Chapter 21
I was wearing oversized flannel again, and fine, it wasn’t too bad. It was actually really soft, and I decided I liked that.
Dom and Linc had prepared a grandiose leftover dinner. Basically, they’d warmed up some of the minestrone as well as some bread rolls that looked suspiciously homemade. There were olives, roasted bell peppers, sliced veggies, colorful hummus varieties, and a lot of other stuff.
My interest, first and foremost, was in the cinnamon bun they’d warmed up in the oven, the big cookie that had its own plate next to the cinnamon bun, and the wonderfully large cup of oolong, which I was sniffing appreciatively while being eyed by three werewolves, who were displaying more table manners than I was capable of in my state of mild starvation.
I sipped some of the oolong—just a little because it was still hot. But it was so delicious that I groaned in pleasure.
“Fuck, Little Red, you know how to entertain.”
Okay, my reaction to the oolong had been involuntary, but I could see the lot of them were still mildly horny. I decided to play innocent regardless.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Linc put a hand on my shoulder. “Ignore Dom. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
I put the tea aside and went for the cinnamon bun finally. “Rest was good, I guess.”
Ell had checked my temperature earlier, and apparently my fever was gone. I could’ve told him that. I was currently feeling like my best self, more energized than I’d been in years, ready to start this odd vacation with…three werewolves.
I was going to have to give the amazing sex some credit for the energy boost, never mind that sex didn’t normally do that for me. To be fair though, the three of them were really good at it.
I bit into the bun, moaning all over again at the way the caramelized sugar had gone crispy. The cinnamon flavor was strong and warming, and the dough itself was light, not greasy at all, a thing of perfection.
“This is fucking amazing.”
Dom was across from me, his head resting on his hand, his eyes dreamy. “He likes them too. Poor thing looks like we didn’t feed him at all.”
I shrugged. “Oh, sue me. I had a day. No. Today was nice. Before all this… There was a reason I came here to take a fucking break, and I deserve to enjoy the good things.” I looked at my bun. It was already half gone. “Dom, can we get more of these tomorrow?”
Ell huffed, Linc rubbed my back, and Dom licked his lips.
“Sure we can.”
Ell put his hand on mine. “If you’re still hungry later, you can have my bun too.”
“Sounds dirty when you say it like that, but sure. If you don’t mind.” I took another really big bite of my food.
“Of course I don’t.” Ell brushed his knuckles over my cheeks, and I felt him clear away some sugar. Ugh. They were still not letting me do stuff, even when it was just using a goddamn napkin.
We went back to eating in relative silence, but it wasn’t like everyone was just single-mindedly focused on their food.
I had no idea whether this was common in poly relationships or whether it was on account of the three of them turning into wolves at will, but they were very cozy with each other.
There was a lot of touching. Small gestures. Whispered thank-yous.
I’d always been the kind of person who didn’t enjoy watching overly lovey-dovey couples out in the wild.
Most of them were the cis-het kind, so that was off to begin with, at least for my sensibilities, but it wasn’t that.
It was as if every couple that did that, feeding each other and touching, kissing, sitting closer than they needed to and holding hands all the time, was being performative about it as if they wanted others to see.
These three though, not so much. It was casual. Fingers brushing when they passed one another the homey-looking basket with the bread rolls, taking each other’s hands randomly, touching each other’s arms and necks. It was as if they were all just…
I nibbled on my cookie. They were a family. I knew that. Or had gathered as much, at least. I turned to Linc, who was sitting on my left.
“So you moved here just so you wouldn’t have to do long distance, huh?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Hmm.”
I took another bite of the cookie. Linc cocked his head. “Don’t like them either?”
“Oh. No. The cookie is great.” I turned to Ell. “But, um, I can still have the cinnamon bun, right?” On a whim, I decided to be cute. “Since you didn’t give me a lollipop earlier.”
Ell got a lot more intense really fast. What had Dom said about getting eaten? Oh. Would they…eat me out? That was something I’d never experienced.
I took another bite from the cookie. It was also an odd thing to think about while eating a reasonably healthy oatmeal cookie, but maybe that was a win for me. Maybe the werewolf sex was doing me good, and I was finally entering my wild phase, sexually speaking.
“It’s all yours. All yours.” Ell reached out to caress my neck again. His touch was firm and soft in equal amounts, and it didn’t bother me. It was totally lovey-dovey.
Linc cleared his throat. “Marcus, speaking of work—”
Dom groaned. “Do you have to?”
Linc shrugged. “Naja was wondering whether Marcus would like to work with her.” He looked right at me, his gaze commanding. “If you want that. But she told me in no uncertain terms to offer you a job.”
I frowned. “You want to hire me? That’s going to create a mess for whoever your HR person is.”
“You’d be working with Naja. I think she looked at some of your work and decided your writing skills were wasted on other companies.”
Oh, flattery. I liked flattery. And I wasn’t used to getting any.
Or compliments, not really. I also wasn’t used to people making dinner for me and warming up cinnamon buns while making my tea.
Hmm. There was a distinct possibility that I could get used to being treated like this.
Although…if I wanted to be single for a while, then…
I was going soft. I was melting like the cinnamon sugar on my tongue.
The oddest thing was, I didn’t feel particularly bad about it. I was full of energy despite the late hour, ready to devour Ellis’s cinnamon bun, and the thought of shifting jobs… Well, it wasn’t entirely a bad thought.
“You want me as a freelancer?”
Linc shook his head. “Nope. But if Naja wants you, I’ll say that there’ll be a little bit of everything—technical writing, press relations, anything we print or put on our website that includes words.”
I stuffed the last of my cookie—the cookie Linc had given me, probably to soften me up for this—into my mouth and thought about it.
Ellis got up. “Ready for that bun?”
“Oh, yes please.”
He beamed at me. He’d done that when he’d hunted down the flannel in Dom’s room and brought it to me too. He really wasn’t too bad. My mind went back to him on top of me, powerful, yet protective. No, not bad in the slightest.
“Aw, Ell. Look at him, Marcus is all swoony for you.” Dom turned to Linc. “We shouldn’t have eaten ours, we should have fed them to him instead. He could be swooning over us now, but we were greedy.”
I lifted my oolong and looked at Dom over the rim of the cup. “You want to fatten me up so you can eat me. I see.”
The tea was the perfect temperature, and I took a big swig, enjoying the flavor.
Dom wiggled his brows. “One or two of those aren’t going to fatten you up. You’d have to make a habit out of it. Want to head into town with me again tomorrow?”
He was bad. He’d insisted on tying my laces; I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand him parading me around through whatever parts of town we hadn’t seen yet. I was pretty sure he’d make me wear oversized clothing again even though I had a Dom-approved jacket now.
The laces though, those made me think of something I did want to do. “You can show me, you know, the woods tomorrow. You got me those shoes, after all.”
Dom looked genuinely surprised. “You want to go on a hike, Little Red?”
That sounded preposterous. “No. Just a short walk maybe. To see what’s around here. And you got me those shoes, so…” I shrugged.
Ellis came back with that bun, making my mouth water even before he put it in front of me. “You’re totally cleared to go out. Your fever’s gone, and being hungry is your body saying it’s getting back on track.”
I bit into the bun. “Hmm. Yeah, I do feel better. Might just be the cinnamon though.”
The three of them were looking at me all dreamy-like. It was so weird, like being on the stage and half-assing your performance, yet leaving the audience awe-struck anyway. It made me feel kind of good though. Maybe that was because of the sexual afterglow, but the reason really didn’t matter.
“Just a short hike for tomorrow, then,” Linc said.