Page 9 of Walking in Darkness

“What’s going on? I can hear you thinking all the way into the bedroom.” Connie ran his fingers across Hudson’s shoulders as he sat down at the patio table.

“Kit. I was thinking about Kit, of course.” And everything that went along with Kit being their mate, but he didn’t mention that to Connie.

“Has something new come up since last night?” Connie asked, sprawling in his chair next to Hudson.

“No.” Hudson set his coffee down. “I was questioning myself, is all.”

Connie abruptly straightened in his chair. “What? In what regard?”

“Whether or not we should tell Kit he’s our mate. But that’s just my dragon being impatient. Kit has enough on his plate without us adding to it,” Hudson admitted.

Connie rested his hand on Hudson’s arm. “It’s not like you to question yourself.”

“I’m aware.” Hudson patted Connie’s hand before picking up his mug and taking a sip.

“So…?”

“I want Kit to know, but that’s me being selfish. I keep reminding myself we need to do what’s best forhim. He’s been subjected to so much since he was introduced to our world, and now Fate has paired him with two dragons.”

Connie contemplated Hudson before speaking. “One of which is a king.”

“And a thousand years old, which Kit has mentioned more than once,” Hudson said, frowning at the tree line before him. “I don’t know which is worse in Kit’s eyes—me being a royal or me being the age I am.”

“Well, the good thing is that you don’t look a day over forty,” Connie snarked.

Leave it to Connie to snap him out of his bad mood. “Brat. You want to end up in the pool again, don’t you?” Hudson threatened with a laugh. “And I don’t look much past middle thirties, so bite me.”

“Whatever you say, old man.” Connie snickered when Hudson lightly slapped him on the arm. “Hopefully, the activities today won’t be too much for you.”

“Just keep talking. Just keep digging that hole.”

Connie waggled his eyebrows. “And we all know how much you like holes.”

A startled laugh escaped Hudson. “Good grief, what are you? Twelve? Did you wake up horny?”

“You’ve met me, right? You ask that like you don’t already know the answer. Not to mention we have our mate in a guest room not far from here. Of course I’m horny.” Connie blew out a breath. “I dreamed about that kiss last night too.”

“You mean the one Kit demanded we do for him?” The dominant streak Kit had exhibited had surprised him. “That kiss?”

“Hell yeah. And let me tell you, that mouth of his should be illegal. The things he can do with his tongue.” Connieshivered. “If we keep talking about this, I’ll have to take a cold shower.”

“Changing the subject then.” Because if theydidkeep talking about this, Connie was going to end up over the table they were sitting at. Connie wasn’t the only one horny. “Do you have any suggestions for activities since Kit wants to hang around here?”

“He mentioned the pool, but I’m kinda in the mood to ski. Why don’t we take the boat out and do that?”

“Ski?”

“Ski or wakeboard. I’m good either way.”

Hudson kicked around the idea. A day at the lake sounded fun, and he could ask the kitchen to fix them a picnic basket. “We don’t know if Kit can ski or wakeboard.”

“If not, we can teach him, if he’s interested. Or we could take a couple rafts and just float around on the lake. Mainly, I’m trying to get away from the house,” Connie said, sipping his coffee. “You won’t have a day off if we don’t, and you know it.”

Connie was right. If Hudson was at the house, someone eventually would bring a problem to him. Not that he minded, but he deserved a day off occasionally. “We’ll run it by Kit and see what he says. But I like the idea of getting away from here. I was also thinking we could do a picnic.”

“Ohhhh, yeah, that’s romantic. I think Kit would like that.” Connie pursed his lips. “We’re supposed to be wooing him anyway, but that’s kinda hard to do since we don’t really know his likes and dislikes.”

“Don’t we, though? We know the kind of movies he likes. He’s a bookworm who has a thing for dragons. He likes to read, obviously. He’s trendy and likes jewelry. He mentioned he likes the outdoors. I think we have a good place to start,” Hudson said.

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