Page 145 of Luxuries of Lust

That crooked smile softened and grew, and Rusty cupped Gem’s face with his other hand. “I love you too. Like, for reals.”

“Promise?” Gem asked, and Rusty chuckled as he offered his pinky, the claw there painted red to match the stripes in Gem’s fur.

“Promise.”

Gem hooked their pinkies, sealing the vow. “You’re not goingto regret it?”

“Regret comes with the territory,” Rusty said with a playful wink, “but last time I checked, it’s so worth it.”

As he drew Gem down into a tender kiss, Gem laughed and closed all eight eyes so he could commit every moment of this to memory. The feel of Rusty’s claws in his hair, the pressure of Rusty’s lips against his mouth, the sweet relief of Rusty’s pure and earnest love.

And it was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Chapter thirty-three

Cow Suit

Rusty

Two months later

“Okay, so all thishas to go down to the moving truck?” Enfys asked as she sucked on a lollipop, her frilly antennas flicking in annoyance. “That’s a lot of boxes.”

“Well, Gem has a lot of shit,” Rusty said as he set another box labeled,“Private! Do not open unless you’re ready to be mentally scarred!”on top of the pile.

She pointed a finger at the box. “Those are sex toys, aren’t they?”

It was either a box of sex toys or a box full of Gem’s cow figurines, and since the sex toys were less embarrassing, Rusty nodded. “Yup. Sex toys.”

“Lovely.” She shoved her lollipop into her mouth as she picked it up and headed outof the flat.

The entire cafe crew had shown up to help them move from Gem’s studio into a two-bedroom they’d found five blocks closer to the station. Cya was in the kitchen, wrapping utensils in newspaper as Zef emptied the fridge into grocery bags. Toni, Gem, Willow, and Krul were carrying the couch down, and Quin was in the bathroom, dumping Gem’s many beauty products into a box with less finesse than Gem would have wanted. But since she’d grown a tad short-tempered as her pregnancy progressed, Rusty wasn’t going to correct her.

Rusty had lost sight of Tad a while ago, but that was okay. He thought it better not to question her absence.

One of the new hires, a Lupyn named Dex, was currently proving that he could bench press the lounge chair as Jude and Glyma watched. He did a few reps, his tail thumping rhythmically on the floor as he counted. Then he toppled the chair to the side and jumped up, clapping his large paws.

“See, dude. Told you I could do it. Boom!” Dex high-fived Jude hard enough the human winced and shook out his hand. “Aw, my bad. I forget that you humans are all fragile and shit. You good, bro?”

“Yup, I’m good,” Jude said through his grimace.

“Hey, can you not throw our chair around,” Rusty grumbled, pointing at the toppled chair.

“My bad again!” Dex said as he set his cap backward on his head between his tall ears. “I will be so super respectful of your stuff from here on out. I just got too pumped from, like, the adrenalous.”

“You mean, adrenaline?” Rusty corrected, and Dex nodded, mismatched eyes wide.

“Yeah, that too. Exercise always gets me hyped, but that’s no excuse for disrespect.” He held up his hand. “Apology high-five, bro.”

Unholy shit, Rusty hated that so much, but he’d learned quickly that it was easier to just go along with it than fight Dex when it came to high-fives. So he grudgingly lifted a hand and winced as the Lupyn slapped his palm with far too much vigor.

“Forgiveness and closure. Boom!”

Dex bent down and picked up the lounge chair with ease. Given all his thick fur, Rusty couldn’t see the muscles rippling, but Dex talked about his workout routine often enough that Rusty knew he had them. He also had a knack for emphasizing every single accomplishment he found noteworthy with the expression, “Boom!” and it made Rusty want to bash his head against a wall.

“Chair saved,” Dex said with a wide, canine-filled grin, and Rusty braced for it. “Boom!”

And there it was.

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