“Who’s sweet and never bossy?” Zack asked.
She elbowed Jake in the chest. “Me. I’m sweet and never bossy.”
She watched as Zack placed the plates on the table. His eyes lit up and his whole body shook like he was trying to contain his laughter. He sat on a chair and pulled her from Jake’s lap. “Firebird, you’re very sweet.” He nibbled on her ear and a shiver racked her body. “And as for the bossy part, I like a woman who can stand up for herself and knows what she wants.”
Sandy groaned as Zack’s mouth come down on hers and his hand slid up under her shirt. The ringing tone of The Doors’ “Light My Fire” pulled her away from the kiss and the blissful state she was getting to. When it went unanswered after a couple of times, she narrowed her eyes on Zack.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” She watched him give a fleeting look at it then shrug.
“It’s no one important.”
Curious, she reached for the phone and answered, only for his mother to say, “I just wanted to check that girl that I spoke to give you my message. I know the type of woman you usually go for, the ones with half a brain. This one sounded at least like she could follow orders, but I didn’t want to chance it. I know when they leave in the morning you don’t see them again. Which is good because I already have one human daughter-in-law and a half-breed grandson. Thank God your sister has stopped her rebelling ways and agreed to marry a grizzly.”
Sandy gripped the phone tighter as Zack groaned and tried to get it out of her hands.
His mother continued, “That’s what you need to do, Zackary, stop rebelling. Get a real job or business. Get rid of the bimbos like the one I spoke to this morning, and come and marry or date a lovely bear shifter. I have three beautiful girls lined up for you tonight—”
Sandy had heard enough. Right now she didn’t care if the woman was Zack’s mother or the friggin’ pope, Sandy wasn’t going to let her keep speaking. “Have you finished now? Because I’m really not in the mood to listen to any more of your shit.”
Zack’s mother sputtered on the other end, and Sandy sat up in Zack’s arms.
“You need to listen, lady. That human daughter-in-law thinks you’re this wonderful lovely woman and speaks nothing but nice things about you. I have met that daughter of yours with the beautiful little boy, and you should be proud of what amazing people they are. And lastly, Zack isn’t rebelling. He is one of the most talented people I have ever met, and his business is doing fantastic. I love what he does just like I love him.”
She didn’t let his mother respond before she pressed the End button. She could feel the tension in Zack’s body, but she’d felt him stiffen even more when she’d said she loved him.
Argh. Crap! She shot a glance at Jake and saw him staring at her with a look of longing, and she felt a pang of guilt that she didn’t say it to him too. Oh no, I love him too. How the hell did they do that? No way was she going to say anything more. God, look at how Zack was reacting.
Jumping out of Zack’s arms, she chanced a look at Zack to see his frozen face. Then she caught a quick glance of Jake again before she ran into the house praying one of her brothers or her father would come and pick her up.
She’d stuffed up big this time and let her redheaded temper go too far. She ran to the room and searched for her bag. Finding it on the floor with her clothes, she rummaged through it until she found her phone and called her eldest brother.
“Hey, Phillip, I need a favor. Can you come pick me up from the vineyard, like now?”
“Is everything all right, sis?”
She looked around her as she one-handedly got into her clothes. “Um, yeah, fine. I…I…I’m fine. See you in twenty out front.” She gave him the address and hoped it was correct.
Leaving the room she’d made love to the men she loved in, she ran down the stairs and out the front door.
Oh my God, I just told off one of the men I love’s mother. Shit. Sandy’s brain was in overdrive. They said I was their mate. She wondered if they got to choose mates or they just got stuck with whomever and put up with it. Why hadn’t she asked that question?
****
Jake was pissed as he watched Sandy run off, and Zack sat frozen in the chair. Why wasn’t he going after Sandy to tell her that he loved her too, and that she didn’t have to worry about his mother?
Zack was an idiot, and Jake wasn’t sitting there shocked anymore. Getting up, Jake shook him. “Zack, snap out of it and go chase our mate down. She just told your mother off, which I don’t think anyone has ever done. And she stuck up for you and told her how much she loved you.”