“Why do you always assume I’m the one doing something?” I asked, pressing my hands to my heart and doing my best to turn my laughter into a pout and failing miserably if the increased giggles from my mates were any indication.
“I was just telling him to wake me as creatively as possible if he decided to let his hands wander tonight, since he couldn’t possibly do more than he’s already done by knocking me up.”
“Right!” Leo said. “As far as damage control goes, there’s no point in even bothering with it; he’s screwed us to the nth degree.”
“Now he gets to build new rooms full of furniture while I take pictures of him with all his tools to add to the baby books,” Mav said.
“Don’t you just love him being all domestic?” Leo asked as my mates beamed at me with twin looks of approval.
The praise they heaped on me every time I built something new or finished painting one of the rooms or adding wallpaper trim left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Knowing my mates were happy and felt well cared for and content in the home we were making together was proof that I was living up to the alpha role models I’d seen in action growing up. Coming home to them each night and hearing laughter trickling out of the den as they played cards while binging whatever show was their current obsession. They took turns introducing each other to something new, and me, when I was able to join them, which they insisted upon every night, no matter what else needed to be done. It was a routine we’d carried over from the cabin, along with feeding each other treats right before bed. There was such a soft, silly bit of domestic bliss that hit in moments like that. It left me feeling like I’d been wrapped in a warm blanket straight from the dryer.
“We should stop at Jacks n’ Jokers on the way home,” Leo said as he slid his phone over in front of Maverick. “They are going to be unboxing new expansion sets of Cards Against Humanity and Magic the Gathering. We should pick some up to infuse a bit of added spice into the games.”
“If by added spice you mean another elemental fire spell you can roast my poor paladins with, I am going to have tostart adding bits of blue to my deck to have a better chance of countering that spicy ass ball-lightning of yours,” I mentioned.
“Those do add a bit of sizzle to things, don’t they?” Leo chuckled.
“Yeah, more like a whole lot of char all over my knights, angels, and pikemen,” I complained.
“Thought you liked things extra crispy?” Leo shot back.
“My chicken, not my line of defense against that goblin army of yours.”
“My specters aren’t fans of those fireballs either,” Maverick added. “They barely hit the playing field before you blast them beyond the graveyard. Do you know how hard it is to have to discard some of my big baddies because there are no creatures left in the graveyard to sacrifice to them when I summon them? Damned difficult, let me tell you. Torched and removed from the game is damned excessive.”
“Which is exactly why I do it,” Leo pointed out. “Your legion of graveyard minions is almost as bad as Briar’s shiny silver cavalry.
Oh yeah, we got competitive while playing Magic, but it was all in good fun. In the short time we’d lived in our home, we’d amassed quite the collection of games, especially card games. Relaxing, hilarious, and utterly engaging, the games we played added to the bonding experience, as even Cards Against Humanity taught me interesting new tidbits about the way my mates’ minds worked. Even Mav, who I’d known more than half of my life, revealed secrets about himself during those games, including a level of crafty ruthlessness I’d never expected from him.
Leo was just surprising all the way around, this snarky-sweet blend of me and Mav who’d wormed his way beneath our skins right from the very beginning. Having him in our lives had just elevated the bond we’d always shared while uniting us inour love for him. Our love language was laughter, the cadence as beautiful as a song. Didn’t matter where we were, as long as we were together, we were home.
“I’m curious to see if they have any new games out,” I said. “Exploding Minions is even funnier than I’d hoped, and that Naughty or Nice game we snagged has definitely opened my mind to new possibilities.”
“In that case, no more games with ‘naughty’ in the title for you,” Leo said.
“No shit,” Maverick chimed in. “You don’t need any help in that department.”
“Says the most enticing mates in the world,” I grumbled. “How is that even fair? You can’t blame me for being naughty when you two sit there picking maraschino cherries up by their stems with your teeth just so you can feed them to one another.”
“Oh sure, blame it on the cherries,” Leo snarked. “All innocent and lying there dripping sticky sweet juice. Plump, inviting, and so, so delicious.”
Groaning, I just shook my head at him, glad we were alone in the kitchen because he was making me hard. “Uh-huh, the cherries might be innocent, but you two sure as hell aren’t. You’ve corrupted those poor unsuspecting fruits, and you don’t even feel sorry for it, do you?”
“Nope,” they chorused.
Chapter 20
Leo
“We need more blankets,” I grumbled, squirming around in our nest only to find that there was no spot plush enough to allow me to sink as far into it as I wanted to.
When I looked over to see Maverick propped up against one of the walls, laughing at me, I felt downright offended.
“How can you sit there and find it funny that our nest isn’t plump enough?” I complained, smacking a blanket since I was in no position to stomp.
If I had been, I’d have made sure to get both feet involved.
“I don’t find it funny that we still don’t have enough blankets,” Maverick insisted, not that it unruffled my feathers any. “I’m giggling because you sounded just like a snow leopard when you said that.”
