“Are you sure?” I asked. “I mean, I’m me. I’m a mess.” I let out a soft laugh.
“Sky, we’ve seen you at your worst and at your most vulnerable,” Fletcher said. “Don’t you think we deserve to be with you at your best?”
My cheeks warmed at that. They wanted me at my best? “I guess you’re right. So what now? What changes?”
“Nothing, really,” Adam said. “We’ve already been functioning as a pack of three for months. We just get the bonus of being able to kiss you now.”
With a wink, Fletcher blew me a kiss, waggling his fingers at the end. My heart did a somersault. “We’ll go as slow or as fast as you want, Sky. It’s in your hands.”
Why did that both scare and excite me at the same time?
22
SKY
It started with little touches;Adam brushing his hand against the small of my back, Fletcher’s fingers running along the nape of my neck. Lingering looks with secretive smiles, like they liked what they saw, made me heat up like a hundred-watt bulb.
Then came the gifts.
Adam and I went out shopping on a scorching August afternoon. It was a record high heatwave for Greymercy, but honestly? After being kept isolated in a cold white cell with nothing comforting, nothing soft, nothing to warm up with? I loved the feeling of the sun beating down on my shoulders and back. Loved the feeling of the warmth soaking through me. Even sweating didn’t bother me much.
Blistering hot freedom was better than icy containment any day of the week.
Adam treated me to a new pair of Chucks, because I’d worn holes in the soles of mine. I grinned so big, my face hurt. “Thank you so much. I love them.” They were bright cherry red, but red was my favorite color. It always had been, since I was a little boy.
“Of course,” Adam said easily as he chucked my old shoes, as well as the box the new ones came in, into the nearest outdoor trash can. They landed with a solid thud at the bottom. “One more stop. I promised Fletcher something sweet for dessert tonight, and I really don’t feel like baking.”
I laughed. “So you’re cheating?”
“Basically.” He grinned.
I waited outside the bakery while Adam ran inside to fetch whatever confection he was going to buy for tonight. In the alley next door, a couple of kittens were wrestling around in the dirt. One was white with black splotches, and the other was a little smaller and orange. Brothers, probably. My chest gave a pang, reminded of all the antics River and I got into as children, but before my mind wandered off down that long and lonely road, Adam came back out.
“Here.” He held out a chocolate cake pop with a cute teddy bear face, complete with little fondant ears. I stared at it a moment, biting down on my lip before taking the offered treat.
“For me?”
“Don’t tell Fletcher,” Adam said conspiratorially. “I don’t need him getting jealous.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think this is hush money, to keep me quiet about you buying whatever’s in that bag.” When Adam only shrugged in a “what can you do?” way, I shook my head and took a bite of the treat. The chocolate cake was soft and rich and decadent. I let out a soft hum of approval. “Yum.”
We walked down the sidewalk, my heart skipping along. I had the urge to reach out and take Adam’s hand, but I didn’t. That, somehow, felt far too intimate.
That night, Fletcher came home from work to the meal Adam and I prepared for him—plus the small chocolate cake that Adam had moved onto a cake platter, the box it came in having disappeared—and the smile on Fletcher’s face was so worth it.
Adam and I shared a look as he bit into the delightfully-fudgy cake and wiggled in his seat. “Adam, you outdid yourself again! This is delicious.” I raised my brow. Adam shot me a look, and I just smiled.
Hush money, remember?
The nightly cuddles were probably the best part of this new relationship. During TV time, we piled on the couch together, plus I’d been sleeping in Adam and Fletcher’s bed since my heat ended. They cuddled me every night, like a puppy pile in human form.
The kisses started on my cheeks, but Fletcher and Adam both began stealing little pecks on my lips, pecks that had my inner-wolf wiggling all over with delight.
God, I loved it. My heart ached with how full it was, how wanted I felt. These two men made me feel desired in a way I’d never felt before.
How could two gorgeous married men want someone like me? I wasn’t quite sure. I wasn’t much to look at and I had a myriad of problems which, granted, I was trying to sort out in therapy, but the way they looked at me?
Had they looked at me this way the entire time, and I’d been too buried in pain and self-loathing to notice? Because this couldn’t have been a sudden interest, or triggered by my heat flaring up. No. This was the result of months of spending time together. It had to be.
