Page 53 of Kringle and the Kraken

“I have no idea what you were doing out there, but you kept glowing, your eyes and your body, and it looked like it was taking a lot of effort. I ran up to the house and grabbed a towel and stuffed it under my shirt to keep it warm. I hope that’s okay.”

“Yes. It’s nice.”

Kris stopped talking after that, holding the flashlight that had been in one of his hands between his teeth as he helped me dry off a little more, then pulled my clothes out from under his jacket, extending them out to me.

I shook my head. “Can I shower first?”

“Of course. Good thing I brought another towel. He tugged another warm towel out from under his jacket and balanced the bundle of my clothes in his arm as he helped me wrap one towel around my waist and the other over my shoulders before leading me across the snowy beach and up the cold metal staircase.

Once we were back inside his house, he directed me up to the second floor and his bedroom, which I knew from the earlier tour had a large glassed-in shower. He reached in and turned on the water, and almost immediately, the glass started to steam.

He opened a cabinet behind the door and took out two fresh towels, setting them on the vanity and turning to look at me. “I’ll just let you get cleaned up. Do you want to borrow some sweats? I don’t have any good squid pun T-shirts, though.”

“If you don’t mind, that would be great. And don’t worry about your lack of fashion sense. You’re dating a kraken now. I’ll hook you up.”

His eyes went wide, then a smile settled on his face, and I tried to replay what I’d said to warrant that reaction.

Oh shit.

I’d said we were dating.

Did he not want that? He’d confessed to falling for me earlier, but maybe I’d misread the situation.

Kris stroked a hand over his beard. “If we’re dating, does that mean we’re boyfriends?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s generally what dating means, right?”

“Oh, no, yeah. But I wasn’t sure if krakens used different terminology.”

Mate,mate,mateechoed through my head, but I held the word back, nodding instead. “Boyfriend works just fine.”

For now.

Kris, a wide smile splitting his face, knocked twice on the bathroom counter, then strode toward the door, a noticeable swagger in his step. “I’m going to make something to eat. Anything you don’t care for?”

“Nope. I’m pretty easy to please.”

My boyfriend’s eyes went hot, and a shudder rippled through me. My dick tried to twitch to life under the towel still wrapped around my waist, but I was too tired to even get it up at the moment. Hopefully, the shower and some food would help.

“Okay. I’m not a great cook, so don’t expect gourmet.”

“I’m starving and not likely to be picky.”

He took a step toward the door, then doubled-back to press a hard kiss to my lips. “I get the feeling things didn’t go like you planned tonight, but I think it’s pretty damn amazing that you’re even trying.” Another kiss, this one on my forehead. “And for what it’s worth, you are one hot giant kraken.”

He turned and slipped out the door before I could say anything else.

Kris wasn’t running away from me. In fact, given his earlier declaration, it seemed the only way Kris was running was toward me. Toward us.

I floated through a quick shower and dried off for the second time that night, and when I walked out into Kris’s room, a neat stack of clothes waited for me. Kris hadn’t left me any underwear, and I wasn’t sure where mine were, so I slipped thesweatpants on with nothing underneath. The plain white T-shirt and dark gray zip-up hoodie Kris had left smelled like him, and I pulled the fabric up to my nose, breathing him in deep, his cedar and pine scent flooding my veins and seeping into my cells.

The shower had helped, and I felt some of my energy returning. A delicious scent wafted in from the hall, and my stomach rumbled loudly. Following my nose, I found Kris in the kitchen, his back to me as he worked at the stove.

“Whatever you’re making smells amazing.” Kris jumped and turned at the sound of my voice. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine. Grab a seat.” He cut the heat under a medium pot as I settled into a chair at his worn wooden kitchen table.

“What can I get you to drink? I have water, iced tea, and beer.”

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