Chapter 6 Ambrose
AMbrOSE
Wyndham woke up full of energy. He ate, we chatted, and then the exhaustion hit him again. I wasn’t surprised. Between the injury and his time spent in the cold, he was going to need a lot of rest, much more than what he got on the couch.
“I’ll help with the dishes,” he said, pushing himself to stand with a wince.
“Or I can do the dishes, and you can stay seated.” Like I’d let him stand at the sink with that injury.
He conceded, taking his seat again. “I feel like I should be doing something to help.”
“Nope. You’re my guest. Don’t help.”
“I’m pretty sure you just made that rule up.”
“It’s my cabin. I can do that.” And I’d make up as many as I needed if it meant he stayed off of his foot.
He seemed to think that was okay with that answer, and I cleaned up, wondering how I was going to get everything straightened out for him.
The snow was coming down hard again, and that meant the road was going to continue to stay closed.
I knew that, and we’d already discussed it, but watching the storm continue had me realizing just how long that was going to take.
At least Wyndham was off work until New Year’s. We’d be cleared out by then… probably. No. We would. Only once had this road been closed for more than a week, and that was a full-on blizzard. This was just a major pain in the ass, nowhere close to blizzard levels.
I took out the pitcher of formula I’d made, poured it into a mug, and popped it into the microwave for fifteen seconds to take the chill off.
“Why is that milk oddly colored?”
“It’s the formula I made for the kittens. It looks gross, but they lapped it up last time.”
“I missed that.” He looked in the other room, presumably at the kittens. “I slept through a lot, huh?”
“You were out pretty hard, but it didn’t look like a good sleep. You still need more… a lot more.”
“I know. I’ll probably… just take a nap.”
“You sound hesitant about that,” I said. Now that he’d said it, I was holding him to it.
I filled two small plates with the cat milk, not wanting to use a bowl and having it to be too deep for the cuties, and set them on the floor. I went to call them. I didn’t need to. They were already there, racing toward their yums.
“They really do like it.” He laughed.
“I know. I made it, and I wouldn’t drink it.
The article said it's good for them, so if they love it, let them have it.” I took a step away from them, the scent of their milky meal pretty gross.
“Since you’ve already decided to take a nap, how about you get a shower first, and then you can get all snug and warm in bed? ”
“Bed? No, the couch is fine.”
“We had this conversation last night. The couch is fine for me. The couch is not fine for your leg. We need to get you on the bed, get it propped up. On the couch, it’ll keep falling off the side, and the lower it is, the less circulation you’re getting.”
“But it’s your house.”
“And we’ve already established that I make the rules.” He wasn’t going to win on this one. The sooner he figured that out, the better. “I’ll go put some things in the bathroom for you, and if you need help, you can holler.”
“I think I’ll be okay on my own.”
I hoped he was right, but there was definitely hesitation in his voice.
I laid out a new towel, a toothbrush, and some soap for him. It was far from fancy, but it would do.
“Everything’s ready for you. The toothbrush is a pretty crappy one. I bought a package of them for cleaning. This one’s new, though.”
“No scrubbing toilets with it. Got it.” He chuckled.
“They aren’t for the toilet. I got them for grout, but yeah, no scrubbing grout with it.”
“I’m sure it’s perfect.” He hobbled past me, not trying as hard to hide his pain as he did before. That was good. It meant he was trusting me, or starting to, anyway.
As he went into the bathroom, I went to the bedroom and rearranged the bed.
I pulled out a few more quilts I had in storage, along with a couple of pillows.
Last night we were barely surviving, but now I could adjust the space to meet his needs.
By the time I was done, it looked like something out of one of those kitschy inns, but it wasn’t meant to be fancy or anything like that.
It was to keep him comfortable while he slept. And this set-up would accomplish that.
He came out in a towel and looked so good that not staring was a struggle.
I wasn’t like this. I wasn’t the alpha who walked around seeing hotty omegas and wanted to get in their pants.
Heck, I wasn’t the guy who dated someone until I’d known them for a while, and I never had one-night stands.
I had nothing against them it just wasn’t something I’d been interested in.
But with this man, all bets were off. I wanted all of it except for the one-night part.
That wouldn’t be enough with Wyndham. That much I was sure of.
Not that we could ever be anything. How could we?
He was a city boy. I was decidingly not.
And just because he smelled good and was kind and laughed at my bad jokes, that didn’t mean we had anything real in common.
This was all situational, and I had to keep reminding myself of that fact, because if I didn’t, I was going to end up hurt.
“Let me grab your bag.”
He cringed. “It’s pretty useless. There is an ugly sweater in there, but don’t worry about it.”
“I’m sure I have a pair of sweats and a T-shirt that’ll fit you.” I dug around, grabbed a few options for him, and left them on the bed. “If you need any help, let me know.”
To my surprise he did ask for my help a few minutes later, not in changing, but rather in getting onto the bed. I went in and helped him settle in and then got his foot on a pile of pillows. Afterward, I grabbed one of the dining chairs and set it beside him.
“What’s that for?” he asked.
“I thought maybe if the kittens wanted to join you, they could use it as a partway jump. If you hadn’t noticed, the bed is kinda high. They might need more than that, but I’ll figure that out if the time comes.”
“So clever.” He closed his eyes. “They sure are cute.”
“The cutest, now grab some sleep. I’m going to go down toward the road and call my brother. I think he has a friend with a tow truck, and that might be faster than waiting until it’s time to go into town.”
“Don’t go out there because of me.” He didn’t open his eyes, his words slower than normal. He was about to fall asleep.
“If I don’t call my brother in a snowstorm, he’s going to assume something happened to me. So don’t worry about it. I won’t be long.”
The trek down to the street was much better in the daylight, even if it was colder and snowier.
I texted my brother, but not about the tow truck.
No, I asked him if he’d ever scented someone so delicious that he wanted to lick them.
It wasn’t really something I wanted anyone else to see, but it was my brother, and I trusted him completely.
He called back instantly, just like I knew he would.
“What does he smell like?” Jeffrey asked.
“Chocolate and cardamom.”
“So, basically, your two favorite smells?”
“Maybe?” There was no maybe to it, but I was freaking out about the direction this conversation was going, and any diversion was a good one.
“And why do you think someone would smell like your two favorite things?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. I knew, now that he’d led me there, and it terrified me.
My brother let out an exasperated sigh. “Start from the beginning and leave out no detail.”
“I’ll start from the beginning and leave out a few details, because it’s cold down here. We’re still in the middle of the storm.”
I told him everything, from the wild attraction I felt to the way my reindeer was acting to the car in the ditch.
“Okay, let’s start with the car. I bet Tommy can get it out in the morning.
Probably. It looks like the road will be opened by then.
Now, let’s move on to your hottie. Did you think maybe he might smell good and look good and fit your personality because, I don’t know, he could be your mate?
” He was done playing games and cut straight to the chase.
“It’s impossible. He’s human. And besides, mates dream about each other’s beasts, and he doesn’t have one, so I can’t dream about his. And he’s human, so I’m pretty sure he isn’t going to dream about mine.”
I couldn’t allow myself the wishful thinking that he was mine, no matter how much having my brother say that he could be had set my heart thumping.
“Well, think what you will. I’m just putting it out there. I’ll have Tommy give you a call once he figures everything out.”
“And how’s he going to reach me? All I have right now is my cell phone, and it only works down here.”
“That won’t be for long. The crews are working on everything.”
“So you say.” My brother lived in town. He loved it there. Me? I was fine heading in there once, maybe twice a week. Max. But living in town meant he didn’t fully grasp how slowly things like road cleaning and phone repairs happened.
“All right, I gotta go, Jeffrey. Love you, bro.”
“Love you too, Ambrose. And don’t forget, mates don’t have to be the same beast.” He wasn’t letting it go.
“Maybe not, but they do have to have beasts.” If only that weren’t true. “Name one reindeer who’s mated to a human. Just one.”
“I don’t know who’s mated to whom, other than our aunts and uncles and grandparents. And what other people have or haven’t done has nothing to do with you and your hot patient. Do yourself a favor and don’t try to find some excuse to get out of this. Just embrace the possibility.”
I wasn’t sad when we got disconnected before I could respond. My brother had a way of making everything look sunnier, and usually that was great. Today, I needed common sense, not whimsical tales of love.