I love that he loves to learn. A smart man is such a turn-on.
Clearing my throat, I push thoughts of being turned on from my mind and ask, “Where are you from?”
“Here,” he said. “Well, not here in Hinvale. About twenty miles away, in Kens.”
“Do you miss it?”
He shakes his head. “Yes, and no. I miss my old life, but I think I outgrew it. With no family, I really had no reason to stay there, you know? I planned to blow out of town, hitchhiking across the country, but then…well, you know.”
“Do you want to do that now? Explore the world?”
Cade smiles at me, the brilliant flash of his teeth making my stomach do a flip. “With you, sure. I think it would be nice seeing the sights with my mate by my side.”
Okay, he’s so fucking perfect. I haven’t been to many places, having been born and raised in Hinvale, Maryland. I went to another city for school but haven’t really done much outside the state. I would like to go with Cade to experience different things.
Tucking my legs under me, I ask, “Where would you want to go first?”
He sighs, interlacing his hands behind his head. “Guam. They have really pretty beaches. All kinds of activities to do. It would be a nice place to take a break from everyday life.”
“Sounds relaxing. I’d love to go.”
Leaning forward, he gives me a soft kiss. “Then we will.” He kisses me once more before he rests back against the couch. “What about you? Born here?” I nod. “Your parents live nearby?”
“No, they moved to a warmer climate. Maryland doesn’t have harsh winters, but I think they were tired of the snow.”
“I miss snow,” he says almost dreamily. “Building snow men, making snow angels, snowball fights.” He tickles my belly, making me burst into laughter. “You’d be adorable in a parka.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” I mutter sarcastically, still smiling. “How was life growing up in the sixties? Or was it the fifties?”
“I was born in the fifties, had my formative years in the sixties, and was stepping into the seventies as an adult. It was…it was okay. Not much technology as there is today, but there was something freeing about that. You usually have your phone,and people expect to have constant contact with you. Back when I was growing up, if we left the house, we were gone. There was no reaching us until we got back home and found a message on the machine.”
That sounds nice. He’s so right about people expecting to have immediate contact just because I have a cell in my pocket. Makes me feel tethered to other people when I’m supposed to be free.
“You’re right,” I say, stretching out until my head rests on his knee. “I think I depend so much on my phone that I don’t know what it’s like not to be so available. Maybe for like one day every week, I’ll silence my phone and just chill.”
“Good plan.”
We slip into a comfortable silence, Cade’s fingers threading through my hair. He’s so gentle with me, so handsy, something I’m not used to. Walt never let me cuddle or be affectionate like this with him. He’d say that I was radiating too much body heat, making him sweat.
“Are you an only child too?” he asks.
“Yeah. My parents said having one child was enough. Apparently, I didn’t stop bouncing off the walls until I was in my early teens. I was more than enough. What about you?”
“Furniture shifters usually only have one or two offspring.”
“Why?”
I feel his shrug more than I see it. “I’m not sure. Just the way things are, I guess.”
“Do you want kids?” I lean up and look at him. “Can you have kids? I mean…I’m not a shifter and I’m a guy. I can’t get pregnant.”
“I want kids, but I can wait. All furniture shifters are fertile and have the right equipment to lay eggs.”
I sit up and look at him, interest coloring my mind. “Lay eggs? Like a chicken?”
He chuckles, but nods. “That’s one way to look at it. The mechanics work in the textbook way. When I’m pregnant?—”
“Oh my god, all shifters can get pregnant?”
