Page 183 of The Waiting Game

“Yeah?” Felix ducked his head and kissed the fresh hickey blooming across Jonah’s neck. “Good. Cause I enjoy claiming you.”

Jonah’s gaze went soft but he lightly slapped at Felix’s arm. “Let me go. I need to get lunch … dinner, whatever meal this is, started.”

“Yeah?” Felix eased back. “What are you making?”

“Bulgogi and a couple of sides. That’s why I needed the delivery.” But there was something bashful in Jonah’s expression.

Felix followed Jonah, latching on to his hips and pressing a kiss to the back of his neck. “Are you trying to sweeten me up by making my favorite foods?”

“It’s more of an apology meal.”

“Well,” Felix said. “You don’t need to apologize again. It’s over and done with and we’ll both do better talking about things next time, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Jonah sighed, some of the tension leaving him. “Does that mean you don’t want the apology meal?”

“No!” Felix squawked. “I didn’t say that!”

Laughing, Jonah turned in his arms. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.” Felix kissed him. “But I can help you make it.”

“Sounds good. We mostly just need to prep stuff and let it marinate a couple of hours.” He glanced at the time. “Or maybe a little less. Shortening the marinating time isn’t ideal but I don’t want to eat too late. If you don’t mind, I was thinking we’d take some to Grandma. I’m sure she’s hating the hospital food.”

“Of course I don’t mind!” Felix protested. “Why would I mind?”

“I just don’t want you to feel like my entire life revolves around her. I mean, a lot of it does, and she thinks I need to work on that but …”

“Hey, she’s family, right?” Felix asked. “I love her and care about her and worry about her just as much as you do, Jo.”

“I know. I’m sorry I forgot that for a little while.” Jonah sighed. “Good. I still think she’s right that we should maybe try to figure out who we are as a couple and focus on us for a bit.”

“Yeah, I like the idea of that,” Felix said. “But I think until she’s home and settled again, maybe we should split our time some.”

“That sounds good.”

“I definitely plan to take you on some dates this summer,” Felix said as he helped unpack the groceries. “Just the two of us. Like that trip to Alberta you were talking about earlier.”

Jonah froze, package of beef in his hand. “Really? I didn’t think you were into that?”

“No, I am,” Felix said. “I just thought maybe you were doing it because you thought I’d be into it.”

Jonah looked confused. “I am.”

“Yeah, but you’re not as into dinosaurs as I am.”

“Well, no, I never was. But they have the gardens there that I’ll enjoy. I just … I worried maybe dinosaurs were something you were bored with now. You get into stuff and then get bored with it and move on and …”

Felix studied Jonah’s face, pretty sure he was talking about more than dinosaurs or hobbies or whatever.

“Jonah, do you think I’m going to get bored with you?”

“What? No!” He made a face. “Okay. Maybe for a while I did worry about that. But not now.”

Felix cupped his cheek. “Because I’m never going to grow out of you or get bored with you, Jo. And even if I get less excited about something once I do it for a while, that doesn’t mean I don’t still like it. I just like trying new things too.”

Jonah raised an eyebrow. “Are we still talking about our relationship in this metaphor? Because I’m not into the idea of an open marriage.”

“Neither am I!” Felix said with a laugh. “But there are lots of new things we can try in the relationship.” He waggled his eyebrows.

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