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The girls were smiling, helping her pack a wicker basket on the table.
“For what? Are we having a picnic?” I could count on one hand the amount of times I’d gone on a picnic. It hadn’t been something that ever rated with anyone in my family. My mother had always been too drunk to care, and my grandmother hadn’t particularly cared for them.
“Oh, that’s right. You don’t know. Today is rest day. Sort of like Sundays for you on Earth?”
“That sounds amazing, but I’m not sure Kaden is going to want to take the day off.”
Speaking of the devil himself, I could feel Kaden walking in. Tiber was right behind him.
“You are not planning on working on rest day, I hope?” Luisca turned to Kaden, hands on her hips, glaring in his direction. Oh yes, Tiber was correct—Kaden was definitely on her shit list right now.
Tiber took a few steps away from his friend, making his alliances clear.
“This is your home, and I’m your guest. I have no intention of disrupting your routines,” Kaden said.
She smiled and lit up the kitchen brighter than the sun. “See? All is good.” She patted Kaden on the shoulder, as if he’d redeemed himself. “You boys can carry out those baskets and find us a nice spot to relax.”
Did she think Kaden was turning over a new leaf? Wait until Tiber got to her. Hopefully we’d have a good day first.
Luisca looped her arm through mine. “Come on, girls.”
We all strolled to the lake like we were civilized people.
There weren’t that many people who lived here, and it looked like every one of them was on the bank of the lake, taking in the nice weather. The kids were all jumping in the water, splashing about. A lot of the women and men were too.
Tiber, Kaden, and the girls headed toward the lake.
“I can give you a suit if you want to go swimming,” Luisca offered as she spread out a blanket.
“No, I think I’d rather hang out here with you, if you don’t mind.”
She dug into the basket and pulled out a bottle. “Oh good, because I brought wine.”
She poured us both a glass, and I settled onto the blanket with her, trying to ignore the looks I was getting from some of the passersby.
“This is delicious,” I said after sipping the red wine.
“Thanks. Tiber makes it.”
I took another sip, taking in the scene, my gaze getting stuck on where Kaden was. He reached back and tugged off his shirt. It didn’t seem to matter how many times I’d seen him shirtless, I still couldn’t stop myself from looking, even when I was mad at him. No, furious. Irate.
“You’re bringing back memories,” Luisca said.
I looked her way, realizing she’d caught me staring. “Oh. I, uh…”
“Reminds me of when I first got together with Tiber. I remember my esposmata. It was magical. Of course, everyone enjoys their esposmata, or at least parts of it.” She was smiling to herself as she topped off our wine glasses.
“What’s an esposmata?” I asked.
She looked up at me, her eyes squinting and her lips parted. “Wait, you didn’t have an esposmata?”
There was a pit in my stomach telling me I’d already said too much. I wasn’t sure if I could walk it back, either. “Maybe I…”
“Esposmata is the mating ritual.” She was watching every blink and twitch.
My skills of deception were not up to this level of scrutiny. I was dead to rights.
“Didyou have a mating ritual?” she asked.
