15. Parker
PARKER
“And with that, the final cardboard box has left the premises,” I declared as I stepped back into the house and immediately heard laughter from the den.
Following it, I found Aspen and Phoenix on the couch, Phoenix wiggling around, trying to bat at Aspen with a pillow, but Aspen had him half buried beneath several of them and had clearly found a way of wrangling our pup now that he no longer had to worry about being careful of his stitches.
“Now what on earth did he do to have you tormenting him this way?” I asked as Aspen snagged the pillow out of Phoenix’s hand and tossed it on the other couch.
“He suggested that I dress in a Goldilocks outfit and walk him down the runway next week when Dorian unveils the wolf gear,” Aspen declared, having to speak up over all the laughter.
“Because the idea is totally…fire…” Phoenix choked out as he writhed and squirmed. “And you…already have…the costume.”
“Alright, quit tickling the poor pup, he’s right,” I remarked and waded in to save our squirming pup from falling off the couch due to all the tickling.
My words did just as much to stop Aspen as if I’d dumped ice water over his head. His fingers fell away from Phoenix’s sides before I could bat them away, leaving our pup to simmer down and lie against the couch cushions.
“See!” Phoenix exclaimed, a smug smirk earning him another tickle.
“How long has it been since you took that outfit out of the garment bag?” I asked, capturing Aspen’s hand to make him stop.
Huffing, Aspen turned to look at me and sighed. “It’s been a few years.”
“Then what’s the problem?” I asked.
“There is no problem.”
“Then why tickle him for suggesting it?”
“Because of all the lewd things he said afterward, which he knows we cannot do while we’re up on the runway!”
“It was just a fantasy,” Phoenix grumbled as he sat up, pouting now while milking the whole tickling thing for everything he could. “One you torpedoed as soon as you started tickling me.”
“Aw, look at that face,” I said, cupping Phoenix’s cheeks and squishing them between my hands. “How could you hurt our pup’s feelings like that?”
“I’m fixing to tickle you if you keep it up,” Aspen threatened.
“Oh no, you know every ticklish spot,” I said, snagging one of the pillows from Phoenix so I could ward Aspen off. “Keep those fingers away from me.”
“That wasn’t what you were whining last night,” Aspen pointed out as he advanced, waving those menacing fingers of his.
“Time, place, and context,” I said as I scrambled farther away until my heel caught one of the pillows they’d scattered earlier, and I fell backward, arms windmilling, to land in the easy chair.
“Aw man, you just trapped yourself,” Phoenix said, shaking his head at me as Aspen pounced and hit the lever on the side of the chair to tip it backward.
Phoenix had been spot on. I was trapped, and without help, there was no way I was getting out of this without falling prey to the tickle monster the way Phoenix had.
“What did you do to get him all wound up?” I squeaked as Aspen’s fingers wormed their way beneath the hem of my shirt. “And how’d you get unpacked so fast when it took me all day?”
“First off, I didn’t have anything to do with it!
He’s been on a sugar high all morning and won’t tell me what he’s been nibbling on in the kitchen, or share, or even let me step one toe past the entryway.
As for unpacking, it wasn’t like there was much left in my room at the strip club.
Ray and I barely filled half the bed of his truck, and most of it was my graphic novel collection, CDs, and all the anime I’ve collected.
All I had to do was take them out of the crates, put them on shelves, and bam, done.
The rest of my stuff was already in the bedroom. ”
“Wish I’d thought to bring mine over a little at a time,” I grumbled.
“You can pout all you want, pup, but if I let you in that kitchen, it’ll only take two sniffs before you ferret out where I’ve got your surprise hidden,” Aspen grumbled, momentarily taking his attention off me, which was all the time I needed to scramble over the arm of the chair and nearly land on my head.
Thwack!
“Yow! Damn, what was that for?” I yelped, ass stinging from the slap.
“Risking a trip to the ER getting out of that chair!” Aspen declared as he righted it. “I guarantee your head would feel worse than your ass right now if you’d slipped and landed on it.”
“Mother hen,” I grumbled as I rubbed my ass while Phoenix laughed.
“I can see why people think you’re an old married couple,” Phoenix cackled.
“Then what does that make you?” I asked, scooching around the back of the chair just in case Aspen got it in his head to deliver another smack.
“Your pet,” Phoenix replied, grinning at me.
“He’s got you there,” Aspen declared, intercepting me, but this time it was so he could cup the back of my neck and tug me close until our lips were touching. “And I’ve got you right where I want you.”
Every time we kissed, it felt like the first. I melted into it and let him press me back against the side of the couch as he crawled into my lap. I felt fingers in my hair that I wasn’t sure were Aspen’s, but the one skimming beneath my shirt was, and I groaned when he dragged them up my side.
They were both grinning when Aspen broke the kiss, but before I could sort myself out, Phoenix claimed my lips and nothing else mattered.
“You smell like berries,” I murmured when he slowly eased away.
“Parting gift from my brother,” Phoenix declared, tugging the end of his braid. “He replaced my usual shampoo with a strawberry one. I didn’t notice until it was already on my head.”
“I must say that the scent inspired tonight’s decadent desert and constantly led to him being nibbled on while you finished unpacking,” Aspen declared.
“See, that right there should be outlawed!” Phoenix declared. “You shouldn’t be allowed to describe, in any way, desserts you won’t allow me to see, let alone taste, until after dinner.”
“I agree,” Parker said. “He’s a horrible tease on the best of days, but when desserts are involved, he is the absolute worst.”
“You have no room to talk! I think I should start carrying penalty cards and flagging you guys when you start with the food porn,” Phoenix said. “Didn’t I see laminate sheets in those stacks I helped you carry in? I’ll draw the cards, and you can cover them in plastic.”
“If he ever tries to drag you into an office supply store, run,” Aspen warned.
“Especially if words like blowout sale, BOGO, fifty percent off storewide, and one day only are used. Two hours debating the merits of fine versus extra-fine pen tips and the various thicknesses of printer paper. I had nightmares about printer ink for a week afterward.”
“I call bullshit,” I said, waving a finger at him. “And propose penalty cards for being overdramatic.”
Phoenix snorted and raised an eyebrow at me. “In that case, I’d be the only one carrying those, too.”
“You wound me with your truth,” I replied and tugged him in for another kiss, even as he chuckled.
“Out of curiosity,” Phoenix said as we broke the kiss, “how much stuff did you walk out of the store with that day?”
I felt my cheeks heat up, even as Aspen sputtered, “Two carts’ worth! I had one tiny bag of pens and a journal I’d found, and he bought half the store.”
Rubbing the back of my neck, I glanced between Aspen and Phoenix. “I’m pretty sure those laminate sheets were in one of the carts that day. I never had as much use for them as I thought I would.”
“That’s not the way I remember it,” Aspen remarked.
“You cad! You cannot tell him that story,” I said, turning to glare at him.
“I’m willing to pay whatever bribe it will take to hear the truth about those laminate sheets,” Phoenix said, throwing the gauntlet down.
That wasn’t fair, and yet so like him to put me in a predicament where I was debating being the one to share the story. Once I heard what he was offering, anyway.
“What are you willing to start the bidding at, pup?” Aspen asked.
“Warming the cock of whoever tells it for as long as they want me to,” Phoenix replied.
“He got it stuck to his face!” Aspen blurted.
So much for holding out.
“Hey, wait, that wasn’t all that happened.
First, I got my thumbs stuck to it, then I finally managed to touch it to the paper, but it was crooked, and it got stuck to my hand and forearm when I tried to carefully peel the fuckin’ page off so it wouldn’t tear.
At that point, the sheet had paper bits and fingerprints all over it, so I tried a second sheet. ”
“And that’s when it got stuck to his face,” Aspen cackled.
“First off, it was just my nose.”
“And an eyebrow.”
“Okay, fine, and an eyebrow, but still, it wasn’t stuck to my whole face.”
“Old married couple take two.” Phoenix snickered. “I love living with you guys.”
“Let’s see if you still say that in the dead of winter when he’s trying to climb into your flannel because he’s cold,” Parker pointed out.
“There’s an easy solution to that,” Phoenix declared, pulling Aspen in for a hug. “I’ll just buy bigger flannels.”
He nibbled Aspen’s ear as he said it, making him giggle.
“Guess it’s triple XL flannels for all then,” I declared.
“And blankets. Large, thick, fluffy blankets we can all cuddle up naked under while we watch movies,” Phoenix murmured, causing goosebumps to crop up along Aspen’s arms.
Aspen shuddered and caressed the back of his neck. “I like the sound of that!”
“Now you get to lose your pants,” Phoenix declared.
“Bossy pup,” Aspen said, caressing his cheek.
“Yup,” Phoenix replied with a cheeky grin. “And Parker gets to pick the movie.”
“And pout because I should have just blurted the story out the moment you offered to bribe someone.”
“Why didn’t you?” Phoenix asked while Aspen let his silk pajama bottoms hit the floor for about a second before he picked them up, neatly folded them, and set them on the coffee table.
“Was waiting to see how high the ante would go,” I groaned, accepting that I’d outthought myself.