“Wonderful.Boneless,” I teased back.
He flexed his hips and grinned.“Me too…almost.”
Caressing my face with the tips of his fingers, his eyes smiled into mine.“Are you ready to get cleaned up?”
Back in bed, only one worry preyed on my mind.“Will you be here when I wake up in the morning?”
His voice was deep and sleepy in my ear.“You couldn’t get me out of here with a crowbar.”
I smiled as I nestled my ass into the cradle of his groin.I took a deep breath, and with my exhale my body melted into his.
Approval rumbled in his chest as he wrapped me up tighter.“That’s perfect, little one.Now, sleep.”
25
Bittersweet Familiarity
“Halloweenwasahugedeal for us growing up.”
Late Saturday afternoon, hot chocolate in hand, I wondered at the massive shift in my life.
And the return to the bittersweet familiarity of Halloween traditions we had allowed to fall by the wayside for so many years.Only a month out from Halloween, I was ready to continue with our family tradition.
With Daire this time.
“Yeah?”Daire squeezed me closer to him on Max’s large, comfortable couch.
“Huge,” I replied.“My mom and Noelle’s mom, Christine, were loopy about it.”
“We had some stellar costumes,” Max commented as he passed Daire one of the bottles in his hand and sat down.“We had themed costumes every year.Remember the year we went out as Cheetos?”
I barked out a laugh and grimaced.“That was the worst.”
“It was.In the dark, we looked like a bunch of dildos.”
“Hey!It wasn’t our fault!You guys picked the costume that year, Noelle and I just sewed them!”
“I thought it was your mothers who were loopy over Halloween?”Daire teased.
“They were.But Noelle and I insisted we could take over.The first year, we chose Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and required a costume rescue.The next year we opted for something simpler and ended up looking like a bunch of dicks.”I began to laugh.“Noelle and I made round cut-outs for our faces.We looked ridiculous.Emphasis on the dic part of that word.There are pictures somewhere.”
“I have them,” Max grinned.“I’ll pull them out when Noelle and Hawk get here.”
Conversation between Daire and Max flowed easily.They were close.Loved each other and shared a mutual respect.
I loved that for both of them.
Daire didn’t seem to have too many people he was close to.Just Max, his mom, and a few other friends from university I’d yet to meet.
Max had sequestered himself for so long I’d forgotten what he was really like.
This was going to be the best Halloween since we lost Hunter.
I wiggled away from Daire and reached for my notebook.“Okay!”I sat poised with my pen at the ready.“Costumes!”
“I thought this was planning for your event?”Daire mused.
I gave him big eyes.“It is.And we’re going to need costumes.”
