Page 133 of Nicky and the Night Owls, Part One

“Do you want me to make you some tea while we watch Jasper work his magic?” Gabe asked, tipping my face up so he could nuzzle my cheek.

“Yes please.” When I sat up, it was then that I realized I still didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. “I should probably get dressed.”

“Entirely up to you,” said Gabe. “At this point the entire pack has seen you naked, so there's no pressure either way. Do you want me to grab you one of the robes?”

“A robe sounds like a good compromise on clothes.”

I exchanged my fuzzy blanket for a fuzzy robe and trotted after Gabe toward the kitchen. Hana eyeballed me pretty hard, so I didn’t open my mouth to offer to help. Instead, she parked me at one of the barstools and put herself on the one next to me so close, the stools were touching. Billie sat on my other side, and Tony sidled up against my back, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Cozy, baby girl?”

I hummed softly and leaned against him. “Very. I’m pretty sure this is the most relaxed I’ve ever been.”

Gabe ended up making a whole pot of tea, and he distributed the steaming cups to the pack.

I mused on the turn my life had taken as I stirred a bit of honey into my tea. The change of jobs from day to night hours had had my mother fretting that I would never meet anyone, and instead, the universe blessed me with not one, butfiveincredible people.

It felt so easy.

I wasn’t sure if it actuallywasor if I would discover something in the future that would rob me of these simple joys. Some dark little voice in the back of my mind whispered that it could happen so easily. No one before had led to happiness, so what were the odds of this leading there too?

I shoved down that thought. Worrying about the future would only ruin today, and I’d had enough todays ruined lately.

Billie leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You look delightfully well fucked. Got that whole peaceful vibe.”

My cheeks warmed, and I took a sip of my tea, hissing as it scalded my tongue. I really had to stop doing that around Billie.

Without a word, Gabe set down a carton of milk in front of me. Hana added a splash to my tea for me, which brought it down to a drinkable temperature. I was getting way,waytoo spoiled staying here.

The younger me might have worried about losing my independence, but at thirty-three I cared a whole lot less about that. I had been independent for years already, and I was ready to be taken care of. I was pretty good at taking care of people too, and I had no intention of taking advantage of anyone's good intentions, but neither was I going to deny them if they wanted to care for me.

We talked about the latest book-to-movie adaptation—which looked horrendous from the book lover’s side and gorgeous from a cinematic perspective—that had been announced while Jasper whipped up his batter, filled up two muffin trays, and popped them in the oven. It didn’t take long until the entire kitchen smelled like baking chocolate.

There was something so indulgent about this. More than the shopping spree or the club and limo or theridiculousamount of orgasms I had accrued from this pack,thiswas what I liked best. All of us together.

Hana relented a little bit on her orders and let me spoon icing sugar into the mixer for Jasper, which also let me cuddle up to him. I got to lick the beater, too, getting instantly transported back to my childhood. Nothing quite compared to chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting. Of course, I would have to wait until they were combined, but my tongue was plenty satisfied for the moment as it navigated the twisting bars of the beater.

All eyes were on me as I set it down.

“Damn, Books, what that tongue do?” Billie snickered.

I couldn’t help laughing, which set off all of the rest of them.

We only let the cupcakes cool to the point that they didn’t burn our fingers. Everyone got their own and split them apart so that the steam wafted from between the perfect chocolaty halves. Jasper dropped a dollop of icing onto each of our cupcakes, and we scarfed them down before it even had a chance to melt.

I wiggled happily in Jasper’s arms.

“We should do this more often,” said Jasper. “It's been a while since we’ve made illicit middle of the night cupcakes.”

“Ten out of ten, agree!” I chirped, licking the icing off of my fingers.

Jasper leaned across the counter and kissed my sweetened lips. “Do you want another one?”

“Like that's even a question.” I kissed him again and reached grabby hands towards the tray of still cooling cupcakes.

Jasper grinned and acquired another confection for me. I made absolutely ridiculous noises while eating it, but that was just part of the cupcake experience. If you’re not making ridiculous sounds, then your cupcake is simply not delicious enough.

The rest of the night passed with more cupcakes and Pride and Prejudice while we all snuggled up again in the couch nest. Being with the pack was like a never-ending sleepover and I dreaded having to go back to real life.

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