Love's Indulgence

by Flynn Eire

  Including their children to them, so yeah, sitting in the infirmary with Ryan and not even going to a party was nice. Calm.

  So calm I apparently crashed hard after Ryan left. I woke to someone shaking me, blinking up at Sam.

  “I wasn’t sure if you had one of the guard shifts today or when you might need to get up.” I thanked him and glanced over to the cot next to me, frowning when it was empty. “So you did bring in Jayme. She was a bit confused how she got here or what happened. She thought maybe you were covering for Seneca and found her here. She left a few hours ago.”

  I rubbed my hand over my face, trying to wake up and ignore the stiffness. “These cots suck.”

  “Yes, you are not the first large warrior to say that,” he chuckled. “They’re meant for normal humans and for exams, not overnight.”

  “Fair enough.” I yawned and noted the jacket I’d given Jayme. “I found her asleep at Nero’s with cakes all around her. She admitted in her sleep she was supposed to be here.”

  “She’s pushing too hard,” he sighed, shaking his head. “She doesn’t seem to get that even if we feel fine, our bodies aren’t always in the best shape. Maybe for a vampire, but she’s just become one. She needs more time off.”

  “Got it, thanks.”

  “I wasn’t giving you a courting plan.”

  “Right, yeah, because you would just tell someone information as a doctor otherwise,” I drawled, picking up both of our jackets. I gave him a hesitant glance. “Do you know why she’s pretending to be a girl?”

  He shook his head. “I assumed she was transgender and maybe had a fresh start to be who she wanted. I was more concerned about her physical health, and she’s not my only patient or problem.”

  “I wasn’t judging. Everyone’s stretched thin.”

  He nodded and headed to the door to his private lab, clearly saying the conversation was over. Fair enough. It wasn’t what I wanted to be talking about with him on Christmas either. I mean, I wanted to talk about Jayme but not start listing how everyone was too busy.

  “I need coffee, and you’re not getting away from me that easily,” I muttered as I headed for the door.

  It was about an hour before sunrise when I looked at my phone, letting me know she got up seriously early normally and probably not just for Christmas. I made it to Nero’s in no time, my nose filling with more than snow and cold as I reached the back door. Jayme was fussing about the kitchen, showered and changed, and already with something on her cheek.

  “The jacket was for you,” I said quietly to not startle her or wake anyone. It didn’t work because she yelped and almost dropped the large casserole dish in her hands. I darted over there and caught it in time. “Sorry, I was trying not to scare you.”

  “Oh, no, thanks, just—” She blew out a harsh breath and nodded to the huge kitchen island covered with what she was working on. “I think I got ahead of myself. Nero paid me to make a special breakfast spread for Verge, but then Alastair heard and wanted it too. I said I would as long as he came for it, but several other mates wanted to do the same, and I think I’m going to be late. It’s my first catering gig, and I’m going to fail.”

  “Delayed isn’t failing,” I told her gently. “What can I do to help?”

  “Can you cook?”

  “Not in the slightest,” I confessed. “But I’m really good at dishes and taking directions.”

  “Why would you do that for me?” she whispered, blinking up at me before lowering her head as she blushed.

  “Seth. You know my name since you’ve been leaving me treats.” I chuckled when she flinched. “Alexis is my sister. She didn’t want to upset you and say it, but it wasn’t hard to figure out that you arrive and make awesome treats and then I have a sweets fairy leaving me nummies.”

  “I’m a sweets fairy?” she asked, frowning.

  I realized why she thought I used that term. “I didn’t mean it in a mean way, and there’s no easy way to ask this, but are you transgender?”

  Her head snapped up, and her eyes went wide. “What? No.” She took the dish from me and hurried over to the oven. “This takes a while.”

  “No one cares if you’re a guy or a girl, Jayme.” I waited a moment, but she didn’t say anything. “Do you think you have to wear those clothes or act like a girl?” I noted that she flinched but didn’t say anything. “Or are you hiding from whatever you ran from?”

  “I think you need some coffee because you might be a bit blunt with strangers in the morning without it,” she whispered as she went over to the coffee maker.

  I wasn’t letting her run though, moving behind her and trapping her against the counter with my longer arms. I leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I’m worried about you. Several people are. You’re right that I’m being blunt and rude, but I can’t stop thinking about you, and the idea you’re in trouble upsets me.” I nuzzled her soft hair when she didn’t answer. “I won’t tell, I promise. As long as no one’s hurting you, I won’t tell.”

  “I was running from Orlando,” she whispered. “I’m not transgender. I’m a guy.”

  “I still like you,” I assured him, glad I said it when he seemed to relax some. “I liked you from the moment you stared out at the snow like it was the greatest thing ever, and I’ve never liked a girl before, so that threw me.”

  “You’re gay?” he whispered, glancing up at me.

  “I am. Are you, or am I making you uncomfortable?”

  “I am.” He cleared his throat as if not sure how to answer the rest of that or what to do next. I did. I turned him and lowered my head to his, brushing my lips over his. He gasped and leaned away. “That was my first kiss. You’re not my boyfriend.”

  I blinked at him, wondering if he was fucking with me, but I saw the fear and excitement in his eyes and realized he was serious. Shit, he was so damn adorable and had no clue. “I should have asked. I’m sorry.”

  “Are you teasing me?” he whispered, his lower lip quivering. “Please don’t tease me about this.”

  “I’m not.” I leaned in until just before our lips touched again. “Will you go out with me, Jayme? Be my lover?”

  “I’m not ready for sex,” he blurted. “But I want it. I mean, I want it and you’re hot, but I don’t know how to do it.”

  “Please stop with the sexy rambling or you’ll be finding out about sex in a few minutes,” I warned. “Kiss me if you want to be with me.” Lust shot through me when he immediately did, even if it was the quickest peck. “Good, glad we got that settled. Any chance you’re going to tell me the rest?”

  “Um, can I get to know you a bit better?” he asked as his voice quivered. “And I really need to get back to work.”

  “Okay, I’ll get some help,” I offered. He gave a slow nod and ducked under my arm to fuss with something on the counter and put more in the oven. I pulled my phone out and sent a quick text to my siblings before making myself coffee. “How can I help?”

  “Um, can you whisk while drinking coffee?” He waited until I nodded, figuring I could do at least that. He set me up at a stool with a huge metal bowl and a whisk. He started muttering under his breath about ingredients and multiplying. Then he poured in measured milk and some pepper before counting eggs in two containers he set in front of me. “This gets forty eggs.”

  “What is this going to be?” I asked as I set down my coffee and got to work.

  “Eight breakfast casseroles with sausage, potatoes, and eggs.”

  “Damn, I want some of that,” Alexis muttered as she came into the kitchen. She smirked at me. “I’m staying here too because the garage is the temp studio.”

  “Right, yeah, I didn’t expect you so soon.”

  She bobbed her head and looked over what was going on. “I suck at cooking, but I am a boss at cutting, slicing, and dicing. I score glass all the time.”

  “You called your sister to help?” Jayme asked, blushing as he stared at me with wide eyes. “Thanks.”

  “And ou
r two other brothers. We always back each other up,” Alexis told him.

  He nodded like he understood but clearly didn’t from the frown. He gave her the daunting task of cutting about a billion potatoes, but then he pulled out a large food processor. I watched in awe as he flew around the kitchen in a dance he knew well and started sausage in a skillet before giving onions and peppers to Alexis to do before the potatoes.

  I was so in awe of how good he was I forgot to take the chance to get to know him or even do my own job until Alexis gave me a nod to get to it. Yeah, I’d been too distracted with my sweets fairy that I couldn’t stop staring at. Damn, I really was in trouble.

  4

  I was having a hard time focusing. Seth had kissed me and wanted to date me. He was in the kitchen watching me cook. I was seconds from the top of my head popping off. Oh, he also knew I was a guy and had gotten me a jacket?

  Yeah, my head might just spin right off. For the moment I focused on just the food and resetting the coffee maker when Alexis took the last of it.

  Seth cleared his throat and started cracking eggs. “I found you asleep at the table last night when I came to give you the jacket as a gift. Sam said you were missing pieces of what happened.”

  “Oh, thank you.” I hurried to plate the cooked sausage and add more. “And the jacket is very nice. Warm. Thank you.”

  “Thank you for all the treats. It’s nice when we’ve been trying to get settled here and there’s been a lot going on.”

  “You guys haven’t been here long either?”

  “No, just a few weeks,” Alexis told me. “I’m glad we came, but it would be nice if I had some consistency, a space of my own, and not feeling like I was chasing my tail so much.”

  “Yeah, that’s how I feel,” I admitted. “Plus, um, I was sick.” Seth already knew that if he’d gotten me to the infirmary.

  “You just transitioned, and no one helped you,” he said, letting me know he knew. “Where are your helpers this morning? You have two?”

  I wanted to kiss him for changing the topic. Well, I just wanted to kiss him because now apparently I could, which was a trip. “Um, they didn’t want to be around others for Christmas morning. They’re having trouble adjusting, and I don’t know how to help them.” I blew out a slow breath. “They keep asking me questions about being a vampire and—I’m not the right person to ask. I don’t mean to sound dismissive, but I’m not good with people.”

  “Were you a servant?” one of Seth’s brothers asked as he came in with the third one, both of them yawning. “You talk like you were a servant like in the old days.”

  “Something like that,” I answered, my shoulders going tense. Well, that was one way to derail the morning. I pretended not to see the looks they shot him to stuff it, and he held up his hands in surrender.

  “I can brown the sausage if that helps,” the other brother offered. “Oh, I’m Ryan. Mr. Blunt is Zach.”

  “Jayme,” I said, smiling at them, happy someone was being nice to me. “So he has Seth’s blunt and pushy before coffee behavior?”

  “We all do,” Ryan drawled. “Family trait. It stems from growing up with too much bullshit and deciding the moment we were adults we were going to always be honest instead of play games.”

  “That sounds nice,” I whispered before handing over the spatula. “After sausage I need the garlic and onion and then the red peppers a bit later.”

  “I can handle that,” Ryan promised.

  “What can I do?” Zach asked.

  I thought about it a moment, mentally listing what I had to do and wouldn’t be too hard for a novice. “How are you with dough?”

  “Never touched it, but I’m trainable, I promise.”

  I smiled when the others snorted. It was nice how they actually liked each other as opposed to how I was used to siblings being. I made a station for Zach where he was making balls from a huge thing of dough, dipping them in butter, and then coating them in a cinnamon sugar mixture. “Forty go in each pan. They need time to rise after before they bake, so please hurry.”

  “Got it.” He dove right in, smiling about five balls in. “This is fun. Relaxing.”

  I nodded. “Plus, it just always smells nice. I normally stick with sweets and baking, but I like breakfast too. It’s like fun if you get to have eggs for dinner.”

  “Yeah, it is,” Seth agreed at the same time as Alexis. Seth finished his task, and I quickly gave him a new bowl with more to whisk.

  “Um, are pancakes okay? I can make extra Santas.” I cleared my throat nervously. “Actually, I was going to bring over one of the breakfast casseroles for you.” I blew out a harsh breath. “Wow, I really do sound like a stalker when I say it. It just sort of happened.”

  Seth just shrugged. “Can’t stalk the willing, and I was very, very willing.” He waited until I glanced over at him, winking at me. “And we can eat whatever. Don’t go to any trouble for us.”

  “Hey, she said she’d make us pancakes. Don’t block my chance for fresh pancakes,” Zach grumbled.

  I flinched and looked at Seth. He just smiled and nodded that I could tell them. “Um, I’m a guy. Sorry, I didn’t mean to lie to you guys.”

  “I knew,” Alexis admitted, shrugging when Seth gave her a shocked look. “I’m a woman. I know how boobs look, and yours would be messed up and askew when I came for coffee early.” She gave me a kind look. “Transgender?”

  “No,” I sighed, realizing I had to tell them at least something. “I—people were saying that they really wanted women to come to the subdivision to help clear up some of the ‘homo camp’ reputation. I needed to get out of Orlando, and this was my chance.” I shrugged. “I have the hair, and I’m not like manly or big, so I figured it could work.”

  I wasn’t shocked when no one knew what to say.

  “When you’re ready, I think someone needs to hear your story so we can protect you because if you were so desperate to run, that problem might follow you,” Seth said gently.

  I blinked at him, feeling the floor fall out from under me. I’d never even considered that. I focused back on what I was doing but then shook my head as I thought about it. “I will when I feel safe, but I don’t think that’s a possibility. Some people will be mean if the person is right there and it’s easy. A lot of bullies and bad people are lazy though. I can’t see anyone coming after me just to be mean some more.”

  “You’re probably right, but we’re entrusted to protect everyone here, so we can only do that if we know what’s going on,” Ryan muttered. “Others have, and it’s not easy. We’ve had to do it. We told Jordan a long time ago the mess our family was and how we were tangled up in shit we didn’t want to be. Plus, you’re not alone, so when you’re ready it’s good to talk about.”

  “Okay.” I was incredibly grateful when the timer for one of the ovens went off, hurrying to uncover the trays and raise the temperature. Then I pulled out the griddle and decided to feed my helpers when I saw Seth was done whisking the pancake batter. While that warmed up, I started spraying trays for the breakfast casserole, thanking Alexis when she offered to mix the ingredients for them.

  “So what do you want to do for your first Christmas on your own?” Seth asked, his tone hesitant like he was trying to avoid any land mines. I appreciated it, but I wasn’t sure how to answer.

  I blew out a slow breath and decided to be honest after being deceptive and acting like I was a woman. “This is where I’m not good with people. Do you want me to answer honestly, or is this where I give a bland answer like when people ask ‘how are you?’”

  “We will never ask unless we want the real answer,” Alexis promised as she kept focused on her task. “Other people—I wish I knew that answer too. Sometimes they ask and seem annoyed when I answer. I hate that. Don’t ask me then. Or like there’s a time limit on the answer. Could someone warn me that my answer is timed?”

  “I hate that,” Seth agreed as he kept whisking. “Or when you answer and they obviously aren’
t paying attention or don’t care. Why bother me to ask then? I’d rather use my energy somewhere else.” He smiled at me. “I asked because I’m curious about you.”

  I nodded as I pulled out the dough I’d made yesterday and set it on the side of my work surface. “Nero asked me if I knew how to make real mochi because he thinks Verge will like it and even more than that, it’s a fun tradition for New Year’s that everyone can enjoy. I like that. Who cares if it’s a Japanese tradition? Let’s do it here too.”

  “I’ve never had mochi,” Seth admitted, his siblings saying the same.

  “It’s good, not overly sweet, and with cool fillings. But I got to thinking about that and traditions since we’re going to have people from all over.” I went back to the fridge and brought out the first of my butter squares I’d prepared. “Did you know it’s popular in Japan to eat fried chicken and strawberry shortcake on Christmas Eve?”

  “No, but that’s random,” Seth chuckled.

  “It is. I love that though,” I told him as I grabbed the flour and rolling pin. “I want to have the tradition to not have a tradition. I think people get too into routines for holidays. Why do the same thing every year? Do something different each year. And we’re going to have our own melting pot here of good people, so why don’t we do something each year? I was reading into it, and there are so many cool traditions.

  “When I was studying in Italy, the coven did this Christmas cookie thing that I thought was so cool. They made cookies and gave them out to kids. It was their tradition, and everyone got into it, delivering cookies to friends or orphanages or even to soup kitchens for the kids. It’s not an Italian tradition, but it’s like someone flipped giving Santa cookies to giving the kids cookies and it was so fun.

  “And did you know that there are a lot of Jewish people who now have the tradition of eating Chinese food during their holidays? There were a lot of both type of immigrants in major cities, and it fit their kosher beliefs and no dairy or something. But now it’s like a thing. I love that. Why not make dumplings? Roast a hog? Do whatever because we’re breaking the mold and we can do whatever. I think that would be totally awesome.”