleep.”

  She smiled. “Okay.”

  He was about to leave her when he glanced back and called out her name softly. She turned, the sleep still on her face.

  “Would you want to go to dinner tomorrow?” he asked her. “As thanks.”

  She blinked now. Three times. He wanted to snort with laughter.

  “Okay,” she said with a slow nod. She shuffled back into her room. He walked away, keeping his quiet chuckles to himself as he made his way to bed.

  The next evening, Lucius had some suspicions about who had helped Cassandra with her outfit. He recalled mentioning to Annie once that he enjoyed the color red on women. When he went to the foyer, Cassandra was waiting for him in a flirty red dress that nearly knocked him on his ass.

  “You look lovely,” he told her. There was no need for Richard tonight. Lucius led her out the door and towards a sleek BMW in the garage. A car that he didn’t often drive, but certainly enjoyed on special occasions. He opened the door for her. When they were inside, she was fretting over her phone.

  “I like to make sure the other caretaker can reach me,” she explained. Gods, he loved the natural blush that came to her cheeks. “In case she needs anything.

  “Cassandra, it’ll be okay.” He smiled. “Thomas is a strong boy.”

  She nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

  He’d chosen a luxurious steakhouse for them to dine. To thank her, his voice said. The beast inside him wanted to cackle out loud with laughter. Oh, sure, a fancy dinner to thank her.

  She glanced up at the table, lit by candlelight, and smiled at him.

  “Thank you for having me, Lucius.”

  His heart pounded. Have her?

  She already had him.

  He’d give her anything. Anything at all.

  “For you,” he said and offered his glass of wine to cheers her glass, “And Thomas.”

  Cassandra

  Cassandra knew the second bottle of wine was a mistake. It was mostly her anyways, since Lucius stayed sober enough to drive, and it apparently took a lot to make a Shifter even beyond tipsy. She knew because as soon as they’d made their way back to the Greylord estate, she got brave. Brave that everyone was asleep and that everything was taken care of. Baby Thomas was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of his next meal, she had no doubt. They stopped by his room to peek in on him.

  And Lucius was too close to her. In her defense. She was looking at Thomas, commenting softly about his cuteness, and she’d turned. Right into Lucius’ chest. She tried to pull away, tried to fight the magnetic call of his lips…but she failed at that. Because for some inexplicable reason, she threw her hands around his neck swiftly and yanked his lips down to meet her own without an ounce of shame.

  He kissed her back before stopping, pulling her away from the crib and out of the room. “Not here,” he whispered. They snuck like naughty teenagers up to the second floor and darted towards his room. She loved the rush of feeling his rough hand, grabbing her, and leading the way. His eyes were glittering in the moonlight when he pulled her into his room.

  He kissed her again. Deep and passionate and full of all the longing that they’d shared over the last month. His
hands swept up and down her sides, and she groaned at his every touch. Every brush of his fingers was a delicious kiss for her body, one that she wanted to memorize forever. She threw her hands around his neck again and pulled him towards her, trying to force him to work with her petite height. He was happy to oblige as he lifted her and sat her on the bed, a large spacious thing with gloriously soft sheets. Her hands left him for a moment to explore the silky feeling of the fabric.

  “Amazing,” she muttered. He grinned.

  “It feels even better if you’re naked,” he promised wickedly. She moaned as he kissed her again, but this time it was fiercely quick. His lips moved to assault her neck and trail a line of tantalizing kisses down to the plunging neckline of her dress. His tongue reached out to lick and tease the soft skin. She gasped in pleasure and went to move the straps of her dress off her shoulders. His quick, elegant hands flew upwards to help, and soon, her bare breasts were exposed to the cool air of the room.

  “Beautiful,” he told her and slid a hand down her face as he drank her in. “Utterly beautiful.” She blushed beneath his stare but couldn’t worry about her bashfulness when he took one of her swelling buds into his mouth. She leaned back and let out a shudder of pleasure; his hands worked down her side to help tug off the rest of the dress. Her own greedy hands reached for his clothes, tugging on the fine suit, begging to see his glorious body. In a fit of delectable wrestling, they fought and helped one another disrobe. She inhaled sharply when he stepped out of his pants, only wearing a snug pair of briefs on his muscled frame. The tattoos on his arms made him look wild. Her heart leaped as his laser-eyed focus came back upon her. Those eyes. She nearly swooned but didn’t have time to as he pounced on her playfully. They tumbled onto the bed. As he straddled her, he pinned her hands onto the bed.

  “Are you sure, Cassandra?” he asked.

  She smirked. “Of course, Lucius.” And she was. His hot kisses came back, and they were all over her body, teasing every inch of her flesh that he could find. Finally, his warm mouth made his way to dancing up her thighs. She cried out as his tongue licked her entrance.