by Zoe Chant
“If she’ll have us,” Sorin added. “And a vote for Hannah Cole is a vote for helping us apologize to her really successfully—so it’s a vote for her becoming our mate, and when she’s our mate she’ll be a Gray, so really, a vote for Hannah Cole is a vote for a Gray.”
Radu glared at Sorin. “A vote for Hannah Cole is a choice people should make if they think it’s the right choice for them. In the same way that we want Hannah to make the right choice for her, whether to be our mate or not. Whatever she chooses, Hannah has the support of the Gray family.”
Radu turned his attention back to Mrs. McCullough and finished, “So a vote for Hannah Cole is a vote with the Grays.”
Sorin shrugged unrepentantly. “One of those, yeah.”
“Apologizing, eh?” Mrs. McCullough gave Sorin a thoughtful look while she deftly slipped some kind of little daisies into place in the bouquet. “You boys have been back in town for one day, how have you already managed to get yourselves on the hook for this big an apology?”
“Not being in town,” Sorin said, at the same time Radu said, “That’s private.”
Mrs. McCullough shook her head. “Do you even know what kind of flowers she likes? For when you need to make little everyday apologies?”
Radu stopped short and looked over at Sorin, who looked back at him, equally bewildered. Both of them tried frantically to think. There hadn’t been any flowers in her house or office, and nothing was blooming yet in her yard...
Mrs. McCullough pushed the bouquet she’d just finished toward them. “Daisies and black-eyed susans and chrysanthemums, color scheme starting at yellow and heading toward orange and bronze. Never too much red.”
Sorin beamed and reached for the flowers. “We won’t forget.”
Radu reached for his wallet.
***
By the time she walked to work on Friday, Hannah was passing through a gauntlet of signs with her own name on them. Not every house or business had a sign up—maybe half, maybe a little less—but far more than she’d expected.
Of course, last time she campaigned she hadn’t had the Gray twins visiting every house in town to tell people to vote for her. It had seemed sweet on Wednesday, but she’d also figured they would go through a hundred signs, or a single day of knocking on doors, and then come and apologize to her and wait to be rewarded for their efforts.
By the end of the day on Wednesday—after talking to Gus and receiving a bouquet of her favorite flowers—she’d been looking forward to rewarding them.
But they hadn’t turned up to apologize, or to say anything else. Hannah had spent a long night in her big, empty bed thinking about what she’d rather be doing and who she’d rather be doing it with.
Thursday night was the same. After she gave in and closed her eyes, imagining them touching her as she touched herself, she lay there panting and thought, I know where they live. I know how to find them.
She could call. She could tell them she’d changed her mind. Invite them over.
They would do it in a heartbeat. She had absolutely no doubt that if she just said yes, they would be wherever she told them to be, and give her whatever she wanted to be given.
But she didn’t want to be the one who had to chase after them. Telling everyone to give her the job she’d expected to be doing in all but name was sweet of them. It told her that they’d been listening, at least, to what she said about choices. But now they were offering that choice to everyone in town except her. She was still alone, still waiting for them...
Until she got to her office, and found them both standing outside. Her whole body pulsed with heat.
They were both dressed up today, in coordinating—but not matching—suits. Sorin had skipped the tie, his open collar showing a glint of white gold at his throat. Radu had his tie done up in a perfect knot, just a hint of gold revealed past the end of his shirtsleeve.
They smiled identical, dazzlingly happy smiles when they saw her, and she knew she was smiling back the same way.
For a second she wanted nothing but to invite them inside, straight back to the couch she’d barely been able to look at for the last three days. She wanted to kiss them at least, to tell them of course they were forgiven, of course she wanted them the same way they wanted her.
“Madam Deputy Mayor,” Radu said, very seriously.
Hannah found herself abruptly back in professional mode, even as her eyes kept tracing over the way their strong, fit bodies filled out their suits.
“Yes,” Hannah said. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”
For a second both brothers’ eyes went hot and intent. She knew exactly what she could do for them—and what they could do for her. She felt her pulse throbbing between her legs.
“Please do us the honor of scheduling a lunch meeting,” Radu said. “We’ve been remiss in not updating you on the progress of your campaign.”
Hannah blinked.
“Or,” Sorin said, “if that doesn’t sound like very much fun, we could go on a lunch date, because we’ve also been remiss in spending time with you and getting to know you properly.”
Hannah licked her lips. It would be their first date; she probably shouldn’t drag them home by their collars and have her way with them on their first date. Especially in the middle of the workday.
Especially when they still hadn’t told her they were sorry.
“What if I want both?” Hannah asked. “I’m not really a one-or-the-other kind of woman.”
Sorin grinned, and Radu’s lips twitched a little.
“Easily done,” Radu said. “You pick one of us to give you campaign updates while the other one flirts.”
He looked her slowly up and down, his gaze so fiery and intent that she could almost feel it caressing her body.
“Choose wisely,” he added.
Hannah looked back and forth between them. This was progress, at least. They’d come to her. They were asking her what she wanted.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said finally, stepping between them to get to her office door.
Over her shoulder she added, “One o’clock. Not the diner.”
***
Radu met Hannah on the front steps of the town hall precisely at 12:55. He meant to say something thoughtful, or at least explain where they were going and why Sorin had gone on ahead.
Instead, he blurted out, “You’re wearing our flowers.”
Hannah had tucked a couple of the tiny daisies into the knot of her red hair, and the blossoms perfectly crowned the trapped mass of red curls. More importantly, they were from the flowers Radu and Sorin had sent to her on Wednesday. It was a gift from them, and she was wearing them. Two of them.
She’s wearing our flowers, he reported to Sorin.
He was unable to think of anything else past the joy of his mate wearing a gift he’d given her. He knew that Sorin would feel it in exactly the same way.
Hannah smiled up at him and raised one hand to touch the petals gently. Radu wanted to feel those same fingertips on his skin so badly it hurt.
“Did you mean to say, my how lovely you look for our date, Hannah?”
Radu offered her his arm and tried to get himself under control. It didn’t help that he could feel Sorin bubbling over with eager, possessive happiness from six blocks away.
“You do look lovely for our date; you always look lovely. You are lovely. But now you’re—you’re wearing our flowers.”
“Goodness,” Hannah said, smiling wider. “Becca wasn’t kidding about the way you guys get when it comes to gifts.”
***
Hannah was amused to discover that their date-plus-campaign-meeting was going to be a picnic. It was a reasonably warm, sunny day and Sorin was already waiting for her and Radu in the park by the river. A blanket was spread on the grass, and both a basket and a cooler promised a thoroughly supplied lunch.
“This way it’s just private enough,” Sorin explained earnestly as he stood up to greet her. “No one is close enough to hea
r our conversation, but it’s not, uh...”
“Excessively tempting,” Radu put in dryly.
Hannah looked back and forth between them and realized that they’d all been thinking of the same ending for their first date. She felt that heat again, and raised her hand deliberately to touch the flowers she’d tucked into her hair. She couldn’t help feeling proud, as well as desperately turned on, at the way Sorin and Radu’s eyes followed her hand.
“We’re, uh...”
Sorin tore his gaze away and made an inviting gesture for her to choose a place on the picnic blanket. After she had sat down, Radu and Sorin took their places on either side of her.
“We’re going for a Goldilocks thing,” Sorin said. “You know—just right.”
“Because four years was obviously much too slow,” Radu explained. “And Tuesday was possibly a bit too fast.”
“Well,” Hannah said slowly, watching them watching her. “There were parts of Tuesday that I enjoyed. You kind of blew it at the end, though.”
Radu tilted his head, allowing her point. Sorin bit his lip and looked apologetic, looking from her to Radu before he said abruptly, “We’re really sorry.”
Radu sighed.
“No, come on, there’s such a thing as overplanning,” Sorin said quickly.
“Hannah, the point is—we’re really sorry. We’re not going to rush you, we don’t want you to make a decision today, or even forgive us right away, but it’s up to us to say that we’re sorry, and we are.”
He hesitated, shook his head a little, and said, “I’m sorry. I’m the one who saw you, I’m the one who knew, and I’m the one who turned and ran instead of even introducing myself to you. I made you wait and I hurt you and I didn’t tell you the truth and I’m sorry.”
Sorin held his hand out to her, palm up, and Hannah took it and squeezed, biting her lip to keep from rushing straight ahead to Yes, I forgive you, of course, come home with me right now.
She turned to look at Radu while still holding Sorin’s hand.
Radu was sitting very stiff and straight, as if trying to make up for Sorin’s sprawl. He was frowning down at his lap, but after a second he met Hannah’s eyes with a very serious expression.
“I am also sorry,” Radu said gravely. “Sorin trusts me to be the sensible one. I tell him when he’s taking something too far. I let this go on much, much too long—not even because I thought I might find some other mate of my own, because I never really believed there could be any other woman as wonderful as you for me—”
Hannah flushed. Radu wasn’t being charming, wasn’t even trying to flirt, but his way of delivering flattery as though it was absolute fact had an effect on her every time.
“—but because the idea upset Sorin, and I didn’t want to press him to do something that he felt conflicted about. I knew he wanted to be with you, and I knew he was trying to make sure I would be as happy as he would be. I let him down, and I let you down. We both...”
Radu glanced over at Sorin. He nodded in Hannah’s peripheral vision, squeezing her hand to endorse whatever Radu was about to say.
“We both made the mistake of thinking of each other first, instead of you. Now that we’ve met you, it’s a mistake we’re less likely to make, but I can’t swear to you that we won’t fall into it in subtle ways. It’s a very old habit, to think of ourselves as two. Three will be a challenge.”
Radu turned one hand palm up, barely extending it, and Hannah reached out and grabbed it, squeezing his fingers as firmly as Sorin’s.
“I think we’re up to just about any challenge together, aren’t we?” Hannah said. “I can take a turn being the sensible one from time to time—or the silly one, or—”
“Mayor, hopefully,” Sorin filled in, leaning toward her.
Hannah just grinned. It was awfully sweet of them, and she would love to be elected, but she knew it was an uphill battle. In the last two days a dozen people had told her to her face, apologetically or angrily, that they could never vote for anyone but a Gray.
“If you are elected...” Radu said in a measured voice.
Hannah looked over at him. She knew as soon as she met his eyes that he understood the odds, and shared her feelings about the election. She nodded.
“I hope you’ll consider me for the post of deputy mayor,” Radu said with a smile. “I doubt you’ll leave much to be done by such a person, but I’d be happy to assist.”
Hannah smiled. “But then what will we do with Sorin?”
“Mm,” Radu said. “He does need to be kept busy, or he tends to get into trouble.”
“Hey, come on, I keep myself busy just fine,” Sorin protested. “I mean, okay, Gray’s Hollow doesn’t offer a lot of options, but—”
“Public relations, maybe,” Hannah mused.
Sorin brightened immediately.
Radu tugged his hand from Hannah’s while Sorin rattled off his first several ideas for press conferences he could preside over. Radu unpacked lunch while Sorin reduced Hannah to helpless giggling, but when she started to explain what the public relations office actually did, she was a little surprised to find both men listening attentively.
“It’s not that glamorous,” Hannah interrupted herself, “I mean it’s just—”
“No, it’s important,” Sorin said at once.
“We need to know how the town works,” Radu agreed. “Please, tell us about it.”
So Hannah took a sip of lemonade and then told them more than anyone could actually want to know about the mayor’s public relations office.
***
“So? Have you locked her down yet?”
Radu and Sorin were in the foyer of the big house with Cara and their youngest brother, having just exchanged the usual round of hugs with Teo on his arrival home for the upcoming election. Gus was at the office, and Becca and Ilie were down at the elementary school supervising the kids making their annual presents for the mayor.
“Teddy,” Cara said, sounding a little scandalized.
“I—what?” Teo said, looking honestly bewildered, and then his eyes went wide. “Oh my God, Cara, I didn’t mean like—oh, God, someone make me stop thinking about that, I just meant—”
Teo swung back to face Radu and Sunny and said a bit desperately, “Have you proposed yet?”
Sorin couldn’t stop thinking about what Teo had accidentally implied either. Radu was thinking the exact same extremely distracting thoughts about Hannah, their hoard, and the best ways to secure one’s mate.
Radu had taken enough of the responsibility for being the good twin today, so Sorin dragged his brain out of that particular cave. “Not yet, Teo. We, uh...”
“There was a setback,” Radu said briefly, a chill settling over the fantasy. “We’re working on it.”
“A setback?” Teo sounded exactly as young as he was. “She’s your mate, right? Both of you? Find mate, decide, boom. Gus and Ilie were all—”
“Not a word, Teddy,” Cara said ominously.
“—engaged,” Teo said primly, with an apologetic look at his sister-in-law. “Before I even heard anything about it. What’s taking you guys so long?”
“We are giving the lady time to make her decision,” Sorin said. “Just because she’s our destined mate doesn’t mean she’s obligated to actually have anything to do with us.”
There was a little silence while all four of them tried to believe that.
Teo shook his head and said, “Yeah, but she’s going to, right? I mean—come on, she has to, right?”
“It seems likely,” Radu said. “But you will not badger her, Teo. You will not even meet her until election day, is that understood?”
Teo rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay, okay! I probably shouldn’t meet her until she’s picked you guys anyway, she might pick me instead and I’m way too young to settle down.”
Teo was only three years younger than Sorin and Radu, but he had never quite stopped being the baby of the family. Sorin reached out and ruffled his hair.
<
br /> “It’s good to see you when you’re not sticking your foot in your mouth,” he said, glancing at the messenger bag that seemed to be Teo’s only luggage—he still had plenty of clothes and things in his room of the family house. “Welcome home.”
Teo grinned. “It’s good to be back! New mayor, new baby in the family—it’s going to be a big week.”
Cara sighed and rubbed her enormous belly. “Any time this one wants to make an appearance, believe me, I’m ready. I’m getting jealous of dragon shifter women—I think I might have taken the egg option.”
Teo wrinkled his nose. “Don’t you have to stay in the cave with the egg, the whole time? Boring.”
“I’d take boring over getting kicked in the kidneys for the last four months,” Cara said. “And the baby’s so gold-hungry I have to carry half a hoard on me all the time anyway. When they’re in an egg, mates can take turns guarding them. Maybe your mate will be a nice dragon woman and you won’t mind spending half of nine months in your hoard, looking after your egg.”
Teo looked somewhere between disgusted and terrified. “Um, no, no eggs for me. Nieces and nephews are just fine!”
“Just one, for now,” Cara said. “Becca and Ilie aren’t sure when they want to get started, and I’m not going to be in a rush to give this one a little brother or sister.”
She glanced toward Sorin and Radu as she finished speaking, something a little speculative in her gaze. Sorin’s heart beat faster at the thought.
He and Radu were sharing the same thought again, but it was quite different this time: nesting in the hoard with Hannah and a baby with downy red curls—or a dragonet with tiny baby wings, almost translucent in the warm light...
“Oh my God, you guys,” Teo said, throwing his hands up. “Go ask her. This is just sad.”
***
Hannah had exchanged phone numbers with Radu and Sorin at the end of their picnic date, so she spent the weekend trading text messages and photos with them. Their youngest brother, Teo, had come home, so there were photos and selfies and a few joking texts from Sorin insisting that she must not like Teddy better than them.