He lets out a woof from underneath the table.
“Good boy,” Amber whispers as she reaches for him.
Pickles’ tail thumps against my foot.
I hold Walker’s trembling hand as we all sit there in silence. It’s no secret that all of them are waiting for my response. My heart squeezes. My pulse races. Am I ready for something like this?
Will I ever be ready for something like this?
“Just… keep talking,” I whisper. “The conversation is open. Let’s talk about it.”
“Are you sure?” Walker asks.
I look up at him, but I can’t make my voice any stronger. “Just talk. Let me be in my head for a moment.”
“Well,” Knox says as he leans forward, his forearms resting on the table, “Walker’s got a point with space. I clocked his villa at five bedrooms, right?”
Walker nods. “And that’s just the villa itself. The main vineyard building has living quarters on the second floor. My grandfather had it built for seasonal workers, but it could function as another living space.”
Amber perks up immediately. “Like little apartments?”
“Yes,” Walker says, and I can hear the smile in his voice as I lay my head on his shoulder, “like little apartments.”
“Daddy, can I live in a little apartment when I grow up?” Amber asks.
Eli chuckles. “Why don’t we take this one step at a time, princess.”
Yes.
One step at a time.
When did I stop taking things one step at a time?
While they all talk around me, my head buries me in so many thoughts. I think about how this all started: at the Blossom Festival, when I caught Walker’s scent on the wind.
In some ways, the world has been trying to shove us closer ever since.
I think about the tree through my apartment, and how quickly the three of them stepped up to make sure I understood that I had someone to call in case things got hairy. I think about how they left their numbers without pressuring me to do anything with them.
I think about the day I went bowling just to get out of that horrible studio apartment, only to find Eli and Amber at the same place.
Like fate kept intervening on my part.
All of the memories I’ve created over these last few weeks surface. Knox and me, watching the sun rise. Me and Eli, dancing in his kitchen. The group chats and the text messages. Them checking up on me to make sure I’m doing okay. Knox and his protectiveness when he saw the inside of my apartment.
The multitude of orgasms they’ve afforded me.
Not once have I had to beg for something I need. Not once did I need to justify my position on anything. With my prior pack, it was all, “I’m your Alpha and you’ll ask me before you do anything.” Or, “I’m your Alpha, and what I say goes.”
I was trapped with them. Trapped because I allowed my instincts to run haywire instead of thinking things through logically.
But I’m thinking now.
And the only thing I can focus on is how life keeps pushing me back into the orbit of these men.
“Look, it’s not like anything is set in stone,” Walker says as his voice pulls me out of my head, “I’m just saying that, should we make this pack official, I want the vineyard to belong to all of us. However that shakes out is fine with me. I’m just saying, I’ve got the room for a pack if this is what this becomes.”
Those words settle heavily across the table. Everything falls silent around me, and it pulls my attention back to them. For a moment, no one speaks.
