“I promise I won’t lie to you again,” Mathlin said. “At least, I’ll make an effort to try.”
“Sounds good to me,” Titan rumbled. When Mathlin peeked at him again, the alpha wore a pleased smile.
That made him all warm and gooey inside.
The car slowed down, pulling up behind the bakery—where the ‘magical healing cock’ banner was still hanging above the back door.
“That’s a terrible place to hang that banner,” Mathlin blurted. “Why would you put it right above the back door?”
Hamilton cackled. Titan’s face turned pink.
“Whereelsewould you hang a banner about a cock?” Hamilton wheezed.
Mathlin groaned. He got out of the car and opened the door for Titan, then unclipped Jannie from her car seat. She stirred when Mathlin shut the doors.
“Have fun baking, children,” Hamilton cried, waving a frilly handkerchief. “I shall retreat to my bed for some beauty sleep.”
“Thanks, Ham,” Titan said.
“Read each other some pickup lines!” Hamilton yelled as he sped off. “There’s more in there!”
“More...?” Titan eyed his bakery as though it had suddenly grown teeth. “I don’t feel ready.”
Mathlin laughed. “But you’re a big strong lawyer alpha! Can’t you just lawyer the pickup lines into submission?”
Titan snorted. “Those pickup lines? They defy all logic. They can’t belawyered.”
“I can’t believe there’s something that can beat a lawyer,” Mathlin said, shaking his head solemnly.
Titan nudged Mathlin’s side, smiling softly. Mathlin’s heart skipped.
Hurriedly, he stroked the keyhole on the back door. “Hey, it’s me, Titan’s new minion. Please let us in?”
The keyhole curved into a smile; Mathlin inserted the key and opened the door.
Inside, the bakery was dark and still. He turned on the lights to chase away the shadows, gently placing Jannie in her playpen so she could go back to sleep. “Okay, what are we doing first?”
“Cupcakes,” Titan said, his gaze soft as he watched Mathlin arrange the stuffed toys around Jannie. “We’ll start with a small batch. When I’m satisfied with them, we’ll move on to frosting, and then do a few bakery essentials.”
“Okay,” Mathlin said, straightening his shoulders. “Let’s do this.”
Actually,before they got down to baking, Mathlin made Titan sit so he could push some healing magic into Titan’s injuries.
“I’m going to focus on your broken bone,” he said. “It needs less work to heal completely, and when it does, you’ll have an arm to do things instead of having none at all.”
“Thanks,” Titan said.
It was slow going to make bones knit back together. They healed slowly because there was less blood flow to them, and Mathlin had to convince Titan’s body to pump more blood to his arm so it would have the nutrients to patch up the breaks. But he also had to pace himself, so he would have strength to bake afterward.
“Hey,” Titan said when Mathlin pulled his hands away. “Sit down and eat something.”
Mathlin frowned. “But the baking—”
“You just spent a lot of energy healing me,” Titan said, gentle but firm. “You fainted on me yesterday; we’re not doing that again.”
Chastised, Mathlin nodded and went to the fridge for some leftover bread and jam. “Do you want some, too?”
Titan grinned. “Why don’t you be my hands? I’ll teach you how to make some great toast.”
