Chapter 19 Riley #2
But then Mama Daphne cleared her throat and laid a placating hand on Mama Sybil’s forearm. “Already done, Riley darling.”
Riley split a suspicious look between the two of them. “Really? Already?”
“Of course!” Mama Daphne told him. She almost sounded hurt that he didn’t believe her. “You two are getting along so well, after all. And you’re taking him home yourself, yes? Like a gentleman?”
“Yes.” Riley straightened, then told them, “We’re boyfriends.”
Mama Sybil looked suspiciously close to rolling her eyes, but Mama Daphne made an approving noise. “How wonderful! I knew you’d charm him.” She tilted her cheek toward him. “A kiss before you go.”
Riley leaned down and kissed both his mothers on the cheek—Mama Sybil huffed but accepted hers otherwise graciously—then went to fetch Seth.
Seth came down the stairs in the sweatpants and sweatshirt that were a size too big for him, his own clothes tucked inside his tote bag.
He looked so cute in Riley’s clothes. Riley wanted to squeeze him, lift him off the floor and rub his cheek against those curls, but he’d wait.
Seth was weird about Riley manhandling him in front of his mothers.
Seth approached the couch, standing solemnly in front of Riley’s moms. They’d remained seated at his arrival, and Riley had a feeling they were trying to be less intimidating rather than purposefully rude.
“Thank you for the hospitality.” Seth managed not to sound sarcastic, which was pretty impressive, considering. Maybe it was all his customer service training.
Mama Sybil’s smile gleamed in the afternoon light. “Oh, anytime, darling.”
Seth narrowed his eyes. “I left a plate of orange rolls for you. I hope you enjoy them. Riley helped.”
Mama Daphne leaned forward and reached out a hand, patting at Seth’s hip. “What a darling! Drive safe on the roads. Precious cargo and all.”
And that was that. No threats. No fangs. Everyone on their best behavior.
Suspicious.
Seth waited until he and Riley were outside the house before breaking and asking, “Am I the precious cargo she’s referring to?”
Riley only grinned.
It was a comfortable drive through the woods.
Seth played one of his more soothing playlists loud enough to fill the car.
He didn’t seem to be in the mood for chatting, but Riley didn’t mind.
Seth had a lot to think about, and Riley was just excited to get back to Seth’s house, to be inside Seth’s space again.
Excited for Seth to sleep in Riley’s arms and take Riley to work with him the next day.
Riley would be so good tonight too. He wouldn’t wake Seth at all, no matter how much he might want to roll him over and sink into him again.
We’re letting him sleep, he reminded his voice.
It didn’t answer. It—he’d been quiet, Riley’s voice, emanating a silent smugness ever since he’d taken over in Riley’s bed. Smug because he’d fucked Seth, and Seth had liked it. Or maybe because he’d bitten Seth again, and Seth had liked that too.
Whatever. As long as Seth was happy, the stupid voice could aid in Riley’s seduction attempts as much as he wanted.
Riley had spent too many years battling him and losing.
He wasn’t going to risk trying to subdue his vampire again only for the bastard to snap and do something all three of them would regret.
Seth made the turn into town, and instinct had Riley swiveling his head toward the coastline. There was a white van parked on the side of the road, near a spot on the cliffs where a little trail wound down to the water. And a group of humans in hazmat-looking suits making their way along it.
Seth slowed the car as they drove by. “What do you think they’re doing?”
Riley didn’t know, but he recognized one suited lawyer among the scattered humans. But why would Mr. Perkins be out with the scientists?
“They’re from that research institute,” Riley told Seth. “The one in the suit came by the house before you arrived, asking to study the forest on our land.”
Asking to study the wildlife, more specifically. Riley hadn’t forgotten that bit.
“Then what are they doing out in the water?” Seth asked. “You think they study both ecosystems? Forest and ocean?”
“I don’t know.” Riley cracked his window and tried to scent something—exactly what, he wasn’t sure—but the briny ocean air made it hard to smell anything but seaweed and salt.
Careful, his voice warned, breaking his previous silence.
Riley didn’t need the warning though. He might not have been able to scent something specific, but he could recognize danger when it was right in front of him.
“I don’t like them,” Riley said.
Seth patted Riley’s knee in a placating gesture, driving on past the van on the cliffside.
Maybe Seth thought it was Riley’s sheltered upbringing that was making him suspicious, but Riley didn’t think that was it. He was wary of humans but not suspicious of them. At least not usually.
And the lawyer had set Riley’s hackles up with a single conversation. Even his moms had been unsettled by Mr. Perkins’s visit. That wasn’t something Riley would be forgetting anytime soon.
Not now that Riley had a mate to protect.