Free Already Freakn' Mated by Eve Langlais Page B

words with his wife, and then came barreling down the stairs. Thankfully, Jill had tossed down his clean and dry shirt a while before, so at least the husband didn’t have to wonder why a half dressed handyman came in on a Saturday.
    “What are you doing here?” Jack barked.
    “Working.” Chris powered up the saw and zipped through another piece of wood.
    “I see that. But why?”
    Chris hefted the cut piece of wood and headed for the wall. “You said to work between nine am and four thirty. It’s currently only just after noon.”
    “But it’s Saturday.”
    “And?”
    “You’re supposed to come Monday to Friday.”
    “Well, you never explicitly said that,” Chris replied playing dumb. Something his brother Stu would have claimed he did all too easily.
    “I am now.”
    “Are you sure? Because, given I can’t start early or work late, that’s going to add at least two weeks to the job. Maybe three.”
    Before Jack could yell something, probably to the effect of ‘So what!’, he got saved in an unexpected way.
    “Let the man do his work,” Jill admonished coming down the steps.
    “This doesn’t concern you,” Jack growled, a tone which put all of Chris’s hackles up.
    No one talks to my woman that way.
    Forget springing to her defense though, Jill did that all on her own. “Doesn’t concern me?” she snapped, eyes flashing and chin tilted stubbornly. “You promised me this gym before the next full moon. And now I find out you’re sabotaging that by forcing our contractor to work restricted hours.”
    “I have my reasons,” Jack muttered.
    “I know your reasons and I’m telling you right now, to stuff them. I want this gym. The quicker the better.” Hands on her hip, she glared at her husband, and Chris stifled a grin. Damn but she looked hot when she was irked. Even better, not all was rosy between the couple.
    “But –”
    “Don’t you but me, husband. Or else.”
    What the or else was, Chris didn’t know, but Jack and Jill exchanged a look, and the Asian man scowled.
    “Very well. You win. He can work whatever days and hours he likes.” The smile of triumph on her face just made Jack’s glower deepen.
    Singing inside, Chris pretended to ignore their marital spat as he measured out another crosspiece. His wolf quieted as her footsteps receded. Drawing a line on his next length of wood, he ignored the stare of the man still standing across from him.
    “So, am I to expect you tomorrow as well?” Jack finally growled.
    Sunday? Hmm. Not this week. “No, actually. It’s Thanksgiving and my mother would shave me bald if I missed the family supper. You got any plans?”
    “No.” With his terse reply uttered, Jack spun on his heel and stalked off.
    Only then did Chris grin. Married or not, either Jill just gave him the opening he needed, or she truly wanted that gym. According to his ego, and his wolf, it was the former.
    Freakn’ awesome.

Chapter Nine
    When Jiao answered the door later that day, just after dinner time, a woman about her height with graying hair pulled into a pony tail, stood there. A familiar scent washed over her. The stranger smelled an awful lot like Chris, which meant…
    “Hi. You must be Jill. I’m Meredith Grayson, Chris’s mother, also head of the Shifter Welcome Committee for the Ottawa area. Nice to meet you.”
    Jiao clasped the outstretched hand and shook it, wondering at the woman’s presence. Did she come to warn me away from her son? Oh please, no. If Sheng heard anything of the sort, he’d have them packed and gone by the morning. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”
    “Oh goodness. Call me Meredith. We don’t stand on formalities around here.”
    Remembering her manners Jiao opened the door wider. “Would you like to come in for a cup of tea or coffee?”
    “Perhaps another time. I’m in full prep mode for Thanksgiving dinner, but I thought I’d take a little break and pop on over to introduce myself and invite you to come tomorrow for