Stefan: Le Beau Brothers: New Orleans Billionaire Wolf Shifters with plus sized BBW for mates (Le Beau Series Book 3) (18 page)

As she ran a hand across her withers she whispered, “Thank you.”

His breath hitched. She spoke to him. Thank goddess.

“There’s more,” he said quietly. When she finally looked his way he added, “She was recently bred to the number one stud in the state. She should foal early November of next year.”

El’s hand flew to her mouth. This time the tears fell.

Stefan’s heart stuttered. He'd blown his last chance. “Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I screwed this up. I meant to make you happy and instead I made you cry. I’ll put her in her stall and go.” He couldn’t raise his eyes from the ground. His head suddenly weighed five hundred pounds and he just didn’t have the energy.

The touch of her hand on his arm startled him. His flinch had Mystic Wind snorting her disapproval and tossing her head.

El calmed her, then turned to him again.

“Thank you, Stefan. Please stay.”

Had he heard her right? His world tipped on its axis as he fought to breathe.

“Stay?”

“Yes. But, that doesn’t mean you’re forgiven. Only that I’m willing to let you try to convince me to do so.”

“I accept.”

She hadn’t said more than a few words, but she had spoken enough. He had another chance and his world hadn’t shattered.

Let the Torment Begin

Relief lightened the immense weight that had crushed Stefan’s heart and soul minutes before. As he held the door for her, he tried to formulate his question. How was he going to ask her why his being able to see her last night had caused so much trouble? If he didn’t understand it, he couldn’t ensure he never committed that epic mistake again.

“Have you eaten lunch?” El asked as she kicked off her boots.

“No. I didn’t want to stop with Mystic in the trailer.”

“I was just going to make something.” El set her boots aside and looked him in the eye. “Do you want to join me?”

Boy, did he ever. “I’d love to. But, why don’t you let me make the lunch? You still have a wing out of commission.”

“You don’t have to do everything for me, you know. I’m not helpless, it just takes me longer to do certain things.” Like dressing, showering, cooking...okay, everything.

“Please,” he pleaded sincerely. “I enjoy doing things for you.”

She eyed him for a moment. “All right. If it means that much to you.”

Stefan continued to try to come up with a way to broach the subject of their conflict. Half way through the meal he set his fork aside. “El?” He waited for her full attention. “As much as I hate to dredge up last night’s fiasco, we should talk about it. I understand that my idiot blunder stemmed from not telling you that even with the lights off I could see you.”

El opened her mouth to speak, but he stopped her.

“Please, let me finish.” He took out his discomfort on his hair and raked his fingers through it over and over. “I’m sorry. I thought I was making you more comfortable by turning out the light. Stupid me, I didn’t realize your aim was to avoid my seeing you at all.

“Believe me when I say, if I had turned my male brain on and understood that, I would’ve told you to leave the light on and blindfold me instead. I ‘never’ meant to hurt you.

“The last thing on this planet I want to do is hurt my mate. Here’s the thing, if you could explain to me why you didn’t want me to see your incredible body, I might understand it more clearly and avoid doing something so stupid ever again.”

“You mean that? You would have had me blindfold you to make me comfortable?”

“Absolutely.”

El was quiet through the rest of the meal. He could see her working things out in her mind. Rather than push the issue, he waited for her to speak again. As he loaded the dishwasher, he heard her take a deep breath.

“I don’t feel comfortable telling you what happened in my past. Suffice it to say, I don’t trust handsome men to see me naked.”

He closed the machine and set it to wash before he turned to her. Capturing her gaze, he walked to where she sat at the dining table. With his stomach turning, he reached for her hand hoping she wouldn’t pull it away. She didn’t.

“El. Mon amour. If not exposing your body to my gaze is what puts you at ease, done. I’ll do anything for you, even if that includes shopping for a variety of blindfolds so we can change it up.”

She grinned at him, really grinned with her eyes and all. “Has anyone ever informed you, you’re a little crazy?”

“Yes, but only once. I paid a huge amount of money for a stunning woman at an auction who promptly told me I was insane.”

That had her laughing which set his wolf’s tail to thumping happily.

“Just so you know, you’re still a bit in the dog house. I have errands to run this afternoon and I think your help may be required.”

“I’d love to. When do you want to leave?”

“Right now, if you’re ready,” she said with a wicked gleam in her eye.

Within minutes they were out the door and in Stefan’s truck.

“Where to, my lady?”

“The Lavender Salon in Gonzales.”

“You got it.”

*****

A quick thirty minute drive and they were parking in front of the salon.

“I saw a hardware store and diner as we drove through town. Do you want to call me when you’re ready to leave?”

“I think you misunderstood me. You’re enjoying the services with me.”

Horror registered in Stefan’s eyes before he could mask his reaction.

“Okay. If that’s what you want, I can share this with you.”

El tried to hide her smile as she ordered two green science skin renewing facials and signature manicures and pedicures for both of them. She saw Stefan avoiding the ladies’ eyes and suppressed a laugh.

Paybacks are a bitch, Le Beau.

Over the next two hours Stefan, being a good sport, played along and seemed to actually enjoy the experience. The women sure did. That’s okay, there were more stops to be made today.

When El walked to the counter to pay for their beauty treatments, Stefan insisted on paying for both of them and offered to come back with her if she wanted him to. Who would have thought a he-man would enjoy a mani-pedi?

Stefan beamed at her as they clipped their seatbelts. “Where are we going now with our beautified selves?”

“The grocery store.”

Stefan started the truck and minutes later parked again. “So, what are we getting?”

“I got my period while we were getting facials, so I’ll go to the pharmacy counter to pick up
Mémé’s medicines and you can buy Kotex® super tampons, Always® Overnight Maxi Pads, and Midol® for me.

Stefan visibly swallowed hard but didn’t say a word. Gathering his courage, he watched as she walked away humming a cheerful tune. One last deep breath and he turned toward the one place in a store NO man ever entered willingly, the forbidden aisle of that time of the month.

All right, you can do this. Just grab what she wants and get out.

The Midol® was the least terrifying so he searched for that first. It took a few minutes, but he located the stuff in the middle of the pain relievers. Shit, there were five kinds of this crap. He figured the Teen version was safe to ignore, but which of the other four? Minutes of decision making later he had all four options in the basket. Better safe than sorry.

Now for the tampons. He cringed, he didn’t even like thinking the word and now he had to touch it.
Ah, hell.
There were three versions of super and another three super plus. Frustrated, his lip curled in a silent snarl. Screw it. All six landed in the bottom of the basket.

All that was left was the maxi pads. A quick search of the gazillion pads on the shelf and he spotted one that had ‘OverNight’ on the package.

Score
!

As he reached for one, he noticed another variation next to it and then another.

What the hell are wings?

With wings, without wings, heavy with wings, fresh active with the stupid wings, and one with clean plus odor.

What the devil is that?

All five joined the basket.

Carefully, he peeked out the aisle to make sure no one was watching and sprinted to the register. As fast as he could, he scooped the evil packages onto the belt. When he finally looked up, the cashier was eyeing the items with raised brows.

“You got a lot of girls in your family?”

“No. Why.”

“Oh. Um, no reason.”

She began to ring them up one at a time in what felt like slow motion.

Dang it, can’t she go any faster?

Thankfully, he paid and the stuff was all in paper bags without anyone recognizing him. Rather proud of himself, he headed to the pharmacy with two bags full of girly shit.

“What did you buy?” El asked, curious to see what he had added to her order.

He smiled brightly. “Just the stuff you said you wanted.” Then he waited for her approval.

“How did you end up with two bags for three little items?”

His expression turned sheepish. “There were,” he cleared his throat as he searched for a word, “choices.”

El’s eyebrows shot up. “You bought them all?”

Stefan hesitated... “Yeah.”

She busted out laughing, she couldn’t help it.

He scowled at her amusement and waited for her to stop.

“I was trying to make sure I didn’t buy the wrong ones. It isn’t all that funny.”

El immediately felt a little bad. “Sorry. You’re right. Thank you.”

Stefan nodded once and waited for her to precede him out the door.

They sat buckled and ready to leave, and he was afraid to ask what was next. “Where to now?” he asked tentatively.

“I don’t know. Do you have anything you want to pick up while we’re here?”

He scanned the street and spied a bakery. “Sweets for my sweetie. Let’s walk, it’s only a few doors down.”

As they entered the bakery, El got an idea for her next little payback. She plastered an innocent expression on her face, then turned to Stefan. “Can you hold this while I look over the choices?” Without giving him the option, she pressed her purse into his chest and walked away.

He had no recourse but to stand in the middle of a busy bakery holding a bright red purse the size of carry
-
on luggage. There was no way to hide the monstrosity. Then, to add insult to injury, Cade walked in. He locked eyes with his brother and wanted to crawl under the nearest table.

“Nice look, brother.”

“Shut up,” Stefan hissed.

“Care to explain,” Cade waved his hand up and down Stefan’s body, “this?”

“El is picking out what she would like to order and asked me to hold it for her.”

“Wow, you REALLY pissed her off. The purse is the ultimate punishment a woman can dish out.”

“Oh, you’re wrong. There’s worse.”

“I’m afraid to ask but I can’t help myself. What?”

Stefan leaned close to Cade and whispered, “Tampons and maxi pads.”

When Cade looked at him in confusion, he added, “She made me go into the aisle of ...evil, and find the stuff and then check out at the register. Alone.”

“Ah, hell! That is worse.”

“She also made me join her at the salon for facials and a mani-pedi, but that was actually kind of cool.”

Cade felt Stefan’s forehead. “You feeling all right?”

Stefan swatted his hand away and said, “Maybe you should take Anna. You might get laid after the baby is born. I hear women avoid sex after all the pain.”

Cades eyes grew wide. “That’s not true.”

Stefan nodded with a serious, concerned expression. “That’s what I heard. By the way, why are you here?”

“Anna has a craving.”

“Ah. Well, give her a hug from me when you get home.”

“Sure. Man, I better get those bear claws and get on the road. Good luck with El, it sounds like you need it.”

It was taking El forever to choose what she wanted. Since he wasn’t sure if they were eating in or doing take out, he remained standing where she’d left him. A few minutes passed and Cade clapped him on the shoulder as he said goodbye and left for home.

Thankfully, a heartbeat later, El came back carrying a tray with two of the gooiest caramel rolls he had ever seen and tall glasses of milk. Looked like they were eating in.

She set the tray on a small table in the middle of the shop, then pulled her chair. The second her hands were free, he thrust the purse back at her and took his seat.

Stefan’s mouth began to water. “These look delicious.”

“I know, right? I can hardly wait to lick the warm, gooey caramel from my fingers.”

His gaze shot to her lips, a vision of El licking something else played through his mind. Reflex had him licking his lips as he adjusted his inseam.

What initially appeared to be innocent caramel rolls and milk turned quickly into the wicked caramel roll of cruelty and torment.

He tried to enjoy his roll, but his mouth was bone dry and throat so tight he couldn’t swallow. Instead, he was forced to watch his mate moan in ecstasy with each successive bite. When she slowly slid one caramel-coated finger between her lips and proceeded to seductively lick and suckle every speck of gooeyness from it, he lost it. For the first time since he was sixteen, he creamed his jeans.

El opened her eyes and smiled innocently.

“I can’t eat another bite. You done?” she asked.

“More than done.” Carefully he stood and hid his wet crotch from view as they headed for the truck. Regardless of any additional planned stops, he was done.

What he didn’t know was Cade had watched everything from the sidewalk. His family would know the torment he had endured within the hour.

“I hope you have everything. I need to get back and check on Mystic,” Stefan said as his excuse to drive straight home and change his soggy jeans.

“Oh, okay. Should I be concerned? Is there anything wrong with her?”

“No, just want to make sure she’s settled in. I don’t want to chance losing the foal.” It was a lame excuse, but he was taking it.

When he was looking left to check traffic, she glanced at his pants. Mission accomplished.