Page 180 of Call the Shots
While Bear gotZoo Cultivation IVready for our gaming session with his cousins, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. How to tell him, how toconvincehim. I pulled open the fridge, reaching for the carton of orange juice. I bit my lip, glancing between that and the cranberry juice. Which one? I flipped the carton to check the calories and gazed down at a dark blue Marrs University sticker, obscuring the numbers.
Did Bear put stickers on the calorie chart?
I checked the cranberry juice, seeing stickers plastered over the information. All the condiments too. When did he do this? He didn’t even mention it.
My heart softened and I poured myself a glass of orange juice before opening the dishwasher to put in the few dishes.
“Don’t touch the dishwasher,” Bear threw over his shoulder.
I paused. “Why not?”
“You don’t load them right—leave them in the sink.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep. The blue ones go in the middle and the tupperware—it’d take too long to explain. Don't touch the dishes, that’s my job.”
Ugh, the smiles were impossible to push down. Bear teased them out of me. The smiles, the butterflies, the heart pounding because ofhim. I ignored the impending end of the road because Bear made things so good.
I walked to the couch and tilted his head back until I could kiss him. Bear rumbled in pleasure, stroking my hair as I nipped his bottom lip. “Did you reinforce the zoo walls?”
“I’d rather watch you go crazy and destroy shit,” he muttered, kissing me again. “Sounds way more fun.”
“Last kiss.”
“Hm.”
Bear’s grunt of disapproval made me laugh. It was easier to stay a cushion apart instead of explaining things to his baby cousins about our…situation.
I sank to the couch and Bear started the call. His cousins appeared on the screen.
“Commander Teddy!” Jillian shouted while Bear showed me how to use my controller.
“We have Colonel June signing on today,” Bear announced.
“Okapi!” AJ exclaimed.
“Hi.” I waved. “I’ve never done anything like this, sorry in advance.”
The kids laughed but Bear caught my eye. “You’ll do great.”
The game opened to their zoo, this elaborately-built structure with thousands of layers and winding parts. The screen split if Bear moved too far so I stuck close to him while he gave me a tour.
“Press A to pet the hippo,” he encouraged me.
“Don’t hippos kill people?”
“Her meters are green, you’re fine. I’ll do it with you.”
The kids realized what we were doing and shouted at me not to do it, but the animation sequence had already begun. It was an adorable cutaway to show my character petting the hippo that I was instantly discouraged from doing again.
“It pauses the game!” AJ groaned.
I laughed. “Aw, but it’s adorable.”
“We’ll do all the animated stuff when it’s just you and me playing,” Bear said, standing up to make popcorn.
When he returned with the bucket, I took a handful without tearing my eyes off of the screen. The game was so detailed.
