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“Oh my god. Stop being so fucking cute.”
“No.” Luca spun around and dropped us both into the nest, and a mountain of pillows tumbled over us.
There was a knock on the door that I assumed to be Auggie, but I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
“I hope you aren’t fucking,” Auggie said as he swept into the room.
I thrust one arm up through the pillow mountain and spied Auggie’s face as he began to lift items off.
“I have dinner ready. Are you ready to be out of the nest yet, or are we still eating in here?”
“I can eat downstairs if I can take a couple blankets with me.”
“Finally,” Auggie said with a grin. “Six days is a little longer than usual for you, isn’t it?”
“A bit, but not too drastic.”
“Is that my fault?” Luca asked,
“Not really,” I replied. “There’s a whole host of factors that go into how long a heat lasts.”
“And how are you feeling about everything now that your heat is basically over?” Auggie asked.
I slipped into a fluffy robe and draped one of my blankets over my shoulders while I processed the question. “In what sense?”
His gaze flicked to Luca and back to me.
“I don’t know. You know how fucked in the head I am about these things.”
“I really, really do.”
I chucked a pillow at him, but he caught it and smiled at me over the edge.
Luca slipped on the robe he had brought along, and the three of us went downstairs to eat the rather hefty Tater Tot casserole Auggie had prepared from the heat service meals. I sat in Luca’s lap on the couch, while he alternated feeding me and himself.
When Luca eventually excused himself to use the bathroom, Auggie was on me like a barnacle on a ship’s bow.
“Girl, tell me you’re keeping him.”
I swallowed down the wild combination of panic, elation, and self-doubt at his statement. “I shouldn’t.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he hissed. “Of course you fucking should. That man is so head over heels for you, and I would punch the universe in the face for just a fraction of the devotion he’s showing you.”
“Auggie, please. I don’t deserve someone like Luca.”
“Oh. My. God.” Auggie grabbed my face with both hands, bringing our foreheads together. “I’m going to say this fucking once. Don’t you dare deny yourself something amazing because your head is fucked up. If you’re worried you don’t deserve him, be better. Go to therapy. Rescue some puppies. Donate books to the goddamn library. Do whatever it takes to sledgehammer that thought out of existence. I love you so much, and if you let this slip away because you don’t love yourself, you and I are going to have words.”
I couldn’t quite stop the pout that formed.
Luca sat down on my other side and I leaned back into his arms.
“Do you two still need me as a babysitter?” Auggie asked. “Or do we think the heat is pretty much over?”
“Over enough that I’m not worried.”
“Perfect. I’m ready for a full night of sleep. They should totally have a paid service of heat babysitters.”
“Isn’t that what heat helpers do?” Luca asked.
