* * * *
Ira watched Darin from the sidewalk. He’d never had the opportunity to see Darin in his shop yet, and it was a sight to behold. Darin hurried from the counter to the back room, packed cupcakes and other sweets, chatted and smiled to people, and he did all of that without getting tired—or at least that was what it looked like.
Ira hadn’t known Darin for long, but he could see Darin’s movement were slower than usual, and the dark bruises forming under his eyes. Ira knew Darin hadn’t had enough sleep the night before, and that he’d gotten up way too early, even with his job. The stack of cupcakes in the kitchen that morning had been proof of that.
Ira checked the time. Five P.M. The shop closed at six, but the girl that worked with Darin had already gone home, and Darin would be on his own until closing time.
Ira pushed the door open. Darin looked up, a friendly smile on his face, and Ira saw the happiness in his eye when he saw who it was. “Hey. Let me just pack up this order and I’ll be all yours.”
Ira nodded and waited in front of the display. He noticed some of the cupcakes were the same than those Darin had left in the mansion’s kitchen, but there also was an array of different ones. The piña colada ones he’d baked the day they’d met were there too, and Ira remembered how Darin had stuck one to his face.
The woman Darin was serving left with her box, sneaking a last glance at Ira. Darin walked around the display and Ira opened his arms to him. “Can I hug you, or will it be bad for business?”
Darin stepped in Ira’s arms. “Honestly, I don’t care about that right now.”
Ira wrapped his arms around his mate. “Tired?”
“Mmm, yeah.” Darin leaned his cheek on Ira’s chest and closed his eyes. There was a hint of something white and powdery on his nose and Ira used his thumb to clean it. Darin opened his eyes and blinked up, looking more asleep than awake.
“Do you have a chair somewhere?”
“Uh, sure. In the back room.”
Ira made sure Darin was standing on his own and went to the backroom. The chair was right there, under the phone, and Ira took it and moved it into the shop, behind the counter.
“You can’t keep the chair there.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not good. Not professional.”
“So you should be on your feet even though you’re about to fall asleep.”
Darin shrugged. “That’s my problem, not my customers’.”
“Yeah, well, just for the next hour, I think your customers can take it. Come on, come sit down.”
“I need to take care of the shop.”
“I will.”
Darin arched a brow, but he finally came closer. “You will? Have you ever worked in a shop before now?”
“No, but unless I have to bake something, it can’t be that hard. Right?”
“Oh, Ira. You don’t know what you just walked in on.”
Ira was scared for a few seconds, but he still took Darin’s hand and pushed him onto the chair. It wouldn’t be enough for Darin to really rest, but it was better than nothing. “When we go home I’ll run you a bath.”
“Oh, pampering. I knew I liked you for a reason.”
“Only one?”
Darin’s gaze ran up and down Ira’s body. “All right, more than one.”
“I knew you wanted me just for my body.”
“Yup. Now come here and give me a kiss.”
Ira obliged. He leaned in and went for what he thought would be a light smooch, but Darin opened his mouth and pressed his tongue against Ira’s lips. Ira couldn’t say no to that, so he kissed back.
Someone cleared their throat and Ira jumped away. That served only to make the person laugh, and Ira scowled at him when he saw it was only Keenan. “You should see your face!” Keenan said, still laughing.
“What are you doing here?”
“Buying cupcakes.”
“You live in the same house as Darin. Why do you have to come here to buy cupcakes?”
“Why not? I work where I live. I like to get out sometimes.”
Darin got up from his chair. “What can I do for you, Kee?”
Keenan looked at Ira. “See? That’s how it’s done.”
Ira pushed Darin back onto his chair. “I’ll do it.” He looked at Keenan. “What can I do for you, Kee?”
“Smartass. I want four of those, five of those, and mmm, three of those. Oh, and four of the pink ones. Nysys likes pink.”
Darin pointed at the boxes under the counter and Ira took one. He had to put it together and it took him a few minutes, but when Darin tried to get up and help him, Ira scowled at him. Darin raised his hands and sat back, and Ira looked at Keenan again. “Okay, so you said five of these?” he asked, pointing at a dark cupcake with blue frosting.
“No, I want three of these. I want five of those.” He pointed at cupcakes that had something that looked like hedgehogs on them.
Ira sighed and put the cupcakes Keenan had pointed at in the box. “What do you need all those cupcakes for anyway?”
“Mmm, sometimes I get hungry during the night. You know, after nightly exercise. And by that I mean sex.”
Ira looked at Darin. “He’s as bad as Nysys, huh?”
“Yup. Which is why you should stay away when you see them together.”
“Hey! We’re not that bad.” Ira arched a brow and Keenan shrugged. “Okay, we are that bad, but your life would be boring without us in it.”
“I can’t say no to that.”
“What are you doing here, anyway? You work for Darin now?”
“Nope. I just wanted to help him. He’s tired.”
Keenan bounced on his feet. “Oh, can I help, too? I always wanted to work in a bakery. And to be locked overnight in a mall, or in one of those furniture stores. I’d try all the beds.”
“You can help. There’s only an hour left anyway,” Darin said.
Keenan clapped his hands and bounced behind the counter. “What can I do?” he grabbed one of the cupcakes in the display and gave it a huge bite, smearing green frosting all over his lips.
“I don’t think eating cupcakes actually qualifies as helping,” Ira pointed out.
“Gon de and ass.”
“What?”
Keenan swallowed and licked his lips. “I said, don’t be an ass. I’ll pay for this, and for the other ones.”
Ira finished boxing Keenan’s cupcakes and made sure Keenan saw him adding the cupcake he’d eaten to his bill. Keenan rolled his eyes and paid, and Ira put his box in the cooler.
“So, what do I do?”
“You can go clean the back room if you want to,” Darin told him.
“Are there cupcakes back there?”
“No.”
Keenan’s face fell a bit. “Oh.” He still walked to the door that led in the back room. “Well, I’ll be in here if you need help. Or of you need someone to eat the remaining cupcakes. It would be a shame to throw them way.”
“That wasn’t subtle,” Ira yelled after him as the door closed.
“I wasn’t trying to be,” Keenan yelled back.
Ira had to serve two more customers after that. Both women seemed worried about Darin and about the reason why he was sitting down, but Darin reassured them he was fine.
“Are you sure?” one of them asked.
“Oh, yes. Just tired, really, but I’ll be able to open tomorrow, don’t worry.”
“You need more help.”
“I have all the help I need.”
The woman’s gaze slid over Ira. “I can see that.”
Ira arched a brow and held his hand out to her. She shook it over the counter. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am. And don’t worry about my husband. I’ll make sure he rests.”
Her eyes went wide, but she didn’t say anything. Darin waited until she was out the door and Ira had locked it behind her to slide his arms around Ira’s waist and kiss him. �
��Your husband, huh? She’s going to wonder why I don’t wear a wedding ring.”
“Tell her it’s because you take it off when you bake.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And I’ll buy you one if you want it.”
“No need. I already have something to prove I’m yours.” He skimmed his neck with his fingers and Ira suddenly couldn’t wait to get him home.
Chapter Five
Darin frosted the last peppermint-lavender cupcake and put his pastry bag down. He put together the box he’d take to his parents’ house and started moving the cupcakes from the counter to the box. A hand appeared and snagged a cupcake.
Darin rolled his eyes. “Really? You’ve eaten I don’t know how many of those already.”
Nysys munched on the cupcake. “I have to go with these until you make new ones. Any plans yet?”
“If I come back from Mom’s birthday alive, I’ll celebrate by baking some champagne and raspberry cupcakes. That okay with you?”
“Oooh, champagne. Classy. I can’t wait.”
“I’ll even give you what’s left of the champagne since I’ll need only a few cups.”
“Even better!” Nysys leaned forward and kissed Darin’s cheek. “You’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
“I hope so.”
Nysys snagged another cupcake before leaving the kitchen and Darin finished packing them. He checked the time on his cell phone and saw that he was late, but when he hurried to the entrance, he was the first one there.
He put his box on one of the chairs there and took his phone from his pocket again. He dialed Ira’s number first. “Where are you?”
“In the library.”
“Yeah, well, we’re already late, so bring your ass down here.”
Darin hung up and called his brother next. Shad was out of breath when he answered and Darin rolled his eyes. “Really? You really had to wait until the last possible moment to have sex?”
“It wasn’t my fault! Gabriel jumped me when I got out of the shower.”
“Take your shower earlier next time and hurry up. I’m waiting, and if you’re not here in fifteen minutes, I’m leaving without you and telling Mom exactly why you’re not there to celebrate her birthday.”
Shad gasped. “You wouldn’t!”
“I would, and you know it.”
“We’re coming.”
“Gosh, I hope not. We already lost more than enough time.”
“Ah-hah, very funny. Don’t move.”
Shad hung up and Darin leaned against the wall. He looked up when he heard footsteps and smiled at Ira, who was coming down the stairs. “The library, huh?”
Ira bounced down, a book in his hand. He leaned forward to kiss Darin, then raised the book. “I was just looking for some prompts on to how to teach stuff.”
“You’re taking it way too seriously.”
“I don’t think so. Dominic asked me to do it.”
“Yeah, but it’s not a life or death situation, and you’re not teaching kids. Just go with the flow and explain how you half-shift with your own words, and everything will be fine. You’ll see.”
Ira didn’t look convinced and kept his book, not that Darin thought he’d have been able to actually change his mate’s mind. Ira was stubborn like that. “Ready to face the music?”
“Will there be alcohol?”
“You don’t even drink that much.”
Ira grinned. “And it’s a good thing. Remember how bad Nysys was last week?”
“I don’t think you’d be as bad. No one but Keenan can be.”
There were other footsteps and Darin looked up to see Shad hurrying down the stairs, a smirking Gabriel close behind him.
“All done?” Darin asked. Shad scowled at him and Gabriel winked.
“Totally my fault.”
“I have no doubts of that.”
“Are you done discussing our sex life with my brother?” Shad asked. “Weren’t we already late?”
“Yup. Let’s go,” Darin answered. He got up and took his box, then led the way outside. The sky was overcast but it wasn’t raining, and Darin hoped it wouldn’t, at least not until they got to his parents’ house, since they were in for an almost four-hour drive before reaching Edgemont. Darin would have normally asked Nysys and Ani to shimmer them there, but he wanted to be able to leave as fast as possible if his parents didn’t take Ira’s presence well, and god knew what Nysys might be up to. Besides, the idea of spending that much time with his brother and their mates actually appealed to Darin. He didn’t have much free time, and what little he had was now dedicated to his mate. He missed his twin.
Everyone climbed in and Darin secured the box. Gabriel was driving for now, but they’d switch at about halfway into the trip so Gabriel could have time to snuggle with Shad. “You know, that thing you do where you don’t even want to kiss Gabriel in front of Mom and Dad is weird,” Darin told his brother.
Gabriel started the car and the gate opened in front of the car. Shad looked at Gabriel and Gabriel shrugged. “Must be Bradley. He did ask where we were going.”
“Shaaad,” Darin whined.
Shad turned around in the passenger seat and looked at him. “You know, you sound more like Nysys with every day that passes. It’s scary.”
Darin stuck his tongue out. “I don’t.”
“You do.”
“Why are you trying to make me forget about the question I asked you?”
“Technically, you didn’t ask a question. You just made an observation, and I don’t get why it’s weird. I just don’t like to do that stuff in front of everyone.”
“You don’t have to get hot and heavy with him, but it wouldn’t kill you to kiss him.”
Gabriel didn’t say anything, but Darin saw his smile reflected in the rear view mirror.
“I just don’t like it, Darin.”
Darin smiled. “I know. A kiss on the cheek?”
Shad rolled his eyes and straightened. “Fine.”
“Mom, Dad, and everyone else know you’re mated with Gabriel. They won’t say anything. I mean, Carl kisses Laurie all the freaking time.”
“I know.”
“Is it because they’re straight?”
“No, just because I don’t particularly enjoy PDA.”
“That’s not really true, Shad. You don’t seem to have problems with PDA at home.”
“That’s because I feel really at home there. I love the family, but it’s not home anymore, and you know it makes Dad uncomfortable. Now stop talking about me and Gabriel and tell me how you think they’re going to take Ira.”
“Can we talk about something else?”
Shad grinned in the rear view mirror. “Nope. You wanted to talk about me and Gabriel, now it’s my turn.”
Darin sighed. Ira reached and took his hand, squeezing it in Darin’s lap. “I told Mom when I talked to her the other day. She wanted to know if I was coming alone.”
“What did you tell her exactly?”
“That I met my mate and that we mated.”
“That’s it?”
“You know I had to spill the entire story, or Mom would’ve come here to get it out of me.”
“And what did she say about Ira being Ira?”
“She sounded a bit wary, but she didn’t tell me to come alone or anything. She also said she’d prepare Dad and the others, whatever that means.”
“She probably warned them she’d kick their butts if they said anything weird or if they tried to run away.”
Darin peeked at Ira, hoping he wasn’t taking their words too badly. He knew Ira was wary about meeting people he didn’t know, but Ira was smiling. “What do you think? Are you going to scare them to death?”
“Nope,” Ira answered.
“Good. I really want you to get along with them, even though we don’t see them often.”
Shad turned around in his seat again. “Oh, Jimmy called me.”
“There’s a small reunion with some of our old classmates later tonight. He knew we’d be in Edgemont today and he asked if we wanted to come.” Shad looked at Ira, then back at Darin. “Mates are welcome. Everyone there will be shifters.”
“Aww, you know how they’ll react once they find out what Ira is.”
“I know, but I couldn’t exactly tell him no.”
“Why not?”
“Maybe because he was one of our closest friends when we were in school?”
“Do we really have to go? You could’ve invented something, like, I don’t know, that we had to go back home right after the family lunch.”
“I tried, I swear. He got angry and refused to take no for an answer. He said it had been too long.”
Darin groaned and thumped his forehead against the window. “Great. Just great.”
* * * *
Ira was nervous, and he didn’t like it. He knew Darin’s family wouldn’t hurt him, but it didn’t mean they’d like him, and he wanted them to. He just wasn’t sure how to obtain that since there was nothing he could do to change the fact that he was a snake shifter. He just hoped they’d be able to see past that, to see he cared for Darin and that he wasn’t about to eat him.
He bounced his leg and listened to the idle chatter the three other men in the car had going on. They were a family, and Ira felt a bit like an outsider. He knew that would change with time. He’d been with Darin only for a week, after all. It was nothing next to the time they’d spend together from now on.
They stopped about halfway into the drive and Darin slid in the driver seat. Ira settled next to him, a hand on Darin’s thigh. Darin fell silent as they got closer, and even Shad stopped talking when they reached Edgemont.
They entered the town. It was small, and it took them only ten minutes to reach the street where Darin’s family lived. It was all very American—houses with neat front yards, kids and a couple of dogs playing in the weak March sun, a church parking lot full of cars. “Your parents don’t go to church?” he asked to break the silence.
“Not usually. They only go for ceremonies, things like that. We’ve never been very observant.”
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