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“I’m sorry that happened to you,” I say.

Her gaze flicks up to mine. There’s nothing but sadness in those blue eyes of hers.

“Thank you,” she says sincerely, wiping her eyes. She clears her throat then says, “I liked being in charge of the garden and the animals. I miss them.”

“We’ll make sure you get to see them this weekend when we go by to get your things.”

She gives me another smile. “Thank you,” she says again.

“Today’s not the day for it, because it’s rainy and cold, but I bet Pierce would love if you started a garden here.”

“Really?” she asks, her expression brightening.

“Absolutely. We always talk about eating healthier, but then work gets in the way and we end up ordering greasy food all the time.”

“Now you have me to make better meals for you.”

“As long as that’s what you want,” I say.

She nods. “I would like that.” She looks around thoughtfully again, then says, “I like being here. It’s new and big, but I think I’ll get used to that. And I…” She looks at me. “I like being here with you and Pierce.”

“We’re happy you’re here,” I say.

And that’s the damn truth.

Chapter Nineteen

Raewyn

The rain outside just gets worse as the day goes on. I was hoping it would slow down so I could get a better look outside and see where I could make the garden. I love the idea of starting one, and I’m so happy that Forge suggested it—and that Pierce will like it too. It’ll give me something to do while I’m here all day, because I know they won’t stay home with me all the time. This is a treat, getting all this time alone with Forge.

I’ve only been here for one night, but I already feel like it’s where I belong.

Their scent is all over the house, and it makes me feel like this is my home too. I didn’t expect a scent match to have this much influence over me when it happened. I saw it happen in others and heard them talk about it, but I assumed they must be exaggerating, even a little.

They weren’t. Not at all. And the more time I spend here, with Forge, the more I can see myself becoming part of their pack.

Bonding with them.

Having a life with them.

Forge and I spend the morning fixing a bathroom cabinet and changing a lightbulb in the garage that turns out to be more of a problem than he said it would be. The first lightbulb doesn’t work, so he says it’s bad. He puts in another. That doesn’t work either. Forge digs deeper, trying to solve the problem. Turns out, it’s a wiring problem. It’s a good thing we catch it because it could have caused a fire.

I don’t know anything about electricity and wiring. We didn’t have this in the village. So I am enthralled by Forge figuring it out. He explains how it works and what he’s doing as he does it. I also find it very attractive how competent he is. Knowing how to fix things is apparently a turn on for me.

It’s nearing lunchtime when we finally finish with those two projects, so we look through the cabinets and fridge to figure out what to make.

“We should probably decide what we’re doing for dinner, too,” he says.

“I can make beef stew. Trina showed me how, and it’s a good day for it.”

“That sounds good,” he says.

Thankfully we have all the ingredients needed for it. The guys bought a ton of groceries before picking me up, though there are a lot of random things that may not work together for a meal. Which means we will have to go back and buy more things, which Forge already said was fine.

We make sandwiches for lunch—turkey and cheese. I try mayonnaise for the first time. I can’t tell if I like it or not, but Forge lathers his sandwich in it, which for some reason I find kind of cute. He takes a big bite, some of the mayo dripping onto the side of his mouth.

“You have some…” I point to the side of my mouth.