The Werewolf Meets His Match (Nocturne Falls Book 2) by Kristen Painter

disappeared with those words. A wave of desperation went through her. She missed Charlie so much it hurt. She tried to cover by taking a sip of her coffee. She swallowed and chose her words carefully so she could stay truthful. “He’s a good kid. Quiet. A little on the shy side. Kinda small for his age.”
    “So was I.”
    She raised her brows. “You were small for your age.”
    “Almost dead last in the percentages.” He turned, ran his fingers under the tap then flicked the water onto the griddle. It sizzled, so he poured thick circles of batter onto it. More sizzling followed, sending up the most delicious aroma. He dropped big handfuls of berries into each one. “Until I hit puberty. Put on seventeen inches and forty-three pounds in a year and a half.”
    “That’s crazy.”
    “Hurt like a mother, too.”
    “I’ll bet.” For the first time, hope for Charlie bloomed within her. “Kincaid men get their size early.”
    Pancakes cooking and coffee in hand, he went back to leaning. He swallowed another sip of coffee. “Charlie’s dad still in the picture?”
    All the inevitable questions. “No. He was for a little bit, but then he just up and left. Haven’t heard another word from him. Which I’m fine with. I don’t need the reminder.” Still, she’d thought Eric had been a different kind of man. But she’d been wrong. And might be again. She twisted her cup, turning it slowly until the handle was perpendicular to the edge of the granite.
    “We don’t have to—”
    “You have a right to know.” She blew out a small breath, feeling the old regrets tugging at her happiness as images of Eric filled her mind. “I met him the summer before my last year of college.”
    “You went to college?” He held a hand up. “Sorry, didn’t mean that like it sounded.”
    “No, I get it. Kincaids aren’t known for their academic prowess.” She smiled grimly. “I was determined not to be a typical Kincaid. Anyway, I thought I was in love and, long story short, he wasn’t. He disappeared before Charlie was born.”
    “You ever try to track him down? Get support out of him?”
    She shook her head. “And risk having to fight him for custody? Or see him happily married with kids and have him reject Charlie all over again? No, thanks. Really, I’d be fine never seeing him again.”
    Hank nodded. “What about college?”
    “I managed another semester, but it was a hard pregnancy.” She stared into her cup. “I always figured I’d go back and finish that one last semester, but it never happened.”
    “Doesn’t mean it still couldn’t.”
    She laughed. “Yeah, I suppose so.”
    “What did you major in?”
    “Business. I thought it would be a ticket out of Kincaid country. Instead, I ended up going to the local beauty school after Charlie was born and staying right where I was.” The weight of her broken dreams weighed heavy on her.
    “Maybe I can be that ticket.”
    He said it so quietly, she almost wasn’t sure she’d heard it. She looked up. “I didn’t mean to imply—”
    “I know.” He took a long, thoughtful pause. “I like you, Ivy. And you’re going to be my wife. I want you to be happy. I want…us to be happy.”
    She stared at him, not quite able to process that idea.
    He turned back to the griddle and flipped the pancakes. “Why didn’t Charlie come with you?”
    Because Clemens knew she would have run. “My father thought it would be easier for us to get to know each other without a kid underfoot.”
    “And Charlie’s staying with his grandparents?”
    “Mm-hmm.” Staying and being held hostage were two sides of the same coin when you were a Kincaid.
    “You want to go get him?”
    She froze at the thought of that confrontation. Hank and her father, her son caught in between and the truth being used like a weapon to beat her precious boy down even further. “ No .”
    Hank slanted his eyes at her. “It was just a suggestion.”
    She made herself smile. And breathe