Chapter Twelve
Comet
After spending the afternoon and evening with Aideen, my doubts had been almost entirely assuaged, but once we had that quiet time together on the sofa, watching TV and snuggling, I knew she was our fated.
And while I still felt we shouldn’t rush her, I hoped she wouldn’t take too long to come to the same conclusion. Or however humans worded it.
Maybe she would want a wedding or something?
Whatever she liked. It would be my pleasure, our pleasure to make sure she received it.
As I got ready for the day, I was very aware of the fact that our mate was just down the hallway.
Maybe we could get her to stay another day?
Probably not, since she had an office job, but it was bliss having her here now.
I showered and dressed before heading downstairs to the kitchen to put the coffee on.
As soon as it was ready, I filled my largest travel mug and carried it outside to the shop with me. Androids! Who knew that what we were trying to achieve needed one bit of metadata for the app to understand?
Since we’d been up so late, I assumed I had a little time before our guest woke, and I was dying to see what I could do in that time to move the project forward.
Before I knew it, I was completely absorbed, the “android” coming together as if I’d never had a problem.
It was complex, but if I could get the general structure in place, we could move on to the next stage.
And it wasn’t as if it was our only job!
As I worked, part of my mind was on our mate and where we went from here. She’d been so soft and warm next to me on the couch, and she smelled incredible. Fresh. Clean. Sweet. A little like peppermint. I closed my eyes and remembered her with my arm over her shoulders.
“Comet? What are you doing out here?”
I jerked back from the keyboard, startled. “Dash, you need to put taps on your shoes or something because you’re always sneaking up on people.”
“I am not. You just get so caught up in what you’re doing, you don’t hear anyone walking up. Now…what are you doing out here?”
“What does it look like?” I waved at the 3D printer. “Taking advantage of a little time to make progress on the Santa order. What do you think?”
“I think we agreed we aren’t going to work seven-day weeks anymore.” He sat on the chair beside mine and leaned back. “Especially when we have our mate staying over.”
“She was still in her room when I came out. I figured she’d be asleep for a while yet.” I set the machine into shutdown sequence. “If she’s up, we’d better get back in there.” I didn’t want to miss a minute with her.
“Chill. She’s not. But you know what Mrs. Claus says about overworking. The elves would go twenty-four seven if someone didn’t make them rest. It’s a great way to burn out.”
“I’m no elf.”
“Sometimes I wonder. Comet, if we’re going to have a life with our mate, we’re going to have to make sure we keep things balanced.”
“I will. Once we—”
“Starting now.” He gave me that direct gaze that always made me feel like I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t. In this case, I was. “Come in and have breakfast. She’ll probably want to leave not long after we eat so she can get back to the city.”
“I hate that.”
“Me too, but if all goes well, soon she will stay. I hope she slept well.”
Following him toward the door, I flipped off the light and closed the door behind me. “Actually, she didn’t. At least not at first. I was watching TV when she came down to get something to drink.”
“Shoot, do you think there was too much salt in dinner?”
I shrugged, strolling toward the house. “I don’t think so. I actually got the feeling she couldn’t sleep and was just using the water as an excuse.”
“Oh, that’s a shame. I hope she got right back to sleep after that.” He continued on, reaching for the back door, but I caught his arm.
“She ended up sitting with me for a while.” The memory would always be one of my favorites. “Watching stuff on TV and hanging out. It was nice.”
“Really?” He grinned. “And did spending that one-on-one time with our mate help with your doubts?”
“It did. Aideen is our mate. I just hope she agrees with that.”
“Me too.” We went into the kitchen together to find our mate kissing Blitz. What perfect timing.