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The next evening, I feel well enough to get dressed and join everyone for dinner. I’m amazed as I watch my kids interact with Finn and Reid. It’s been a week of me entirely down for the count, yet my kids are good. Reid has Ben finish his homework while Finn cooks and Emmaline plays at the bar in the kitchen. Talk at the dinner table is lively but easy. It’s peaceful even in the chaos, and I’m filled again with gratitude for how these men have stepped up for my family and me.
After dinner, I cuddle with Finn on their back porch. Emmaline races around the backyard with Waffles, playing a game of keep away, while Ben and Reid toss a ball back and forth, chatting about sports teams. The sight of them doing such ordinary things makes my throat tight.
Ben is playing catch. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. But it is.
I rest my head on Finn’s shoulder, the most content I’ve been in a long time. “Thank you for everything these last few weeks, especially since we’ve been here. It means a lot to me and them.”
He gives me another of those forehead kisses that makes my belly swoop.
“Stay,” Finn says softly, kissing my neck. He takes my hand and spears me with his light green eyes. “I’ll get down on my knees right here. I’m serious. I’ve been waiting until you were feeling better to ask. I know it may not be conventional to you, but you’re our mate. We want you and the kids here with us. We don’t have to bond right away. And we still intend to court?—”
“Yes.” Finn and Reid are everything I didn’t think I was allowed to want, let alone get. There are logistics to figure out and conversations to have, but the decision itself is easy. These men have been good to me. They’ve shown me in so many ways that they mean to keep me. It’s still shocking, but I can’t keep making reasons to push that truth away.
“Yes? You’ll stay?”
“Yes.”
“Thank fuck,” Finn says in a rush of breath, dramatically sagging back against the lounger. “Let it be known I was prepared to beg.”
I laugh, letting him pull me onto his lap.
“You won’t regret this, baby. We’ll take such good care of you that you’ll never want to leave.”
“You already have,” I say, grabbing his shoulders.
“Good. I plan to keep at it.” He leans in and feathers kisses along the slope of my neck then up my jaw until he takes my lips in a sweet kiss.
I’ve been sick, but that hasn’t stopped me from wishing I could explore with both of these men. My mates. The idea is wild.
I think after a week, my body is finally healed enough to cash in on all these promises. Each time they’ve held me tenderly or cared for me and my kids, that desire has grown. Who knew watching a man clean the dishes was such a turn-on?
Finn nibbles my ear, murmuring into my skin, “We’re stopping before I have to have a parenting talk I’m not qualified for.”
Another laugh slips out, and I pull away, crawling down from his lap. I step back from the swell of his perfume for good measure. The man makes me lose my head. “You and me both. But I’m feeling better today, so maybe that means later?—”
Finn pushes from the lounger, calling into the yard, “It’s getting late, guys. Ten more minutes.”
The kids plead for more time.
Finn pouts, a total teasing flirt. “I’m not made for waiting!”
He wraps me up in his arms, resting my head against his shoulder. I grip his forearm, letting him sway the two of us as we watch them play while the sun sets. He holds me like I’m precious, like he thinks I’m worth something. It fills an aching place inside me, restoring a well that had run dry.
“I hope you know you were worth the wait,” he murmurs.
In his arms, I feel like I am.
Reid ushers the kids in a few minutes later, with promises of a cookie each before bed. He stops on the back porch to study us. “He couldn’t help himself. He asked you, didn’t he?”
Finn’s expression turns guilty. “I may have, sort of, possibly asked her.” His shoulders find his ears. “On the plus side, she said yes.”
Reid furrows his brows. “You told her about?—"
“No!” Finn shouts, making a “kill it” motion with his hands.
The alpha’s face is confused before it transforms into a huge grin. “Wait! You said yes!” He picks me up and spins me around. My body does a slow glide down his chest and time stops. His large paw of a hand cups my cheek and his hazel eyes fill with heat. An invisible string winds us together, closer and closer until his lips cover mine in a kiss that feels like a claim. He learns the shape of my mouth and I open for him, letting him take his fill.
He pulls back when I’m breathless and dizzy. He cups my neck, thumb brushing back and forth on my pulse. “You said yes,” he says, voice full of wonder.
