I sat cross-legged on the floor and waited.
“I’m not hot,” he said eventually, and he grabbed the throw from the sofa. “Why is that?” He tossed the throw over himself and pulled it under his chin.
What I wanted to tell him was how hot and sexy he was 100% of the time. First thing in the morning, waking up in my bed, making the kids breakfast, and covered in dirt after helping the kids in the garden. But I was pretty sure he was talking temperature hot.
“It’s the baby. Our little one is adjusting your inner temperature.”
“Great, now I can save on shower gel and shampoo, and my clothes won’t be subjected to as much wear and tear.”
I offered to get him some tea, and he nodded. Grateful for something that would keep my hands busy, I chose peppermint to soothe his tummy. He wrapped both hands around the large mug, saying the heat was nice.
“Would you like me to take the kids out so you can have the house to yourself?”
“No!”
I was taken aback by his sharp response.
“No. If there’s something they need to know, I want them to hear it from you and me.” He placed one hand on his belly. “This is an us decision.”
The word “if” had me a little concerned, but any interjection on my part wasn’t needed. Ledger had to work through this, but I was by his side.
“Sit.” That was a command, and I lifted his feet and put them on my lap. “I’ll have to delay my dissertation.”
My dragon was squeeing, and I was too but I kept it internal. A delay because he was having a baby was reasonable, but I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and start putting up “We’re having a baby” banners around the house.
“Not because I can’t finish it in time, but having to wrap my mind around a new world and my existence in it, plus having a dragon’s baby in me, is huge, and I don’t want to produce crappy work just to get it done.”
I nodded, still not wanting to speak in case I disrupted Ledger’s train of thought.
“Theron, we’ve never had the talk. You know the one about our future? Am I going to be a single parent and you’ll see the baby every second weekend?”
My dragon couldn’t help himself, and he snorted. A thin wisp of smoke spiraled from my nostrils as he protested. I followed, seconds later with words, “No. I love you, Ledger, and I should have told you sooner.”
He related the conversation with his friend Jess. “He said I should talk to you, and I kinda gathered he was referring to more than just a ‘shifters exist’ conversation.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah,that!”
I picked up one of his feet and massaged it, but he raised a brow and gave me a look that said, “You’re trying to distract me.”
“Ummm, well,someshifters fall in love and they mate, which involves marking one another as a sign of their commitment.”
“Okay, but I’m not a shifter.”
I explained that didn’t figure into the equation. “Love is love. The shifter would still mark his mate.”
“So you fell for me over time?”
This was where it got tricky. To human ears, fated mating might sound like I didn’t have a choice. The human could always choose not to be with the shifter, as could I, but that pull, the connection between us, would ensure I’d carry the pain until my last breath.
“Noooo.”
You can’t hide this from him.
I know, I know. I was stalling, but Ledger deserved to know the truth. How he responded I couldn’t predict.
“You are my fated mate. The universe paired you with me, and the moment we met, you had my heart. You had all of me.”
