Page 11 of Paper and Passion (Ghostlight Falls #2)
Tillie
I t’s been a week since Adrian and Alex told me they wanted to knock me up and bond me. They’ve been coming to the shop every morning and staying until closing, but they haven’t pushed. They’ve just been there, quietly supporting me. And with each day that passes my resolve to wait weakens.
“Morning,” Mappy says. He’s sitting on the steps to the visitor center, leaning back on his elbows, wings stretched wide like he’s sunbathing even though it’s cloudy.
“Would it hurt you to put more clothes on?” I ask, handing him his morning coffee.
“It would destroy me.” He winks, takes a sip of the drink, then hums his approval. “Cinnamon latte. Are you trying to butter me up?”
“No. I just thought you’d enjoy it. ”
He lifts his eyebrows and smirks. “There are other things I’d enjoy more. You know, Mabel’s not in the visitor center yet. We could?—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Alex says from behind me. I hadn’t noticed her and Adrian walking up. Normally, I’m already at the shop by now, but this morning I couldn’t find my tennis shoes, so it took me longer to get out the door.
Adrian looks down at my flip-flops and frowns. It’s a little cold for bare toes, but I’ll be inside soon.
“Ah, the gangs all here.” Mappy grins up at us without leaving his reclined perch. “You know what’s even more fun than a third? A fourth.”
“Not interested.” Adrian slings an arm around my shoulder. “We’ve got all we need right here.”
My heart does a little pitter patter.
“You know, you three do make a nice image together.” Mappy flaps his wings. “Just don’t ever have kids, ‘cause then I’d have to give up my position as the most attractive creature in town.”
That fluttery feeling moves from my chest to my belly. We really would make beautiful babies .
“You’re far from the most attractive creature in town.” Alex rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
Mappy sits up straight. “What? Do I need a haircut? Maybe I should do some more sit-ups. I already do a hundred a day, but you can never be too?—”
“Just tell us where Sheet-y is,” I groan, cutting him off before he gets lost in his worries about being the fairest in the land.
He stands up and straightens his wings. All three of us lean in to study the map that sprawls across them.
“Here it is,” Adrian points to the tip of Mappy’s wing. “Up by the Wonder Hole.”
Well, that’s good. It’s the best place to snag tourists, and it’s been a while since the store’s been up there.
Mappy immediately drops to the ground and starts doing pushups now that we’ve found what we needed.
“I can drive us there,” Adrian offers, but before we can turn toward the parking lot, there’s a loud pop, and Sheet-y appears right across the street in the town park. Dang, I was really looking forward to that tourist income.
Alex grabs her stomach and gasps. “Adrian,” she says in a worried, wobbly way I’ve never heard from her before .
He sighs. “I thought we had more time.”
She shakes her head, then looks at me with a mix of fear and hope. “Time to decide, pretty girl.”
Adrian looks like he’s holding his breath. His hand supports his wife’s back, but all his attention is on me. Yesterday, Alex explained a bit more about her fertility cycle and how she would go into heat. One look at her face tells me that’s happening now.
They’ve spent the last week showing me what we could be like as a throuple, getting to know me, allowing me to get to know them.
They’ve shown as much care for me as they have for each other.
Adrian made sure I ate when I forgot because I got caught up in a new teddy bear design.
Alex helped me reorganize everything in the shop and secure things so there’s less to clean up when Sheet-y moves.
They’ve taken me to dinner, a ball game, rollerskating, and a movie.
Not once have I felt ignored or pushed aside.
And I haven’t ever felt like one of them was left out, either.
I look from Adrian to Alex, their expressions equally hopeful.
It’s like the first time I stood at the top of The Wonder Hole and looked down.
I knew I could fall and hurt myself, but I felt like I was on the cusp of a great discovery.
Something remarkable, just out of sight.
Of course, The Wonder Hole was pretty anticlimactic when I got to the bottom.
But I know being with Alex and Adrian would be spectacular.
Alex moans, curling into Adrian’s side. He cups the back of her head and pulls her against his massive chest. “I need to get her out of here and somewhere safe as soon as possible.”
He looks around protectively, like he’s worried some predator will jump out of the bushes and steal his mate. Then his eyes lock with mine. All I see in his gaze is desire.
And I know my decision.
I lift on my tiptoes, lean close enough that only they can hear, and whisper, “Put a baby in me.”