Chapter Eighteen

Hemlock

The three of us woke up at weird intervals all night. I talked to her while Grendel slept. He and I talked while she slept.

She and I had a conversation before the sun rose.

"Good morning," I said once she opened her eyes. She raised her arms above her head and let out a tiny whimper as she stretched. Her all-covering satin pajama top had ridden up her belly and rested in a bunch right below her breasts. Goddess how hard her nipples were underneath the thin fabric.

"Morning. Again. Mmm, what time is it?"

I turned to get my phone from the nightstand. "Seven. A little before. How did you sleep?"

She laughed and turned to see Grendel waking as well. He was a bit of a bear in the morning. "Aside from waking up every couple of hours to have strange conversations with you two? Phenomenal, actually."

"Good. I was thinking some breakfast and then a tour of the house and maybe you'd like to see our shop?"

Her eyes really opened then. "I'd love that. And I'm starving despite the feast last night."

"Good. I can make…" My words were cut off by my best friend. I knew that even the hint of a thought about food would wake his ass up. Nobody wanted my dry, overcooked scrambled eggs. No one. We were trying to keep Poe, not have her running for her life.

"I'm up. I've got breakfast." He leapt from the bed and stretched before jumping back into bed and peppering Poe's face with morning kisses. The goofball. He didn't kiss her on the mouth, and neither had I. When we did, it would be at her prompting. Our first kiss with our mate would be incredible.

"I thought you said you weren't a morning person," Poe giggled as he got back on his feet. "You told me that one night when we were texting."

"That was before I had a beautiful female waiting on my food. Come on, you two. Coffee." When we didn't move, he stopped walking. "Come. On."

"Jeez," I said, giving her cheek a kiss before rolling out of bed. She followed me and fixed her pajamas, pretending not to notice my prominent morning wood.

"Um, yeah. Breakfast. I'm gonna use the bathroom first and meet you in the kitchen."

I winked at her. "I'll go to my own bathroom. We don't know each other that well yet."

I heard her laugh as I used my bathroom and went to the kitchen. "Tell me what to do, Gren. I want to help."

"Make a pot of coffee. I've got blueberry biscuits in the oven along with a frittata. Do you think she likes sausage or bacon? Ham?"

"She likes sausage patties." Poe's voice came from behind us. "Because the links freak her out for some reason. But if you don't have them, it's okay."

Grendel arched one eyebrow. "I have turkey, pork, and chicken. Pick your poison."

Poe cracked up. "Did you buy everything at the store?" She peeked into the freezer.

"I wanted to make sure you had everything you liked and wanted." He shrugged and surprisingly, she wrapped her arms around his torso.

"You did. And I'm a wolf. Any meat is fine with me."

"Coffee's done," I said, interrupting them. They were having a moment and while I could've been jealous, I wasn't. I was happy for them. Between the both of us, we could give Poe the love and care she deserved.

I hoped she felt the same way.

She had to. Fated mates weren't one-sided. If we felt she was ours, then she had to realize we were hers.

"Coffee!" Poe came over and poured three cups and pushed ours away since we took them with no sugar or creamer. "At least try some creamer. It will change your life."

We relented. How could we not?

"Oh, that's good," I said, picking up the bottle of her white-chocolate-raspberry creamer and assessing the stuff.

"See? A little sweetness never hurt anyone."

"I'm learning that," Grendel said, winking at her.

Soon, our table was filled with a big vegetable frittata, rich blueberry biscuits, sausage links, and our new light-brown coffee. We ate well, and there were only a few biscuits left, which Poe staked a claim on.

She could claim anything she wanted around here, as long as she stayed.

We gave her the tour of the house, and her exclamation of love for it was sincere. We demons could scent a lie from a mile away.

"How about we go see the horses? See our workshop?" I asked after being thoroughly pleased that she loved our home.

"That would be great. I'd love to see what you do."

We all got dressed in jeans. We put on T-shirts, and Poe did the same, except she made a T-shirt look like sexy fashion.

The horses took to her immediately, despite being a wolf. "I love them. Can we ride them one day?"

"Of course. Another day."

We showed her around the shop. She asked a lot of questions about how we demons got along with horses even though we'd dispelled that notion a while back. I loved her curiosity.

We didn't have the forge going but our shop was warmer with her around.

Grendel excused himself to feed the horses. I lifted Poe by the waist and hefted her on top of one of my counters while I continued answering questions.

"Hemlock, one more question."

"Ask away," I said, chuckling.

"When are you going to kiss me?"

I let out a long breath and walked over to stand between her legs. "I told myself that if you wanted to kiss me, it would come from you."

"It's coming from me, Hem. Kiss me."

I cupped her face as her lusty scent got stronger, nearly making me mad. She leaned down and, once her soft lips touched mine, my world crumpled in the best way possible. My mate wrapped her arms around my neck and scooted to the edge of the counter, pressing her core against my stomach. I pulled back, licking her lips, begging without words for entrance. With a sexy little moan, she opened her mouth. My hands roamed her form, coming to a stop right above her ass. Kissing was one thing, but she hadn't given me permission to touch the rest of her body.

I was a respectful demon.

"Ahem." Grendel cleared his throat behind us. I pulled back, even though I didn't want to. "What'd I miss?"

Poe laughed and hopped from the counter. "Come here, Grendel. I was hoping you'd come back."

"I'll go start some lunch. You two have fun."

Sure, I could've stayed. Grendel wouldn't have minded and once we took her, mated her, we would do it at the same time, but these first kisses and moments, well, each of us needed time with her alone.

She was ours. Only a matter of time.