Page 15 of Naughty Elf: Alfie
“Pisces suits you, though.”
“I think so anyway. I like it better than Peter,” I mumble my given name.
Alfie’s eyes go wide. “Like?—”
“Yes, like Peter Cottontail,” I groan out.
“Pisces is much better.”
“That’s what I think.” Too bad I’m not really a Pisces, but a Taurus, but Taurus didn’t feel like the right name for me.
The server brings out our drinks. Water for me and sweet tea for Alfie. We put in our orders and the server leaves us again.
Maybe I can be brave. Share with Alfie more about myself than even Yolanda knows. “I don’t tell people this, but my biological parents gave me up. They were both rabbit shifters and… well… rabbits tend to havegiantfamilies, procreating until they just can’t anymore. I was their last, a single birth, number twenty-two, and they decided I was the one they couldn’t keep. Apparently, twenty-one kids were all they could afford. So, they gave me away.”
“I’m sorry.” Alfie strokes my hand.
“It’s fine. I got a letter when I turned eighteen explaining it all and my family history. I didn’t go looking for them, they haven’t come looking for me. It is what it is. I don’t care for the most part. But it makes me feel guilty about wanting a large family. What if?—”
Alfie squeezes my hand. “You’re allowed to dream big.”
“I never thought I’d find someone that would understand me, so I’ve kept to myself. Never dreamed about having the family I want. Which is about seven kids, if I’m being honest. And I… I’m not a virgin, but the only sex I’ve had is heat sex in clinics with random alphas assigned to me.” My face heats. My heart pounds. No one knows any of that. A cold sweat prickles my brow as embarrassment floods through my body.
The color drains from Alfie’s face and I pull away. I’ve scared him. He doesn’t want that many kids. He thinks I’m a weirdo.
I push to my feet, ready to hightail it to the bathroom to cry in peace.
“Pisces.” His soothing voice brings me down from the brink of panic. “Please stay. I know you’re upset, but for the life of me, I don’t know why. There’s nothing embarrassing about what you’ve shared with me. And…” He nibbles his bottom lip and looks at me through his lashes. “Seven kids sound perfect,” hewhispers. “I’m an only child and I’ve always been envious of my fellow elves with siblings.”
I drop back into my chair and stare at him. “You really wouldn’t mind seven kids?”
He shakes his head. “I used to help in the North Pole daycare when I had free time and loved every minute of it. I think if I weren’t so good with calligraphy, Santa would have transferred me to the daycare unit permanently. But, uh, I’d have to rein in what I spelled out with the alphabet magnets around kids.”
“They wouldn’t have understood what you spelled out.” I bite back a grin, but when his stunning smile beams back at me, I can’t help it.
“I hope you brought your appetites!” the server says as they bring out our food.
The warm scent of freshly baked rolls and roast beef fills my senses. We both dig in and I moan into my first bite.
“I don’t usually have big meals,” I confess. “Certainly not with sexy alphas.”
“Life with me will be… different. Let me paint the future for you.” Alfie wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Pieces of Pisces is so busy you have to have several employees to help run it. I’m your promo manager. You do your thing and keep the whole place running the way you like it ran. When we’re ready, we’ll start a family. The shop will sustain all nine of us or more, however many kids we have. We’ll go on adventures when the kids are old enough. We have loads of friends. And most of all, we’re deeplydeeplyin love.”
“Sounds beautiful.” I sigh and take another bite. What would a future like that be like?
“It’ll be hard work, but we’re both hard workers.” The determined look in Alfie’s eyes tells me he really does believe his words. Maybe I can too.
“I’m willing to give it a go.”
“Really?” Alfie has a roll poised to his lips, and he drops it. “You want to?”
“I want to see where fate takes us. I want to see this vision played out.”
We chat as if we’re old friends. Alfie is the easiest person to talk to and the longer we talk, the more at ease I become. Just his voice calms my itchy brain. Usually I’d be anxious, ready to dart out of the restaurant as soon as possible, but with Alfie, I want to just be with him. We share a dessert and before I know it, we’re back at my car.
Without even thinking, I hand him the keys.
“Can I kiss you, Pisces?”
