Page 24 of Wolf Found

“I’d... I’d like that, if he could. One of the kids spilled milk on it once, and I almost died. I wanted to make a copy, but I didn’t know if they would give me a new notebook.” He’d been up half the night, blotting the pages dry and making sure they didn’t stick together, convinced he was going to lose precious information he’d gotten from omegas who had already joined the ancestors. The thought of never having to worry about it again was novel.

Ash reached up and covered Graham’s hand with his own. “Sure. It wouldn’t even be hard. We could make you a laminated copy to use in the kitchen if you want. So if anything got spilled, it’d wipe right off.”

It stunned Graham how Ash just... said things like that. Things that changed Graham’s life, and they were so simple for him, and he’d give them without a thought.

“Oh.” Ash swallowed the last bite of a cookie and then reached behind himself to pull up the biggest book Graham had seen in his life.Joy of Cooking, it declared itself. “I got you this. Kareni said it was the best cookbook she had. Well, no, she said the chocolate one was the best, but I told her I wanted something more comprehensive.”

Gently, Graham took the book out of Ash’s hands. He flipped it open to read the tiny fine print. It was incredible. So much information. He could barely begin to comprehend the amount of work that had gone into it. “You got this. For me?”

“Sure. I mean, you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.”

Graham pulled it against his chest, as though Ash might take it back, but Ash didn’t look up from Graham’s own feeble attempt at a recipe book. He had a lifetime’s worth of work to do if he ever wanted to accomplish anything like this book.

Of course, if Gavin would buy him all the groceries he wanted, and none of them batted an eyelash when he bought four bags of chocolate chips, it seemed like maybe it was a goal he could reach someday.

Eventually, Ash closed the notebook and looked up at him. He glanced at the stairs before leaning in conspiratorially. “I thought maybe we could go over to the resort today. They’ve got a couple of really great restaurants, and we can eat, like, all the food. It’ll be awesome, right?”

It did sound awesome, so Graham nodded. Then he paused. “Why?”

Ash blushed and stared at the floor between the couch and himself. Graham was worried he was going to say something horrible for a moment, like “I thought I’d lure you away and leave you there, because we really don’t need three omegas in the house, and you’re the least important,” but that was ridiculous. Even if it were true, Ash would never say it.

Instead, eventually Ash just shrugged and said, “I dunno. I just thought maybe you’d like to spend some more time with me. You don’t have to or anything. I promise it’s fine if you don’t want to.”

Hesitantly, Graham took a hand off his book and reached out to put it on Ash’s. “I’d like it. If, that is, if you want to. I don’t want you to put yourself out for me.”

Ash turned his hand over to grasp Graham’s. “Maybe I want to put out. Myself. Put myself out.” Graham wasn’t sure why Ash’s cheeks pinked at the slip of the tongue, but pink looked good on him. Not that anything ever looked bad on him.

“Then let’s do it,” Graham agreed, and he wasn’t sure why, but Ash turned even pinker.

14

Bad Day

Gavin let Ash get away with avoidance for a surprisingly long time. For two weeks, Ash spent almost every waking moment away from the house. He still did his shifts at the shop, sure, but also, he took Graham to every nice restaurant in Kismet he could think of, as well as a few holes-in-the-wall with great food.

Graham was sweet, and as he got less shy, Ash got to see that he was also clever and funny. Taking him out to eat all the things he’d never had a chance to try had started out fun, and Ash wouldn’t lie, he’d used it as a way to avoid Joey. In the end, he found that he enjoyed his time with Graham more than he’d enjoyed himself in a long time.

“I don’t know how they thought of frying ice cream, but it’s incredible,” Graham said as he scooped up a huge spoonful of his dessert to offer to Ash, who happily accepted.

It was, in fact, incredible.

Ash sighed in bliss, eyes closed, and leaned back in his chair.

That was when the last thing in the world he’d expected happened. He smelled... Graham. Graham was turned on. He opened his eyes, trying to quell the premature jealousy, expecting to see the man eyeing someone at the restaurant up.

But Graham was looking at him. He wasn’t sure why that was unexpected. Graham had had a crush on him years earlier, so maybe he’d managed to pick up right where he’d left off.

When Ash met his eye, he flushed and looked away, squirming in his seat.

Graham was turned on and looking at him.

If Graham wanted him, it didn’t change that Ash couldn’t initiate sex between them. It still wasn’t Ash’s place; it was a decision Graham had to make. But flirting to indicate that he wouldn’t rebuff any attention offered was fine, right?

Ash leaned forward, resting his chin on one fist and reaching across the table. He plucked the spoon out of Graham’s hand and dug into the ice cream, but instead of eating it, he held it to Graham’s lips.

“It’s really very impressive,” he agreed, meeting Graham’s eye. “I’ll bet you could make it, though. You’re incredible too.”

Graham flushed bright red, but he held Ash’s eye and opened his mouth. He didn’t lean forward and take the bite, though. He waited for Ash to feed it to him.

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