Page 14 of Silver
I nodded, and after I parked beside his enormous truck, I turned off my car and reached back for the cake boxes. Silver had my door open and was reaching out, so I handed him the boxes and then climbed out of my car.
“I was reaching to help you, but I guess taking the cake did that.”
I chuckled. “You will never believe this, but I live on the other side of this neighborhood.”
Silver looked thoughtful for a moment. “Over in the little cottages?”
I nodded.
“Well, isn’t that ironic. Shall we go have that conversation?”
I grinned and followed Silver to the gate that led into his spacious backyard. There was a single light on beside the door, and Silver typed in a code on the keypad. I heard a click, and seconds later, Silver slid the door open and reached inside. The deck was immediately lit with strings of lights, and I could only stare in awe at this little outdoor oasis.
“I take it you approve.”
I grinned up at my mate. “How could I not? This place is amazing.” I suddenly found myself comparing my little cottage to Silver’s much larger house and, well, found mine lacking a bit. It was perfect for me, but would Silver be comfortable there? I guess that was something we would need to discuss.
“Come, let’s sit and we can talk. I’ll grab some drinks and light the fire pit for us.”
I nodded and followed Silver over onto the deck where he’d indicated. I sat down in a super-comfortable chair while he disappeared into the house. I honestly didn’t know if I ever wanted to leave his deck. This place was absolutely amazing, and I could see why he offered for us to come here and talk. It was private and very comfortable and inviting.
Unfortunately for me, my backyard was about the size of my little cottage: tiny. It worked for me and my koala, but yeah, I could only imagine how Silver would be uncomfortable in a place as small as mine. Even as a human, he was much larger than I was. And when you thought about my animal’s size and then his? Yeah, Silver definitely wasn’t going to be comfortable in my space.
Would he ask me to move in here with him? It was fast, but thinking about it, if he were to claim me tonight, it wouldn’t make sense that we continued to live apart. I pinched the bridge of my nose while shaking my head. I was definitely getting ahead of myself. We were mates, and we both realized and admittedthat. But that didn’t mean we were going to claim each other right away, did it?
I thought back to what Silver had said when we were still at the zoo.“I was under the impression that you were completely on board. We were talking about having sex, and sex usually leads to claiming when mates are involved. If I’m mistaken, I apologize. We can slow down if that’s what you need.”Everything about that screamed mates and claiming. Was that what I wanted? Was I ready for that?
Chapter Seven
Silver
I had only been inside for two minutes. Maybe it was a few more, but it hadn’t even been five minutes that Charlie had been in my space, and already, my gorilla was much more at ease than he’d ever been. What would it be like when he finally moved in? Yes, I was presuming, but the truth of the matter was if he lived in one of the cottages on the other side of the neighborhood, then that meant his house was super tiny, and I knew I wouldn’t be comfortable there. They were good for someone who was on the smaller side and who didn’t have a lot of things, but I had four brothers. They were all large like I was. They all liked to have family gatherings, and we rotated weekly.
I’d been so wrapped up in just having him here that I hadn’t even thought to ask Charlie what he wanted to drink. At the restaurant, he had ordered iced tea. I didn’t have tea of any kind. I had water, beer, and it was possible that Mica had left wine here, but I didn’t know if it was the kind that Charlie drank or if he drank alcohol at all. I opened my fridge and decided to graba few things. A pair of water bottles and a couple of cans of soft drinks. Maybe Charlie would want one of those. If not, I could make coffee. Most people drank coffee, didn’t they? There was definitely a whole lot I needed to learn about my little mate.
“I realize I forgot to ask what you wanted to drink. Do you drink coffee?” I asked as I came out the sliding door. I closed it behind me, walked over to the table, and set the drinks down. Thankfully, I had large hands and could hold all four of them. “That is, if you don’t like water or soft drinks,” I added. “Oh, and I have beer, and there is a bottle of white wine that one of my brothers left.”
Charlie just smiled up at me. “The water is fine, actually. I had two teas with supper, and I should probably drink some water at this point.”
I nodded and sat down in the other chair and then quickly got back up when I realized I’d forgotten to turn on the fire pit. It was propane fueled and turned on easily with a switch on the side. I loved to be in my backyard and had spent a good deal of money on things to make it cozy.
“Oh, that’s convenient. I’ve only ever been around ones that you had to put wood in. Yours seems much easier to use and clean up as well.”
I chuckled while nodding. “Yes. It’s quite easy to use and clean. Are you chilly? I can get blankets and light the heaters if you’d like,” I asked. It was in the upper thirties or low forties, but we were both shifters and wearing blazers over our shirts. I knew it would take a lot colder temperature for me to be cold, but I didn’t know about Charlie. He was a much smaller shifter.
“Honestly, if you lit the heaters, I should be fine. But I’m not really cold yet. That’s not to say I won’t chill off if we’re out here for a while. I guess it all depends on how long you want to talk.”
I nodded and quickly moved to turn on the four heaters that were at the corners of the gathering area that my deck furnituremade. They made it a perfect temperature in the rare occurrence of us getting snow in the area, so it should be nice and warm with it being above freezing. Usually, I spent time out here in my gorilla form and didn’t really have to worry about it too much. Sure, I could become cold in that form, but it took a lot longer for that to happen.
I sat back down and looked over to my mate. I was still trying to get used to that phrase. I had a mate. An adorable little one at that. I had no doubt that he was going to fit in perfectly in my life. My family was going to love him, and I could see my brothers being protective of him as well. But the big question was, would he feel comfortable in our family? Mine was loud and quite involved. From what I’d learned, Charlie’s family was only his sister, and I couldn’t imagine her being even a fraction of the chaos that was the Thompson clan.
“We were going to talk. What was it we were going to discuss? I think we covered the basics already, haven’t we?” Charlie asked.
“Mates. We were going to talk about me being protective and things like that. How you have a job.” I nodded at Charlie. “I have no issues with you continuing to work. None whatsoever, and any mate shouldn’t have an issue with that. I work. I’m not planning on stopping. For me to expect that of you wouldn’t be fair. Mates, or even partners, should be supportive of one another. They shouldn’t bring you down, and if they do, you’re with the wrong person.”
“So, I don’t have to quit? You’re not going to try and start dictating my life? What I can and can’t do? Then completely ignore me when we finally go out for a rare outing? I’ve had past partners that tried to do that. Others that did.”
I looked at my mate, baffled. “What type of assholes have you been dating?” I didn’t really care beyond the fact that they’d obviously mistreated Charlie. How though? From the little bitthat I’d gotten to know him already, he was incredibly sweet and caring. Why would anyone want to treat him like that?
