“Mmmmmm,” Mav hummed. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Maybe,” I teased as I filled their glasses with the raspberry lemonade tea I’d made to go with supper tonight.
If we’d had wine, I’d have poured some, but that was the one thing we’d forgotten to pick up when we’d been snagging supplies. We’d laughed about it during the unpacking, because we’d each assumed the other was going to make the liquor store run and wound up with an alcohol-free retreat instead. Might be a good thing too, with them having gone into heat. While it was too soon to tell if any cubs had resulted from it, I’d never want to put them in jeopardy.
Peeling the tin foil back, I revealed the chicken cordon bleu I’d made, along with maple-roasted carrots and creamy mushroom risotto.
“Whoa,” Leo moaned, leaning closer and inhaling the steam that wafted up when I removed the foil.
Mav’s belly gave a loud rumble, which was more than enough praise and encouragement for me to pass him a serving spoon so he could start filling his plate. I passed the other to Leo, then loaded carrots onto my plate, the three of us rotating spoons until we’d gotten a bit of everything.
“This looks amazing,” Leo declared before digging in.
Mav was already chewing his first mouthful with a grin on his face. “Tastes amazing too.”
“You guys will have to teach me how to cook so I can take a turn in the kitchen too,” Leo declared. “You already work in oneall day; it isn’t fair for you to come home and have to cook there too.”
“We can always cook supper together,” Maverick suggested. “That’s the best way to learn how and gives us the chance to dance while we’re waiting for things to finish simmering.”
“I can work with that.”
“We tend to pack lunches to take to work with us too,” Maverick explained. “Once we get situated, we’ll be able to go grocery shopping together; it’ll be the best way for you to show us what you like.”
“Honestly, anything, especially knowing it’s not going to be the prepackaged processed shit I’m used to picking up.”
“Yeah, I’d planned to ask what you wanted to do about all those frozen meals in the freezer, since there is no way we are letting you get any use out of them,” I said.
“Umm, that’s a damned good question,” Leo muttered after he’d washed down a mouthful of food. “Leaving them for the next person seems kind of lame, like leaving a mess for someone else to clean up, so I think I’ll just pitch them in the trash now that you two have shown me a million and one reasons why I shouldn’t be eating them.”
“Good idea,” I said.
I’d forgotten the music and the playlist I’d put together, but there was still plenty of food left, and dessert, so I told the smart speaker to go ahead and start it now. AsWonderful Tonightfilled the room, I thought back to that first day with a fondness that had only grown since learning how important Leo was in our lives. Who’d have known being bopped on the snoot would be one of the best things to ever happen to me?
“It’s gonna be weird, leaving here tomorrow,” Leo mused. “In this odd sort of way, this place has started to feel like home.”
“It feels that way for me too,” Maverick said. “Our first home together.”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “The vibe here has been amazing but just look at it this way: in a few short weeks, we’ll move into our new home together, and we won’t have to leave it unless we somehow manage to outgrow it.”
“Which might happen with how hard it is for you to keep your hands off of us,” Leo quipped.
“You talk like that’s a bad thing.”
“Oh, it’s not a bad thing at all,” Leo said. “I’m just stating the obvious.”
“He does have a point there,” Maverick added. “You do seem to be addicted to having your hands, claws, and cock all over us. I doubt there’s a support group for that either.”
The words had no sooner left Mav’s lips when Leo chimed in. “And if there was, I could just see a line of mates storming the doors to the meeting and breaking that shit up.”
We laughed at that, the sound better than any song. Hell yeah, I was already addicted to them, and it was the best damned addiction in the world.
Chapter 17
Leo
Talk about a whirlwind week—Maverick’s mother had somehow managed to push all the paperwork through, so we’d closed on our house this morning, just ten days after we’d arrived home. My dads showed up two hours later, along with a crew of Maverick and Briar’s family members, and in less than four hours, all of our possessions had been moved into our new home. Now we were all headed over to Briar’s childhood home, where I’d meet even more people whose names it would probably take me several more meetings to remember, but that was okay, because everyone I’d met so far had been warm, welcoming, and completely unbothered about the whole me being a human thing.
Holy shit! The long driveway was packed with cars. They lined both sides, with a third row in the center, and yet there was still room for several more cars. I’d opted to ride over with my dad’s, following Maverick and Briar in Briar’s car, which led our procession of vehicles.
