“Hey, I’ve given up smoking and booze. I need one vice,” I parried, tossing the same line I always used when he would criticize my junk food adoration. He rolled his eyes, kissed me tenderly, and then was pulled into a conversation with his defensive partner. I broke off a moment later to follow the cookie tray to one of the long buffet tables. “Come to Papa,” I whispered, filling a cloth napkin with sugary treats.
“Your boyfriend is giving you dark looks,” Bryce said softly as he came up beside me.
“Block his view. I need the rush to get me through tonight,” I told him.
“Oh no, I’m not being an accessory to your cookie crimes,” Bryce snickered, but still stepped into place to shield me from my lover. “You owe me for this.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you want, just stand there and let me gorge,” I said around a mouthful of white raspberry roll-up cookies.
“We’re short on volunteers this weekend at the garden,” he informed me. I knew just where this was going. “If you could come by and help us set up for our annual biggest pumpkin contest, I would really appreciate it.”
“Bryce, seriously?” He took a step back, clearing the line of sight between Oliver and me. “Shit, okay, fine. I’ll come help tote pumpkins. Now get back to where you were.”
“Good. Leo has to fly back home the following day, but we were hoping to do the contest and then, possibly, drive out to Idyllwild to camp overnight. There’s supposed to be a meteor shower that night, and he’s really been getting into stars and space.”
“Sounds nice.”
“Would you like to come? It’ll only be us three, but we have room in the tent for a fourth.”
“Nah, thanks, I’m planning on vegging this weekend. Oliver’s playing at home for a nice stretch, so I want to spend whatever time I can with him and the girls. What?”
He patted my biceps. “Nothing, I’m just very happy for you. I was worried you were becoming a little too dependent on the bottle there for a bit, but falling in love has worked wonders for you. Now, if Oliver could get you to change your ties more often.”
I glanced down. Well shit. Not only was there mustard from the hot dog I’d inhaled for lunch while Mack and I had been interviewing witnesses to a drive-by shooting being pinned on the Yellow Boys, but there was also raspberry jam. The Yellow Boys, an up-and-coming street gang that was taking over territory like a tsunami, were on our radar for the usual drugs and weapons peddling, as well as rumors of them dabbling in the bribery of local district judges. They were proud as fuck about their affiliations and wore bright yellow bandanas.
“I did remind him to change his tie before he left the precinct,” Oliver said, sliding into the conversation.
Seeing that there was no way to hide the napkin overflowing with cookies, I merely shoved an oatmeal raisin into my mouth.
“Well, even a miracle worker like you runs into a stumbling block,” Bryce teased, gave Oliver a wink, and left me alone to face the music.
“Okay, before you start, my sugar was incredibly low this evening,” I explained, cradling my stash of carbs and raspberry filling to my chest.
“You’re pulling a low sugar line on a type one diabetic?” he asked incredulously.
“Yeah. No. But I’m taking some home for Jamie.”
His flat look told me he wasn’t buying that for a second. “I hope you have enough stamina after your incoming sugar crash to play a grown-up game with me after the girls go to bed.”
Oh. Oh, a grown-up game. That sounded promising. I dumped the cookies back onto the tray and got a kiss from my man. He wet his lips to draw in the cookie crumbs left behind from our smooch. My weary body responded as it always did when he did that. Blood flowed south.
“So, yeah, is it time to go yet?” I asked, as visions of naughtiness danced in my head.
* * *
“So thatXin pixel is on a triple word score square,” Oliver gloated as we sat at his kitchen table at midnight, playing Scrabble.
“Just to reiterate, this is not at all what I had envisioned when you said adult games,” I informed him, and got a sly smile.
“You’re just mad that you’re losing.” He tallied up his score, then took a sip of hot chocolate. Smug. Smugness oozed off the man. It was incredibly sexy, I had to admit.
“I’m not mad. My dick is disappointed,” I clarified as I studied my tiles.
“Daisy isn’t sleeping well since she saw that movie the other night,” he replied with a pointed look at me.
“In my defense, yet again, when I saw it was a movie about a princess and a dragon, I had no idea that the dragon was in the habit of feasting on innocent princesses, instead of giving them fun sky rides through the clouds.”
“They have a thing called a rating system,” Oliver reminded me, yet again. I huffed and placed anEon top of hisX,then stared at him right in his beautiful dark eyes.
