When she arrived at the library her co-workers had gathered around her desk, watching her with interest.
“What's going on?” she asked.
“Nothing,” her boss replied, her voice holding a hint of anger. “Seems like you have an admirer.”
She walked into her office. There sat a gigantic mixed flower arrangement in a crystal vase so large it took up her entire desk. The flowers had been chosen in her favorite colors of pink and purple.
She dashed forward to grab the card on the bouquet hoping against hope. Realistically, she expected that they were from the only man that ever sent her flowers, which was her brother.
Her fingers shook as she tore open the envelope to glance at the tiny card inside.
This is only the beginning. The note said.
It was signed from Kane and Blake
Her heart did a quick flip and butterflies took flight in her chest. A new wave of excitement flooded her system.
They hadn’t forgotten her. More than that, it sounded like they didn’t want things to end with just one night. From the note, she was sure that they were ready for more. Maybe they were not so worried about the friendship with Marcos getting in the way.
“Who’s it from?” her nosy boss asked, her voice pure acid.
She cleared her throat, shoved the card in her pocket and smiled. “My brother.”
Privacy was important to her. She cherished her personal life and didn’t need anyone poking around trying to figure out what she did during her free time or who she was dating. As it was, Tom had shown up a few times to offer to take her to lunch and they were already under the impression that he was her boyfriend. Denying it only made her look like she had something to hide, so she didn’t.
Her boss and co-workers had enough to say about her weight without her telling them that she might be seeing two men at the same time. All hell would break loose. It was difficult to work with judgmental people. Not that she cared about their opinions in the least. But she had to work with them and it could make her job, something she loved to do, very difficult.
Everyone moved away from her desk as if nothing had happened. She knew that things were going to be different even if it was only for a little while. Now it was only a matter of time to see how they could make things work in relationship of three. At least until her two wolves found their third.
Her phone rang and a glance at the screen showed her brother’s face.
“Hi, Marcos. How are you?”
“I'm great. How are the pups?” he asked, his voice coming in and out as if going through a massive static storm. Reception was bad so she knew that he was likely out of range and calling the moment he'd gotten a couple of bars.
“They're good.” She sighed. “I checked on them this morning and I went over there yesterday afternoon like I told you I would.” He loved to question everything. He’d been gone for all of a handful of days and she knew he was thinking she hadn’t been minding the dogs.
“You could have stayed over at my place if you’d wanted to.” His words sounded like an accusation. Yep. He really thought she didn’t know how to care for his pups. Something she did every single year.
“No, I'm okay.” She ground her teeth until her jaw ached. “I prefer to stay in my own place and your puppies like to run around a lot.” Puppies. Hah. More like evil dogs from hell. She’d been tackled to the ground yet again. Usually, she had better luck keeping them at bay. This time, they’d made it their mission to get her on the ground and keep her there like a chew toy.
“They have a doggie door, you know?” he said in that you-don’t-know-what-you’re-doing tone of voice that made her want to scream. “They come and go as they please. All you have to do is feed them and make sure that they're okay.” There was a short pause and then he added, “If it’s too much for you I can ask someone else to do it.”
“Marcos, shut up! I know what I have to do. You don't have to remind me. You act like I’m a little kid,” she snapped.
“What's your problem? I never said you were a little kid. I just wanted to make sure that you can handle the dogs.”
Right. The dogs. He’s so worried about the dogs but he was the reason Blake and Kane had never gotten more than ten feet near her. She narrowed her eyes and glared at her computer screen, her anger rising by the second. “You know you can be a real jerk. It's a wonder why I care so much about you.”
“Maybe because we only have each other,” he said, as if that explained everything in the world. “Have you seen Blake and Kane? I asked them to keep an eye on you while I was gone.”
Oh she’d seen them all right. She’d seen a whole lot more than what he probably expected her to. It was funny how for so many years she'd wanted so badly to be between both men and now that she had been, she wanted nothing more than to be there again. Every single minute of the day felt like a hardship, thinking of them being so far away, but having to work cataloguing books.