Page 65 of Knotty, Nice, & Holiday Lights
His smile is full of excitement. “Well, sign me up!”
“Sign you up for what?” Asher asks as Will rushes past him. When he places two bags of flour and some baking powder in the cart, I kiss his cheek as I wipe the remnants of white powder from his black coat. “Thank you for the kiss and the tidying,” he says with a grin.
“The kiss is what Will wanted to sign up for.”
“Oh?”
I give an affirmative hum. “For each trip back here with stuff from the list, you get a kiss.”
He pauses a moment before giving me a wicked smile. “Is that so? Well, I’m off, then.”
And he’s gone, leaving me to browse the canned goods aisle, where some of our list items are definitely located, but I purse my lips and ignore those in favor of things not listed. Like plain canned pumpkin, so I can make real pumpkin spice lattes at home that taste like pie in heaven for a while longer.
Sorry, Cuppa, but spice alone isn’t enough for this gal.
“There you are,” Matthew calls from behind me, steps alongside the cart and puts more items in from the list, then leans in for his kiss and vanishes again.
This goes on with my Alphas for close to thirty minutes before I finally overhear as Asher and Matthew pass one another, “How many do you have?”
“Twelve, mate.”
There’s a little laugh from Matthew. “Slacker.”
Oh, it’s likethat,is it?
With a smirk on my face, I find Will a few aisles over, let him drop his items into the nearly-full cart, and give him his payment kiss.
“That was the last of my list, before frozen stuff.”
My smile is sweet as sugar as I bat my eyelashes. “I’ll come with you so you can put everything into the cart right away. Wouldn’t want your fingers to freeze.”
Will looks a little confused, but shrugs before leading the way to the first frozen food aisle.
Two bags of broccoli florets for a kiss.
A few bags of frozen strawberries, another kiss.
A couple tubs of whipped topping for yet another kiss.
Will pauses outside the next freezer door, looks at me with a suspicious brow raised. “They turned it into a competition, didn’t they?”
I give an affirmative hum and a knowing smile as he shakes his head.
“What’s all this then?” Asher asks as he walks down the aisle with an armful of boxes. He places them strategically in the cart, and I dutifully give him his kiss.
“We’re just finishing up the list,” I say lightly.
“Is that so?” He eyes us both suspiciously, and when Will places a couple of frozen breakfast sausages in the cart and I give him his kiss, Asher crosses his arms over his chest just as Matthew joins us to get his kiss.
“What’s up?” His mismatched eyes bounce from me to Asher and back.
I shrug when Asher asks, “Will, mate, how many kisses have you gotten?”
Will turns back to the cart with some frozen blueberries, receives his kiss, and says, “That was number thirty-two.”
The shocked expressions on both Asher’s and Matthew’s faces send me into a laughing riot, right in the frozen section.
“Conned, I tell you,” Asher breathes, but the look in his dark eyes is impressed.
