Page 56 of Clay

“Well, I have a meeting with a client at nine. They’ve been with us for years now. They want to upgrade their security ontheir property, so I’m going to go through that with them. We’ll go over details together, and then someone else will do the upgrades once the equipment comes in.”

I nodded. “That sounds… I’m sorry. That doesn’t exactly sound exciting.”

Clay laughed. And then kept laughing. He was still laughing when a familiar face poked his head in the office. I gasped. “Charlie!”

I tickled Clay’s ribs while he continued to laugh before I shook my head and went over to greet Charlie. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

“I’m not given an option anymore. Silver won’t let me out of his sight. I have five weeks left, but he won’t let me get too far. I came to bring you to his office, which he’s not using for the next hour, since Clay has a client that is here.”

I looked over at my mate. “Oh. Sorry.”

“Don’t be, sweetie. You’re welcome to stay here, but talking with Charlie is probably more interesting.”

It really was. “I’ll be in Silver’s office.”

“All right, sweetie. I’ll come get you when my meeting is finished. And you’re right. It’s not exactly exciting. But it’s stable, and it pays very well.”

I nodded. Clay kissed me, and then Charlie looped his arm through mine, and we left the office. “How are you doing?” I asked.

“Good. Ready to be done though.” Charlie sighed and placed his hand on his stomach. “These two have to be gorillas. There’s no way they’re this size and koala shifters.”

I smiled over at Charlie. I felt terrible for him. He was much bigger than I was. He was a couple of inches taller, and his build wasn’t quite as skinny, but I absolutely would not say that Charlie was a large person. And he was carrying twins. Of a giant. Silver was a few inches taller than Clay, but my mate wasa bit stockier. Absently, I placed a hand on my still basically flat stomach. I might be having terrible morning sickness, but I was incredibly thankful that I was only having one baby, and a little red panda at that. The thought of having twins terrified me.

“You know, I need to get you another set of gifts,” I said when we entered Silver’s office.

“What? Why?”

“Because when I got your gift for your baby shower, I didn’t know you were having twins.”

Charlie rolled his eyes before he carefully sat down. Those last few inches, he simply fell, and then he sighed. “You do not need to get me anything else. We have more stuff than either of them is going to ever wear. Let’s just say that Joyce has had a whole lot of fun buying all of the neutral twin things she can find. Of course, I have stuff for both, but I’m seriously thinking I’m carrying boys. There is just no way I’m this big and carrying a girl.”

I sat beside him and smiled. “Sorry. If you need anything, let me know. I’ll do what I can.”

“Nope,” Charlie said. “We’re going to sit here in Silver’s office and binge-watch something on the TV.” Charlie picked up the remote and pointed it at the wall. I watched as the TV I hadn’t noticed turned on. “What do you want to watch?”

“I honestly don’t care. Until I mated with Clay, I didn’t really have a whole lot of time to watch anything.”

Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. “All right. I know just the show. You like hockey, right?”

I shrugged. I didn’t dislike it. But as with every other aspect in my life, there wasn’t ever a whole lot of spare time for things. I got comfortable on the other side of the couch and settled in to watch whatever it was that Charlie had turned on.

Was this how I had envisioned my life? Nope. I had absolutely zero complaints though. I had a mate who loved meand I’d fallen completely in love with in return. His family was amazing and welcoming. And I was finally learning what it felt like to not always be in panic mode. It was…wonderful. And I couldn’t imagine not having Clay in my life. He’d done so much more than I had ever expected, but I had learned that my expectations had been way too low. I rubbed my stomach again. Not for her though. She would grow up completely opposite to how I had. And that was an amazing thought. My little girl would have all of the things I never had. She would have love.