AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do your parents live here?”
“No, they retired to Florida a few years ago. It’s where my mom is from, and my dad promised her when he finished working, they would move back.”
“Are you close with them?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Pretty close. I fly to Florida every few months to see them. My mom would -”
He stopped and stared at their linked hands.
“Your mom would what?” Eleanor said.
“She would love you.” He made himself let go of her hand.
She grinned at him. “Oh yeah? So, you’re saying she’s an ultra-cool lion shifter then, huh?”
He laughed. “Yes to the ultra-cool, no to the lion.”
“She’s not a lion?” Eleanor said in surprise.
“Nope, she’s a lynx. My dad is the lion.”
“So, are you a lynx lion hybrid?” she said.
“No. When two different shifters mate, their offspring is one or the other. It’s a fifty-fifty chance.”
“Neat,” she said. “I knew that when humans and shifters mated, it would be one or the other, but somehow just assumed that there would be a hybrid thing happening with two shifters.”
“Actually, with humans and shifters, it isn’t a fifty-fifty split,” he said. “More like seventy thirty.”
“Seventy percent chance human?”
“Seventy percent chance shifter,” Wes said.
“That’s kind of cool,” Eleanor said. “So, you ever been married?”
He nearly crushed the water bottle he held. “What?”
“Sorry, was that too personal of a question?” she said. “I’m terrible at knowing where the line is at small talk.”
“It’s fine. It just… took me by surprise,” he said.
“You don’t have to answer. I know you’re a private person.”
He was a private person, but he liked the intimacy of sharing with Eleanor. “Never married. Engaged once.”
“Ooh,” she said. “Intriguing. Is it recent and still too painful to talk about? Or can I ask for details?”
“It was a long time ago,” he said. “I ended the engagement when Juliet cheated on me while I was overseas.”
“She’s a dick,” Eleanor said. “She didn’t deserve you.”
He shrugged. “I had done back-to-back tours, and just before I left for the second one, I told her I planned on doing a third. She was angry and upset.”
“Doesn’t mean she should cheat,” Eleanor said. “How did you find out? Oh God, did she send you a ‘Dear John’ email?”
“No. When I’d finished my tour and came home, she was pregnant,” he said.
“Are you kidding?” Eleanor’s face was almost adorable in its shock. “She does realize you have to be home to impregnate her, right?”
