The idea struck like lightning in that moment between awake and asleep. Alone in the nest, he’d suddenly been missing Jamie’s smile, and his brain—andokay, maybe his dick, just a little—and that had led to memories of happier times.
Trips to the beach, rigged arcade games, rainy afternoons in Nix’s family room, buried under blankets and teenage hormones he had no idea how to soothe but relished just the same. Small things now, given how far they’d come, especially considering he was currently less human and significantly more pregnant. Not better times. Just different. Good in their own way.
Nix had been working hard on adding new memories to help outshine the bad ones—the kind of memories that rooted you right where you were. But loving seven other people with full lives meant alone time with each of his mates was rare.
The pack made it work—lunch dates, early runs, midnight snacks, standing at the counter eating leftovers or pickles straight from the jar—but today, by some miracle, everyone had been pulled in a different direction, and Nix was grateful. It meant he could have Jamie all to himself. Just them. One-on-one for the first time in ages.
His flash of inspiration was hokey and cringey, and Jamie was going to love it.
Dressed in black leggings and a long t-shirt, Nix hauled every blanket in the nest out of the room and chucked them over the balcony and to theliving room below. He’d followed with every pillow he could find and four or five sheets from the linen closet. By the time he’d made it down the stairs with his new laptop (a gift from Leo), there was a monumental mess, and Nix couldn’t have been happier about it.
The hardest part of his surprise was finding the rest of what he needed without triggering the front door security monitors—and thus security-conscious Gideon, who deserved this uninterrupted playtime with Luca. That meant the garage was off-limits. As if sensing his conundrum, Tsuki had sat smartly in front of the door to the lower levels (maybe it was because the treat cupboard was nearby, but Nix couldn’t be sure). He made a mental note to acknowledge her accidental genius when he discovered a storage room full of treasure.
Thanks to Gideon, Nix found a case of sparkling, alcohol-free wine in the well-stocked wine cellar. It’s just what he needs to elevate his plan when he can’t enjoy the real thing for another thirty weeks.
With a bottle tucked under his arm, he located the next item on his list in a case nearby markedNawaya. Coil after coil of thin rope, dyed in a rainbow of colors and smelling of hay. It’s much prettier than any he’s seen before and will make his feat of engineering come together easily without stinky garage smells. Seriously, though—who knew the Rhodes pack needed so much pretty rope, and why is it in the temperature-controlled wine room?
After placing the wine in the fridge, Nix moved the dining room chairs in front of the couch and dragged the sex-ottoman-coffee-table out of the way, then began putting his mental design into action.
Ropes formed a lattice from one chair to the next, creating a sort of roof. He covered them with bed sheets in every color until it was a cozy fort facing the fireplace, and wide enough for two people to hide away inside. Once he added the pillows and blankets in the perfect nest shape, Nix grabbed some snacks and opened the wine. He lit a fire in the grate before queuing up the movie on the laptop.
The last thing on his mental list is finding something to wear, and ten minutes later, Nix finds what he’s looking for at the top of Jamie’s closet. He takes a page out of Luca’sbook and drops his pants, too, because being pants-free is arguably the epitome of comfort.
Now for the last thing on his list: one sweet, sentimental, and smokin’ hot first love.
12:50 PM Nix
Need you in the living room
12:50 PM Jamie
You ok?
Nix doesn’t even need to answer because he can hear the door to the studio open, then slam shut, followed by Jamie’s quick but light tread in the hall.
“Nix? You okay?” he calls, and stops when he sees Nix standing in the living room in front of the blanket fort, wearing Jamie’s old football jersey. It saysRhodeson the back, and after just seeing the look on his face, Nix wishes he’d been able to wear it back then.
“Holy shit. Turn around. Please,” he groans. “Wanna see my name on you.”
The jersey isn’t very long; maybe he’d shrunk it in the wash, because it barely covers Nix’s bare ass.
“Fuck.”
“You like?” Nix looks over his shoulder with his sexiest smirk. Jamie’s attention is intoxicating, and Goddess did it make him feel sexy.
“Like? You look like you walked straight out of my fantasy. I have dreamed of you like this so often.”
“Even back then?”
Jamie’s cheeks flush, and he rubs the back of his neck. “Even back then. It’s not like I played for long, but yeah, letting everyone know you were mine? That would have been everything teenage me would have wanted. Even now, seeing my name on you makes me so fucking hard.”
A bolt of heat in his belly makes Nix groan. It burns so sweetly, making his slick slip between his cheeks. He’s torn between tackling Jamie to the couch, pulling his shorts down, and just sliding that huge dick home, or sticking with the plan and dragging it out a bit.
It’s then that Jamie notices the blanket fort. “Hey, did you do all this forme?” he asks with awe and his softest, dimpled smile. “For real?”
Jamie goes around to the opening so he can see inside the fort, see where Nix has set up the laptop, and where he’s left their snacks and drinks.
Dragging it out sounds just right.
