feet the moment she ran through his door.
“Problem, princess?” he asked as he pulled her into his embrace.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight. Mikayla shivered in his arms for a moment and then seemed to relax slightly.
“Not anymore,” she said as she sighed and leaned against him.
He wanted to ask what had happened, but it felt so nice just to hold her that he set the questions aside. After a short while, he moved back into his chair and pulled her onto his lap. She was quiet so long he wondered if she’d gone to sleep until she finally lifted her head and looked around his workspace.
“Nice office. What do you do?”
“I handle the finances and contracts mostly. Occasionally, I help Ryan and Ty in their lab, but for the most part, I do the administration work. Basically, I’m the guy who gets to pay the bills.”
“Oh,” she said, seeming more interested than he would’ve expected. “I’ve always loved numbers, mathematics, bookkeeping, accounting…” She trailed off when she noticed the smile on his face. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” He tried to control the silly grin he could feel on his face. “I’ve just never met a woman interested in what I do. Most people think it’s pretty boring.”
“Really?” She seemed surprised by his words. “I know…well, I knew quite a few female accountants and bookkeepers back on Earth, but I suppose that would seem strange to a man who lives on a planet like this one.”
“Actually,” he said grinning broadly, “my brothers and I are only here on contract—a three-year geological survey mission and environmental impact study. Once we’re finished here, we’ll pack up and move on to the next planet.”
“So where were you born? Where did you grow up?”
He laughed at her enthusiasm, happy to indulge her curiosity. “We actually grew up on Earth. Our parents still live in a small town in Nevada, where polyamorous relationships are the norm.”
“Polyam…?”
“Polyamorous. It means multiple partners living in a committed relationship.” He decided she looked really cute when she was confused, but tried to explain more fully. “In our family, we have two mothers and three fathers.”
“So your brothers?”
“We know which mother gave birth to each of us, of course, but our dads are brothers, so no one knows for certain whose father is whose.”
“So sharing me with your brothers…?”
“Wouldn’t bother me at all.”
She smiled and bit her bottom lip, and he felt he understood the direction of her thoughts.
She hesitated before asking another question. “Would it bother the others?”
He had a pretty good idea she was referring to Matt—maybe Peter also, but mostly Matt. “Ryan and Ty always share, and Brock and Lachlan are both Doms, so sharing a woman is fairly standard for them. As for Peter, none of us are sure of the details, but he was engaged to a woman on Earth for a while, but something happened, and he’s been avoiding any sort of emotional entanglement since. Maybe that’s something you can help him to overcome.” He said the words before he realized the truth of them. Sharing a woman as sweet as Mikayla might just be what Peter needed to heal from the hurt of the past.
“I’m not so sure about that,” she mumbled against his chest, and he gently lifted her chin with his hand so he could see her face.
“Did he do something?” John asked, a little surprised at the anger that surged through him.
“No,” Mikayla replied, shaking her head vigorously. “No, he just said that he won’t be…ah…requiring my services.”
John smiled and pulled her closer once more. “Peter may think that’s what he wants.” He shrugged, trying to convince himself to stay out of Peter’s problems, yet added, “But a few months with you around, well, I’m fairly certain you can change his mind.”
She nodded against his chest and was silent for a while. Eventually, she whispered the