Just seeing how hard Daniel worked to make Henry at ease earned him a lot of points in my brother's book, even though he'd never say it. And as much as a strange pair as they made, they were also somehow perfect. Sitting on the couch facing the newly purchased, much larger TV, Daniel dominated most of the couch with his big, bear shifter body, but kept himself against the far end, since Henry didn't always like being touched.
I stood for a moment, just staring at my amazing boyfriend. The gray at Daniel's temples, weaved into his auburn hair, had been spreading a bit lately, but somehow, it made him even more handsome. He wore a dark blue buttoned-up shirt that emphasized his huge arms and narrow waist. Henry, on the other hand, wore a t-shirt with characters from his favorite video game and the same style gray shorts he'd been wearing since high school. His frame was easily half the size of Daniel's, and yet, he radiated dominant energy any time he played his games. When it came to them, Henry could take down just about anyone, anyone except Alice.
“Well, hey guys.” I realized I was standing in the doorway like a fool, grinning and watching them, so I shook myself and closed the front door. “Having fun?”
Neither of them spared me a glance as Daniel held the video game controller up and turned it awkwardly while mashing down on a button with his thumb and screaming, “I’ve got you now!”
Henry snorted. “You don’t have anything.” My brother was quite the smack talker. Wow. He did at least spare me a glance as I walked past them toward the laundry room. Probably because he wasn't trying that hard against Daniel. He didn't need to. We both knew he'd win either way. “Hey, sis.”
"Hey."
"Darn it, move, mage! Do something!" Daniel yelled, working his control faster.
My smile widened, and I had to swallow down my laughter. It was nice to see Henry at least not slaughtering Daniel in the game. When Henry was a boy, he lost a few friends because he felt the need to always give one hundred percent when playing against someone else. His friends didn't want to be humiliated every time they played, so they just stopped playing with him. It took years for me to get him to understand that he wasn't wrong to always want to play his best, but he then had to understand why others didn't want to play with him. So, he started slowly working on giving other players a chance at least. It'd helped him to make some gamer friends in town, and online.
One of those friends being Daniel. Although the big bear shifter could probably handle it if hedidget destroyed every time.
“Glad to see you’re corrupting my—” Ah, crap. I’d almost said boyfriend. Boyfriend sounded so high school. So much like puppy love. I turned my head and mumbled something, hurrying into the laundry room. Hopefully, Daniel and Henry would think they just hadn’t heard the last word of my sentence.
I got my clothes in the wash and walked out of the laundry room and through the kitchen to find Daniel and Henry giving each other a hard time.
“One more minute,” Daniel said, puffing out his chest. “I would’ve killed you for sure.”
My brother, who spent half his life on these games and almost certainly would’ve won no matter what, threw himself back against the couch and laughed uproariously. “Never gonna happen, my friend. Never.”
Daniel set the controller down and shot me a wry look. “It could.”
Even I had to chuckle at his forlorn face. “It’s okay,” I said in an attempt to comfort him. “You can’t be good at everything.” My humor was a little forced, understandably, because of the encounter I’d had not long ago.
Daniel opened his mouth to say more, then studied me with that look in his eyes. The one that said he knew something was up.
Turning to my brother, he said. "Got to go spend some time with the girlfriend."
"Girlfriend?" I asked, feeling my cheeks heat.
"What? You can call me your boyfriend, but I can't call you my girlfriend?"
He could. But for some reason after so many years of having the title of “wife,” girlfriend sounded weird. Yet I’d let Daniel call me anything as long as he wanted to be with me. And I definitely preferred girlfriend to ex-wife.
"I'm going to go," Henry said, then rose and headed for his bedroom, his expression telling me that he had completed what he wanted to do out here when the game was done.
I turned back to Daniel, feeling a bit flustered. "Aren't couples supposed to agree they're a couple?"
He lifted a brow. "You wanting to keep your options open?"
I laughed. "No. I've seen the options out there, thank you very much."
"So, girlfriend then?"
"Boyfriend then," I told him, then tucked some hair behind my ear, feeling strangely like a high schooler with a crush.
“Hey,” Daniel's tone changed to one of concern as he rose from the couch and walked toward me. “What’s wrong?”
I sighed, not used to having someone who cared. But now, I knew I could unload my troubles on Daniel, and he wouldn't mind. He’d do his best to help me with them. “It was just a long day.” I thought about my quick shower at Beth’s. “Let me go freshen up and then I'll tell you the whole story."
Daniel beamed. “Go for it.”
After running up the stairs, I went straight to my vanity and quickly applied a bit of moisturizer and eye cream. I didn’t need makeup at this point. Daniel had been spending a lot of time over here when my cases and his schedule allowed. He’d been working a lot with the local wolf pack and their young alpha, trying to help them get back on track. That took up about as much time as my many cases with Beth had. So he’d seen me without all the lipstick and coverup already. I didn’t have to spend hours prepping myself for him, which was really nice.
