Page 63 of Hot Doggin'
“Well, I guess I learned my lesson.” He sounds grumpy, and he’s still stroking himself as he heads off to the shower. Most likely he’s gonna jack off.
Cindy is waiting for us out front of Pigeonhole when we pull up.
“This is it,” Mac says excitedly. “Are you ready?”
“Let’s go buy a house.” I offer my hand across the console and he squeezes it.
We follow Cindy through the front door, and the first thing that hits me is the odor. The air is stale like the house has been closed up for a while.
Cindy’s delicate nose wrinkles. “It smells like… hotdogs?”
“Hell yeah,” Mac grins. “That's a good sign.” He smacks my chest. “Smell that, Stiles? It smells like home.”
Chuckling, I follow him through the front hall to the living room. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. The wood floors aren’t in bad shape, but the walls are covered in brown wood paneling that needs to be painted. The ceiling fan went out of style three decades ago, and pink ruffled curtains cover the window.
“Nothing a little paint can’t fix,” McCormick observes, sounding positive. “Show us the kitchen.”
It’s not much better. The pinewood cabinets have turned an orange hue. I’ll have to sand and refinish them. Other than that, the linoleum floor is in decent shape and the light fixture is modern enough to keep.
There are three bedrooms, and the largest one, just off the living room, is painted lavender, with a floral wallpaper border running the perimeter of the room.
“Hell, no,” Mac complains, shaking his head. “This is the first room that’s getting painted.”
The bathroom has a separate tub and shower and double sinks, so I’m happy with it.
The second and third bedrooms are fine—plain white walls and wood floors—so nothing needs to be done there. The bedrooms share a bathroom in the hall that also looks to bein good condition. But the cherry on top of the sundae is the backyard.
“Stiles, do you see what I see?”
“Barbecues and sexy hot tubs?”
“Yeah, and a lot of land to impress people that don’t come over.”
“A full acre.” Plenty for us. After all, one of us has to mow it. “It's perfect.”
“We’ll take it,” McCormick says to Cindy. “We’re ready to make an offer right now.”
She smiles like she just won the lottery. “Perfect. I have the paperwork in my car. I’ll be right back.”
I don’t even see it coming. As soon as the door shuts behind Cindy, Mac spins me around, grabs my ass, and plants his lips on mine in a crushing kiss. It goes on and on as I struggle to breathe through my nose and keep up with his insistent tongue. I know how excited he is. I can feel it and see it and hear it in everything he says and does.
Hell, I’m excited too. I don’t think either of us ever thought we would get here. That we would ever see the day when we would settle down and buy a home and become family men. I mean, we don’t have kids or anything, or even a dog, but we’re family. We’re going to build a life together in this house. It’s more than we ever dreamed of.
I feel like my heart is gonna jump right out of my fucking chest. He’s grinning so wide, and all I can see is his blinding white teeth.
Laying my hand over Mac’s heart, I can feel it beating hard against my palm. There are so many things I want to say. Most of all, I love you. But for some reason, the words stick in my throat. Instead, all that comes out is, “I'm excited too. I can’t wait to show everyone our new place.”Fucking lame, Stiles.
But Mac doesn’t seem to mind. He’s already onto the next thing, dreaming big, and making plans. He points to the corner of the yard. “Back there, we can put a CHU for the lawn mower and tools. Maybe part of it can be a workshop.”
“No. Fuck no! You’ll have this place looking like a goddamn FOB in no time. We’re done with Army shit. This is our home. We’ll get a proper shed. No metal shipping containers.”
Mac looks guilty. “You’re right. Sorry, I got carried away.”
“I’ll say. Next thing you know, you’ll have a big voice loudspeaker mounted to a telephone pole out there and an ammo shed.”
His eyes light up, and I bite my tongue.
“I kind of want an ammo shed though,” Mac admits.
