The thought of facing last-minute shoppers didn’t sound very tantalizing, but she didn’t have much choice. Besides, her alternative? Sitting around waiting for Mace to call. She shuddered thinking she even would do that for one second of the day. Hell, there was no shame in the one-night stand. It had been a one-night stand, right?

Of course, nothing about this felt like a one-night stand. Far from it.

Dez stumbled to the bathroom, her two dogs trailing quietly behind, and took a shower. As she towel-dried her hair, she examined herself in the mirror. She did look well fucked, now didn’t she?

Well fucked by a cat.

She waited for it. The freak-out over the cat thing. But it never came. Christ, either she’d become really jaded or she really didn’t care. She thought about it for a moment.

Nope. She really didn’t care.

Dez headed back to her bedroom but stopped when she heard noises from the kitchen. When her boys dived back under the bed, she knew what it was. Who it was.

Holy shit. He’s back. She wasn’t sure how to react to that. Although her body began to cream at the mere thought of him. Well, she would have to do something about that.

Still wearing her towel, she walked down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. She heard female voices chattering and assumed Mace turned on some female talk show. But when she opened the swinging door, she stopped and almost choked in horror.

“Well, well. Look who’s up.”

“And all dressed for the day, I see.”

Dez glared at her two sisters as her mother placed a sandwich large enough to choke a rhino on a plate and sat it in front of Mace. He sat there showered, dressed, and, surprisingly, shaved. He even had on what appeared to be new clothes. Black jeans, black turtleneck sweater, black boots. On anybody else they’d look like dockworkers. On Mace…well, he didn’t look like any dockworker she’d ever known.

Dez glanced around the kitchen and realized there were department store and grocery bags all over the counters. He really has made himself at home, now hasn’t he? He grinned at her and shrugged.

“You had no food. A man could starve.”

“But her dogs never will.”

Dez glared at Lonnie while Rachel choked around the bottle of soda she swigged from.

“Why are you all here?”

“We came to see if you wanted to go Christmas shopping. We know how bad you are at that,” Rachel offered.

“But we found Mace here all by himself bringing in groceries,” Lonnie added. “And you nowhere to be found.”

Mace bit into the sandwich, and when his eyes practically rolled to the back of his head, her mother beamed. “Eat. Eat, dear boy. A man your size needs food.”

“You know when you called me about Missy, I had no idea you’d seen good ol’ Mace from high school.”

Dez couldn’t believe the two bitches. Sitting in her kitchen like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. As Missy and Mace’s other sisters told her in no uncertain terms she wasn’t good enough for their brother, her own sisters actively put down Mace. He’s funny looking. He’s short. He’s strange.

Now they were acting like their long-lost brother turned up at their door.

Absolute bitches.

Before Dez could start getting good and frothy, her mother came around and hugged her hello. “How’s my little girl?”

“Hiya, Ma.”

“You look so pretty this morning.” Then, in a tight whisper against her ear, “If you don’t feed them, they leave.”

Dez ignored her mother, instead mouthing “Fuck you” over and over to both her sisters. Who returned the loving sentiment with the finger and the word whore mouthed at her. This went on for a good fifteen seconds before her mother stiffened in her arms.

“You three stop that right now!”

The three women froze. Hard to believe that Lonnie was one of the most feared federal prosecutors in the country and Rachel had probably removed the top of someone’s skull yesterday to get to their brain. And, of course, Dez was a well-armed cop and former Marine with a shapeshifter in her house. Hell, just a few hours ago, she had him between her legs too.

But a word from their mother still had them quaking.

“Sorry, Ma,” all three mumbled as the tiny woman pulled away from her much-taller daughter. Dez almost exclusively took after her father. Unlike her sisters, there was nothing petite or delicate about her. Of course, that didn’t seem to bother Mace too much.

“Well, we’re going to leave you two…alone.” Her mother raised an eyebrow, and Dez wanted to crawl into a hole. “And we’ll see you on Christmas, Mace.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Dez’s head snapped up and she locked eyes with Mace. “I thought you had other plans.” No way. No way could she let Mace spend that much time around her sisters. When it came to the worst lowlifes on the planet, Dez always kept total and utter control. But her family remained a whole different matter. Five minutes with them and they’d completely turn him against her.

“Nope.”

“What about your sisters? Shouldn’t you go to their house for the holidays?” She knew the whole family thing would get to her mother. Sure enough, her mother didn’t disappoint.

“Oh, Mace. We can’t take you away from your family.”

“You’re not, Mrs. MacDermot. My sisters aren’t expecting me. Besides…” Those gold eyes turned to Dez. “Dez and I already had plans to spend the day together. Didn’t we, baby?”