Ottis gaped. Then he gave an ugly snorting laugh. “That sounds better than ‘resting bitch face’. But yeah! Maybe you do!”
“Well, it’s either that, or you think of me as a sentient seashore,” Doc said dryly.
“Sentient sea-whore!” Hijinks yelled from somewhere else.
Ottis groaned. “Both of those sound terrible.” But he gave himself a moment to think about it, slumping forward to lean against Doc. “Do seashores have... love rods sticking out of them?”
“Sea cucumbers exist,” was Hijinks’ shouted reply. “They squirt white stuff!”
Doc winced. Ottis opened and closed his mouth, horrified. “That wasnotwhere I expected this to go. But if your cock is a sea cucumber, then what are your pecs and abs?”
Doc protested, “It doesn’thaveto be a sea cucumber.”
“Limpet nipples,” Hijinks said. “Pecs as hot as undersea volcanoes. All you’re missing is the milk eruption.”
Ottis bit his lip to contain his laughter. But it burst out anyway, shaking his shoulders. “Oh gods. Do you find that offensive? Oh no. It’s so terrible.”
Doc sighed, looking aggrieved. He sobered soon after. “Are you going to leave me because I have a... resting beach face?”
“No!” Ottis flung his arms around Doc’s neck and clung on tightly. “You’re perfect.”
“Really?” Doc asked doubtfully.
“Really!” Ottis drew back, looking at Doc again. He studied Doc’s vulnerable, scarred face, tracing his fingertips down Doc’s smooth forehead to his equally smooth cheek, to where it became rough and mottled. His fingers snagged on the corner of Doc’s mouth, and he gently stroked those soft lips. “Maybe it’s because I know you. I don’t think you’re ugly or scary at all. You’re just you.”
And his heart thumped sure and true.
Doc drew a shuddering breath. “You’re going to feel the same way when we mate? If you’re looking at my face.”
Ottis pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I’d be happy to demonstrate.”
It would be different for sure, getting to see Doc’s face when Doc was inside him. Getting to see the pleasure in his eyes, on his lips. Ottis’ heart fluttered.
Next to them, Marcie sneezed.
Ottis and Doc startled, looking down at her in surprise.
“I completely forgot she was there,” Ottis said, feeling guilty. “Again.”
Doc slipped his arms around Ottis and hugged him close. “You’re in a safe place, safe enough to lower your guard. You can’t focus on everything at once, all the time.”
Ottis still felt guilty though.
Doc trailed his fingers over Ottis’ belly, distracting him. “Have you thought of a name?”
Since theirs was a mixed-species mating, there would only be one child, unlike a full litter from two wolf shifter parents.
“N-no. Have you?” Torn out of his guilt, Ottis looked up, only to catch the hint of a smile on Doc’s lips.
“I think you should be the one to decide, since you’re carrying the pup. You’re the one suffering.” At that, Doc’s face fell. “You’re the one with morning sickness and fatigue, sweetheart. I wish there was more I could do for you.”
“You rub my feet,” Ottis said. “I love foot rubs. It’s almost better than sex.”
Doc laughed. “I’ll do that as often as I can.” He reached down, cradling Ottis’ foot and working his thumbs into its arch.
Pleasure burst through Ottis’ body. “That feels amazing.”
“Good.”
