Page 33 of Seducing Serena

“Hey, are you guys coming or am I going to eat all the pancakes myself?” Noah called from the doorway where he waited not so patiently.

“We’re coming.” Ford broke their hug and took her hand before pulling her along in his wake toward the hall.

Serena giggled as she skipped along between the men as they quick marched toward the cafeteria.

* * *

“Are you sure you’re going to be all right alone?” Noah asked as he sat the bag of snacks they’d bought at the gift shop on the table.

Serena looked at him and smiled, “I’m sure. You guys need to go do something fun, without the responsibility of keeping me happy. I’ll be perfectly fine here. It will give me a chance to read and watch a movie and recharge my batteries. We can go to the Dungeon tonight and play.”

He still wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but Ford seemed okay with it, so he gave in. “All right, but if you need anything, or get lonely or something call me. Okay?”

“All right. I promise,” Serena said.

She looked too happy at being left behind as Ford grabbed Noah’s arm and began to pull him out of the room.

“We shouldn’t be leaving her,” Noah said as they walked down the hall toward the lobby.

Once they were in the lobby, Ford stopped him and turned so they were toe to toe. “We’re giving her the space she needs. She’s not the social butterfly you are. She needs some time alone and we’re going to give it to her. If you really want her to be our third and join us in happy throupledom, you have to understand that there are times she will need to be alone to do her own thing. Now, you need to decide if you still want her as our third.”

Noah took a deep breath and nodded his head. “Of course I do. I’m just worried that she’ll get in trouble if one of us isn’t with her.”

“She promised not to leave the room until we get back. If she does, that gives us a reason to take her to the Dungeon, string her up and punish her,” Ford said with a smile that had Noah shivering in response. It was his evil Dom smile, the one that promised whoever they played with a very good, though painful, time.

“All right, but I still don’t like it,” Noah said as Ford took his hand and began to lead him across the lobby. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“We’re going to talk to Master Derek about a handfasting ceremony.”

Noah tried to remember what they’d discussed weeks ago about various ways of incorporating Serena into their marriage. The handfasting seemed like the easiest and most expedient since three-person marriages were not valid.

Since it was a Celtic ceremony and the fire department had deep Celtic ties, it seemed right to begin their long-term relationship with a handfasting. That gave them a year of commitment to figure out how to join Serena to them permanently.

They already had an appointment with their attorney once they returned home to change all their legal paperwork to include her in their wills, finances, and every other part of their lives.

“Can he do a handfasting ceremony?” Noah asked as they approached the man’s office.

“I can perform either a handfasting ceremony or a wedding, whichever you prefer,” Derek answered as he approached from the cafeteria. “I take it you’ve seduced Serena to your way of thinking?”

Ford waited until they were in his office with the door closed before he answered. He didn’t want word to spread through the community before they had Serena onboard with their plans.

“We haven’t asked her… yet. But we want to have plans in place so we can tie her to us before we leave.”

Derek nodded as he moved behind his desk. “Sound thinking. Once you return home, you’ll have more problem finding an officiant for a triad ceremony. Well, I’ll be happy to perform a handfasting for you whenever you like. Do you have everything you need for it?”

“What do we need?” Noah asked before Ford could.

He leaned slightly forward, interested in what Derek had to say. Maybe they should wait to make plans until after they had convinced Serena to join them. What if she didn’t want a handfasting?

All at once he was nervous, which was an unfamiliar feeling that he could admit he didn’t like.

CHAPTER19

Serena sat just inside the open patio doors and read her favorite author’s work. The breeze felt wonderful as it blew past her into the room. The squeals and screams and giggles coming from the pool had her glancing up more than once, trying to see who was having all the fun.

Though she wished she could be out there, she’d made a promise not to leave the room. But it was so tempting to change into her bathing suit and take a quick dip. The men wouldn’t even know. She just could not spend more than a few minutes out there. Just long enough to maybe swim a lap or two. Then she would come back and return to her day of solitude.

Looking around the pool area, she didn’t see anyone who looked like trouble. Just a group of Littles in their cute swimsuits tossing a beachball back and forth in the shallow end of the pool.

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