Duly reprimanded, Kari chuckled at how cowed his wolf side was.
“It’s alright, I’ll put him back in the corner to make room, okay?” Bowie held his wolf’s gaze, and whatever he saw had him giggling as he stood up.
He dragged the dinosaur over to the corner, huffing and puffing. As soon as the floor space was clear, they lay down and rolled onto their back. front paws in the air. There was more giggling when Bowie returned and got down on his knees at the side of them.
“You really wanna cuddle with me.”
His wolf chuffed, its paws dancing in the air.
Bowie eyed them and then ran his gaze over them. Stretched out as they were, they measured about the same length as the dinosaur, but they weren’t as wide or as firm.
“Won’t I squash you if I lay on you?”
More chuffing and Bowie blew out a breath that lifted his bangs, crawling closer. He was careful of their hind legs and moved the tail to position himself between their front legs, hishands on the carpet on either side of their head. Once there, the front paws moved to clasp Bowie and brought him on top of them.
“Ohhuf,” Bowie gasped, forced to take his hands off the floor and onto their furry chest.
His wolf wouldn’t be deterred from getting the proper cuddle it wanted. It licked Bowie’s cheek and used its front legs to bring Bowie more on top of them.
Bowie’s giggles came with snorts as he finally gave in, wiping at his cheek. “You’re so soft.” As if to prove his point, he rubbed his cheek against their fur and settled more fully against them. “You smell like Kari and me.”
His wolf was in heaven as Bowie talked and got comfortable. Kari was swamped with affection as both wolf and man got acquainted. Life couldn’t get any more perfect!
Monday came around far too quickly, and Kari’s mood wavered between elation every time he thought about his mating and moodiness when Bowie headed off to his own office. When Kari checked his and Bowie’s calendar after only five minutes alone, he complained bitterly to himself about the injustice of a full schedule, meaning his hope of getting a few extra days of bonding time went up in smoke.
It didn’t help when his wolf side pestered too. He’d spent the entire afternoon in wolf form as Bowie had fallen asleep, his fingers wrapped in their fur. His wolf wanted more of it. Kari got it, he did too. Staring at his computer, it seemed they had to compete with the huge amount of work that had little to do with the extra that piled up while they were at the ranch.
It felt like a year ago since they’d been there, free to spend time doing non work stuff together. The sheer number of unopened emails would suggest they had been gone long too.
“Why the long face?”
Kari glanced up from his computer to see Rue standing in the doorway. “You would too if you saw how many damn emails I have.”
He rubbed at his eyebrow, feeling the beginning of a headache brewing at how many hours it would take just to go through them, meaning late nights and less Bowie free time.
“Same, I have six thousand four hundred!” Rue came and took the seat opposite Kari, getting settled.
A frown appeared when Rue crossed his legs and tapped on one knee, his iPad now on Kari’s desk. “What do you need?”
“What do you mean? We have a planned meeting this morning.” Rue arched his brow and tapped on his iPad. “We were going to discuss the ad campaign to introduce the new color palette for next year's summer season. Pin down which company would best suit what I’m after, remember?”
“Fuck, was that this morning?” Kari clicked on his daily calendar, the one he’d not really focused on when he’d been busy grumping, having failed to register the block of appointments for this morning.
He offered Rue an apologetic smile. “Okay, let me call Bowie. Is Monty joining us?”
Rue shook his head. “He’s busy working through my emails.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
Rue shrugged, and his nose started to twitch, his eyes narrowing on Kari in a way that got his stomach clenching unpleasantly. “No idea. You smell odd… different. Is it a new cologne?”
“Y-yeah, t-thanks,” spluttered Kari, working to keep his expression in check. He was desperate not to reveal his concernabout getting caught out when he still couldn’t share his news with his family. Not until Bowie was ready. Why hadn’t he considered his scent? Shit, he’d need to talk to Kodi alone, so he didn’t go off on one in front of the family.
He really should have considered this when he’d talked more with Bowie about his feelings and how he would struggle not to do whatever it was Lennon and Isley had noticed. Second guessing himself would only end in disaster, he was sure.
Bowie had taken some time to think about what he’d said before replying. He expressed how much he liked what Kari did for him and didn’t want that to change. So they were going to continue with what they were doing. Kari just hoped that no one else said anything until Bowie was ready. Kari wasn’t as convinced as Bowie that the rest of the PAs didn’t know. He’d not pushed the issue; it was enough they were mated. The rest would happen on Bowie’s timeline, whatever that was.
As he eyed Rue, who sat silently staring at him, he didn’t think he’d be as lucky at keeping things secret. “What?”
