Page 122 of The Alpha’s Unclaimed Mate

I come down the stairs and stop dead. Jessa’s up a ladder in the living room, on her toes to pin something to the molding, and the whole thing wobbles under her.

I cross the room and get my hands on her hips before she can fall. “What are you doing?”

“Setting up.” She keeps pinning. “For your birthday. The girls wanted to do something fun.”

The words take a second to sink in. My birthday. Today. “I haven’t done anything for it in years.”

The last one I celebrated was when my father and brother were still alive. Daniel and I had gotten drunk and come home to a dinner Hannah had planned out. A decade has passed since. My hands stay on her hips. Ten years I’ve let the day go by without a word, and here she is stringing paper across my wall because two little girls asked her to. My throat goes tight.

“Then it’s about time.” She smooths the banner, and it drops open across the wall. “Mia and Bella wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

I steady her while she reaches for the next corner, my hands spanning her waist. “And you just went along with it?”

“Why not?” She glances down at me. “Everybody deserves a birthday.”

She steps down a rung, and I catch her, lifting her clean off the ladder. I set her back on the third rung so her chest sits level with my eyes. “So. The party. Is it for the girls, or do you want it too?”

She loops her arms over my shoulders, lacing her fingers behind my head. “Maybe I want it too.”

I lean in. “I’ve worked something out about you.”

“What?” Her breath catches, and I want to hear that sound again the second I’ve got her alone.

“You’re all bark.” My mouth’s almost at hers. “The second you let me in, you went soft on me.”

Her cheeks flush. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“I do.” I brush her lips. “Right now I’d rather have you.”

I kiss her slowly, and she lets me, her fingers tightening in my hair. Then a pair of gagging noises breaks it apart. Mia and Bella are in the doorway, balloons bunched in their fists, faces screwed up.

“The two of you have the worst timing,” I tell them.

“You can’t do that here,” Bella says. “We’re decorating.”

I turn, and Jessa’s arms slide down to circle my shoulders from behind. She’s still up on the rung, me standing between her knees, and she rests her chin on the top of my head, content to stay.

“All right.” I look at the girls. “What’s the plan? What do I get?”

“We’re baking a cake.” Mia bounces on her toes. “Adrian’s taking us to the store for the stuff. And we need more balloons because Bella popped all of them.”

“I did not.” Bella rounds on her. “They just exploded.”

Mia snickers. “You exploded them.”

“You did it too.”

They’re off, and Jessa cuts across the squabble between them. “You can buy more. What are we fighting about?”

“Lunch or dinner?” I ask. “I might not make it back midday.”

“You have to come home for lunch.” Mia plants her hands on her hips, fierce with it. “There’s a tea party at lunch, then cake and a real party at dinner.”

“So I get two parties.” I look between them. “Greedy little things.”

They nod, delighted with themselves, and I catch Jessa’s eye. “This whole thing’s for the two of you, isn’t it?”

She grins. “Don’t look at me. I’m only the cook.” She tugs me closer by the shoulders. “Anything you actually want to eat?”