Chapter 20
An incessant buzzing had Cristie snarling in her sleep.
The buzzing stopped, so she turned over and went right back to the most wonderful dream.
But then the buzzing started again.
She heard footsteps, then a weight drop onto the bed before she felt something cold on her chest. She gasped as she sat up, slapping at her chest. “What the hell?!” she demanded, her eyes groggily taking in the bedroom around her before coming back to settle on the weight she’d felt on the bed.
Remi. And he was smiling at her as he fished her phone out of the covers and held it out to her as it continued to buzz and vibrate.
She grumbled at him as she snatched her phone from his open hand. Instead of looking at her phone, she peered tiredly at Remi.
“Good morning,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose.
“Mmm,” she grumbled.
“I suggest you take a look at that phone and let your mom know you’re alive.”
“Hmm?” she asked without actually saying a word as she held her phone up near her face and glared at the screen, finally closing one eye to better focus on the small, back lit letters. “I’m tired!”
“Think so?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said.
“Wait until you try to walk,” he said, smirking at her as he got up and headed toward the bathroom.
“What? Why…” she adjusted her position in the bed to sit a little straighter and felt the soreness in her lower body. “Oh, yeah. Makes sense,” she said, lying back on the pillows to send her mother a text.
“Hi, I’m alive. Fell asleep at Remi’s. Just woke up because…”
“Why are you up and in a towel with wet hair before the sun is even up?” she asked.
“Have to go help Richie get ready for the day,” he said, as he looked at his reflection as he carefully trimmed his beard and mustache into a perfect frame for his face.
“…he’s up at the butt crack of dawn to go cook before either of us should even be awake yet.”
She hit send, and scooted down further into the covers, pulling the covers up higher to tuck under her chin, and inadvertently rubbing her arm across her breast. “Ow!” she exclaimed, lifting the covers to look down at her breast. “I don’t suppose you could have just made a single bite on a shoulder or something instead of a perfectly round bite all the way around my breast, top and bottom? ”
“The idea struck me and I liked it, so I went with it.”
She looked down at her mating mark, her fingertips lightly stroking over it. “It is kind of pretty. Or will be when the bruising goes away.”
“I’m rather pleased with mine, too,” Remi said, walking out of the bathroom and tossing his towel to the foot of the bed on his way to dig through his closet for some clothes.
She watched him, totally nude, move comfortably through the bedroom, taking briefs and socks out of a drawer, and a pair of jeans and a shirt out of the closet. She sat up, leaning forward when he opened his closet door. “That’s it?” she asked.
“What?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at her as he put on his briefs, then pulled on his jeans.
“The closet. Your clothes. That’s all you have?” she asked.
“I don’t need much. I only brought a few things with me. And there are a couple of pairs in the dryer, too.”
“You can’t have only four pairs of jeans and six shirts.”
“It’s what I’ve got,” he said, pulling his shirt on.
“I’m getting you more,” she said, her expression one of determination.
“You get whatever you want, baby. Just not too much, okay?” he asked, as he leaned over to kiss her.
Cristie eagerly turned her face up to his, hungrily accepting his kiss, then lifting his shirt to press a kiss to his mating mark.
Remi’s chest rumbled when her lips pressed to the mark she’d left on him.
Cristie sat back, grinning, clearly pleased with herself.
“There is one good thing about you not having a lot of clothes, though,” Cristie said.
“And that would be?” Remi asked.
“More room for all of mine,” she said on a yawn.
Remi laughed, went to brush his teeth, then came back and sat on the foot of the bed, causing it to jiggle and shake as he put his shoes and socks on.
She didn’t complain out loud, but that shaking the bed before sunrise every day was not going to happen.
She made a mental note to call the furniture store and ask if they had a backless bench that could fit at the foot of the bed for either of them to use, but especially Remi when he put his shoes on so he wouldn’t wake her every morning.
When he was finally ready to go, he stood up and walked over to his night stand, shoving his wallet into his back pocket, his keys into his front pocket, and his phone into his other back pocket.
“You know where I’ll be,” he said, stopping on her side of the bed to kiss her again, but this time, he kissed her temple.
“Mmhmm,” she agreed.
“You going to work today?” he asked.
“I think so. But we do get some time off if we want it,” she said. “Newly mated and all.”
“You tell me what you want, and that’s what we’ll do.”
“Think I’m going in today to let them know to cover my shifts for a few days at least. Then I’ll figure out what I want from there.”
“I’ll tell Richie the same.”
“’Kay,” she said, snuggling more deeply into bed. “I want to sleep some more.”
“It’s only 3:30, you’ve still got a few hours.”
“Then why am I awake?! We are not going to do this every morning, are we?” she asked.
Remi laughed as he headed out of the bedroom. “No, the restaurant is closed on Sundays.”
She sat up to yell after him. “You know what I mean!”
“Yes, I do. And I’ll be sure to wake you only for the morning sex,” he said.
“The morning… oh, that’s a thought,” she said, her mind suddenly wandering to all the things they could share before they had to face the day. “But, what about today?” she called after him, as she threw back the covers and got out of bed. “Ow, ow,” she whimpered, leaning against the bed.
Remi appeared in the doorway grinning at her.
“That’s what about today. I didn’t think you’d be up to it,” he said, walking over to her and gently picking her up in his arms before kissing her, passionately, deeply, then laying her back in bed.
“Get some more rest. Call me if you need something. I’ll see you later. ”
She smiled at him with a goofy grin on her face as she allowed him to tuck her into bed. “Okay.”
He pecked her lips and left her to get some rest. She listened as he went out of the front door, locked it behind himself, then the sound of his footsteps as he walked off in the direction of the restaurant.
Her phone buzzed again and she picked it up to look at the screen. It was her mother.
“Since when do you sleep at Remi’s?” Maia asked.
“Since we’re mated now. Oh, yeah. We’re mated now. I’ll be home later to change before work. Love you.”
Cristie grinned as she grabbed Remi’s pillow and hugged it to her as she settled in for a few more hours of sleep. “This is nice,” she whispered to herself. “So very nice.”
~~~
“Riley, honey! Wake up!” Maia said, crawling into bed and sitting on her knees beside him in the dark.
“What is it?” he asked, sitting halfway up and looking at Maia beside him holding her phone up in the darkness. “What’s wrong?”
“Cristie’s mated!” Maia exclaimed.
“Wait, what?!” Riley exclaimed just as loudly as Maia had. “Since when?”
“Last night, apparently.”
Riley looked over toward the windows. “It’s still night.”
“Okay, so earlier tonight.”
“She messaged and said she’s mated? To Remi, I presume.”
“Not exactly. She didn’t come home, and didn’t answer when I messaged her, so I messaged her nonstop starting about thirty minutes ago when I got up to pee and realized she’s still not home and her car isn’t either.
She finally answered and said that she fell asleep at Remi’s.
I asked her since when did she sleep at Remi’s and she said since they’re mated, and oh, yeah, they’re mated now! ”
“I’ll be damned,” Riley said, a slow grin started to spread across his face.
“I know! It’s great news! I’m so happy for them,” Maia said.
“I’m happy for me. She won’t be mad at me anymore,” Riley said.
“You’re happy for her, too,” Maia said.
“I am, of course. But I’m happy for me, too.”
Maia laughed. “We did good, Riley. Getting him here so they’d have to be around each other and figure out what they meant to one another.”
“We did good?! How about I did good? You thought I was rushing it.”
“No, I just didn’t know if we should interfere. I’m glad we did. I’m glad you did.”
“Me, too,” Riley said, lying back down.
Maia kissed him, then got up and started out of the room.
“Where are you going? Aren’t you coming back to bed?”
“Not anymore. I’m too worked up to sleep. I’m going to make some tea. Maybe I’ll make some tea cookies to go with it.”
“That’s those little sugar cookie ones without the sugar on them, and a little citrus, too?” he asked.
“That’s them. It’s lemon zest. And there’s sugar in them you just don’t sprinkle it on top, too. They’re quick to make.”
He nodded. “That’s what I said, sugar cookies without sugar on them. I’m getting up, too. I love those things.”
~~~
Richie unlocked the door and let himself into the restaurant.
He locked the door behind himself, and turned toward the kitchen curiously.
Somebody was whistling. He walked through the dining room, toward the kitchen with its lights shining brightly through the darkness of the dining room.
He stepped through the double door and into the kitchen, stopping just inside and stood there grinning.
Remi, singing and whistling intermittently, turned to look at him and flashed him a smile.
“Look at you all happy and shit,” Richie said. “If I’d known you shifting and getting some flight time would have made that much difference, I’d have found a way for you to do it sooner.”
Remi chuckled.
“What’s so funny? And why are you so happy this early? It’s even too early for me to be happy.”
“It was a great flight. And even better I shared it with my mate.”