What a foolish question. “It looks dirty to me,” I reply as I save him from it and then kiss his shoulder and neck while he washes up.
“There’s no way we are packing naked,” he says. “We’ll get nothing done.”
I grin at him. “That’s my plan.” I pick him up and he wraps his legs around me as he laughs. I carry him back to the flattened box and lay him down on his back where I kiss him some more. Gabriel falls for my tricks and returns my kisses before he seems to remember what he’s doing and grabs Margarine, shoving him in front of my face so I end up kissing the disgruntled feline.
I grimace and pull back, disgusted that my one true love made me… kiss our pet.
“How dare you?” I ask as I grab Margarine from him and place him in the “Donate” box as well.
Lucy Fur is not pleased about having to share and whaps Margarine while he settles into the box, finding the mild beating worth it.
“They’re sitting together!” Gabriel whispers with hearts in his eyes like he totally missed his cat’s assault and has completely forgotten about me. Instead, I have to sit here and watch mynaked Gabriel do a kitty photo shoot. And he complains thatIdistract him from packing yet sees nothing wrong with this?
I pull him onto my lap and reach around him to pick up an item. “Where would you like this to go?”
“Let’s donate that. I never even used it.”
I set it on top of Margarine, who doesn’t seem to care.
“You really think this killer Jesse told us about is still alive?” Gabriel asks, trying to glance back at me from his position.
“Something tells me he is.” I run my fingers through his hair and kiss his neck while he picks up something and puts it in a new “Keep” box since the other has been demolished. The item really looks like something that Lucy Fur will never play with, but we must keep it.
“Please be careful and tell me if you’re doing anything. The idea of you dealing with a serial killer by yourself makes me uneasy. Let me help where I can.”
“Of course,” I say.
Gabriel reaches back and cups my face. “I will not let anyone hurt you. The moment you drew me into your world, we were in this together.”
“Can’t I keep my two lives separate so I can keep you safer?”
“No. That’s not how this works,” he says quite firmly as he tosses some stuff into the trash bag. “You put yourself at risk every time you go out. I will put myself at risk to make sure you are as safe as you can be.”
“I don’t like this.”
“And I don’t like you out there killing. Sometimes we have to do things we don’t like for the ones we love.”
I squeeze him tight and he tips his head back to kiss me.
Gabriel sighs. “I didn’t mean to bring down the mood. I just worry.”
“You didn’t. I’m just thinking…”
“Scary day when you stop and think,” he teases.
“I’m thinking about how that dildo and lube ended up in here… almost like someone planted them here so we’d roll around instead of packing.”
He laughs. “Most definitely not. I just dumped all the drawers of that cabinet we moved to our house last weekend and it was in one of them. I forgot. I’m just glad my mom didn’t show up to help us.”
I hesitate. “Wait… wasn’t she supposed to come today?”
“No, that’s tomorrow. She said she’d swing by after work.”
“I wonder whose car lights those are, then,” I say as I flick my finger toward the door.
Gabriel’s head immediately snaps around before he leaps up and trips over a cat scratching post that’s never been touched—why touch it when she could sharpen her precious claws on the finest furniture in my house? “Oh fuck, I got my days mixed up. Clothes. Clothes. Where are my clothes?”
“Somewhere… around here.” I start patting around. “Here are your pants, but I don’t see your underwear. Where the hell did I whip them off to?”
