That’s how she could tell Bash loved her.
Emerson laid tiny, pecking kisses all across his chest until she could feel the vibration of his deep chuckle against her lips. She adored the sound of his happiness.
“Come on,” he murmured, massaging the back of her neck gently. “I can’t wait to show you off to my crew.”
“I like Audrey,” she said as she followed him out of 1010.
“She likes you, too, I can tell. Audrey had it real lonely growing up. She didn’t know any shifters, and she had to hide what she was. She’s been sore for a girl in the park.”
“That sounds terrible, having to hide all the time.” She knew about heart-deep loneliness from the last couple of years in Saratoga, but having to endure it for most of a lifetime? That could turn a happy person dark, but Audrey was sweet as pie. Emerson respected her even more now.
Out on the porch, she grinned again at how pretty Bash’s landscaping and yard were. She couldn’t get over how he’d planted roses that reminded him of her and fixed this place up to prepare for a mate and family. Sure, this trailer park had a lot of work to go, but it was exciting to see it at the beginning stages of change. Someday, she had a feeling this place was going to be amazing, and she was going to have the privilege of seeing that transition.
And as she waved to Audrey who was coming out of the first trailer that she shared with Harrison wearing a big greeting grin and a giant tote bag, it struck Emerson that fate had lent a hand in her being here today.
Everything had fallen into place and just in time for her to balk against the artificial insemination that would’ve taken her life in a completely different direction. Now she was trying for a baby with a man she loved more and more with every minute she spent with him, and she was building a friendship with Audrey. Not a pretend one like with Dana at the diner, but an actual camaraderie where she and Audrey could bond because they were going through this adventure with the Boarlanders together.
Bash, Audrey, the trailer park, 1010, Nards, and Nipples, all of it—her life was richer now than it had ever been. It had all happened so quickly Emerson was dizzy with the hard right turn her life had taken. All she could do now was hang on tight and enjoy the ride.
A tall man with chin-length chestnut hair and dark eyes came out of the trailer next door, pulling a shirt over a set of washboard abs. Geez, everyone here had beast-mode bodies. Emerson self-consciously pulled at the hem of her tank top, but Audrey sauntered their way in nothing but a pair of cut-off shorts that looked a lot like Emerson’s and a triangle bikini top on display. Audrey had curves, too, but she strutted up to them like her self-esteem was doing just fine. Right on. Emerson stood straighter and stopped fidgeting with her shirt. It was really hard to have low self-esteem when Bash was pulling her back against his chest and poking her in the crack with his boner. Between him and Audrey, Emerson was going to come out of this trailer park about as big-headed as they came.
“What are you giggling at?” Bash asked.
“I just like it here is all.”
“Good.” He sounded pleased as punch. “Emerson, this is my second best friend, Kirk.” He gestured to the man approaching them.
“You’re the gorilla shifter,” Emerson blurted out accidentally.
Kirk gave her an easy smile and shook her hand. “I am. Nice to meet you, Emerson. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You have?”
“Oh yeah, your man won’t shut up about you,” Kirk said with a wink at Bash.
“Wait, I thought you were on shift today,” Bash said, a frown in his voice.
Kirk cast a glance at the back of the trailer park to a little road that sliced between 1010 and another trailer. “Harrison sent me home.”
“Why the fuck did he do that? We haven’t been hitting our numbers. He was already short with me going to Saratoga today.”
“Clinton and I got into it.” Kirk turned and lifted his shirt up to show four healing red slashes across his back. “Harrison wanted to send Clinton’s dumb ass home, but I was so pissed I couldn’t Change back. And as you can imagine, my gorilla wouldn’t be safe with a chainsaw, so Harrison waved me off.”
Bash snorted. “You should get Willa to paint you a picture of your gorilla holding a chainsaw under a rainbow. That shit would be funny.”
Emerson pursed her lips against a smile because Kirk had been hurt by one of his own crew, and not all was puppies and glitter in the Boarland Mobile Park. The fact that the boys were joking about this so easily meant fighting wasn’t a rare occurrence. And she was human, in a crew of beasts.