Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Ryder loved bear claws.
He loved real bear claws too, but the pastry was his favorite. They had some of those, they had really good coffee, and he had cooked up some bacon in the oven to go with it.
The fact that Nolan was there with him, mostly naked, except for a pair of little tiny pajama shorts was… not the bonus. It was the main event. The bear claws were the bonus.
He sipped his coffee, smiling across the counter at his mate, who had settled into his life like he had always been there.
“So, what do you want to do today, love?”
“I think that we should snuggle on the couch for a little while and then see if everyone wants to come over for supper. We can have steaks.”
“Not salmon?” he teased.
Nolan’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know that we have enough salmon left. We might have to go fishing.” Nolan waggled his eyebrows at him.
“We can always do that too, but steaks will probably be easier for tonight, and then we could go fishing in the morning.”
Nolan nodded very seriously. “I think that’s a wise move. That way, today we can sort of just spend the day cuddling.”
“I love cuddling with you.” He adored it in fact. Snuggling, kissing, making out, making love. All the above were his favorite things. Even better than bear claws or cinnamon rolls.
Nolan’s delighted grin told him exactly how his mate felt about all those things as well.
Nolan’s phone buzzed, and he grabbed it, his eyebrows drawing down a little bit as he studied the text message.
“What is it, baby?”
That got him another grin as Nolan glanced up, showing him the phone screen. The text was from Race, who was out on the road hunting bad alphas and saving omegas.
It was a picture of Connal looking kind of lecherous, actually. And the text said
Can’t you call off your dog?
“What do you want me to tell him?”
Ryder pondered that. “Let’s go with, ‘good luck with that’.”
Nolan hooted and typed that into the phone before setting it aside. “He’s just going to have to learn to deal on his own. Personally I think it’s kind of hilarious.”
Ryder’s mouth curved in an evil, evil grin. He could feel it stretching his cheeks. “Oh, so do I. Race is so grumpy and Connal is so bouncy. They’re a match made in hell.”
“So do you think Herschel will ever be back? I know Quin’s contacts and the police and all were supposed to take care of it but—”
It had been nearly two weeks since the altercation at the bar, and Ryder understood Nolan’s hesitation. He wasn’t used to being out from under the threat of that awful fake alpha Herschel. He would get more confident as time went on though and when no one else showed up for him.
“I don’t think you’re ever going to have to worry about him again. I think your brother’s going to clean out his organization, and that’s going to be that.”
“I hope so. I’m ready for a long, happy life with my grizzly bear.”
“That’s my plan, too. I promise.” Ryder grabbed their plates in one hand and wrapped an arm around Nolan to tug him off the stool he sat on. “Come on. Let’s go finish this in bed. We’ll set an alarm so we can get up and make food for the guys.”
“Okay.” Nolan leaned on him. “I’ll text War and Quin. I’ll even see if Race and Con are close enough to us to come.”
“You’re a peach.” He nibbled on Nolan’s lips. “My peach.”
“You do say my butt is peachy…” Nolan gave him a wicked smile, bumping hips with him.
“That too.” He gave up on the bear claws, setting the plates on a side table so he could lift his mate into his arms and carry him up to bed.
The pastries would be there when they come back down. Loving Nolan was way more important.
The End