I have her sit next to me before I explain, “These are icicle pansies I started from seed recently, and they’re big enough now to be repotted. I grow them every year so Henri can make a special Yule dish from the flowers. I thought you might want to help watch over them for the next few weeks.”
“I didn’t know pansies were edible,” Hestia says, leaning closer to admire the little green sprouts, which also brings her closer to me.
When her hand brushes my thigh, I have to bite my tongue to restrain myself.
“I’d love to help take care of them with you. How big will they get?”
Her hand is still on my leg.
Does she notice where all my blood has rushed to?
“They’ll be ten inches at full height,” I say, voice rough.
“Really? That’s huge!”
I close my eyes.
That’s not even as long as I am.
I don’t know if it’s because she’s touching me while reminding me about how large I am that’s turning my anxiety to horniness, but this isn’t the solution I was looking for.
Thankfully Hestia removes her hand, and I slide forward to hide my lower half under the table while ostensibly reaching for the new pots.
I show her the soil mixture we’ll need to make, and we work in companionable silence while I calm myself down.
It’s easier to justbewith Hestia than I thought it would be.
I’ve never been good at the dating thing and rarely went on solo dates. Most of my experience comes from joining my packmates on group dates the last time our pack was open.
I enjoy doing everything with Hestia, even the mundane things, so I shouldn’t be surprised it still feels natural being around her now that we’re dating.
We soon get the plants transferred to their new pots and watered in.
I go to pick up one of the trays and accidentally knock into Hestia’s hand as we reach across each other.
“I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?” I say, already carefully checking her over.
“I’m fine, you barely grazed me. It was my fault anyway,” she says.
“I could have really hurt you. I’m too big, I need to take more care than a normal alpha,” I murmur without thinking,holding her hand up to the light to make sure I didn’t overlook a scratch or bruise.
Her skin is smooth and unblemished, faded tan still hanging on from long days in the summer sun.
“I thought I only had to worry about Orion overthinking things. Looks like I’ll have to keep an eye on you too,” she says, wrapping her other hand around mine.
“I could easily injure you if I’m not paying attention,” I say.
Hestia rolls her eyes. “Magnus.Allof you are bigger than me, you’re alphas. I know you’re on the upper end of the alpha scale, but we still fit together just fine. I don’t want you to stress about being close to me. You’ve never accidentally hurt me, and I’m not scared you’re going to.”
“But I might,” I say almost petulantly.
I struggle to take in her words. It’s a risk being with me…
Isn’t it?
I can’t think of a time when I injured someone. I can so clearly picture people flinching away, being scared or nervous when they see me. But none of those memories involve harming anyone.
Is it possible I’m not actually an inconvenience? A terror?
