Page 70 of Prayers for the Prickly

“You are just full of surprises this week,” August murmured, nuzzling against my chest as I carried him up to the bedroom.

After his early start, his brother’s news, the bombshell revelation I still hadn’t fully processed yet, and an afternoon helping around the candy shop kitchen while he drew up detailed maps of the cases, the candy rotations, and an extensive list of what he needed his crew to put out each day, I was glad to have him home.

The sharp pain he’d experienced earlier had taken awhile to fade, prompting his declaration that he was going to take tomorrow off, in addition to the day of our handfasting and the weekend the way he’d planned.

“I think you are really going to like this one.”

“I have loved every last one of them and you know it.”

“Well, this one fulfills a very specific desire you had while staying within your doctors’ parameters of safe temperatures for you to be submerged in.”

“I can’t believe she axed the hot tub idea.”

“No one axed the hot tub idea,” Gregor reminded him. “She said you couldn’t use it until after the whelplets were delivered. But if you remember, she did tell us that warm bubble baths were perfectly fine.”

“Yeah, I know,” August grumbled as I sat him on the couch and began undressing him.

It had become part of our nightly ritual for me to strip him this way before we cleaned up for bed.

“The tub in the master bathroom is nice, but I wanted those whirlpool massaging jets, my back could really use them tonight.”

“Well, you know, that tub was nice, but like you said it was lacking a few key features,” I pointed out as I removed the last of his clothes and started peeling off my own.

“What do you mean was?”

“Well, that’s the surprise,” I said as I slid my arm around him and escorted him through the bathroom door, where the new whirlpool tub had been installed just that afternoon.

“Is…oh my…Gregor!” He squealed, giggling and wiggling his hips in a little pregnant dance that was just the cutest damn thing. “You got me a whirlpool tub? This wasn’t even on the renovations list.”

“No, but it was on the list of things I felt my mate needed to be more comfortable in his current state and your comfort will always be my top concern,” I reminded him. “Now let’s get your bath going.”

His eyes went wide when I guided him to the other new addition I’d had installed in the bathroom. My mate would no longer need to be undressed on the couch. I’d had a plush, overstuffed chair installed in the bathroom, with removeable cloth covering for easy cleaning as well as replacing when we wanted to change it. That August loved my ocean décor and all the nautical themes I’d filled the place with had made me proud of the effort I’d put in to make the place feel homey long before I’d even thought about the possibility of finding my mate.

When I was being truly honest with myself, I could admit that I’d never trusted that it would happen, not with my aversion to spending time getting to know people. Now that it had, I was glad that I’d at least been a little prepared before finding August.

“This is heaven,” August moaned as he sank into the chair, eyes closing as he sighed and let his head loll back to rest against the back of the chair.

Chuckling, I started the water, added bubbles, and let things start to build up before determining that it could be a little warmer, as long as it wasn’t steaming.

“Ready for another little slice of paradise?” I asked as I turned back to him.

He didn’t need to start giggling for me to know how corny I sounded, the moment I’d said it my inner wolverine sat up with one fang bared and a what the fuck look on his face.

“Tell me you did not just say that,” August said, still snickering as I helped him.

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered as I lifted him and placed him in the tub before turning the jets on just so I could enjoy the blissed out look on his face before I got in.

“Ohh, I take it back,” August moaned. “Every word and every snicker. This is in fact a little slice of heaven and you are the sinfully wicked angel sent to deliver it to me.”

“Sinfully wicked, huh,” I said as I stepped into the tub in front of him. It was every bit as spacious as the previous one, in fact, it was several inches wider, stretching out farther onto the floor, not that it really changed the space. I’d gone big with that room, just like the loft, because one of my guilty pleasures had always to indulge in the few little luxuries I’d allowed myself.

Soaking in the tub while listening to music had aways been one of them.

Now, I slithered on my belly through the suds to indulge myself in another luxury I’d come to appreciate. The taste of my mate in all of his sudsy, naked glory.

“I promised you something this morning that work wouldn’t let you enjoy,” I said as I cleared a path to his round, swollen belly, slid my hands beneath his tush and raised his hips until his cock poked up out of the water.

“Yeah, you did,” he said, that warm, hooded gaze peering down at me. “Are you gonna make good?”

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