I snorted. “I don’t think so.”
“Oh, not to you. But I’d have laughed my ass off.”
“Ass,” I chuckled.
“He seems to have liked it, though. Who knew scraps of wood could land you a mate?”
“We’re not mated yet.”
“Well… I’m rootin’ for the two of you.”
I finished with the glue display while Harrison restocked his display, then moved on to the epoxy section.
Mate…
My mind kept drifting to the word.
The time wasn’t right, and I knew it. But I already couldn’t imagine Randy not being by my side.
∞∞∞
“So are you the type who decorates only a few days before Christmas?” I asked as I added another log to the fire.
“I don’t really decorate.”
I turned to him. “Really?”
He shrugged from where he sat on the couch. “I haven’t had much need. It’s just been me. The rest of the family are usually too busy to come over. I used to, but eventually it just felt…” He paused. “Why bother?”
I frowned, walked over, and brushed a kiss across his forehead. “Are decorations something you enjoy?”
“I like looking at them… when they’re tasteful,” he admitted. “But it didn’t make sense to put in the work for just me.”
“Do you want me to put up a few things?”
“Do you want to?”
I sat beside him on the couch and tugged him against my side. “I already put up a small tree in my apartment. If it’s something you’d enjoy, I’ll put one up here too. But only if you want it.”
“Let me think about it?”
“Ok.”
My omega curled up against my side as the movie started, then he pulled a brown blanket over us. Russy took his place on Randy’s other side on his plaid blue blanket.
It had been the perfect night. We’d worked side-by-side at the stove making dinner, then I’d washed while he dried the dishes. The movie we’d picked was one we’d both been looking forward to, and having him beside me was that finishing touch.
I added and adjusted the logs for overnight during the second half of the movie, and, as the credits rolled, Randy was so relaxed against me that I assumed he’d fallen asleep.
I ran my nose through his hair, savoring his scent—combined with whatever woods he’d worked with that day.
“I love you so much,” I murmured. “Beautiful Randy.”
I could have been holding a lit fuse as quickly as he stiffened, stood, and bolted several paces from the couch. The brown blanket dropped to the floor in his haste.
“Randy?”
He turned, eyes wide, chest heaving.
