I clung to her. It took long adrenaline fuelled seconds for me to realise she was clinging right back. Her face pressed into my shoulder, her nose burrowing into my scarf. Her hands rubbed up and down my back, her breathing deep and even. She smelt of her homemade rose soap and the hint of the sea that Errol always carried with him.
She didn’t fidget or squirm as the seconds lashed together to form a minute. Her hold was firm, her scent tinged with a ringing peace.
‘This is nice,’ she mumbled into my scarf.
‘Yeah,’ I breathed. ‘You like it?’
‘Kitten.’ She pulled out the nickname I’d made her promise to never utter in front of anyone else to let me know she was serious. ‘I’ve always wanted a decent cuddle with you.’
If possible, I sank further into her embrace. ‘I didn’t know if you’d like it.’
She squeezed me tight. ‘Were you worried about Errol? Because you know the first thing that man is going to do when I tell him you gave me an actual hug and not some pathetic quickie is storm into the bookshop and demand one of his own.’
‘Not Errol,’ I murmured into her hair. ‘I thought I was too needy for you all.’
It had been easy last night to tell Lucas that previous partners and my sole parent had told me my need for prologued touch wasn’t normal, but I didn’t want to include those details in my explanation for Louisa. For some reason, I wanted my new friend to know, but didn’t want to share it with one of my oldest.
‘You could never be too needy.’ Louisa forced her nose deeper into my scarf. I always made sure it was securely tucked around my neck before I left the flat, so I wasn’t worried she would dislodge it with her snuffling. ‘And you’re never getting away with skimping on cuddles again, do you hear me?’
‘I hear you.’ I took one more deep breath and eased away. ‘We should get to work instead of hugging all day.’
‘If we didn’t both have businesses that depend on us, I’d be so up for calling in sick and cuddling the shit out of you for hours.’ Louisa sighed, weaving her arm through mine as we walked down the path along the backs of the cottages. ‘One disadvantage to being the boss and a werewolf; pulling a sickie isn’t an option.’
I leant into her side, for once not creating distance between us as she held onto my arm. She didn’t break contact the whole walk round to the fronts of our shops, not even to retrieve our breakfasts from the bakery. Outside the pharmacy, she pulled me into another prolonged hug. She was beaming when we stepped apart minutes later.
Louisa didn’t use the pack’s group chat to tell everyone my embargo on lengthy cuddles had lifted, but the news spread regardless. Bonnie stormed into Island Books before I had a chance to switch the wooden sign Hamish had made two years ago to open, the force of her chest hitting mine enough to wind me.
Joshua followed her inside, his arms strong around the two of us. The lingering scent of sadness he’d carried since Cob left the island mellowed as we stood in a six-armed tangle.
Callum ran down from the mountains. He was the one person I’d allowed myself prolonged hugs with, but apparently now he wasn’t ostracising himself from the pack he was determined to involve himself in all its significant events.
Me allowing myself to indulge my clingy side felt like a massive shift. After each hug, my chest felt lighter. I breezed around the bookshop between cuddles, humming random tunes under my breath and smiling widely at even the most difficult customers.
Errol was the last of the pack to find me. He had a schedule to stick to, unlike everyone else who could largely come and go as they pleased. He crashed through the door of Island Books, his knitted hat askew and his dark eyes wild. He cleared the space between us in two giant strides and gently tugged the books I’d been shelving out of my hands. He placed them on a side table before enveloping me in his arms.
Laughing, I drank in deep lung-fulls of his ocean tinged scent. His beard rubbed my skin as he pressed his nose into the side of my neck.
‘I’m not sure Louisa’s got it right about you two,’ he murmured, ‘But whatever’s going on with you and Lucas, it’s good for you.’
I hoped Errol couldn’t feel my skin heating against his. It was easy enough to ignore Louisa and Bonnie’s gossiping about the nature of mine and Lucas’s relationship, but it was harder to deny that during his short time on the island Lucas had already had a profound effect on my life.
He’d seen me, had reached out to me. He’d given me something I’d been denying myself for too long.
My face was back to a normal shade and temperature by the time Errol stepped away. The dark brown skin around his eyes was crinkled in an unmistakable smile as he turned and stomped out of the bookshop.
‘So that was intense,’ Hamish said from behind me.
‘Bloody hell.’ I jumped so violently I fell into the side table. The books Errol had carefully placed there before tackling me fell to the floor. ‘When did you get here?’
‘Five minutes ago.’ Hamish regarded the books on the floor passively, uninterested in their fate since they weren’t from a genre he was interested in. ‘It’s good that you’ve got friends.’
His conversation allocation for the day apparently exhausted, he wandered off to tend to his dragon. Dust could gather on the shelves and Hamish didn’t give a toss about any novel he hadn’t hand-picked, but a single spider’s web wouldn’t get a chance to form on his beloved window displays.
The bell over the door rang as I picked up the books. It was ridiculous how absorbed I’d been in Errol’s hug that I hadn’t heard it when Hamish arrived. Maybe bell muting was another aspect of his ability to approach without warning. I straightened with a smile on my face, which only grew when I saw who was standing in my bookshop.
Lucas looked around at the shelves and displays, his brown eyes swooping between the different books and reading-adjacent wares. ‘I finished my appointments at the surgery early and escaped before anyone else could catch me. I wanted to see the shop before you closed for the day.’
Heedless of the damage it would do to the already battered books and the possible transference of the assorted fur engrained in his shirt, I threw myself into his arms.
