“Good morning. How are you feeling?”
“All right, I suppose.”
“Coffee is ready, but if you would prefer something else, please let me know.”
“Coffee is fine,” I assured him.
He frowned, rather than accept my attempt at placation. “What would you like instead?”
I chewed my lip, debating if I wanted to say or not. On the rare occasions when Tyler and I crossed paths in the morning, I always poured myself a perfunctory cup of coffee and hid my actual preference so he didn’t make any comments about it being childish.
“I have a variety of tea,” Alve offered. “Orange juice, hot chocolate…” He must have caught my expression, because he nodded and pulled out a container of hot chocolate powder. “I can pick up some proper chocolate if you would prefer that melted in milk.”
“I’m simple, I promise. I love the powder.”
His gaze fastened on me putting together my drink. We had the same espresso machine at home so I knew how to steam the milk.
While I worked, Alve selected some canned cat food, lining them up neatly. “I wasn’t sure what to get. Will any of these work?”
“They’ll probably like the salmon one the best. It was sweet of you to get things for them. I really can’t thank you enough.”
He brushed off the sentiment. “If they’re well cared for, you’ll have less to stress about. They deserve luxuries as much as the rest of us so I snuck out this morning to get some extras.”
“Thank you.” I’d probably said that to him a dozen times last night too. He’d prepared the cats a can of tuna in water, served up in his soup bowls for their dinner while the rest of us ate our pizza. It wasn’t ideal for an everyday food, but Poppy and Pepper had certainly enjoyed their treat.
I watched Alve dutifully hand wash their new bowls, filling two with food and another with water. Silly as it might sound, watching him dote on my cats was making my stomach clench. I hadn’t anticipated what a turn on gentle care might be.
My scent betrayed my thoughts and Alve looked over at me with a blush on his cheeks. Another door opened, disturbing our quiet moment. Jude walked out with a yawn, moving straight to my side. He was in his pajamas, too, red plaid pants and a plain white tee he’d borrowed from Alve. Apparently our host kept extra items on hand in case his family ever forgot any essentials, which led to my scent matches in adorably identical outfits.
“You’re awake early.” Jude kissed the top of my head and wrapped his arm around my shoulders before giving Alve a wave. “Is this your normal wake up time?”
“Earlier than usual, but not by much. Hard to sleep through hungry babies.”
“I bet,” Jude said with a chuckle.
I didn’t bother to suppress my purr as I leaned into Jude. He was still frustratingly scentless, but at least I got to indulge in the warmth of him.
“Help yourself to coffee,” Alve told him. “I was going to wait for more of us to be awake to start breakfast.”
“For some reason, I didn’t expect you to know how to cook,” I said, tilting my head to examine him.
“I know the basics, or at least what equated to basics in my home growing up. I suppose they’re not things that would be common in others.”
“Like what?” Jude asked.
“My parents’ household is Swedish and Japanese, so we ate a lot of fish, often for breakfast. I didn’t want to assume any of you would like that.”
“I could get down with it,” I assured him. “I’ve never tried it this early in the day, but I’m open to new things.”
Jude nodded. “If the others aren’t a fan, they can make pancakes or something.”
Alve’s blush got even darker. He bustled around the kitchen, getting a rice cooker going, lightly seasoning his fish of choice and tucking it into what I now realized was a specific oven for this purpose. He sliced tofu and prepared a pot of miso soup with a practiced hand. Alve whipped together some scrambled eggs that he seasoned, pouring it bit by bit into a fancy rectangular pan, rolling the egg over and over itself, and I watched it all in rapt fascination.
By the time Nathan and Leo joined us, we were ready to dish up. They looked too cute in their pajamas, all matching what Jude wore.
“I don’t know what you’re making, but it smells great,” Nathan announced as he wandered into the kitchen with a yawn. “Damn, this looks fab.”
“Thank you,” Alve mumbled.
