Chapter 12 Wrapped Around Her #2
I leaned against the pergola, arms crossed. Part of me wanted to laugh. Casimir was so damn serious about everything all the time! But another part of me got it. Seri was still recovering and had no magic. The thought of Brummy accidentally hurting her made my stomach twist.
“He’s right, Seri,” Ko chimed in, his deep voice calm. He was crouched next to Brummy, running a hand over the wolf pup’s back to keep him calm. “Let us handle this, beloved.”
“Fine, but if he gets scared, I’m stepping in.”
“C’mon, trouble.” I circled around behind her and breathed against the shell of her ear, catching the full-body shiver that had nothing to do with the April chill.
“You really wanna get up close with,” I trailed a fingertip down the side of her neck, grinning when goosebumps erupted, “all that wet fur?”
She elbowed my ribs. Weakly. I nipped her earlobe, smelling her shampoo and the lingering sleepiness she was trying to hide. Our bed smelled like that now. Like dragon fruit dew and sex and her.
It was heaven.
“Or you just wanna get up close with me shirtless?”
Bleeding night, her pout was ridiculous! Absolutely, unfairly ridiculous! Lower lip trembling, stormcloud eyes gone liquid silver. My jeans tightened as memories ambushed me: Seri arching into Koa’s touch, Cas’ hand fisting in her hair, a broken sob doubling as my name when I—
“But, Zoodle, if I promise to stay behind—”
My mouth crashed onto hers, swallowing the argument. She tasted like pancakes and tea. Her surprised hum tickled my tongue, her fingers digging into my biceps. When I raised my head, her lips glistened cherry-red.
“Pout’s gone!” I announced. “Mission accomplished!”
“You’re a meanie,” she muttered as I leaned in, my lips brushing hers much more lightly.
“C’mere, sweetheart. Lemme apologize.”
She huffed, but her lips twitched, fighting a smile.
I didn’t give her the chance to win that battle.
Swirling her around, I dipped her low and kissed her again, slow and deliberate, savoring the way her hands clutched my shirt.
For a second, I forgot where we were, forgot about Brumous, forgot about the bath, forgot about everything except her.
Her silky thighs, her perfect tits, her soft ass…
I was so fucking obsessed with our wife.
When her teeth nipped my lower lip, heat roared through me like a brushfire. I wondered if my brothers were thinking about how she’d chanted our names last night—
“Focus, Zane!” Cas barked from somewhere nearby.
I broke the kiss, thumb swiping saliva from Seri’s chin.
“That’ll have to be sorry enough for now, baby doll. Now be good and document our impending humiliation.”
“Why must everything be memorialized?” Cas sighed. “Father doesn’t need photographic evidence that we’ve domesticated a hellhound.”
“Domesticated?” I snorted. “He chewed off all the garden gnomes’ heads yesterday. Pretty sure the gardener’s gonna be finding ceramic ears in the hydrangeas until October.”
“What does document mean in that context, Koko?” Seri ignored us to ask.
“Take photos, beloved. This is one of the first milestones in our married lives, after all. Our fur baby’s first bath. Where’s your phone?”
“Hmm.” Her face scrunched up. “Maybe on my dresser? Not sure.”
“Here.” He handed her his. “Use mine.”
Her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. She was practically bouncing on her toes as she took the phone.
“This is going to be so fun! But, um, Koko, how do I take a picture with a phone?”
As our little techy bear happily showed her, Cas muttered under his breath, “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“It’s only blackmail material if she figures out cloud storage.” I grinned, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “Considering she doesn’t even know how to work the camera.”
“Our father and/or Sebastian will have those photos by nightfall. Mark my words.”
As Seri angled the phone, the sunlight caught a faint white scar on her wrist, and my chest tightened. Three days ago, she’d flinched when Cas raised his coffee mug too fast. Now here she was, giggling as Ko flexed for the lens, all sharp angles and liquid grace.
“Smile, Zoodle!” Her voice trilled with mischief.
I blew her a kiss with one hand while wrestling Brumous into a sit-stay with the other, and the wolf pup looked both confused and mildly offended that a treat hadn’t accompanied my unspoken request.
“Let’s get to work, gentlemen.” Ko rubbed his hands together. “Wet him down, Z.”
“Aye, aye, skipper.”
As I poured the first bucket of warm water over his back, Brummy froze, ears flattening as if he’d just been stabbed in the back by the universe itself. Water sluiced down his fur, pooling around his paws.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said, holding up the sponge like a shield. “You’ll thank me when it’s over.”
“So will all of our noses,” Cas muttered.
Seri giggled from her spot on the edge of the patio.
Between snapping pictures, she watched Addison, her gray eyes soft with quiet determination.
The kid was hauling another bucket of water from the kitchen, his skinny frame straining under the weight, and Seri was halfway out of her seat like she wanted to help him.
I felt it then, a stupid little pang of jealousy. It wasn’t like I didn’t get why she was doing it. Addison was a walking caution sign, all skittishness and wide, haunted eyes. Still, seeing her focus so much attention on him lowered my IQ into dangerous range.
“Stop, Z,” Ko hissed. “She’s trying to befriend him. Probably senses he’s been through some shit, too.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled, flicking water off my fingers. “Just because he has a penis doesn’t mean he’s competition. Got it.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” Cas worked shampoo through one of Brumous’ front paws. His blond hair was tied back in a messy bun, and he looked annoyingly composed for someone who was about to get soaked. “No one’s replacing you as the Zoodle in Seri’s heart.”
The nickname hit like a sugar rush, sweet and embarrassing.
“Coming from Mr. ‘Why does the wolf get bathroom privileges with you?’ Hypocrite much?” I lobbed a sponge, and it caught Cas square on the forehead with a satisfying splut. Brummy barked approval.
“Children.” Ko paused to close his mouth as the dire wolf shook himself like a malfunctioning car wash. What might’ve been a chunk of carpet sailed past my ear. “We’re supposed to be bathing the pup, not each other.”
I caught Seri’s eye across the patio, and she smiled, that small, private smile that made my chest ache in the best way. I loved that smile. Loved her. And okay, maybe I loved ‘Zoodle,’ too, even if I’d rather walk barefoot over broken glass than admit it out loud.
But Casimir didn’t need to know that.
#
Buckets of warm water lined up like soldiers ready for battle, and Brumster stood in the center of the field of combat.
His tail was tucked so far between his legs it might as well have been a fifth limb, and his ears were flattened against his skull like he was trying to disappear into his own body.
“You did great, buddy. One more time, and you’ll be the fluffiest, cleanest wolf in the kingdom. Your mommy will be so proud of you.”
He shot me a look that could only be described as betrayal incarnate. Ko snorted as he twisted water out of a sponge.
“He’s not buying it.”
“Oh, he’ll buy it,” I said, reaching for the bucket. “He’s just gotta be dramatic first.”
“No wonder you two get along so well.” Cas motioned for me to pour. “You’re two of a kind.”
Like before, Brumsy didn’t shake. Didn’t whine.
Just stood there dripping under the pergola, patches of gray fur plastered against protruding ribs, looking like a half-drowned rat someone had stapled steak knives to.
Cas circled with the shampoo bottle, all business.
Ko scrubbed away with a sponge. And me? I was too busy committing the exact shade of Seri’s laugh to memory.
Sunlight through honeycomb, if sunlight could blush.
Her laughter did things to my bloodstream that should be illegal. Hot, syrupy things that made me want to pin her against the nearest vertical surface.
“Hold still, Brummy,” Cas ordered the wolf. “Almost done.”
And then chaos.
One moment, Brum-Brum was standing there, miserable and compliant.
The next, he let out a sound halfway between injured moose and malfunctioning blender.
The world became wet fur and flying suds as the wolf exploded sideways, claws scrabbling against the slick patio stones.
His escape route took him straight through Koa’s spread legs, a move that would’ve been hilarious if the fur missile hadn’t clotheslined me with his tail on the way past.
As for Cas, he ate a faceful of wisteria blossoms when the little demon used his shoulders as a springboard, and I dearly hoped Seri had captured that most precious of moments for my album, “Casimir at His Finest.”
“Epic!” I croaked out, massaging my throat. “Absolutely epic!”
Seri’s shutter clicked rapid-fire, capturing Casimir’s drenched shirt clinging to abs he definitely didn’t earn from reading medical texts. I made a mental note to delete those later.
Brumous bolted like a rocket, tearing across the lawn with suds flying off him in every direction. The three of us stood watching, stunned, as he zigzagged through the yard, leaving a trail of soapy water in his wake.
“Well,” I said, breaking the silence, “that’s one way to air dry.”
“Look at him go!” Seri clapped her hands, her gray eyes sparkling with delight. “He’s playing!”
“Playing?” Casimir drilled his knuckle into his brow. “This is not playing. This is insanity.”
“Go, Brummy!” Seri called. “Oh, he’s fast!”
Her delighted giggles tangled with the crash of overturned buckets as Brum-Brum zoom-zoomed back to the patio. She danced backward as he carved figure eights through our legs, his panic translating into maneuvers that would’ve made a Formula One driver jealous.