Page 15 of Sprite Wedding
When Lucas rolled toward me, I jumped back. He pulled himself out from under the pile of supernatural men and flashed a mischievous smile.
“Zoe, you should move in. Where else could you get entertainment like this?”
I sighed. He’d hinted at living together in the past, but I was the one who suggested we take things slow. Should I reconsider now?
Wait, he was teasing. It was just Lucas being Lucas. Not a serious offer to consider. He was wrestling with his roommates like they were auditioning for the WWF.
“Ha ha,” I replied. “Don’t quit your day jobs.”
Diego rolled Lucas across the rug with a howl.
Lucas spun out of it and pinned Diego with a graceful move that could have been part of a choreographed dance. He pointed down at Diego and quipped, “Or your night job.”
CHAPTER4
LUCAS
“When are you moving out?” I asked Sebastian the next morning. Now that he and Gianna were married, he was going to move into her townhouse. With the extra room available, I was thinking more often about living with Zoe. She hadn’t shown any interest when I’d brought it up last night, so it wasn’t likely to happen any time soon.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Sebastian asked with arched brows.
“No way.” I shook my head and grinned. “I’ll miss you spoiling me with food.”
Sebastian loved to feed people, which is why he’d become a chef in a fine dining restaurant. He didn’t leave it at work, though, and carried his passion as a foodie to all parts of his life. He’d try to overfeed anyone who was home. Since Diego had a stomach the size of a worm, and I had the appetite of a woolly mammoth, I often indulged, eating both Diego’s share and mine.
Thank the gods for having shifter metabolism. With Sebastian’s cooking and my addiction to sugary cereal, I also worked out often to offset the mass quantities of food. Fortunately, flying in dragon form burned off the calories.
“Do you think Gianna wants me in her hair all the time?” Sebastian laughed. “Hell no. I already told her to kick me out when she needs a break. I’m sure I’ll be here often to hang out or play video games. Maybe even cook for you.”
“Nice.” I rubbed my hands together. “Let’s play a quick game before you head into the restaurant.”
Diego emerged from his dark crypt that he called his bedroom and joined us.
“You heading into work tonight?” I asked him. He worked the night shift as a lab tech.
“Yeah,” he muttered. It wasn’t often that he’d utter more than one word at a time so soon after waking up.
As we played, I segued into what was on my mind. “With Sebastian moving out, I’m thinking about asking Zoe if she wants to move in.”
“No shit?” Diego said. “I’m surprised you haven’t asked her already.”
“I want to, but you saw how she reacted last night. She brushed it off with a joke.”
“You brought it up as a joke,” Sebastian countered.
I rolled one shoulder. “Yeah, but—still. I was testing the waters.”
Diego snorted. “Smooth.”
I ignored his sarcasm. “She doesn’t want us to rush things in our relationship, especially since we spend time together at the Network. I’m guessing she thinks we’ll get sick of each other.”
Zoe was introverted and needed alone time. But she was also my mate. I never felt as content as when I was around her. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her and be able to protect her.
“Smart girl,” Diego replied with a smirk. “It’s easy to get sick of you,” he teased.
“Ha ha.” I motioned to him. “You had your chance to leave, but you keep coming back for more Lucas time.” I turned to Sebastian. “I’m following your lead and trying to be patient rather than impulsive.”
Non-shifters didn’t have the same mating instinct, which added a layer of complication in relationships. Sebastian had wrestled with it with Gianna. With him being a wolf shifter and her half-siren, she didn’t share that drive to cement their bond as soon as possible the way he did. It took many more months until she was ready, but now they were mated and married.
