25
“She’s really starting to like you,” Ezra cooed as Mike encouraged Millie to hop up on his hand. “You’ve got a way with birds.”
Mike chuckled, petting Millie’s chest just the way she liked. It’d taken some trial-and-error to figure out what made her happy, but it was completely worth it. “Yeah, well, I’m only volunteering here again to hang out with Millie.”
Ezra’s mouth fell open.
“She’s the best thing about this place,” Mike continued, grinning. “So glad I came back here and met her. You’re a good girl, aren’t you, Millie?”
Millie tilted her head, as though she was listening to every word Mike was saying. He knew she didn’t understand, but he liked to think the cheerful tone was soothing. Birds were smart. You couldn’t teach a kestrel to talk like you could a parrot or even a corvid, but they were still clever.
“You’re seriously endangering your chances of getting laid tonight,” Ezra said.
“First night in our own place? I doubt it,” Mike responded, letting Millie hop up onto his other hand. He didn’t bother with gloves anymore, and she hadn’t scratched him again since the first time.
Ezra snorted. “You think that just because I can finally make you scream as loud as I want, I’ll do it,” he said.
And Mike did think that, because he knew it was true. Ezra had been whispering to him all week about how excited he was for them to have their own place.
Once they finished up here, they were going home together. Their own home, just the two of them, for the first time.
Mike could hardly wait.
Being at the sanctuary was awesome—it was somewhere he felt like he could really behimself, even if he was still learning what that meant—but the thought of having a home with Ezra was the most exciting thing that’d ever happened to him.
Ezra had been incredible. Mike couldn’t remember ever being happier.
“You wanna know what I think?” Mike asked, letting Millie go back to a perch as she got restless. “Ithink we’re gonna get inside, and you’re gonna pin me to the door.”
He glanced over at Ezra just in time to see him wet his lips, eyes darkening just a touch.
Mike stepped out of the aviary and closed the door behind him, dusting his hands off on his jeans.
“Andthen,” he continued, “I think I’ll pull you in for a kiss, because it’s been at least forty minutes since we did that on account of the drive home.”
“And then?” Ezra asked, taking a step toward him.
Mike smiled slowly, possibilities swirling in his head. One step was enough to close the gap between them, bringing Mike to within an inch of Ezra’s chest.
“Work a hand under your shirt,” Mike said, letting his palm fall on Ezra’s stomach, on top of his shirt for the moment. “Kiss you again, just because.”
Ezra looked up at him, lips parted and eyes glazed. Yeah. He wasdefinitelystill getting laid tonight, but it couldn’t hurt to work him up a little more.
“I was thinking, probably about time we put that plug you got me for Christmas to good use,” Mike murmured, knowing his eyes were giving away how excited he was about the thought. He’d assumed Ezra had forgotten all about it, but just a handful of days after Christmas, while they were still spending most of their time curled up together, he’d passed Mike a package that had come in the mail and told him not to open it in front of his mom unless he never wanted to hear the end of it.
As much as he was looking forward to them having their own place, Mike was kind of going to miss having Ezra’s mom around.
His own mother had texted him the day after Christmas to tell him he’d always be her son. His dad hadn’t said anything.
Which was about what Mike expected. He’d made peace with it.
It wasn’t even a sacrifice. Ezra had managed to free him from feeling obligated to spend time with people who didn’t really care about him, who weren’t interested in who he was. Now, he could spend all the time he wanted with someone who loved him.
That waswaybetter.
“Kinda skipped all the foreplay and went straight for the butt stuff, there,” Ezra teased.
Mike shrugged. “Gotta leave something to the imagination, right?”
