19. Bjorn
Bjorn
Dennis stopped short on the threshold, gaping at the opulent room.
They'd been in a rush to get to the museum when they'd checked in, so they'd just picked up their key cards, dropped their bags, and run without going to their room. And he’d probably figured that Bjorn had booked them something nicer than Dennis would pick for himself, just based on Bjorn’s horrified-but-smug reaction to Dennis’s talk about his hotel standards, but Bjorn bet he hadn’t expected… this.
The room they’d walked into appeared to be a sitting room.
It was furnished with an enormous white leather sectional and an equally enormous television on one end of the room, with a dining table with eight chairs on the other end.
Who booked a hotel suite and needed to bring seven other people over, come to think of it?
Did people book hotels to hold dinner parties?
“Whoa,” Dennis managed as Bjorn tugged him past the threshold and started to take off his own shoes.
Then he knelt to try to remove Dennis’s.
Dennis tried to help, but his feet tangled in his half-removed shoes and he started to topple.
Bjorn grabbed him around the hips to steady him.
His face ended up pressed into Dennis’s groin area.
Was that…Dennis’s cock twitching against his cheek? He suppressed a smile. He was still worried about their mating’s fate, of course he was, but at least he knew his mate wasn’t unaffected by him. He could work with that.
“Uh…I think I’m good now.” Dennis’s voice was a little high. Nerves, or was he just turned on? Perhaps both, to be fair.
Bjorn took another moment to make sure Dennis wasn’t going to fall again and then released him. “Foot up,” he ordered, then yanked Dennis’s right shoe off when he obeyed wordlessly. He did the same for the left, then set the shoes aside and stood.
Dennis met his eyes embarrassedly. “Uh…sorry about the, uh...” He gestured self-consciously to his crotch.
He waved that way. “No need to apologize.” Bjorn could afford to be magnanimous; his mate’s cock had hardened for him! “So. Room service?”
Dennis nodded and turned, going to the desk to fetch the provided menu. “What are you in the mood for? Steak, salad, burger?”
“Hmm.” Bjorn considered that. “Well, I had sliders at the museum, so I think I’m probably burger-ed out. And a salad just sounds boring. Do they have any good pastas?”
Dennis offered him the menu, and he scanned it.
Oh, shrimp scampi over linguini. That sounded delicious.
He handed the menu back. “Well, I know what I want.” Then something occurred to him.
Oh shit, garlic breath. Dennis wouldn’t want to kiss him if he reeked of garlic!
“On second thought…” He reached for the menu again, but Dennis pulled it away and made a show of studying it himself.
“Ooh, how do you feel about garlic bread?” Dennis asked, looking up at him again. “I want pizza and garlic knots.”
Oh, thank god. Bjorn let out a breath of relief. “I love garlic bread,” he said, and it was even mostly true. Garlic bread wasn’t his most favorite favorite, but it was certainly enjoyable. Especially if it meant his mate would have garlic breath too. “I think I’m going to get the shrimp scampi.”
“Mmm, so classy,” Dennis teased. “And here I am just like ‘give me pepperoni and grease’.”
Bjorn couldn’t help picturing Dennis’s lips slicked in grease from the pizza’s cheese, all rosy and wet. Oops, now his cock was twitching. That visual…hngh. “I see nothing wrong with pepperoni and grease,” he finally managed, hopefully without sounding too strangled. “And garlic.”
Dennis grinned. “At least we’ll both stink, right?”
It was so close to what Bjorn had been thinking that he couldn’t help his self-conscious laugh. “Haha. Yeah. Stinky, that’s us.”
“Maybe if you’re a good date you’ll earn stinky kisses.”
Oh, hell yeah. Bjorn couldn’t – didn’t even try to – hide his excitement at that statement, and his grin felt a little bit manic. “I will do just about anything to earn those kisses, mate.”
Dennis wrinkled his nose a little, probably at how cheesy Bjorn was being, but didn’t protest any further. Instead, he picked up the hotel phone. “I’ll call the order in.” Meanwhile, Bjorn shucked his jeans and t-shirt, leaving him only in boxer briefs.
“What?” Bjorn said innocently when Dennis hung up the phone and raised an eyebrow at him. “I don’t want to ruin those clothes if I shift!”
Dennis still looked skeptical, but he sighed and nodded. “Unfortunately, that’s logical. Just…make sure you let me get the door when the food gets here.”
“Oh, so I don’t scare them if I go bear?” Bjorn nodded his understanding.
Dennis, however, just snorted and shook his head. “I was thinking more so that our waiter doesn’t get an eyeful of your junk and decide to invite himself in for dinner.”
Was that…a compliment? Bjorn thought it had been! He gave his mate a wide smile. “The only person I’m interested in having dinner in my underwear with is you, Dennis.”
Dennis scowled at that, and Bjorn had just a moment to wonder what he’d said wrong, before Dennis lunged at him and planted his lips on Bjorn’s in a hard, possessive kiss.
He nipped at Bjorn’s lower lip, just enough to sting, and Bjorn gasped into the kiss.
His mate had used his teeth on him! And sure, he probably wasn't thinking about how meaningful that was to a shifter, but still, the use of teeth excited Bjorn. After interminable seconds – minutes? – Dennis pulled back to study Bjorn’s face.
He was sure he looked utterly wrecked; it was certainly how he felt.
“Whoa,” Bjorn muttered, mostly to himself, as he lifted a hand to touch his swollen lips.
Dennis nodded firmly, ignoring Bjorn’s astonishment. “Damn right I’m the only one you’re eating in your underwear with.”
Oh, did his mate have a jealous streak? Bjorn added this to his mental Encyclopedia-of-Dennis.
Then he got a little more serious. “Dennis…do you understand how fated mates work? Now that I’ve met you, I’ll never be interested in, uh, underwear dining with anyone else.
You’re it for me. I couldn’t get it up for another man even if I wanted to.
It’s part of why shifters who are rejected usually choose to stay in animal form – like, if there’s no hope of being with the person you love, why even maintain your humanity? ”
Dennis stared at him with wide eyes. “I…did not know that. God, shifters really get the short end of the stick with mates. The human can happily leave and go on with their life no matter what, while the shifter is basically screwed unless everything goes perfectly.”
Bjorn managed a careless shrug that he hoped hid his internal turmoil. “But when things do go right, we’re guaranteed a lifetime of love. Plus, you know, I can turn into a bear, which also doesn’t suck. Usually.”
Bjorn promptly turned into a bear, as if the universe were determined to match deed to his words.
Well, shit. The good news was he hadn’t shredded any clothes and these boxer-briefs were surprisingly stretchy.
The bad news was he now had a really bad bear wedgie.
He slid forward off the couch and started trying to tug the underwear off himself.
Dennis, next to him, had his lips pressed together as he fought laughter. “Stop…” he finally managed through his giggles. “Stand still and I’ll help you, uh, undress.”
Bjorn grunted his frustration, but turned his furry ass toward his mate, who seized the waistband of the underwear and started pulling.
“This…is surprisingly difficult,” Dennis commented as he worked the waist over the muscles of Bjorn’s hind legs.
“Gotta say I would much rather undress human you.” Finally, the underwear hit the floor and Bjorn stepped out of them.
That could definitely be arranged. In fact, Bjorn would happily put his clothes back on just so Dennis could peel them off him…just as soon as he managed to get out of this damn bear form. Trying to communicate his willingness, he snuffled at Dennis’s ear, giving it a lick with his long tongue.
Dennis squeaked and pushed his snout away. “Gross, man! ‘I licked it, so it’s mine’ doesn’t work with people, just in case that’s what you were going for.”
Well, surely if he licked him enough, it would work. Bjorn sat back on his haunches and tried to give his mate a skeptical look, but bear facial features weren’t really conducive to that, so he doubted he was getting the message across.
Just as Dennis was opening his mouth to retort to whatever he saw on Bjorn’s face, Bjorn shifted back and found himself kneeling, nude, at his mate’s feet. Oh, this was quite the perspective.
Dennis must have had the same thought, because heat rose in his eyes as he looked down at Bjorn. “Uh, hi there.” He reached down to pick up the boxer-briefs they’d just discarded. “Want these?”
Bjorn considered them, considered his goals for the evening, considered the look on his mate’s face…and shook his head. “I’m good.”
Dennis looked him over from head to toe, slowly. Yes, he’d had time to get used to seeing Bjorn naked over the past week, but somehow this study seemed…different. Hotter. “Not gonna argue with that. Think you’ll stay human for dinner? It’d be tricky to feed you pasta as a bear.”
He could only shrug, because who the hell knew what controlled his shifts these days? “Not a clue. If I shift again, I guess just put my bowl down and let me slurp it up. I can clean up any I spill once I’m back to human.”
“Aww,” Dennis groaned disappointedly. “I was picturing a Lady & the Tramp moment.”
“A what?”
Dennis went slightly pink. “You know, that scene in the old Disney movie, where the dogs are sharing a bowl of spaghetti, and they each start at one end of a noodle and then they’re surprised when they meet in the middle?” He shook his head. “Never mind, I was just being silly.”