“Yes, but I don’t remember you saying anything either way really.”
“I do. I want kids.” Duncan stared at me a minute and then shook his head. He sighed and then picked up the chicken thigh again and started eating. “I want kids. We were even talking about heats. And how it would change things for both of us.”
“Yes. But you never said out loud that you want kids.”
Duncan sighed again and looked up at me. “I do. I really do. I’d love nothing more than to have a few kids and try to be the best daddy to them that I could. I don’t really have any examples of being a good parent though.”
I reached over and took his hand and gave it another squeeze. “If I upset you, I didn’t mean to. I was thinking about earlier. About how you felt off when we were at the restaurant. And how you said you weren’t in heat. Then about your position at the bar being terminated simply because you found your mate and your life will change. That’s implied that you will end up pregnant. And I realized you didn’t say that you wanted or didn’t want them.”
Duncan nodded once more. “I do. I don’t have a lot saved.” He held up his hand. “I know. You do. And I have a card to use. Or I will. It’s going to take time to get used to spending someone else’s money.”
“Our money,” I told him. His cards would be here within two weeks, and until then, I was going to give him one of my credit cards just in case. We’d add it to his digital wallet, and he’d be able to use it whenever he needed funds.
“Kids would be nice,” Duncan said.
I grinned. “Good. Silver and Charlie’s twins will have at least one cousin to grow up with,” I said.
Duncan sat back and shook his head. “I’m a bit terrified about the thought of having two at once. Charlie is only halfway through his pregnancy and already he’s looking like he’suncomfortable.” Duncan shook his head. “You guys aren’t small. And you seem to have little mates and two at once. Is he having two mini-Silvers?”
I threw my head back and laughed. I grabbed a napkin and wiped my hands before I picked up my cup and took a drink. “They won’t say what they’re having. Just that it’s twins. Nothing more than that. They say they don’t know beyond that because Charlie didn’t want to know. They had to know about the twins though because it puts Charlie in a higher-risk pregnancy.”
Duncan looked concerned. “Yeah, I’d love them, but I don’t think I want twins. Try not to do twins, okay?”
I bit my lower lip. “You know it’s not decided that way.”
Duncan groaned. “Yeah, I know. I have the eggs, and you have the other half. Mine decides if it’s one or two.” He looked down at his stomach. “Only one baby, please. At least the first time.”
I chuckled again. “Still not how that works.”
“I know.”
“Let’s shelve this conversation until after we eat. We can talk more about kids if you want, but I would really like for you to eat more of your lunch.”
“You mean this wasn’t what you wanted to talk to me about?”
I shook my head. There was absolutely no way I was going to talk to Duncan about marriage before he finished his lunch. Duncan looked intently at me for a moment before he picked up several fries and started eating. He moved on to his mac ’n’ cheese and finished that before he went back to his chicken.
We managed to finish our lunch in silence, but probably only because every time I wanted to ask him something, I took another large bite of food to keep my mouth busy. I wanted Duncan to eat. I had a feeling his heat was going to hit within the next few days, and he was going to need to have as much energy stored as possible for it.
Once we had our lunch dishes cleaned up, I led Duncan into the bedroom. “I thought we were going to talk?”
“We are,” I told him as I went to the door that was on the far wall. It was facing the backyard, and if you didn’t know where it led, you would probably assume it was another closet. I opened the door and stepped to the side to let Duncan pass through.
“No way,” he said. He immediately went into the hot tub room and walked around to the other side of the room. The walls surrounding the room alternated between windows and tile-covered cinder blocks. “It’s inside.”
“It is. And there are blinds in the windows so I can close them at night and not have to worry about the neighbors seeing in.”
“I wish we didn’t have to worry about that all the time. I understand that we’re the ones always getting naked though and that’s frowned on in the human world.”
It was indeed. “Well, the eight-foot fences outside help. Unless someone is flying a drone over the backyard, none of our neighbors can see us back there when we shift. This room was here already when I bought the house, and the fence was actually just a little three-foot-tall decorative one. The previous owners didn’t need privacy in the backyard, so I had the fence installed.” That didn’t go over well with several of my neighbors, but I didn’t care. I was entitled to my privacy, and I’d checked with the city for fence-height limitations before I had it installed.
“Can we get in?” Duncan asked.
“Absolutely. We can relax in here and continue talking. I’d still like to get to know you a bit more.”
Duncan smirked. “I thought you already knew me.”
I crossed the room to where he was and grabbed the waistband of his pants before pulling him toward me. “Oh, I know you. And I’m planning on getting to know you even better. But right now, I want to discuss certain things.” I leaned in and kissed Duncan. Immediately his hands went up my chest and Iwondered if I really needed to discuss marriage with him right now. Couldn’t that wait? I’d promised to do certain things to him once we got home and that had been an hour ago.
