Treasured by a Tiger (Mate Me Book 6)

25

Only after Liam went to bed did Caroline remember the letters. She and Preston were snuggling in bed watching late-night television.

"Oh! Where did we put the letters?" she asked, looking over at a shirtless Preston. For a moment, her brain hiccuped and she couldn't think about anything but licking his chest.

"There are at my house in my office. I didn't want to bring them here."

"When did you do that?"

"You went to the bathroom before we left and I tucked them in a locked drawer of my desk."

"Thank you. We can go over them after my shift tomorrow. I am the morning manager, which means I need to be up at five."

"Then I say we head to bed." Preston turned off the television and wrapped her up in his arms. Caroline chuckled and fell asleep next to him almost instantly.

The week flew by and before she knew it; the weekend had come and she and Liam were moving into Preston's home. All week she'd slowly packed the house, leaving out only the bare necessities for Friday into Saturday. Preston spent every night at the cottage keeping Liam company. Caroline enjoyed the time spent together building their family unit. Liam readily accepted Preston at their home. It surprised her it had been so easy. She'd heard horror stories of stepchildren ruining relationships because they hated the step-parent. Saturday morning came and Caroline awoke in the arms of Preston naked. His cock pressed against her thigh. Taking a moment to listen for Liam moving around, Caroline heard nothing. A smirk on her lips, she reached down and stroked Preston's thick cock. Preston grumbled but didn't awake. His hips pushed up as she stroked hard and long. When Preston still didn't wake up, she dove under the covers and sucked him into her mouth. Preston sat up with a gasp, ripping the covers off of her. Caroline looked up with a smirk, seeing Preston rub the sleep from his eyes. She sucked him into her mouth, suctioning her cheeks. His hips bucked and a deep moan escaped his lips. Caroline felt powerful knowing she had that effect on him. Using one hand, she cupped his balls, massaging them as she sucked up and down on his cock.

"Fuck, Caroline," Preston groaned and thrust into her mouth before spilling his seed down her throat. Caroline pulled off his cock with a pop.

"Good morning, my love," she said, crawling back up to kiss him. He gave her a gentle kiss back, wrapping her up in a hug.

"What a way to wake up. I love you." Preston kissed her forehead and nuzzled her softly.

"Anytime." She looked over at the clock to see it was just after seven-thirty. "We should start getting up. We have a busy day moving Liam and me into your house." She tried to sit up, but Preston held her close to kiss her, pressing her into the pillows.

"I think we have time for us before we need to wake up Liam." Preston nibbled on her neck, kissing down to her breasts before diving between her legs. The next time she looked at the clock, it read eight-fifteen and she could hear Liam moving about.

"Mom, Preston?" Liam called through the door.

"We are getting dressed and will be out soon," Caroline answered, escaping Preston's arms to pull on her clothes. Preston groaned but followed suit to get dressed as well.

"Okay, I had breakfast already and my stuff is at the door," Liam replied before walking away from the door. Caroline smiled. Liam was just as excited to move as she was. He'd been counting down the days until they moved in. Once they'd moved everything, Caroline would get the place professionally cleaned before her night manager moved in.

"He seems eager," Preston remarked with a chuckle.

"He's had a countdown to we move in. What do you think?" She gave him a sarcastic look, making Preston break out into a full-body laugh.

"Same. I'm ready to have my family home." When he said family, she paused. Even if they weren't married, she mated Preston. In his eyes and his tiger's, they were already family.

"I like you calling us your family." Caroline wrapped him up in a hug around his waist, kissing him. Preston pulled her closer, shoving his tongue in to play with hers. She melted against him. The love she felt for this man overwhelmed her for some days.

"I like you being my family. Tonight after we're moved in, do you want to read through the letters? We can do it after Liam goes to bed."

"Okay, I've been forgetting about them. The men haven't been by the inn since the last time I saw them hike into the woods."

"Cody has been keeping a lookout. I spoke with him the other day about any information about the men. He got in touch with Jonas's commander, but not much other than the two men were court-martialled."

"Cody shared that with me this week, too. He's been sending a patrol car around the inn every few hours. I think that may deter the men from approaching the inn, plus you've been here every night."

"True, come on, let's have breakfast and then move. Do you know what you want to do with the furniture in your storage unit?"

"We can sell it. You have everything we need at your house."

"Same with the crib and rocking chair?" Caroline instantly saw a baby girl that had Preston's coloring dance through her head.

"Do you have a room where they could be stored?"

"We are living in a four-bedroom home. Two of those bedrooms are ours and Liam's. We have two others that are empty." Preston smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Okay, then let's hang onto them and see where life takes us."

"Perfect."

"Mom, I am hungry!" Liam yelled through the door again. This time, she opened the door to go out and make breakfast for everyone before they had a busy day of moving. Breakfast went by quickly and a knock on the door alerted them to their help. Peter, Troy, Greyson, Jordan, and Marcus stood outside the door.

"When you said you were getting help, I did not know you'd asked so many people," she said to Preston over her shoulder.

"We all wanted to see you two happy. Our mates do too," Jordan explained, motioning to him and Marcus. The other three hadn't found their mates yet, but Caroline suspected it wouldn't be long.

"Thank you for your help today. With you all, it will go fast." Caroline smiled at each of the men and let them in. It took a little over half the day to move all the boxes into the trucks, any important furniture Caroline didn't want to leave behind, and all of Liam's things over to Preston's home. To her surprise, the men carried boxes to the rooms marked on the boxes before they left for the day. Now she needed to unpack. Georgia mentioned coming over to help her on Sunday. Caroline wanted to wait for her. She wanted to snuggle with Preston and let Liam explore the house. Preston showed them around and let Liam know his workshop was off-limits when Preston wasn't in there, and even then, he had to ask permission to come in just in case Preston was using a dangerous tool. Caroline loved how much Liam adored Preston.