Page 113 of Home: Posy 5

"No," I whispered. My lungs settled down, but my eyes streamed with tears. "You're too much for me, and I'm not enough for you. "

"Look at us, Yolanda," the twins demanded.

I shook my head, my ponytails flying wildly around my head.

"Baby girl, don't you trust the Goddess? She believes we belong together. Can you at least give us a chance?"

"Why? You'll just crush me and I'll just disappoint you. You're like that huge, roaring bonfire and I'm a small, quiet candle."

"Oh, my sweet Yolly." One of the twins chortled softly, and I really wished I could see which one it was, but I still had my eyes closed and my hands over my face. "We need that small, quiet candle to teach us how to be kind and gentle."

"And you need that huge, roaring bonfire to teach you how to burn all the obstacles between you and your dreams."

"What do you know about my dreams?" I whimpered.

"You love giraffes," one of them began. "Every year for your birthday, all you ask your dad for is to make a donation in your name to save the giraffes. You dream of seeing one in person someday."

"You also dream of going to Paris," the other picked up. "You don't speak a word of French, but something about Paris calls to your heart. You want to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and sit in front of the Rose window at Notre Dame and shop along the Champs-Élysées."

He even pronounced it right, and a tiny smile tugged up my lips.

"We know you're shy," the first one whispered. "We know you don't like attention. We know you're a gentle soul. Give us the honor of protecting that small, steady candle."

"How do I know you won't blow it out?" I whispered back.

"You don't. No more than we know if you'll dump a tanker of water on our roaring bonfire."

"I wouldn't do that," I protested, my eyebrows puckering a bit with indignation. "I'd never try to make someone be something they weren't."

"And that's exactly how we feel," the second one murmured. "We have fears, too, Yolly. Can you see us as individuals? Can you even tell us apart? I get tired of being asked, 'Which one are you?' all the time. I want my mate to seeme."

"And while you have to trust that we'd never do anything to snuff out your little flame," the first one added, "we have to trust that you'll let us burn as bright and high as we want to."

I thought about that for a minute and realized they were right. Boys, even ones as loud and proud as these two, also had vulnerabilities.

Finally dropping my hands, I bit my bottom lip and slowly opened my eyes.

Beckham and Bowie Hall knelt in front of me, their serious, tawny gazes fixed on my face.

"Trust us just a little bit, Yolly," Beckham said quietly. "We won't crush you, and you could never disappoint us."

"Please don't reject us," Bowie added. "Give us a chance, baby girl. Just one?"

"I was never going to reject you, but I'm scared. We seem like such opposites. How can this work?"

Bowie lifted one hand and held it out. Slowly, I put my pudgy fingers in his and sucked in a sharp breath when the mate sparks jumped and danced between us.

"Will you try something for me?"

I raised a skeptical eyebrow, but nodded, which made him smile. And if that didn't make my heart skip a beat! Say whatever you wanted about the Hall twins, but there was no denying they were as handsome as angels.

"Ignore how different we are for a minute and think about what we have in common. My brother and I are hardworking and honest. We treasure our family and our friends. We don't lie, cheat, steal, bribe or backstab. We enjoy learning, exploring, and helping others. We want to be seen and valued as individuals, not as one unit. We like pups and kids and want a bunch of our own. And our mate is going to be the most important person in our lives."

He trapped my fingers with his thumb, then brought them up to his lips. Staring up at me through his eyelashes, he pressed soft kisses to each of my knuckles, and heat filled my cheeks as my insides twisted tight.

Those sultry eyes are lethal!

"Now, does that sound like we're so different in the areas that really matter?" His lips brushed against my skin with each word, and I shivered.

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