“I’m just a clever boy.” We both chuckled and crossed the bridge over the river that had given the town its name.
It was a cute little cafe with a bright pink door and an airy interior.
“Good morning,” the woman behind the bar greeted us. She wasn’tquitehuman with slightly sharper teeth and the greenish hue in her silver hair. “What can I get you, my dears?”
We both ordered their traditional Scottish breakfast and coffees and picked a table in a corner.
Lew joined me on the bench and settled his arm around my shoulders. He tried hard not to let it show, but the sadness hung over him like a dark cloud.
“This is the best,” he choked out and pulled me closer to his side.
“Lew, I’m not leaving,” I blurted out. I couldn’t stand seeing him suffer for another minute.
He froze, then inched away and let go of me. His huge black-and-white head turned around in slow motion and pure shock was etched on his features.
Shit, he doesn’t want me to stay. He—
Then my big, perfect Tiger burst into tears.
Lewis collapsed into my arms and hid his face in my neck where he drenched my jumper. I stroked his shaking shoulders, unable to speak around the lump in my throat.
When the server approached our table, I tried to give her a reassuring smile.
It’s all good, we’re just having a little existential crisis here.
She returned the smile, set the tray down, and went back to the counter to serve a group of people who had just entered and threw us confused glances.
It took Lew another five minutes to compose himself enough to sit up. He stared at me out of huge eyes. God, he’d never looked more adorable than at this moment with his watery eyes, runny nose, and the tear tracks in his fur.
Mine.
“Lew.” I reached out and took his hand in both of mine. “I had no idea how to tell you, and I’ve been—” I took a deep breath. This was it. I had to lay it all out for him right here in this slightly rundown seaside cafe. “I’ve been so scared that you’d pick Ollie if I made you choose. Fuck, no that’s not how I mean it. I don’t want you to choose. I love Ollie, and I know you two are as good as brothers, too, and I … I just want you,” I finished lamely.
Lewis stared at me for a long and very pregnant moment, then he palmed my cheeks and crushed his lips to mine.
“Oh Gods, Puppy,” he forced out between urgent kisses. “Don’t you know I would always choose you?” His rough tongue invaded my mouth, and I clutched his biceps to steady myself. Lewis was a great kisser. “I love Ollie like a brother, but you aremyperson.” He mewled softly and kissed me again so deeply I thought he’d have crawled under my skin if he could. Then he pulled away and held my gaze. “You. Are. Mine.” He accentuated every word with a gentle shake. “Do you hear me?”
I nodded.
“Words, Bright,” Lew prompted me with the tiniest smirk.
“Yes,” I breathed. “I hear you. I love you,” I added in a whisper and fresh tears spilled out of his bright blue eyes.
Once we’d finished our almost-cold breakfast, we set off on a long walk on the beach.
“You made a close friends list just for me?” He snorted and slipped his arm around my shoulder when I confessed this last secret to him. “Gods, Puppy. So no one …”
“No one actually saw the lewd content we made, nope,” I finished his sentence. “I didn’t want to share you with my followers like that. The other part of you is just for me.”
Lew tilted my face up. His palm cupped the back of my neck.
“And you are sure you want to stay here? Scotland is fucking miserable.”
“No it isn’t,” I said with a tiny shrug. “It has you. And you are my person, too,” I mirrored his words from earlier.
Chapter 37
Lewis
