“We should all help,” Eli agreed promptly. “Our hosts have at least two four-wheelers, you think they might let us borrow them?”
“Damn, that’d be great if they did. You wanna ask?”
Eli was out of her seat immediately. “I’m going to ask.”
I waved her on because even one four-wheeler would be super helpful.
Booker’s inner geek was shining. “I definitely want to learn his method. I wonder if this is something Gwyn can learn how to do?”
“I didn’t think to ask.” I should have, though. “Gwyn, make sure you ask him once we start in.”
She saluted me. “Bet.”
Now, this batch had been updated. Where were the rest? “Where’s everyone else?”
People shrugged ignorance, so I pulled my phone out and called Mack as I headed back inside.
He picked up quickly. “Oui, mon trésor?”
I was far enough away from the group no one could hear me, although I did glance back to check. “Mack. Mack, I have the answer! Seiji is absolutely not straight.”
He went from mildly interested to “If you’ve tea, you best start pouring.”
Mack did love a good story. Came with being Creole, far as I could tell. “Just had an interesting chat with him. Work related too, so we’ve got things to help him with, but he asked meif Lachlan was straight. He couldn’t figure out if the man was flirting or not.”
“I think he was still trying to suss Seiji out.”
“Could be why it came across as uncertain, then. Anyway, I told him Lachlan was trying to figure out if hecouldflirt and Seiji turned immediately hopeful. I promised to kick Lachlan in his direction, which I have done.”
“Such an excellent pot stirrer you are,” Mack crooned.
I was still pleased with myself, so I snickered. “Damn tootin’. Oh, and I told Seiji straight up I’d love to be friends and he’s so happy. Apparently, ours is one of the friendliest groups he’s ever worked with and he’s really wanting to be friends.”
“Well, now, he shouldn’t have said such to you, cher.”
“Why, ’cause there’s no escape now?”
“Damn straight.”
I laughed again, so full of happiness it felt like it overflowed. “Well, hopefully this all works out. In any case, where are you?”
“Our room. We got enough time for a little cuddling before Seiji drafts us?”
“It’s a short window, but sure.”
Frankly, after the insanity of the past week, cuddling with Mack and taking it easy for an hour sounded amazing. I’d take it.
25
When the shoppers returned, they did so with possibly every tent stake in the state of Arizona. Brandon and Quinn helped them bring in the rest of the bags, and I swear to you, there were at least twenty bags. Maybe a hundred. They kept multiplying like damn crawfish in the rainy season.
I also noted that the air around Lachlan and Seiji had definitely changed. They were more in each other’s space now, hands lingering on shoulders or hips as they maneuvered around each other. Oh, hell yeah, Brandon’s nudges had been on point.
Seiji was a new friend, granted, but I started throwing wishes up to the stars on his behalf. I wished for this potential relationship to work out and for these two people I liked a lot to be happy together. Maybe even become a bonded pair like Brandon and I were. Crazier things had happened.
Shit, I wished I could see meridian lines like Jon could. He’d be able to take one look at them and tell what the odds were. I envied his eyes some days.
I set that matter aside as I helped put everything on the table. There was white cloth here? For some reason? And calligraphy brushes, markers, bottles of red paint—this was seriously looking like an art project gotten off Pinterest.
