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As he and Tracy walked toward the woman’s office, he glanced over his shoulder at Gracie to give her a smile. This time she returned it with a slight upturn of her lips before she dropped her gaze. It was a small gesture, but it made Leo’s heart skip, and he was thrilled that he’d finally found his true mate. His mission might not be as hard as he’d thought.
Tracy sat behind a small desk and motioned for him to sit across from her. “Thank you so much for helping us out for the next few weeks, Leo.” She opened her laptop, and keys clacked as she typed. She lowered her glasses to look at him and chuckled. “I’m sure a guy like you never expected to be a reindeer. You were a bodyguard before this?”
Leo nodded and spit out his cover story. “I’m in between jobs and figured I could use the distraction.”
“You are definitely overqualified, Leo. But goodness knows, we welcome the help.”
“I’m happy to be here,” he said with a smile. “The free pass for skiing makes being a reindeer worth it.”
Leo was hesitant about pursuing Gracie, though. Convincing a woman who believed she was human that she was his true mate and needed to become a shapeshifter made him skeptical. He wasn’t sure how he was going to persuade someone with the free will to say no that she had to enter the world of werebear to be happily in love for life. What gave him the desire to try, even more than finding true-mate love, was when he learned that Gracie lacked self-confidence and a belief in her true worth. His warrior side begged for him to rescue her from a mediocre life. And now that he’d met Gracie, he was even more determined to show her what an amazing creature she was.
CHAPTER4
Gracie
A toddler letout an ear-piercing scream as she chased a mother with a baby on her hip walking toward the ski and snowboard school desk. The woman also had two boys with her that Gracie guessed were about four and six years of age. The boys were hitting each other in what appeared to be playing around, but she knew that could go south in an instant.
“Ugh,” Maggie said. “Doesn’t that woman know we close in two minutes?”
Gracie frowned at her because they were still open, which meant they waited on anyone who needed help.
“Go,” Maggie barked at Gracie, and then she shuddered. “Kids.”
Gracie didn’t mind children at all. In fact, she took the bedlam as a challenge, and she walked over to lighten the poor mother’s load. “Will she let me hold her?” Gracie asked the woman, referring to the baby on her hip.
“My gosh, yes,” The blonde handed her baby over to Gracie, and she chuckled when she bent down to pick up the screaming toddler. “The fourth child doesn’t get the opportunity to have separation anxiety.”
“You’ve got your hands full. Do you need to set up lessons?”
“Yes, group— Boys!” Like Gracie had suspected, the hitting had turned into a fight. The woman grabbed the arm of the boy who appeared to be the oldest. “Unless you can pummel each other without a sound, you’re done.” She gave Gracie a sheepish smile. “Usually I wait until there’s blood, but I’d like to avoid the emergency room at your local hospital today.”
Gracie gave her a smile and walked behind the desk with the baby. She grabbed a plastic pull chain for lift passes and said to the toddler, who had stopped crying, “Look at this.” She demonstrated how the cord returned to its housing when let go.
The mother said to the sniffling girl, “My gosh, did you see that?” She took the device from Gracie’s outstretched hand to give to the child. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Gracie said as she pulled up the lesson calendar on the computer screen. “Would you like a full or half day for the boys?”
“Full, please. Aiden and Ryan Davis.”
“I can do that,” Gracie shifted the baby to her left hip as she tapped the fingers of her right hand lightly on the keyboard. “Lunch comes with the price, but you’re welcome to come get them for the break.”
“Oh no, you can keep them,” the mother joked.
Gracie noticed the woman had a day lift ticket on the zipper of her parka. “Are you interested in daycare for the girls? Our minis program actually takes the toddlers out to play in the snow.”
“Snow?” The mother grinned at the little girl she was holding, who in turn giggled. “Yes, please. They won’t last the whole day, but I’d like to do mornings if I could.”
Gracie smiled at the two boys, who were now trying to hit each other silently, before she finished booking the reservations. As the family walked away, a familiar older couple came up to the desk. It was definitely past closing time, but Gracie was happy to help them. Richard and Donna were sweet, and she’d enjoyed them the first time they’d met, even though they asked a lot of personal questions. Gracie asked, “What can I do for the two of you?”
Donna pushed the fur-trimmed hood of her white parka off her head. “I want to hear all about tomorrow night’s parade.”
“Well, it starts at six-thirty, and it’ll be on the sugar cube slope, right above the lodge.”
“Will you be in it?” the woman asked.
“I will,” Gracie said. And because she guessed Donna would ask anyway, she added, “I’ll be dressed as a reindeer.”
“Which one?” Richard leaned in close. “We promise not to reveal the secret.”
