Page 65 of Mystique of the Fallen
“I know. But later, after I liberate the bagels and bring them to our place so I can take them to work in the morning, you’ll show me how to pay my share of our mortgage.”
“Absolutely not,” Roman countered. “That discussion is waiting for morning. I’m doing some heavy wooing here. Later, the plan is to seduce if you’re willing. If I play my cards right, we’ll be way too busy to be discussing money or anything but where you want my hands and mouth.”
“And your dick? Why don’t I get a say in where he goes?”
Roman closed his eyes, and a mental picture of burying himself in Grant flowed into his brain. It was what he wanted. But something held him back. Until that moment, as Roman sat in a pretty Italian restaurant with red-and-white-checked tablecloths, he hadn’t realized what was wrong. What Roman desired most was to have his soul united fully with Grant’s, then feel the snug caress of Grant’s channel as his mate came with Roman’s cock deep inside him.
As he was swimming in a little wave of lust, the server returned with their food. Taking a deep breath, Roman set aside his delicious fantasy and inhaled deeply to appreciate the delightful spices of his spaghetti.
“Roman, are you going to answer me?” Grant asked quietly once they were alone again.
“Of course. I got distracted. I have a plan for what you want. Don’t worry. But not tonight.”
“Your way of trying to dictate things irritates me. But it also makes me tingly with pleasure because I know you care. That you want things to be special. Or to keep me from feeling overburdened like the work shit.”
Roman twirled some pasta on his fork. “Consider this. We’re the first couple of VKs. Which means we’ll spend twice as many nights on call in our household as Arvandus and Samson. Yes, they share a house, but they’re in separate rooms. Maybe I was trying to get in some additional weeks of sleep. Your phone goes off or mine and it’s going to wake us both up.”
“Okay, the thought of Arvandus and Samson not sleeping in separate rooms is making my brain hurt.”
Roman laughed. “Albie would cut someone, and Brynn would be so annoyed no one would get cookies.”
“You better not answer my phone if you wake up a few seconds before me.”
“If you think I’m giving up sleep to do your job, you’ve lost your fucking mind,” Roman assured Grant. “When I wake up first—because we both know I will since I do every morning—I’ll make sure you get up and answer it.”
“Don’t be evil.”
“I can’t change my nature, Grant.”
“This is the first time in our relationship I’ve wondered why I like you,” Grant teased. “But that makes sense. We haven’t been together that long. I’m sure as the months and years pass, I’ll grow used to this feeling.”
“I appreciate the optimism.”
“Says the man ready to walk right out of here because I demanded he allow me to pay my share of our household expenses.”
“I’m still adjusting to that,” Roman grumbled. “How’s your pizza, baby?”
“Delicious. Thanks for ordering me to pick it. Pasta good?”
Roman twirled another bite of his dinner around his fork and held it out for Grant. “Taste.”
Grant smiled as he chewed and raised his eyebrows. Then he swallowed. “That is almost as good as my pizza. Fuck, you know what though? I forgot to check the dessert menu.”
“No worries, we’ll get some. They have several good options.”
“Cool, we can each pick one and share.”
“Absolutely. Can we talk about your big assignment now?”
“Sure, did you know about the parade?”
Roman shook his head. “Nope, we all heard about it together. I can barely remember the last Council parade. Maybe it was to celebrate our move to Vegas, so our part of the city wasn’t that built up yet?”
“The route is the thing I think will impact personnel decisions, so I want to nail that down first. I’m guessing I’ll learn a timeline for this whole thing at the committee meeting because Drystan and Conley mentioned nothing about it.”
“Knowing how Council committees like to argue about everything, they probably need to fight over that, so I imagine you’ll have a chance to get your opinion in there too.”
“Good, because this isn’t going to happen overnight.”
