“Until I get out of my head. Now that the curse is removed, I can shift at will, each body part individually if I want. I’ll shift my arm and tap you when I’m ready to shift back. Okay?”
Maverick kisses me, slow and sweet, and I almost get out of my head from the feel of his lips. “Okay. Let’s get your clothes off and you can shift in your old spot.”
This time, while I undress, Maverick doesn’t look at me with lustful eyes, and I’m thankful. I need to think about how to get through all this, how to live a normal life in this new future.
Once I’m naked, I walk over to where Maverick placed me when he moved in and I shift. My arms elongate and curve into a horizontal position as my back stiffens. My legs fold in an awkward angle, tilted up toward my chest until they’re prone.The handle used to pull up my foot rest appears as an extension of my body.
I internally sigh. Blissful nothingness. When I’m a recliner, I don’t have to think, I don’t have to do. I can justbe.
After a minute or so, Maverick pulls a book from the shelf and comes over to me. “Can I read while you think?” He breathes a laugh. “Not like you can answer. Sorry I didn’t ask before. I’m going to assume it’s okay and if it isn’t, let me know, please?”
I wish I could tell him that he can do anything as long as I bring him comfort. If he wants to read while I’m in this form, I welcome it. His warm weight on me will help keep me grounded so I can calm my overwhelming thoughts.
Maverick sits, and if I had a mouth, I’d sigh, long and low.This, my life is complete like this. Soon, I’ll shift back to my human form and work through my shit and the world that’s changed around me. For right now, I’ll allow my mate to draw his comfort from me while I try to calm myself enough to think about our future clearly.
Perfect.
ten
MAVERICK
After Cade’sdisastrous day a few days ago, he’s been working hard to figure shit out. It hasn’t been easy for him, but he’s also not freaking out when he doesn’t understand something. But I explained to him the same way he explained some things about shifters—some stuff just is what it is and I’m not able to explain it. He seemed to like that explanation and is trying to learn so he can answer his own questions.
He mastered the laptop quickly. Apparently, he’d used a desktop a few times when a rich guy he knew bought one for an obscene amount of money—for both the seventies and today’s dollars. Cade had some questions about how the internet worked, but when I showed him how to use Google, he looked it up himself and got the answers he needed.
Cade is really fucking smart. Like his brain works faster than I can keep up with. He absorbs information like a fucking sponge. He grasps things quickly, he just doesn’t like to be thrust into a situation when he doesn’t know enough about it.
After he looked up the menu for the local coffee shop online, we went back and he was much calmer, able to order his drink and be at ease in a bustling environment. I’ll never forget thelook of triumph on his face when they called his name for his order, like he did something right and he was proud of himself.
I was proud of him too.
He’s been at my place for the past two days while I’ve been at work, and every day when I came home, I half expected it all to have been a dream—that my recliner would still be in the corner near the bookshelf, chilling in all its mustard-yellow glory.
But every day when I walk in, he’s sitting on my couch, reading some kind of manual, or fiddling with my game console.
Today when I get home, I’m so tired I can barely lift my feet. One of the other bakers was out sick today, so I had to take over their workload. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I started my walk home. I lucked out when I found an apartment a ten-minute walk from my apartment, but it’s not such a good thing when I don’t have the energy to put one foot in front of the other.
Cade looks up from the video game he’s trying hard to play but immediately drops the controller when I drag my tired body inside. “Maverick. You okay?”
I weave over to the sofa and plop down, leaning back to rest my head against the backrest. “I’m fine. Tired. Usually, Sawyer can give me a ride home, but he’s working late today.”
“I’m sorry. Would you like to rest on my recliner? You can put your feet up on my foot rest.”
I shake my head. “No, I’d rather cuddle with you as a human if that’s okay?”
Cade opens his arms, a wide smile on his face. “More than. You can lie on my chest for a little while, then you can shower while I cook dinner.”
I usually take a shower as soon as I get home—baking can be sweaty work—but I can’t muster up the energy today. In a few minutes, I’ll peel myself from Cade’s arms. But not right now.
I sink into him, sighing when my head lands on his pec. He rubs my back and kisses the top of my head. “What did you bake today?” he asks, sniffing at my hair.
I half-heartedly smack at his arm. “Don’t do that, I smell gross and sweaty.”
“You smell sweet. Like candy.”
I grin before I crack a wide yawn. “We had to make some eclairs for some kind of office party. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we had an extra set of hands. But one of our chefs was sick, so it landed on me and another chef. She’s as tired as I am.”
“Eclairs. I remember those. Can you teach me how to bake them on your next day off?”
