"How about a nap before dinner time?"
"Sounds good to me."
I woke up as the dinner bell rang, and blinked blearily into the dark room. With a flick of my hand, I lit the bedside lamp, and Keoni moaned as he stretched his arms over his head and squinted at me.
"Whatimeisit?" he mumbled, and I chuckled as I leaned over to press a kiss on his cheek. His lips quirked into a smile, and he puckered them, clearly asking for a kiss.
To mess with him, I placed my index finger on his lips, and he frowned. I chuckled, but before I could pull back, he wrapped his lips around the tip of my finger and sucked it into his mouth. He opened his eyes, and blinked up at me, his baby blues full of coyness and innocence. All absolutely fake, of course.
"Keoni," I warned, glancing at the door. We needed to go get dinner. Jacinta hated it when someone was late, and I wanted to be there if Sagar decided to join everyone. People usually didn't on their first day here, but sometimes they did. If Sagar decided to come, I wanted him to have a few familiar faces around.
Keoni bit my finger, and I gritted my teeth to keep from making a sound.Be strong, Zeph. Be strong.
"Hey, lovebirds!" Rei called through the door, making me jump. "Jacinta said to get your butts into the Dining Room. The newbie's there."
Keoni released my finger with a wink, then called toward the door. "We'll be right there!"
Rei huffed, then mumbled something that sounded like, "You better be. Jacinta's scary," before her footsteps padded away.
I sat up with a groan, then slid my arm back on before getting to my feet.
We dressed in silence, and Keoni pulled me into a kiss that left me weak-kneed before pushing the door open and trotting off, leaving me to catch my breath and follow after him as I tried to get my heart—and my dick—back under control.
Sagar was sitting at a table with Jake, Marion, and Mira. The fact that Jake and Marion, who rarely ate in the Dining Room, had shown up to keep Sagar company made me smile.
"You go talk to Sagar. I'll get our food," Keoni said as he kissed my cheek then made his way toward the buffet style tables laden with food.
I approached the table, and Sagar smiled when he spotted me.
"Hey, Sagar. I just wanted to check in. Are you settling in okay?"
Sagar nodded quickly, and I smiled.
"I'm glad. If you have any questions or any concerns, please don't hesitate to ask me. If I'm not around, you can talk to Touya," I said, pointing toward the human, and Sagar nodded again.
Then he raised a finger and pulled out a phone—Touya must've given him the 'welcome package' he'd made—and started typing. He showed it to me when he was done, and I smiled when I read what he'd written.
Thank you for inviting me here. This place is wonderful.
"It was my pleasure. I'm glad you like it here. I will leave you to your dinner."
Keoni arrived with our plates just as I turned around, and we returned to our usual table, where Silas and Liam were taking their turn holding little Aspen and Reign so their dads could eat.
"Oh my God. How do they keep getting cuter and cuter every day?" Keoni exclaimed as he abandoned his plate to walk over to the other side of the table and peer down at the sleeping babies. Of course, one baby was in human form while the other was wrapped around Liam's neck as a tiny green snake, but they really were equally adorable.
"You wouldn't think that if you had to wake up at two to change their diapers," Dustin grumbled as he spooned some food into his mouth.
"Imagine if they were both in their human forms," Keoni murmured, then backed away when Dustin shot him a murderous look. "Or not. We don't have to do that."
I bit back a chuckle as Keoni retreated to my side with his metaphorical tail between his legs, and patted his side. He smiled at me, then turned his attention to his food, and I did the same.
Like always, we chatted as we ate, and I wondered how I could've ever thought eating in my office was better than this. Thank God Keoni had dragged me here and made me see what I'd been missing.
Keoni had made me realize a lot of things. He'd made me see how loved I was; he'd made me see it was okay to ask for help every now and then. More than anything, he'd made me realize how good life could be if I just stopped fighting it every second of every day.
Twenty-Three
Zephyr
