Chapter 13 #2
I wonder if he knows the other shifter’s name at least, but if he did, why wouldn't he just tell me who it is?
Then again, Four Corners might be a small town, but it's not so small that I know literally every shifter who lives here so a name wouldn't be much to go on if he did tell me.
Besides, it doesn't matter, what matters is having my own place where I can luxuriate in the shifter I really hope will agree to be my girlfriend when she wakes up.
Gillian: Thanks, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.
Harvey: Sounds good.
The time on my phone catches my eye and I grimace as I set it back on my side table. True will be home any minute now. Looks like if I still had any lingering hopes of sending Winny home before my family walks through the door, that ship is about to set sail.
I brush a stray lock of hair off her face, curling the tip around my fingers absently as I consider what to do now. Should I bother waking Winny so she can go home or just go back to sleep and leave my worries about what comes next for an awkward morning after talk?
I've almost convinced myself to snuggle closer and sleep when I startle nearly out of my human skin at the sound of the front door opening in the silent house.
Trudy's home right on schedule. A stampede of footsteps and sleepy kids babbling about their day and begging for bedtime ice cream makes me smile.
Their voices blend into a familiar background sound and it hits me how much I've missed seeing the kids today.
I missed them, but it's the way I miss them when I'm at work and I realize I'm excited to see them at family dinner, or for weekend plans.
The kind of missing I can handle when I move out and see them a little less often.
I'll just have to make our time together count more when I visit. That makes me smile. It feels right.
Winny stirs next to me. Ah, yeah. My normal household noises aren't so normal to her I guess. She yawns and stretches, hesitates when her leg bumps into mine then grins as our eyes meet and she remembers where she is.
"You let me sleep over, treasure?" She sits up in the bed and tries to finger comb her hair into a semblance of order. "It's really dark in here, huh?"
"Not quite. I mean, you did fall asleep and the window's small, so it's never super bright in here, but I like it that way.
" I gesture to the tiny basement window over my bed.
There's a shrub near it that blocks a lot of light during the day too, but considering the sun went down hours ago, that's not really the issue here.
Still, I reach for my bedside lamp since she wants more than moonlight to see by.
I guess she's in a hurry to get home. That's more disappointing than it has any right to be considering I was just debating whether to send her packing.
Still she's looking ready to bolt and I want to calm her down. "Hey, no rush, it's only nine."
"Nine?! Featherdust, never mind sleeping in, I missed my lap time and I'm going to be late for—" Winny throws back the covers and moves to hop out of bed before I grab her wrist to cut into her panicky rambling. "What are you doing?"
"Sorry." I let her go and hold up both palms to placate her since the glare she shoots me looks like it's got aspirations of murder. “To be clear, nine at night, not in the morning.”
"Oh. Featherdust. So, not late at all. I’m sorry." Winny slumps back against my pillows, the anger leaves her in a whoosh of breath. "Okay. So I might've overreacted a bit there?"
"A bit? If you're in that much of a hurry to leave I won't stop you.
I'd never try to keep you anywhere against your will.
I just wanted to get you to pause long enough to give you a bit more context.
Cause it might be awkward if you charged upstairs half-dressed while my niblings are in the kitchen having a bedtime snack. "
"I see." Winny curls her knees to her chest and pulls my covers over her face. "That would only be slightly mortifying."
"I mean, they've seen adults shift, so it's not quite as bad as if I introduced them to a static human girlfriend fresh from my bed, but not super ideal either."
Winny pops her head up from the impromptu blanket fort, grinning from ear to ear in a way that has me wondering what I said to cause such a sudden flip in her mood.
"You called me your girlfriend." Winny's smug declaration changes her entire posture. I swear she looks like a damn peacock displaying the prettiest plumage with the way her chest puffs up and her chin tilts down, all coy pride.
Well then. That's one way to ask. 'We are an ambush predator, neatly done,' my inner octopus chimes in, pairing the approval with a mental flash of her prowess hunting fish who never see her coming.
I groan and send back the image of a cloud of ink to obscure a retreat back to safety. Her dry chuckle rings in my head as she settles back away to let me focus on Winny.
"Aw, you did! And you meant it too, that's why you're not trying to take it back, isn't it?" She is smirking at me, like she's relishing the way I'm squirming beside her.
"Yeah. I said it and I meant it."
Winny nods sagely, then tips my chin gently toward her with one finger. I expect a kiss when she leans in closer, but she stops a breath away from my lips. "Well, my dearest treasure, you can't just declare something like that. You have to ask me."
Oh, that demand might just be the thing that completely undoes me. She doesn't waver in making me ask for what I want though. And that makes it easier, her steady grip on my chin, the expectant hope in her eyes as she watches me struggle to put it into words. All of it is…devastatingly perfect.
"I want you to be my girlfriend, Winifred, if you'll have me?"
"Yes." Winny kisses me. Chaste and firm and leaving me panting with the want for more when she pulls back.
"So, are you introducing me to your sister tonight or should I try to sneak out without waking the house in the morning?
I really do have an early lap time and I'm meeting a friend for breakfast at the diner afterward.
It probably makes more sense for her to go home. My normally territorial octopus wants her here and I want to sleep beside Winny tonight. "Stay?"
"Of course. We should get cleaned up before bed though. And I need to borrow a charger so my phone has enough battery to wake me up on time, if that's cool?"
"Yeah. very cool." I agree, almost too distracted at the sight of her bare ass swaying as she walks toward my bathroom to actually process her request. Whatever she wants, if I've got it, it's hers to use.
Every part of me is all in on the sense of wonder that she's my girlfriend and I get to kiss her and touch her and watch her.
She pauses in the doorway and glances over her shoulder at me.
"Hey, girlfriend?" She grins at me, and oh I like when she calls me that too.
"Uh huh?" I ask, sounding totally love-drunk to my own ears. Winny just seems amused at me though.
"You want to come in here and help me find stuff?" she asks.
"Yep, be right there." I get up to join her, she doesn't have to ask me twice. Any excuse to spend more time in her glow.