Page 18 of The Griffin, the Tiger, and Their House Cat Omega

“That’s not how mates work. That little girl is gonna have three people spoiling her rotten. Trust me, they will be all about her too. I bet they didn’t even try to talk you out of it when you said you were leaving.”

I hadn’t thought about it that way.

Had they not cared about her, they definitely would have, right? We were going from a three-way to brunch. That was a pretty big leap.

“That makes sense.” Zevo took a long sip of his tea. “She’s a good kid, and you’re a good uncle. Let them be your good mates.”

“Let—I will,” I promised.

“And I—I’m gonna get going, but if you need me to watch the kiddos anytime, I can. Or I have a list of sitters.”

“Kiddos?” Last I checked, Flora was one tiger.

“ Well, there’s Flora now. And I have a feeling you’re gonna have a whole entire house full.”

“Maybe we could take a few steps back, considering we’re not even mated yet.”

“I’m just saying, the offer is out there.”

And off he went.

When I climbed into bed a half hour later, all I could think about was having the two of them in there with me. Not even for sex—although, yes, for sex—but just their warmth and their scent, hugging me all night long.

It sounded absolutely delightful.

And Zevo was right. Why would they be upset about Flora? She was a part of my life. We were a package deal.

Short answer: they wouldn’t.

Chapter Twelve

Matthew

I woke early, and at first thought everything that happened must have been a dream. Was it only yesterday that I attended the sales meeting that sent me into a whirlwind of emotions, none of them good. Five years of avoiding shifters for my mental health, and I was going to have to step into a club run primarily by shifters. During the time when they were open and filled with a whole lot of shifters. I had nightmares less frightening.

And then, I arrived at Animals and was wrapped in Fate’s magic. The only thing harder than going to the shifter club yesterday was leaving at the end of the evening. But I understood why we couldn’t all stay together there and then. Flora would have been right in the next room, and she had not been informed that we were all mates yet. Although I thought she was more aware than we gave her credit for, we had to do this right.

We had a lifetime together and the fact I woke up with morning wood that threatened to poke right through my sheet was no excuse for bad acting. I sat up and pushed my feet into the fluffy slippers I loved and wore even though it was not cold enough to need them either in Florida or here. Shuffling to the bathroom, I stopped and smacked a hand to my forehead.

Not only was the night before not a dream, I had a date with both of these men for breakfast and then we were going to see what the day brought. That meant a PTO day. But I couldn’t just do that online when my boss was going to want to know how my meeting went the night before.

The meeting I didn’t have.

I picked up the phone and dialed Bob’s cell number, unsure how I was going to handle this.

“Matthew, just the person I wanted to talk to.” I hoped he felt that way after I told him what I did or at least a version of it that didn’t reveal my personal life at this time. “I just heard from Zevo the manager of Animals. You made quite an impression on him. Your appointment wasn’t even with him. How did you manage to level up like that?”

“I had an opportunity to meet him, and he was very interested in hearing about our program.” I wasn’t a salesman for nothing.

“Amazing. He wants you back there later in the week to give details to their purchasing agent, but sounds like we have a good chance of getting the account not only locally but the other locations as well.”

“I guess I don’t need to give you a report then. That was very nice of Zevo to call, and I will do my very best at the next meeting.”

“Good job. Tell you what…do you have any appointments today?” he asked.

“No, I was going to work in the office, make some calls, but no actual meet-ups with any clients, why?”Please don’t say you have something you need me to do.If he did, I was going to have to play sick.

“You take the day off and go play golf or go to the beach or whatever you want to do. It’s a beautiful day and you’ve earned a reward.”

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