I grabbed a few tubes of paint and some other supplies. When both of our arms were loaded, Graham followed me out to the porch.
I put everything down on the outdoor table while he set up the easel and stepped back inside long enough to grab two coffee cups.
“What are you going to paint?” he asked, curiosity in his voice as I took a sip of the coffee.
It was perfect. The man may as well have been a professional.
“You. Go ahead and take your clothes off,” I said, gesturing to his pajama pants without cracking a smile.
He grinned and took a seat on the couch. We’d spent enough time together for the man to recognize when I was teasing him now.
“I was going to paint the view. Someone mentioned wanting to hang it above the couch. I’m not sure why you’d want to look at a painting when the actual view is right there, but I have no complaints about it.”
Graham had brought up wanting me to paint that a handful of times while my wolf was in control.
“Who wouldn’t want a double dose of this view?” He gestured toward the lake. The sun was rising over it, and honestly, it was stunning. Peaceful and idyllic in a way that made me understand his desire for a painting of it a little more than I suggested.
“That’s valid.” I sipped my coffee and got my supplies ready while Graham looked out at the lake. He looked so peaceful, I kind of did want to paint him.
Landscapes were my thing, though, so I’d start with that.
“What do you think the future will look like for us?” Graham asked me, after I started.
“A few weeks from now, or a few years?”
“Both.”
I considered it for a minute while I worked. “I think in the next few weeks and months, our mornings will look a lot like this. Coffee on the porch while the sun rises. Paint too, when I feel like it. When you leave for work, I’ll package and ship orders, other than the one day a week I’ll be at the university. We’ll spend our afternoons together, and our evenings with the pack when we feel like it.”
“Damn.” Graham’s voice was quiet.
Almost wistful.
“Is that a good damn, or a bad one?” I asked.
“Good. I haven’t let myself think about what it would be like to have a mate in years,” he admitted. “I want that future. Badly.”
“Well you know I’m all in. My wolf already bit you.”
“That means she’s all in, not you.”
“She’s harder to convince than I am. I probably would’ve screwed you by Thanksgiving.”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t have protested.”
I smiled. “I don’t know what things are going to look like for us a few years down the road, but I hope they stay the same. Chill, morning coffee and lazy afternoons. Painting. Just taking life slow and enjoying it as much as possible. What do you think the future will look like for us?”
“Happy.” His response was easy, but the simplicity made my smile wider.
“That sounds pretty good to me.”
I painted my way through the cup of coffee while we talked lazily about our lives before we met. When our stomachs growled, I put my palette in a plastic storage bag to keep the paint from drying out, and we made breakfast together.
We sat side-by-side on the couch while we ate, enjoying the lingering peace. When we were done, I leaned back against the couch. Graham draped his arm over my shoulders, and I closed my eyes.
“I should call Jade,” I said. “And the university.”
“Tomorrow.”
