Page 35 of Alpha's Sunflower Smiles

Ty’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Um, no? Not that Wilfred’s not great because he is, and he’s very attractive, but I’ve really never noticed him like that. I’ve kind of got my hands full already, you know? Alder counts as at least two people, what with all the energy he has and all the trouble he gets himself into, and Ronnie has at least two people’s sex drive.”

The alpha began to blush and, I had to admit, it was adorable. I began to feel much more warmly towards Ty.

“Perhaps we could pretend I didn’t just over-share?” he suggested.

“That’s fair. I apologise for being blunt.”

Ty shrugged. “I’m used to it with Alder. So when did you and Wilfred get together?”

“Last night.”

“Ah, that explains it. Still brand new, huh?”

I nodded. I was fighting the urge to go back into the workshop and put my hands all over Wilfred again.

Ty helped focus me. He looked around at the bag of equipment he’d brought in and said, “Why don’t we get this CCTV set up? That way, you can be sure Wilfred is safe all day.”

Those were the magic words. All my attention turned towards the prospect of making my man’s shop safe for him to be in. It was the best outlet for my protectiveness that I could get.

With a nod of gratitude to Ty, I said, “Thanks for understanding. Why don’t you tell me what you want me to do?”

He grinned and came over to the bag and began to unload things, spreading them across the counter.

We had just got everything out of the packaging when the door to the workshop opened and Ronnie’s head peeped out. He turned and called over his shoulder, “No, they’re not fighting. I think they’ve bonded.”

The door snapped shut again and I finally had the sense of humour to snigger. My instincts had settled, now that I was sure Ty wasn’t coming on to Wilfred and now that we were making Sunflower Smiles more secure.

Ty said, “Guaranteed, Alder sent Ronnie to check on us because he’s so cute neither of us could stay angry if he came into the room.”

“I see what you mean about having your hands full. I’m happy for you.”

Ty’s eyes went soft as he thought about his boyfriends and I realised that he’d never looked at Wilfred like that. “Thank you. They’re the best. Even when they’re bossing me about.”

Having spent ten minutes with Ty, actually talking to him and working together, I had a much better handle on him now. I suspected that what he meant by that was that they were the bestespeciallywhen they were bossing him about. I’d never met an alpha like him, at least not one who was happy to be themselves openly, and I wondered whether Ty was unusual or whether I’d just had a very small, stereotypical social circle before.

Ty began to chat.

“I’m glad for you, too. Not to put too fine a point on it, I’m happy for Wilfred that he found someone who takes such good care of him. He’s probably the most generous man I know. He gives away a lot. Not just physical stuff – although I’ve heard Richard harangue him for doing that more than once – but he gives his time, too. He’s here today just because Alder wants to learn about pottery. He deserves to have love.”

I tensed. I hadn’t said I loved Wilfred.

Although… I had knotted him.

And, yeah, who was I kidding, I loved Wilfred.

It was just I’d rather I told him that first, before everyone else went around mentioning it.

Ty paused. “Sorry, did I overstep?”

“No, don’t worry about it. I just realised I’ve been very slow about this whole thing. Everyone else seems to have moved on in our relationship much faster than we have.”

Ty chuckled. “Yeah, but Alder’s been bugging me about setting Wilfred up for ages. We just couldn’t work out who he liked. He smiles at everyone and it took me ages to realise he was just happy to see everyone and wasn’t flirting.”

“He’s not that good at noticing.”

Ty snorted. “You can say that again. Still, you managed to make it clear enough to him.”

“Yep,” I said, and let myself feel smug about it for a moment. I’d managed to seduce Wilfred and he was now officially my boyfriend. And, if being explicit about what I wanted was the way to make it clear to him, I could keep doing that.

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