They finished with the main course when the topic of conversation turned to houses. A subject that had his mate internally groaning as his mom got up, only to return with a large envelope.
Conrad looked across the table when Kylo opened the envelope and gasped. “What’s up?”
“You bought a house!” Kylo muttered, his eyes never leaving the papers he held.
“No, we bought you two a house,” his dad corrected while Kylo’s mom retook her seat next to him, reaching out to hold his hand.
“A house… you bought us a house?” Conrad wasn’t sure what to think, and neither, it seemed, did his mate, which helped settle the flies buzzing in his ears. “I can afford to buy one.”
The tut that came from Mom said he was being stupid, and he blushed.
“He’s totally blushing right now,” Nori pointed out to the entire table, getting laughter from Mao.
“Leave him alone,” Kylo snapped, offering Conrad the papers he held. “It’s a block from here… is that okay?” Kylo held his gaze, his mind completely closed.
A silence descended at the table and Conrad took his time to consider his reply. They had spent all their time, when not battling evil, in this house. One that he’d been welcomed into. Welcomed into the family. Being close to this kind of acceptance, of love, he couldn’t be happier, and he said so. “It’s a wonderful gift. Thank you. And being close just means,” he turned to look at Mom, “I get to come home more often.”
The others drowned the sniff out, making gagging noises and laughing. Only Conrad never took his eyes off the woman who rose and came to wrap her small arms around him and hug him hard enough that it could have cracked a rib on a lesser man.
“You’ve gone and done it now. She’ll be bragging about you to everyone she knows, then folks will stop by to check you out.”
Alarm ran through Conrad at the very thought, and Kylo threw his head back, laughing hard. “It’s all right. They’ll get one look at my mate in action, and I don’t think unannounced visits will be a problem.”
The laughter continued along with the ribbing as Mom released him and then prodded Conrad on what Kylo meant.In our house, we’re going to have a playroom. Then we’ll see who’s laughing, Mon Bebe.
Bring it.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Conrad
Two Months Later
Moving into their new home and figuring out just how to live like a normal person had taken some adjustment. Mom had helped and Conrad found himself wandering to her home every couple of days when Kylo ended up having a work-related issue that no other fucker could deal with. Something Conrad had realized his first week working with Kylo happened often. His mate, it appeared, didn’t have a ‘no’ button.
His previous lack of work-life balance came from those around him, seeing him as an easy target to get shit done. It was an excellent trait, because Kylo was a doer.
The problem with that was it interfered with their downtime. Conrad was slowly introducing new house rules, ones that, if Kylo let himself get talked into breaking, found his ass in the playroom where Conrad reinforced them.
Going to the kitchen counter where Kylo was chopping vegetables to go with the meat Conrad had put in the oven an hour back when he’d gotten home, Conrad got distracted from where his thoughts had been heading. He eyed Kylo. His dark hair gleamed under the bronze hanging lights they’d fitted together. There was something different about him. He’d sensed a change in him over the last few days.
Was it the fact that they were taking an official three-week vacation?
His dragon snorted, while his lion made a kind of purring grumbling sound that made an odd excited trembling start in the pit of his stomach.What gives?
Scent him,his lion answered. A deep line appeared between his brows as he did as requested. Eventually, his nose picked up a combined scent that was part Kylo, part of him, but also something more.
Holy dragon’s breath!
“What are you plotting over there?” Kylo asked, lifting his gaze from the stack of vegetables.
“How are you feeling?” was Conrad’s reply as he stared intently at Kylo.
“What? Why you askin’ that? Is it ‘cause it took my ass a month to get me to apply for vacation time? It’s not that I don’t want time with you. It’s just there’s such a backlog of crap to catch up on.” He scooped up the vegetables and threw them into the pan sitting on the stove. “And I wanted to chill with you, and not worry about the pile of work I’m gonna come back to.”
At the lack of any mention of anything else, Conrad’s gaze skimmed down his mate’s body, looking for changes. Seeing nothing, he grinned to himself.
This is going to be fun.
